The Wife® and I continued our Bands That Were Popular Before We Were Born Tour by seeing Fleetwood Mac this weekend.

It’s always hit or miss with old bands. The shows can be really good (Billy Joel/Elton John), or really pathetic (Steppenwolf). This one was a good show. The only bummer was that Christine McVie was not there, so we didn’t get quite the whole lineup.

The onstage banter by the band inspired me to come home and do some research. While all bands tend to have a tempestuous back story (hence Behind the Music) the FM story is a little more tumultuous than most:

  • Fleetwood Mac was formed in 1967 in the UK.
  • The band is named for two of the members, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. McVie was not part of the band when it formed. But Mick Fleetwood named the band for him anyway, expecting that eventually he’d be able to convince McVie to join his band. He joined several months later.
  • The band has had 16 band members over its 42 years of existence. They have had several different distinct lineups.
  • Fleetwood Mac started as a blues band in the UK. They had a few hits that you have probably heard, but probably didn’t know was them. One was Black Magic Woman, written and originally recorded by FM, but really made famous by Santana. The other is Oh, Well which has the lyrics “I can’t help about the shape I’m in/I can’t sing, I ain’t pretty, and my legs are thin.”
  • The bluesy style was due in large part to frontman Peter Green. He was in the band for a few years until he decided to stop being a rock star. He decided instead to give away all of his money. He may or may not have been schizophrenic.
  • After Green left the band, they went on a tour in the US. During that tour one of the bandmembers disappeared. They found him a few days later. He had shaved his head and joined a cult. He chose to stay with the cult.
  • The next guy that joined the band ended up having an affair with Mick Fleetwood’s wife. He was fired, and the band kind of sort of broke up.
  • But they couldn’t break up, since they still had contracts for their remaining tour dates. So the band’s manager, without their consent, put together a completely new band with completely new people, stole the name Fleetwood Mac, and put his new band on tour. Eventually, through a few lawsuits, the band got their name back.
  • After getting their band name back, now frontman Bob Welch quit. This left the band with some holes to fill. (BTW, we’re only in 1974 at this point)
  • While in LA, Mick Fleetwood heard an recording by a band called Buckingham Nicks. He decided he wanted the guy from the band, Lindsey Buckingham, to join his band. Buckingham agreed to join if his girlfriend Stevie Nicks could come too.
  • At this point the band had the lineup that most fans are familiar with: Fleetwood, John and Christine McVie, and Buckingham and Nicks. They recorded their first album together and it was a hit.
  • Then the band recorded their follow-up album Rumours. During this time the McVies were divorcing, Buckingham and Nicks were breaking up, and Mick Fleetwood divorced his cheating wife. There may have been a few affairs in there as well. But all the drama led to great music, and the album went platinum 19 times.
  • The band pretty much stayed with the same lineup, and continued to record albums and tour occasionally.

Bonus Trivia:

  • Stevie Nicks’ real name is Stephanie. She’s originally from Phoenix, and she’s 61 years old. Her mother is still alive, and was in the audience.
  • Christine McVie’s birth name was Christine Perfect.
  • Mick Fleetwood is also 61. John McVie is 63.
  • Lindsey Buckingham plays a Rick Turner Model One Guitar. It was custom made for him. He has 3 of them. He uses several when playing live, trading them off between songs. He also does not use a guitar pick. He plays using a style called fingerpicking.
  • The Model One that Buckingham plays has more playable frets than many other guitars. There are 24 compared to 21 on a Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul.

Source: This Site and wiki