The staggering amount of cocaine Mick Fleetwood claims Fleetwood Mac snorted
Fleetwood Mac pushed hedonism to the limit and could not locate the off-switch to turn off the breaks. Each band member was locked into the same manic lifestyle facilitated by the unconventional rock ‘n’ roll world they called home.
They weren’t the first or last group to succumb to the temptations of being in a successful rock band. For better or worse, excess is seen as part of the job description, and it’s one of the only industries where it’s seemed widely acceptable to enjoy a drink while in the office. However, there’s a stark difference between having a beer on stage and the substances consumed by Fleetwood Mac.
During their debaucherous heyday, Fleetwood Mac could out-party any band on the planet. Despite their reckless lifestyle, they were fortunate that narcotics only devastated their personal relationships, which, luckily, helped fuel timeless music. This could have easily led to another rock ‘n’ roll tragedy, but fortunately, they all lived to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Initially, their shared love of cocaine was a bond between the band, and each member used it recreationally. However, gradually, it seeped its way into their daily lives until they couldn’t function without the aid of the white powder.
No matter where Fleetwood Mac was in the world, they could always rely on the packet in their pocket for support. Whether they were in the studio or about to play an arena, cocaine-fuelled everything related to Fleetwood Mac and turned their personal lives upside down. To their credit, during this chaotic period of turmoil, the band made the best music of their career, producing Rumours and Tusk.
When their tour for Tusk ended in 1980, Fleetwood Mac took a short break before reconvening to make Mirage ahead of a lengthy five-year hiatus. Stevie Nicks was the main culprit in the group before seeking help for her addiction in 1986, which proved to be a long road to recovery.
In 2021, Nicks opened up about her road to sobriety with Tim McGraw on his Apple Music show. “I managed to save myself. I got through some pretty scary moments, but I saved me, nobody else saved me,” she proudly said. “I survived me. I survived my cocaine. I survived by myself. I checked myself into rehab. Nobody did that for me. I did it and that’s like with my whole life.”
Despite the band taking a break in 1982, Nicks didn’t immediately curve her habits, which, if anything, increased. The singer was in a dark place as her personal life imploded into ruins following the death of her best friend while Nicks attempted to launch her solo career.
When Fleetwood Mac finally returned to the studio to create Tango in the Night, Nicks allegedly frequently blacked out, which was the wake-up call she needed to get clean. “All of us were drug addicts, but there was a point where I was the worst drug addict,” she once told Louder Sound. “I was a girl, I was fragile, and I was doing a lot of coke. And I had that hole in my nose. So it was dangerous.”
As a result of the vast quantities of cocaine that Nicks had consumed, her nose could take no more. This was the final warning sign she needed to stop taking the drug, and thankfully, she entered the Betty Ford rehabilitation facility. Although Nicks says she was the biggest cocaine culprit in Fleetwood Mac, each band member at one stage was dependent on the substance. Due to the ridiculous wealth they’d accrued thanks to their music, Fleetwood Mac didn’t need to be careful about the financial costs of their drug use, which allowed them to keep the party going non-stop for many years.
Admittedly, nobody will ever know for sure how much cocaine Fleetwood Mac managed to consume during their reckless period. However, if anybody could make an accurate estimate, it’s Mick Fleetwood. He once speculated: “I guess we figured we did X amount a day, and then some goofball got out a calculator and came up with that seven miles figure and said, ‘Isn’t that funny?’ And it sort of is. But not in the context of where I want to end up,” Fleetwood said to The Sun. “There was never a conscious decision on my part to stop that lifestyle. I think it naturally just drifted away,” he added.
Thankfully, in Fleetwood’s case, he grew out of using cocaine on a destructive basis and matured into another phase of his life. This was the case for the rest of the band, too. It was only Nicks who needed professional assistance to quit the drug, which is nothing short of a miracle considering their high-level usage. Additionally, they were lucky not to have any casualties within their camp, and thankfully, Nicks eventually prioritised her health above all else.
