1977 - Everything Fleetwood Mac 1977 Apr 09, 2008 at 06:33 PM 1977 Yesterday's Gone The first output from 1976's recording sessions hit the stores at the end of December and immediately began charging up the charts. "Go Your Own Way" and its flip side "Silver Springs" were but a taste of what was to come, and a fine taste they are. "Go Your Own Way" is certainly the strongest rocker the band produced since 1970's "Green Manalishi", featuring Lindsey Buckingham flawless playing which builds to a fever-pitch as the song progresses--and one of the coolest air-guitar songs for many a teenager of that era (including the author)! It's B-side, the beautiful "Silver Springs", is one of Stevie Nicks' finest efforts, with her unerring sense of melody and word-imagery featured throughout. The theme of the lyrics for both songs is one of relationships on the rocks, a fitting theme since that is exactly what the two composers were going through. And they weren't alone. The new album, Rumours , which finally came out in February, followed this theme.

Not only was Nicks' and Buckingham's relationship (they were never married) at an end, but also the McVies were splitting up and Mick Fleetwood, who had reunited with his wife Jenny after the Bob Weston debacle, was also on the verge of divorce. To complicate matters further, the actual recording of the album was plagued with technical difficulties throughout. For example, one of the tape machines at one point chewed up a significant amount of material, earning it the nickname "Jaws" and necessitating rerecording the destroyed tape. Situations like this, plus the continued success of the previous album, pushed the release date for Rumours further and further back. It was the first Mac album released on the Warner Bros. label, perhaps indicating the band had been long overdue for a promotion. It debuted in the Billboard charts at number 10, and very quickly made it to Number One where it stayed for six months (May through all of November, a record at the time), and was either Number One or Two for a total of ten months (March 1977 to January 1978).

Eventually the album would sell over 25 million copies, becoming one of the top four or five sellers in the whole history of recorded music! There were four Top Ten singles spawned from Rumours . "Silver Springs" was also originally intended for the album, but was dropped at the last minute, ostensibly because there wasn't enough room on the disc. But that explanation sounded alot like a cop-out to its composer, and this issue remained a sore-spot for Stevie Nicks (who was justifiably proud of the song) for a long time to come. The second single, Stevie's ethereal ballad "Dreams", may have eased whatever anxiety she felt, however. It was, after all, the first (and, as of this writing, the only) Fleetwood Mac single to top the Billboard US Hot 100 charts! It was backed by Christine's excellent "Songbird", a piano- solo ode to her breakup with John. "Songbird" was not actually recorded in the studio, but rather it was recorded in the cavernlike emptiness of Zellerback Auditorium (University of California, Berkeley), which very much enhanced the emotionality of the track.

The third single was Christine McVie's "Don't Stop", a bouncy song full of hope for the future. So hopeful, in fact, that fifteen years later, in 1992, Bill Clinton chose this song as the theme song for his successful presidential campaign! The U.S. single came dressed in a nice picture sleeve--the first US single so honored--that was essentially a reprint of the album cover photo. The final Rumours single was Christine's "You Make Loving Fun", itself a sort of postscript to 1975's "Say You Love Me". The British and American releases of the "Don't Stop" and "You Make Loving Fun" singles switched B-sides "Gold Dust Woman" and "Never Going Back Again". The album was so chock-full of potential singles that really any one of them could have been hits, prompting one critic to remark that if they had chosen to release the hole in the middle that that too would have gone double-platinum! One especially fine track is "The Chain", a complex, multilayered track that seemed to, in one line, underscore the entire album: "Damn your love/Damn your lies".

It's also the first group composition (in which all band memebers are credited) since 1971's "What A Shame". By fall, Warner Bros. had rereleased the first two A-sides as part of their "Back-to-Back Hits" series, which of course caused the price of the original "Go Your Own Way" single (with its non-LP B-side "Silver Springs") to leap in value on the secondary market. The UK record buying public was slower to warm up to the Mac, but by November 1977, Rumours had made it to Number Three, and while all four singles made it into the Top 40 in Britain, none climbed any higher than "Dreams" at Number 24. The interpersonal struggles within the band served as fodder for the tabloids, the music press, and "celebrity" magazines like People...all of which helped carry the buzz for the new album and kept the musicians in the public eye. And of course the nearly constant worldwide touring didn't hurt, either. In the summer of 1977, Warner Brothers purchased Sire Records from ABC.

