The album that broke up Steve Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham for good: “I was completely devastated”
Any band that’s truly honest with itself should consider “nerves of steel” a requirement when auditioning new members. While there’s a certain magic that can happen when musicians come together to play, that doesn’t always translate into a stable professional environment. Fleetwood Mac, at their peak, were deeply interconnected—so it was only a matter of time before Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s relationship spiralled out of control.
Before they had even joined the group, there was already a certain temperature in the air when it came to their relationship. The idea of becoming romantically involved with a creative partner feels like a recipe for disaster, however, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal when they were making Buckingham Nicks, so maybe everything would work out fine as they took a step up into the big leagues. But as soon as they fell out, Rumours became the album where every hour in the studio became an impromptu therapy session.
All of the band members hated each other and were breaking up with each other at all times, but the fact that the record was still a classic is a miracle. No one could get on the same page half the time, but once they stopped screaming at each other and focused on the music, everyone managed to play nice with each other, with many of Nicks’ best songs on the record featuring Buckingham’s stellar guitar work and her harmonies overlapping perfectly on his tunes.
When someone has that big of a record blow-up, though, there’s bound to doubt whether you can do it again. There was always a sneaky suspicion that the band had made a fluke out of their massive disagreements. Still, if everyone was expecting them to roll over Rumours 2: Gossip Train, Buckingham made it crystal clear that wasn’t going to happen on Tusk.
Outside of everyone else being on the same page, Buckingham’s insistence on changing his sound was always front and centre. Nicks and Christine McVie could still write phenomenal songs, but having to deal with Buckingham acting like a mad scientist trying to make sure that every song sounded right was enough for them to tap out and let him do whatever he wanted in the studio.
Despite there being some good ideas on the record, he felt that it was ultimately responsible for breaking his creative relationship with Nicks, saying, “Stevie and I could never quite find each other after Tusk. You have to understand that this is someone I met when I was 16. I was completely devastated when she took off. And yet, trying to rise above that professionally, I produced hits for her, I had to do a lot of things for her that I really didn’t want to do. If I kicked her onstage, that was….something coming through the veneer. There has been a lot of darkness.”
Even on their later albums, you can tell that Nicks is keeping the band at arm’s length to a certain degree. Mirage and Tango in the Night are still fantastic albums for what they are, but there’s a good chance that Nicks would have given anything to not have to be in the same room with Buckingham by the time they finished recording.
But maybe it was best to leave the legacy where it was back then. There were many times when Buckingham and Nicks came to blows, but it’s a lot better for both of them to be on the same page professionally than trying to test their limits with each other every time they try to write a song.
