Unsuspecting Hits: The songs that made Fleetwood Mac unrivalled rock juggernauts
Amid the ongoing haze of everything beautiful about Stevie Nicks‘ artistry, perhaps one of the more startling facts is that she remains one of the most prophetic artists in history. After all, several Fleetwood Mac hits were already written before she even joined the band, making her a mere explosion waiting to happen. And the other members—well, let’s say everything came together the way stars illuminate the sky.
In a way, this hindsight makes everything about the Buckingham Nicks era feel deeply rooted in Fleetwood Mac’s success, with Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham working together to create a handful of songs and ideas that would later define their legacy. At the time, however, this felt so out of reach it seemed almost impossible, which, incidentally, was also the reason those songs came to life in the first place.
At the time, Nicks used this uncertainty to create music, channelling her frustrations and fears into what would eventually become ‘Landslide’. Without any preconceived ideas about the song’s forthcoming popularity, Nicks poured her heart out to express her strained relationship with the music industry and how difficult it was to keep on track when everything seemed to be slipping through her fingers.
It was also during this period of time that she wrote ‘Rhiannon’, an otherwise daring track about an “old Welsh witch” inspired by Triad by Mary Bartlet Leader. While the appeal of these songs is apparent today, back then, writing these, especially ‘Rhiannon’, was an immense risk, especially as it tapped into several themes and ideas not deemed “safe” or commercial by the standards of the time.
However, this, along with ‘Landslide’ and the Buckingham-penned track ‘Monday Morning’, eventually became the band’s guiding light, transforming them from a below-the-radar folk-rock entity to one with more of an explosive, mainstream edge. Buckingham’s, too, was written from personal experience, loosely inspired by his relationship with Nicks and exploring the nature of an uncommitted partner.
These three songs, with Nicks’ penchant for whimsical musings and relationship breakdowns and Buckingham’s affinity for injecting his romantic endeavours into art, set the building blocks for Fleetwood Mac’s strong presence in rock and accompanying radio monopoly, despite the unconventional nature of some of the sounds and lyrics. In the end, this worked in their favour, as not only did it showcase them as a band unflinching in their ability to air grievances publicly, but it also gave them an edge that not many others had at the time.
After all, a song like ‘Rhiannon’ might have seemed considerably niche and a hard sell, considering the seeds Nicks initially drew inspiration from. ‘Landslide’, too, might have been cast aside as merely another tender love ballad about everything and nothing, but these ambiguities and poetic lyrics helped establish the band as a force, charged by unrelenting emotional wit and an ability to put these complexities to words.