This brought the old back catalog finally under the WB umbrella in America, just in time to cash in on the new popularity of the band stateside. This promising scenario resulted in autumn rereleases for Fleetwood Mac In Chicago , The Legendary Christine Perfect Album and, for the first time in the United States, The Original Fleetwood Mac . However, other opportunites were lost. Rather than do a good reissue job of the old Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and Mr. Wonderful albums, with perhaps another album to cover the uncollected singles, B-sides, etc., they opted for reissuing Vintage Years. In Britain, however, the old Blue Horizon catalog was still controlled by CBS Records. They cashed in on the success of Rumours in the summer with a somewhat bizarre collection entitled Albatross . In this record, they combined one side of the LP with various tracks from the first two Fleetwood Mac albums and some singles with another side consisting of excerpts from The Legendary Christine Perfect Album . The former members of the band were also busy in 1977. In addition to the Danny Kirwan album already mentioned, Bob Weston was also active.

He appeared on Sandy Denny's (formerly with the UK folk/rock band Fairport Convention) album Rendezvous . And in The Best of Savoy Brown , released in January, Dave Walker is also represented, if only by way of reissue. But the big success story for 1977 was Bob Welch. After Paris folded up shop late in 1976, a disappointed Bob decided that he would concentrate on creating a hit record no matter what. He joined John and Mick's Seedy Management and recruited new musicians (and some old friends) and veteran producer (John) Carter and got down to work. By the end of the summer, the product of this outburst hit the stores. French Kiss , as the new album was called, was a triumph. It was a collection of very commercial yet also artisically pleasing songs filled with hit potential. Welch considered carefully what the first single would be...and he chose to give his old Bare Trees track "Sentimental Lady" a new lease on life with the assistance of old friends Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie and new friend Lindsey Buckingham. It was a strategy that paid off--"Sentimental Lady" made it to Number 8.

Many of the other songs on French Kiss leaned strongly on the disco sound so common to the American music scene in the late '70s, but here too, the huge excesses of that particular genre of popular music were avoided. Welch could still rock, and nowhere is that more evident than on the second single, "Ebony Eyes", which also scored another hit for him. There was also a third single, "Hot Love, Cold World" which was originally the B-side of "Sentimental Lady", indicating that no one could have forseen this kind of success! It also was a hit, making it to the #31 slot. The 45 came dressed in a picture sleeve that was a miniature version of the LP cover. All-in-all, Welch achieved his goal: three hit singles and a platinum album ( French Kiss made it to Number 12)--not shabby for a debut! And speaking of debuts, Stevie and Lindsey, despite all their relationship difficulties, also found time to coproduce an album by a friend of theirs, Walter Egan. Egan's debut, Fundamental Role , hit the stores in the spring and made it as high as 137.

Greater success would be forthcoming for Egan, however. With all the fresh activity and the band's (and Bob Welch's) new-found, second chance at success, one wonders what happened to Peter Green. Sadly, the news is not good. In the years since the end of his recording career, Green wandered from job to job, worked as a grave digger, jammed in local pubs with various people, slept on the floors of assorted friends and acquaintences. He was once nearly married. His mental state was still unstable, and he was for a time institutionalized. He underwent electroconvulsive (ECT) shock therapy. In short, he drifted while trying to put his previous life behind him. But at the beginning of 1977, Peter Green had slipped to a new low: he was arrested for threatening accountant Clifford Adams with a rifle (though the weapon in question was not in his hands at the time). This regretable incident occurred because Mr. Adams was trying to pay Green a royalty check! Peter wanted no part of it--he wanted his royalty payments (estimated at around 30,000 a year at that time) stopped.

He was sentenced to Horton hospital, a psychiatric institution in London, and was later moved to The Priory, a private mental health clinic. But, as things turned out, it may have been just what he needed...by autumn he was back in the studio! Fleetwood Mac - Biography | Billboard Fleetwood Mac 1967 Members: Lindsey Buckingham Dave Mason Stevie Nicks Bob Welch Billy Burnette Mick Fleetwood Danny Kirwan Christine McVie Jeremy Spencer Rick Vito John McVie Bekka Bramlett Peter Green Dave Walker Bob Weston While most bands undergo a number of changes over the course of their careers, few groups experienced such radical stylistic changes as Fleetwood Mac. Initially conceived as a hard-edged British blues combo in the late '60s, the band gradually evolved into a polished pop/rock act over the course of a decade. Throughout all of their incarnations, the only consistent members of Fleetwood Mac were drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie -- the rhythm section that provided the band with its name. Ironically, they had the least influence over the musical direction of the band.

