The 1987 album Lindsey Buckingham called completely “stupid”
Being a member of Fleetwood Mac was never going to be the easiest job for Lindsey Buckingham.
The idea of him and Stevie Nicks joining the group together was bound to be a recipe for disaster when they officially broke up, but even if they could turn their turmoil into solid gold, it was bound to do a number on their souls, the more often that they threw petty shots at each other in every single song. The guitarist could try his best to grin and bear it throughout every single record, but there was bound to be a moment where the bubble officially burst for him.
Then again, dealing with Buckingham was no picnic for the rest of the band, either. Anyone would have been glad to have someone who had that kind of foresight for what their songs needed, but Buckingham wasn’t necessarily going to care about people’s feelings in the studio, either. He knew what every song needed, and he was willing to step on more than a few toes if it meant getting what he wanted for whatever track he needed.
And while Rumours should have been the roughest moment, Buckingham proved that the rest of the band didn’t realise how tough it was going to be on Tusk. The double album is certainly one of the most accomplished records in their catalogue, but considering how different Buckingham’s tunes sound compared to everyone else’s, you would have thought that he was trying to form a completely different band around him half the time.
He wanted to fit in with the sounds of new wave, but Nicks wasn’t going to go along with the program. She had been stifled for far too long, and since the rest of the band was willing to turn down some of her greatest songs, Bella Donna was the only way for her to survive as a singer. She needed that kind of outlet, but when she started to become one of the biggest solo stars of the band, Buckingham started to get more than a little bit jealous.
After all, he put out his own solo singles, and while he did have the occasional hit like ‘Holiday Road’, having to wait around for Nicks as she went on solo tours wasn’t exactly fun. She did still show up to work every single time they made a record, but even if they could make a song like ‘Gypsy’ sound absolutely perfect, Tango in the Night was the one moment where Buckingham felt like he couldn’t take it anymore.
Nicks had been gone for far too long, and after having to complete a lot of the record without her, he felt that it was too silly for him to continue with the group if it meant waiting around, saying, “Once Stevie was singled out and selected as the star of the band, the machinery of the rock business clicked in, and things really got stupid. By the time of Tango, you could hardly fit all these people in one room for a band meeting. It was a heartbreaking thing to watch, until it became almost comical.”
Then again, maybe Buckingham didn’t like a taste of his own medicine, either. My heart goes out to him for having all these ideas and having no means to get them out, but if we’re being completely fair, this was an example of Nicks doing the same thing that he had done to her when she felt stifled for having her songs rejected. If that’s how he was feeling during production, though, he wasn’t about to take the same kind of bullshit once they went out on tour.
They didn’t necessarily need to resort to getting into a physical altercation by any means, but by the time that Buckingham decided to leave the band, it was almost like an act of mercy. They had spent so many years walking on eggshells, and even if they had lost a core piece of their identity, it made more sense for them to break things off than try to continue on and feeling absolutely miserable.
