The Fleetwood Mac riff Lindsey Buckingham called “epic”
Fleetwood Mac is a band with many phases. Members have come and gone, their sound has changed again and again either through artistic evolution or the result of tumultuous in fighting. But never was it stronger than with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham at the helm, with his signature riffs and licks that even he would describe as “epic”.
Buckingham is such a powerful player that when he departed in 2018 and was booted from the lineup, he needed to be replaced by not one but two players. It took Mike Campbell and Neil Finn working together to attempt to emulate the sound that Buckingham achieved all on his own, writing guitar parts that are not only anthemic and iconic but clearly so advanced that they need an extra pair of hands.
Buckingham has more than his fair share of incredible instrumental moments across the Fleetwood Mac discography. There’s the soaring solo in ‘The Chain’, his unique finger-picking in ‘Never Going Back Again’, or the rolling, spiralling playing on ‘Big Love’, to name just a few. As he and Stevie Nicks joined the band in 1975, their addition levelled the group up and launched them into their most successful era ever, making them the legacy act they are today.
Part of that comes down to Buckingham and Nicks’ earlier efforts. The couple met in high school and then spent years together as creative and romantic partners. In 1973, they landed a record deal with Polydor and released their debut album, Buckingham Nicks, but it was a flop. They soon found themselves with no money, no contract, and no idea where to go next. They were both still writing songs, but with nothing to do with them, the hits lay dormant in notepads.
That was until they met Mick Fleetwood and were invited into his group, stating that they came as a package deal. With the band set up around them, their drafted works finally found a home, and it was bigger and better than ever.
One of the songs that Buckingham likes best was born in that confused interim period. When the pair joined the band, they showed the others all their demoed takes of songs that had originally been made for Buckingham Nicks. “It made the process of cutting that first album much easier than it would’ve otherwise been, working with people we’d never worked with before,” he said of making their first Fleetwood Mac album. And now, with a full band, they sounded better than ever, including one track the guitarist calls “epic”.
‘I’m So Afraid’ now sits on that 1975 self-titled album. It navigates Buckingham’s tricky feelings towards the music industry as an aptly timed ode to simply trying to trust the process and hope it will all work out in the end. “It was an exploration into two things. One, into the use of a guitar as a very orchestral thing with a triad of melody going on. And then, the unleashing of the solo at the end, which grew into epic proportions over the years on stage,” he said. “It also addressed the yin-yang of having confidence and having faith that you have something to offer in a somewhat tenuous environment that is the entertainment industry, And yet, there’s always a fear underneath that.”
Written in a moment of panic as the musician felt untethered from his career, the final song on the album brings it all full circle, as that confidence and faith paid off.