Originally, guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer provided the band with its gutsy, neo-psychedelic blues-rock sound, but as both guitarists descended into mental illness, the group began moving toward pop/rock with the songwriting of pianist Christine McVie. By the mid-'70s, Fleetwood Mac had relocated to California, where they added the soft rock duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to their lineup. Obsessed with the meticulously arranged pop of the Beach Boys and the Beatles, Buckingham helped the band become one of the most popular groups of the late '70s. Combining soft rock with the confessional introspection of singer/songwriters, Fleetwood Mac created a slick but emotional sound that helped 1977's Rumours become one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. The band retained its popularity through the early '80s, when Buckingham, Nicks, and Christine McVie all began pursuing solo careers. The band reunited for one album, 1987's Tango in the Night, before splintering in the late '80s.

Buckingham left the group initially, but the band decided to soldier on, releasing one other album before Nicks and McVie left the band in the early '90s, hastening the group's commercial decline. The roots of Fleetwood Mac lie in John Mayall's legendary British blues outfit, the Bluesbreakers. Bassist John McVie was one of the charter members of the Bluesbreakers, joining the group in 1963. In 1966 Peter Green replaced Eric Clapton, and a year later drummer Mick Fleetwood joined. Inspired by the success of Cream, the Yardbirds, and Jimi Hendrix, the trio decided to break away from Mayall in 1967. At their debut at the British Jazz and Blues Festival in August, Bob Brunning was playing bass in the group, since McVie was still under contract to Mayall. He joined the band a few weeks after their debut; by that time, slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer had joined the band. Fleetwood Mac soon signed with Blue Horizon, releasing their eponymous debut the following year. Fleetwood Mac was an enormous hit in the U.K., spending over a year in the Top Ten.

Despite its British success, the album was virtually ignored in America. During 1968, the band added guitarist Danny Kirwan. The following year, they recorded Fleetwood Mac in Chicago with a variety of bluesmen, including Willie Dixon and Otis Spann. The set was released later that year, after the band had left Blue Horizon for a one-album deal with Immediate Records; in the U.S., they signed with Reprise/Warner Bros., and by 1970, Warner began releasing the band's British records as well. Fleetwood Mac released English Rose and Then Play On during 1969, which both indicated that the band was expanding its music, moving away from its blues purist roots. That year, Peter Green's "Man of the World" and "Oh Well" were number two hits. Though his music was providing the backbone of the group, Green was growing increasingly disturbed due to his large ingestion of hallucinogenic drugs. After announcing that he was planning to give all of his earnings away, Green suddenly left the band in the spring of 1970; he released two solo albums over the course of the '70s, but he rarely performed after leaving Fleetwood Mac.

The band replaced him with Christine Perfect, a vocalist/pianist who had earned a small but loyal following in the U.K. by singing with Spencer Davis and the Chicken Shack. She had already performed uncredited on Then Play On. Contractual difficulties prevented her from becoming a full-fledged member of Fleetwood Mac until 1971; by that time she had married John McVie. Christine McVie didn't appear on 1970's Kiln House, the first album the band recorded without Peter Green. For that album, Jeremy Spencer dominated the band's musical direction, but he had also been undergoing mental problems due to heavy drug use. During the band's American tour in early 1971, Spencer disappeared; it was later discovered that he left the band to join the religious cult the Children of God. Fleetwood Mac had already been trying to determine the direction of their music, but Spencer's departure sent the band into disarray. Christine McVie and Danny Kirwan began to move the band towards mainstream rock on 1971's Future Games, but new guitarist Bob Welch exerted a heavy influence on 1972's Bare Trees.

