The Fleetwood Mac album Stevie Nicks called “a nightmare”
Fleetwood Mac never claimed to have the easiest album sessions in the world. Throughout their time with every single lineup, it was anyone’s guess whether their time putting together tracks would end with artists throwing their instruments down in frustration or dissolving into a fistfight over who was getting the most songs on the record. While Stevie Nicks always tried to make the best out of every situation in the band, she admitted that one album was a disaster trying to put together.
When Nicks joined ‘The Mac’ with Lindsey Buckingham in the mid-1970s, it seemed like everything would come together perfectly. Since the blues-focused band had lost longtime guitar, Bob Welch, bringing in two world-class songwriters to round out the lineup gave way to the biggest hits of their career on songs like ‘Over My Head’ and ‘Landslide’.
Once the band settled into the studio to make their next album, they had been put through the emotional wringer one too many times. With two interband relationships falling apart, many of the songs that would occupy Rumours reflected their broken hearts, from Buckingham’s ‘Go Your Own Way’ to Christine McVie wishing John McVie peace on ‘Songbird’.
Although the album wasn’t pleasant to make, it would soon become the landmark album for the band, becoming one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. While any band would love the idea of hearing their songs wherever they went, one looming question was hanging around: how the hell were they going to follow it up?
By the time the band got to the studio to record what would become Tusk, every band member had different visions for where the band should go. While Nicks was looking to expand her craft as a spiritual rock songwriter, Buckingham had become enamoured with the sounds of post-punk and new wave music, trying to use that nervy energy while making his Brian Wilson-influenced symphonies.
Looking back on the album, most band members split the difference creatively, leading to a double album of material that could give the listener tonal whiplash if they weren’t careful. While Nicks loved the opportunity to get songs like ‘Sara’ off the ground, she didn’t necessarily remember the sessions fondly.
When talking about the post-Rumours period of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks said that it was a hellish environment having to wait for the rest of the band to gel, recalling in Gold Dust Woman, “That whole thing was a nightmare. It was horrible: months of sitting in that room, five days a week, all day long and all night sometimes, sitting on the couch just waiting”.
Since Nicks had also got out of a very public affair with drummer Mick Fleetwood, she would also say she would get tense in the studio. Regardless of the band camaraderie, Nicks often put her foot down in the studio, determined that none of her songs would be sabotaged in favour of what her bandmates wanted.
It didn’t take long for Nicks to find her footing outside of her primary outfit. As the 1980s began, Nicks would release her first solo album, Bella Donna, all while delicately balancing her time with Fleetwood Mac whenever she could. Nicks may have been indebted to the band that helped her reach the biggest musical heights imaginable, but Tusk was when she realised that she didn’t need to rely on them as a crutch either.
