The song Lindsey Buckingham describes as “quintessential of my style”
Lindsey Buckingham grew up playing the guitar. Prior to performing with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham took his interest in banjo techniques and folk music to create a style purely driven by instinct. He delivered a psychedelic and hard rock sound in various bands before focusing on Buckingham Nicks with his then-girlfriend, Stevie Nicks.
The pairing resulted in some of the most endearing musical soundscapes as they blended Nicks’ whimsical sensibilities with Buckingham’s rock edge. It was precisely this distinction that made Fleetwood Mac one of the most endearing and dynamic bands out there, as Buckingham sought to craft songs driven by guitar riffs and melodies, while Nicks focused on vocals and lyricism.
Many of Buckingham’s Fleetwood Mac songs represent his specific style, like the heavy groove in ‘Go Your Own Way’ and the gritty, embittered ‘What Makes You Think You’re the One’. Of course, many of these songs were also influenced by Buckingham’s own anguish, but even if he felt inspired by more lighthearted subjects, his style would likely have remained largely the same.
Proof of this could be found when looking at Buckingham’s trajectory as a guitarist: it wasn’t just within Fleetwood Mac that he let his talent shine; he always leaned towards the sharper tones that showed off his prowess as someone who studies guitar music. Within Buckingham Nicks, Buckingham’s guitar parts would often lead the entire piece, setting the scene long before any vocals came in.
While there are many examples of this, like ‘Long Distance Winner’, ‘Races Are Run’, ‘Lola (My Love)’, and even ‘Rhiannon’, the musician seemed to have left all reservations at the door when he composed ‘Frozen Love’. Stylistically, this song represented everything Buckingham had sought to hone at that point, with swinging guitar licks and a groove alongside a powerful headiness that perfectly contrasts the more lighthearted lyricism.
In Buckingham’s view, this was the moment he truly felt he had his own sound. In an interview with Uproxx, he once said that, while his style “runs through the entire body of work”, ‘Frozen Love’ is the one that “is probably quintessential of my style”. Discussing its arrangements, he added: “There’s a well-played acoustic part, as well as a well-played electric part.”
These elements were fused together by Buckingham’s love for folk music, which, as he explains, began to click once “the first wave of rock started to ebb a little bit.” While many likely attempted to grapple with new ways of playing, Buckingham saw this as a “natural place to pick up, in terms of the finger style and an orchestra style of playing.” As a result, he wrote ‘Frozen Love’ by “marrying aspects of folk guitar and perhaps a little bit of classical in there.”