Kirwan was fired after Bare Trees and was replaced by guitarists Bob Weston and Dave Walker, who appeared on 1973's Penguin. Walker left after that album, and Weston departed after making its follow-up, Mystery to Me (1973). In 1974, the group's manager, Clifford Davis, formed a bogus Fleetwood Mac and had the band tour the U.S. The real Fleetwood Mac filed and won a lawsuit against the imposters -- after losing, they began performing under the name Stretch -- but the lawsuit kept the band off the road for most of the year. In the interim, they released Heroes Are Hard to Find. Late in 1974, Fleetwood Mac moved to California, with hopes of restarting their career. Welch left the band shortly after the move to form Paris. Early in 1975, Fleetwood and McVie were auditioning engineers for the band's new album when they heard Buckingham-Nicks, an album recorded by the soft rock duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The pair were asked to join the group and their addition revived the band's musical and commercial fortunes.

Not only did Buckingham and Nicks write songs, but they brought distinctive talents the band had been lacking. Buckingham was a skilled pop craftsman, capable of arranging a commercial song while keeping it musically adventurous. Nicks had a husky voice and a sexy, hippie gypsy stage persona that gave the band a charismatic frontwoman. The new lineup of Fleetwood Mac released their eponymous debut in 1975 and it slowly became a huge hit, reaching number one in 1976 on the strength of the singles "Over My Head," "Rhiannon," and "Say You Love Me." The album would eventually sell over five million copies in the U.S. alone. While Fleetwood Mac had finally attained their long-desired commercial success, the band was fraying apart behind the scenes. The McVies divorced in 1976, and Buckingham and Nicks' romance ended shortly afterward. The internal tensions formed the basis for the songs on their next album, Rumours.

Released in the spring of 1977, Rumours became a blockbuster success, topping the American and British charts and generating the Top Ten singles "Go Your Own Way," "Dreams," "Don't Stop," and "You Make Loving Fun." It would eventually sell over 17 million copies in the U.S. alone, making it the second biggest-selling album of all time. Fleetwood Mac supported the album with an exhaustive, lucrative tour and then retired to the studio to record their follow-up to Rumours. A wildly experimental double album conceived largely by Buckingham, 1979's Tusk didn't duplicate the enormous success of Rumours, yet it did go multi-platinum and featured the Top Ten singles "Sara" and "Tusk." In 1980, they released the double album Live. Following the Tusk tour, Fleetwood, Buckingham, and Nicks all recorded solo albums.

Of the solo projects, Stevie Nicks' Bella Donna (1981) was the most successful, peaking at number one and featuring the hit singles "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," "Leather and Lace," and "Edge of Seventeen." Buckingham's Law and Order (1981) was a moderate success, spawning the Top Ten "Trouble." Fleetwood, for his part, made a world music album called The Visitor. Fleetwood Mac reconvened in 1982 for Mirage. More conventional and accessible than Tusk, Mirage reached number one and featured the hit singles "Hold Me" and "Gypsy." After Mirage, Buckingham, Nicks, and Christine McVie all worked on solo albums. The hiatus was due to a variety of reasons. Each member had his or her own manager, Nicks was becoming the group's breakaway star, Buckingham was obsessive in the studio, and each member was suffering from various substance addictions. Nicks was able to maintain her popularity, with The Wild Heart (1983) and Rock a Little (1985) both reaching the Top 15.

Christine McVie also had a Top Ten hit with "Got a Hold on Me" in 1984. Buckingham received the strongest reviews of all, but his 1984 album Go Insane failed to generate a hit. Fleetwood Mac reunited to record a new album in 1985. Buckingham, who had grown increasingly frustrated with the musical limitations of the band, decided to make it his last Fleetwood Mac project. When the resulting album, Tango in the Night, was finally released in 1987, it was greeted with mixed reviews but strong sales, reaching the Top Ten and generating the Top 20 hits "Little Lies," "Seven Wonders," and "Everywhere." Buckingham decided to leave Fleetwood Mac after completing Tango in the Night, and the group replaced him with guitarists Billy Burnette and Rick Vito. The new lineup of the band recorded their first album, Behind the Mask, in 1990. It became the band's first album since 1975 to not go gold. Following its supporting tour, Nicks and Christine McVie announced they would continue to record with the group, but not tour.

Vito left the band in 1991, and the group released the box set 25 Years -- The Chain the following year. The classic Fleetwood Mac lineup of Fleetwood, the McVies, Buckingham, and Nicks reunited to play President Bill Clinton's inauguration in early 1993, but the concert did not lead to a full-fledged reunion. Later that year, Nicks left the band and was replaced by Bekka Bramlett and Dave Mason; Christine McVie left the group shortly afterward. The new lineup of Fleetwood Mac began touring in 1994, releasing Time the following year to little attention. While the new version of Fleetwood Mac wasn't commercially successful, neither were the solo careers of Buckingham, Nicks, and McVie, prompting speculation of a full-fledged reunion in 1997. Soon these whispers proved to be true, as the classic Rumours quintet reunited for a live performance that became the 1997 album The Dance.

The album performed well, debuting at number one on Billboard and generating an adult contemporary hit in the new version of "Landslide." Fleetwood Mac supported The Dance with a tour that lasted throughout the year and, early in 1998, the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Not long afterward, Christine McVie announced she was leaving the band. Her departure may have slowed the speed of Fleetwood Mac's reunion, but the remaining quartet set to work writing and recording a new album. The resulting Say You Will appeared in April of 2003; it was their first studio album in eight years and the first in 16 to feature Buckingham and Nicks. Say You Will performed well -- it went gold in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, with the singles "Peacekeeper" and "Say You Will" reaching the U.S. Adult Contemporary Top 20 -- and the accompanying international tour was a success. After a few quiet years where Buckingham resumed his solo career and the group unsuccessfully courted Sheryl Crow as a replacement for Christine McVie, they reconvened for a tour in 2009.

Four years later, the group celebrated the 35th anniversary of Rumours with a new deluxe box reissue accompanied by a tour. As the tour got underway in April, the band unexpectedly released a four-track Extended Play of new material; it received good notices and entered the U.S. charts at 48. During a three-night stint at London's O2 in September 2013, Christine McVie appeared with Fleetwood Mac for the first time in 15 years. In January of 2014, the band announced that Christine was rejoining the group and they started recording a new album. The progress on the new album was slow and steady, partially due to individual solo projects, partially due to interruptions caused by the band's ongoing world tour; they played international dates in both 2014 and 2015. As the group continued to chip away at their new record, they released a super deluxe reissue of Tusk in time for the holidays of 2015, which was followed the subsequent fall by a deluxe reissue of Mirage.

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi Related Artists The 20 Best Fleetwood Mac Songs of All Time :: Music :: Lists :: Fleetwood Mac :: Page 1 :: Paste The 20 Best Fleetwood Mac Songs of All Time By Holly Gleason | May 29, 2014 | 9:38am Share Tweet Submit Pin Fleetwood Mac embodied the high gloss, tube-topped reality of the late ’70s like few others. Equal parts British blues rockers, folkie bohemians and thick South California soft-pop harmonies, they crafted a songbook rife with strife, long on eroticism and charged by the cocaine-fueled reality of the era. Post-disco, it was the illusion of earthy, mystical post-hippie magic, the return of electric guitars and rhythm sections that echoed. Ironically, it was the merger of two Northern California dreamers—Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks—that provided the solid rhythm section of Britain’s ferocious Mick Fleetwood on drums, velvety vocalist/B-3/pianist Christine McVie and melody-driven bassist John McVie the catalyst for superstardom.

Aggressive playing, pop-inflected melodies and sexual frisson ignited rock that was palatable in the malls as well as back rooms, yet some of pre-Buckingham/Nicks songs remain pivotal in the catalogue. And what a catalogue! The self-titled “white album” lead to the 45-million selling Rumours—inescapable for a period of almost three years. They followed with the progressive, challenging two-record set Tusk, the more conventional Tango in the Night and Mirage. When Bill Clinton made his ran at the White House, it was “Don’t Stop” that fired up his team; for his Inauguration, the band reunited to play. Here are the 20 best songs from Fleetwood Mac: 20. “Gypsy” (Mirage) In some ways, it felt a little like “Stevie does Stevie,” but it’s hard to argue with the free-spirited declaration of self.

For Fleetwood Mac, the other side of Southern California’s “peaceful easy feeling,” this was the Bohemian manifesto of sparkle, sunshine, chiffon and wanderlust on a cloud of creamy synthesizers from Christine McVie—with a confectionary video that was every hippie girl’s dazzling fantasy embodied by Stevie Nicks in full regalia. 19. “Rattlesnake Shake” (Then Play On) People forget that the Mighty Mac started as a British blues band, mining the roots and creating an electric homage a la Led Zeppelin or the Yardbirds. To understand the toppling rhythms that drove latter versions, start with Peter Green yowling about sex and masturbation and Mick Fleetwood brings those sticks down hard and John McVie undulates with a melodic sense that underscores the potency of the beat. (And Playboy founder Hugh Hefner with “Hee Haw” Honey girlfriend Barbi Benton adds a nice flourish) 18. “Over My Head” (Fleetwood Mac) When “the White Album”—as it was known among Mac fans—was released, “Over My Head” seemed to be the track people watched.

A jangling bit of satiny desire, the notion of surrendering to want and savoring what was there was driven by Christine McVie’s warm alto and steamy B-3, but also given heft from then-husband John McVie’s bass and brand new Lindsey Buckingham’s electric guitar embellishments. 17. “Blue Letter” (Who’s the New Girl?) Having just joined the band, Lindsey Buckingham figured out how to bridge the realm of Brit blues and the more euphoric rock/pop he and paramour Stevie Nicks had been making on their own. This kiss-off, rendered with a bit of ’50s pop urgency and a lacerating guitar part, foreshadowed the turmoil that defined Mac’s Rumours; but in the moment, it was a hard-charging feel-good “eff you” that had just enough teeth and a blistering guitar solo to make the Mac’s most successful line-up more than spacy hippies. 16. “The Chain” (Rumours) The vitrol of betrayal drips from this track, stretched over Fleetwood’s percussive bed like some gothic torture chamber.

As an entire band imploded under drugs, booze, hubris and the romantic uncouplings of the McVies and Buckingham-Nicks, this raw three-part vocal harmony, circular and in unison, against a stark track is staggering in its delineation of the promise made—and broken, the disorientation of what’s happened and the resolve of acrimony in the wake of it all. Built on a vacillating guitar part, that like tortured grief never crescendos or abates, the tension ratchets up to what becomes a tour du force jamslam between Buckingham, McVie and Fleetwood. Previous Fleetwood Mac — Listen for free on Spotify Fleetwood Mac Play on Spotify While most bands undergo a number of changes over the course of their careers, few groups experienced such radical stylistic changes as Fleetwood Mac. Initially conceived as a hard-edged British blues combo in the late '60s, the band gradually evolved into a polished pop/rock act over the course of a decade. Throughout all of their incarnations, the only consistent members of Fleetwood Mac were drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie -- the rhythm section that provided the band with its name.

Ironically, they had the least influence over the musical direction of the band. Originally, guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer provided the band with its gutsy, neo-psychedelic blues-rock sound, but as both guitarists descended into mental illness, the group began moving toward pop/rock with the songwriting of pianist Christine McVie . By the mid-'70s, Fleetwood Mac had relocated to California, where they added the soft rock duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to their lineup. Obsessed with the meticulously arranged pop of the Beach Boys and the Beatles , Buckingham helped the band become one of the most popular groups of the late '70s. Combining soft rock with the confessional introspection of singer/songwriters, Fleetwood Mac created a slick but emotional sound that helped 1977's Rumours become one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. The band retained its popularity through the early '80s, when Buckingham , Nicks , and Christine McVie all began pursuing solo careers. The band reunited for one album, 1987's Tango in the Night, before splintering in the late '80s.

Buckingham left the group initially, but the band decided to soldier on, releasing one other album before Nicks and McVie left the band in the early '90s, hastening the group's commercial decline. The roots of Fleetwood Mac lie in John Mayall 's legendary British blues outfit, the Bluesbreakers . Bassist John McVie was one of the charter members of the Bluesbreakers , joining the group in 1963. In 1966 Peter Green replaced Eric Clapton , and a year later drummer Mick Fleetwood joined. Inspired by the success of Cream , the Yardbirds , and Jimi Hendrix , the trio decided to break away from Mayall in 1967. At their debut at the British Jazz and Blues Festival in August, Bob Brunning was playing bass in the group, since McVie was still under contract to Mayall . He joined the band a few weeks after their debut; by that time, slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer had joined the band. Fleetwood Mac soon signed with Blue Horizon , releasing their eponymous debut the following year. Fleetwood Mac was an enormous hit in the U.K., spending over a year in the Top Ten.

Despite its British success, the album was virtually ignored in America. During 1968, the band added guitarist Danny Kirwan. The following year, they recorded Fleetwood Mac in Chicago with a variety of bluesmen, including Willie Dixon and Otis Spann . The set was released later that year, after the band had left Blue Horizon for a one-album deal with Immediate Records ; in the U.S., they signed with Reprise/Warner Bros. , and by 1970, Warner began releasing the band's British records as well. Fleetwood Mac released English Rose and Then Play On during 1969, which both indicated that the band was expanding its music, moving away from its blues purist roots. That year, Peter Green 's "Man of the World" and "Oh Well" were number two hits. Though his music was providing the backbone of the group, Green was growing increasingly disturbed due to his large ingestion of hallucinogenic drugs.

After announcing that he was planning to give all of his earnings away, Green suddenly left the band in the spring of 1970; he released two solo albums over the course of the '70s, but he rarely performed after leaving Fleetwood Mac. The band replaced him with Christine Perfect , a vocalist/pianist who had earned a small but loyal following in the U.K. by singing with Spencer Davis and the Chicken Shack . She had already performed uncredited on Then Play On. Contractual difficulties prevented her from becoming a full-fledged member of Fleetwood Mac until 1971; by that time she had married John McVie. Christine McVie didn't appear on 1970's Kiln House, the first album the band recorded without Peter Green . For that album, Jeremy Spencer dominated the band's musical direction, but he had also been undergoing mental problems due to heavy drug use. During the band's American tour in early 1971, Spencer disappeared; it was later discovered that he left the band to join the religious cult the Children of God. Fleetwood Mac had already been trying to determine the direction of their music, but Spencer 's departure sent the band into disarray.

Christine McVie and Danny Kirwan began to move the band towards mainstream rock on 1971's Future Games, but new guitarist Bob Welch exerted a heavy influence on 1972's Bare Trees. Kirwan was fired after Bare Trees and was replaced by guitarists Bob Weston and Dave Walker , who appeared on 1973's Penguin. Walker left after that album, and Weston departed after making its follow-up, Mystery to Me (1973). In 1974, the group's manager, Clifford Davis, formed a bogus Fleetwood Mac and had the band tour the U.S. The real Fleetwood Mac filed and won a lawsuit against the imposters -- after losing, they began performing under the name Stretch -- but the lawsuit kept the band off the road for most of the year. In the interim, they released Heroes Are Hard to Find. Late in 1974, Fleetwood Mac moved to California, with hopes of restarting their career. Welch left the band shortly after the move to form Paris.

Early in 1975, Fleetwood and McVie were auditioning engineers for the band's new album when they heard Buckingham-Nicks, an album recorded by the soft rock duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks . The pair were asked to join the group and their addition revived the band's musical and commercial fortunes. Not only did Buckingham and Nicks write songs, but they brought distinctive talents the band had been lacking. Buckingham was a skilled pop craftsman, capable of arranging a commercial song while keeping it musically adventurous. Nicks had a husky voice and a sexy, hippie gypsy stage persona that gave the band a charismatic frontwoman. The new lineup of Fleetwood Mac released their eponymous debut in 1975 and it slowly became a huge hit, reaching number one in 1976 on the strength of the singles "Over My Head," "Rhiannon," and "Say You Love Me." The album would eventually sell over five million copies in the U.S. alone. While Fleetwood Mac had finally attained their long-desired commercial success, the band was fraying apart behind the scenes.

The McVies divorced in 1976, and Buckingham and Nicks ' romance ended shortly afterward. The internal tensions formed the basis for the songs on their next album, Rumours. Released in the spring of 1977, Rumours became a blockbuster success, topping the American and British charts and generating the Top Ten singles "Go Your Own Way," "Dreams," "Don't Stop," and "You Make Loving Fun." It would eventually sell over 17 million copies in the U.S. alone, making it the second biggest-selling album of all time. Fleetwood Mac supported the album with an exhaustive, lucrative tour and then retired to the studio to record their follow-up to Rumours. A wildly experimental double album conceived largely by Buckingham , 1979's Tusk didn't duplicate the enormous success of Rumours, yet it did go multi-platinum and featured the Top Ten singles "Sara" and "Tusk." In 1980, they released the double album Live. Following the Tusk tour, Fleetwood , Buckingham , and Nicks all recorded solo albums.

Of the solo projects, Stevie Nicks ' Bella Donna (1981) was the most successful, peaking at number one and featuring the hit singles "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," "Leather and Lace," and "Edge of Seventeen." Buckingham 's Law and Order (1981) was a moderate success, spawning the Top Ten "Trouble." Fleetwood , for his part, made a world music album called The Visitor. Fleetwood Mac reconvened in 1982 for Mirage. More conventional and accessible than Tusk, Mirage reached number one and featured the hit singles "Hold Me" and "Gypsy." After Mirage, Buckingham , Nicks , and Christine McVie all worked on solo albums. The hiatus was due to a variety of reasons. Each member had his or her own manager, Nicks was becoming the group's breakaway star, Buckingham was obsessive in the studio, and each member was suffering from various substance addictions. Nicks was able to maintain her popularity, with The Wild Heart (1983) and Rock a Little (1985) both reaching the Top 15.

Christine McVie also had a Top Ten hit with "Got a Hold on Me" in 1984. Buckingham received the strongest reviews of all, but his 1984 album Go Insane failed to generate a hit. Fleetwood Mac reunited to record a new album in 1985. Buckingham , who had grown increasingly frustrated with the musical limitations of the band, decided to make it his last Fleetwood Mac project. When the resulting album, Tango in the Night, was finally released in 1987, it was greeted with mixed reviews but strong sales, reaching the Top Ten and generating the Top 20 hits "Little Lies," "Seven Wonders," and "Everywhere." Buckingham decided to leave Fleetwood Mac after completing Tango in the Night, and the group replaced him with guitarists Billy Burnette and Rick Vito . The new lineup of the band recorded their first album, Behind the Mask, in 1990. It became the band's first album since 1975 to not go gold. Following its supporting tour, Nicks and Christine McVie announced they would continue to record with the group, but not tour.

Vito left the band in 1991, and the group released the box set 25 Years -- The Chain the following year. The classic Fleetwood Mac lineup of Fleetwood , the McVies, Buckingham , and Nicks reunited to play President Bill Clinton's inauguration in early 1993, but the concert did not lead to a full-fledged reunion. Later that year, Nicks left the band and was replaced by Bekka Bramlett and Dave Mason ; Christine McVie left the group shortly afterward. The new lineup of Fleetwood Mac began touring in 1994, releasing Time the following year to little attention. While the new version of Fleetwood Mac wasn't commercially successful, neither were the solo careers of Buckingham , Nicks , and McVie, prompting speculation of a full-fledged reunion in 1997. Soon these whispers proved to be true, as the classic Rumours quintet reunited for a live performance that became the 1997 album The Dance.

The album performed well, debuting at number one on Billboard and generating an adult contemporary hit in the new version of "Landslide." Fleetwood Mac supported The Dance with a tour that lasted throughout the year and, early in 1998, the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Not long afterward, Christine McVie announced she was leaving the band. Her departure may have slowed the speed of Fleetwood Mac's reunion, but the remaining quartet set to work writing and recording a new album. The resulting Say You Will appeared in April of 2003; it was their first studio album in eight years and the first in 16 to feature Buckingham and Nicks . Say You Will performed well -- it went gold in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, with the singles "Peacekeeper" and "Say You Will" reaching the U.S. Adult Contemporary Top 20 -- and the accompanying international tour was a success. After a few quiet years where Buckingham resumed his solo career and the group unsuccessfully courted Sheryl Crow as a replacement for Christine McVie , they reconvened for a tour in 2009.

Four years later, the group celebrated the 35th anniversary of Rumours with a new deluxe box reissue accompanied by a tour. As the tour got underway in April, the band unexpectedly released a four-track Extended Play of new material; it received good notices and entered the U.S. charts at 48. During a three-night stint at London's O2 in September 2013, Christine McVie appeared with Fleetwood Mac for the first time in 15 years. In January of 2014, the band announced that Christine was rejoining the group and they started recording a new album. The progress on the new album was slow and steady, partially due to individual solo projects, partially due to interruptions caused by the band's ongoing world tour; they played international dates in both 2014 and 2015. As the group continued to chip away at their new record, they released a super deluxe reissue of Tusk in time for the holidays of 2015, which was followed the subsequent fall by a deluxe reissue of Mirage. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi Read More Show less

Question: What was the only Fleetwood Mac track to top the singles charts in the 70s?
Answer: Dreams