Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Songs Top 10 Fleetwood Mac Songs By Michael Gallucci October 3, 2012 3:43 PM REDDIT Warner Bros. Records Hardcore fans will tell you, and insist, that Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967 and released their first album a year later. Those may be the facts, but for all intents and purposes the band didn't really start until 1975, when Americans Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined what was left of the British blues rockers, transforming the band into one of the most popular groups of the '70s. Fleetwood Mac's best songs feature a mix of British-rock muscle, L.A. pop smarts and the push and pull of three distinct singer-songwriters. Our list of the Top 10 Fleetwood Mac songs cover their golden era from 1975 to 1987. 10 Stevie Nicks' witchy-woman rep starts here, and it remains her most supernaturally spiked song.

Nicks likes to say 'Rhiannon' — which was released as a single in 1976 and just missed the Top 10 on the charts — is about a Medieval Welsh witch. Whatever the case, the haunting melody and fairy-tale lyrics have served as a template for her songwriting over the years, as well as the go-to name for classic-rock-lovin' strippers across the nation. The first single from 'Mirage' is one of Christine McVie's best songs and one of the band's greatest singles. That alone makes it one of Fleetwood Mac's Top 10 songs. But it's also a statement of purpose: After the occasionally odd detours Lindsey Buckingham took on 'Tusk,' the band got back to the lean, smart songcraft that fueled their two prior hit albums. From ‘Tango in the Night’ (1987) The last album released by the classic quintet before their 2003 reunion LP 'Say You Will' is a mixed listen. By this time, Nicks, McVie and Buckingham were saving their best songs for their solo albums. The standout single was written and almost entirely performed by Buckingham, who originally slated it for a solo record.

It reached No. 5 in 1987, despite the band's waning popularity in an era when looking good on MTV meant more than writing good songs. From: ‘Go Your Own Way’ single (1976) It's well-known that 'Rumours' was based on the dissolving personal relationships between the band members at the time (both Buckingham and Nicks and John and Christine McVie broke up as 'Rumours' was being made). This song added a professional wrinkle to the turmoil. The terrific 'Silver Springs' was cut from 'Rumours' and shoved to the flip side of 'Go Your Own Way.' Nicks never really forgave the rest of the band for the slight. The breakup song was later released as a single from the live album 'The Dance' and included on the 2004 reissue of 'Rumours,' where it rightfully belongs. Stevie Nicks' prettiest song has had a long and winding path on its way to the Top 10 Fleetwood Mac songs. It was originally released on 1975's self-titled album, buried on side two, where no one really paid much attention to it.

But over the years, as other artists — including Smashing Pumpkins and Dixie Chicks — covered it, 'Landslide' has become one of the band's enduring songs. Nicks wrote it before she and Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac. She was in her mid-20s at the time, but she somberly looks back on her past and forward to years to come, like there's a lifetime of regret behind her. 'Tusk' is filled with lots of weird moments (see No. 3 below). But the third single from the 1979 album is one of its most straightforward songs, a super-catchy slice of radio pop that clocks in at less than three minutes. The song — written by Christine McVie, who's joined by Buckingham on the chorus — might be the most baggage-free track in Fleetwood Mac's extensive catalog. It's a love song, and a relatively simple one at that. No easy task for a band that's treated the subject like a hard-impact contact sport. Lindsey Buckingham's 'Second Hand News' is the perfect introduction to the greatest breakup album ever made.

From the very first line — “I know there's nothing to say; someone has taken my place” — the damage is already done. Buckingham gets the final word (“One thing I think you should know,” he sings. “I ain't gonna miss you when you go — been down so long, I've been tossed around enough”), at least in this song. His ex still had a few things to get off her chest (see No. 7 and No. 2 on our list of the Top 10 Fleetwood Mac songs). Is 'Tusk' the weirdest song to ever hit the top 10? It's certainly an odd choice for the first taste of the long-awaited follow-up to one of the best-selling albums ever made. There's no hook, it's powered by an unwavering tribal drum beat and a freakin' marching band blasts its way through the last part of the song. And don't even bother trying to figure out what it's about. If nothing else, the song is a cornerstone to the consistently magnificent and occasionally baffling 'Tusk,' Lindsey Buckingham's finest moment as studio guru.

Stevie Nicks' greatest contribution to all of the he-said/she-said bickering that propelled 'Rumours' was written as her eight-year relationship to Lindsey Buckingham was falling apart. The song — Fleetwood Mac's only No. 1 — clearly references the breakup, but it also alludes to her fling with drummer Mick Fleetwood and the divorce of the band's other two members, John and Christine McVie. We'd say it best summed up the heart-scarring battleground of 'Rumours' if it wasn't for the song at the very top of our list. If you weren't 100 percent certain that ''Rumours' is a breakup album, the first single from Fleetwood Mac's gazillion-selling LP drives a sharp, pointed stake straight into the heart of the subject and holds up the bloody mess for all to see. There's lots of general bitching on the album, but 'Go Your Own Way' is the nastiest kiss-off — basically Lindsey Buckingham airing out his crumbling relationship to Stevie Nicks for all to hear.

His cathartic guitar solo at the end of the song says it all, and it's all you need to know why 'Go Your Own Way' sits at No. 1 on our list of the Top 10 Fleetwood Mac songs. What’s Your Favorite Fleetwood Mac Song? Did we overlook one of your favorite Fleetwood Mac songs in our Top 10 list? Let us know what you think we should have included in the comments section below. Top 100 Classic Rock Songs Welcome back to Ultimate Classic Rock It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on . To keep your personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you. To activate your account, please confirm your password. When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites. Enter your password YES, Activate My Account Now! Welcome back to Ultimate Classic Rock It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to using your original account information.

20 Insanely Great Fleetwood Mac Songs - NME NME 3:42 pm - Jul 16, 2012 0shares 0shares Getty With 17 studio albums, more cast changes than the Sugababes and a career spanning almost fifty years, there’s no denying the impact Fleetwood Mac have had on the musical world. From the indie tribute album, ‘Just Tell Me That You Want Me’, featuring Best Coast and Lykke Li, to the instant classic ‘Rumours’, it’s clear they’ve got some massive records. We gathered together our top twenty Fleetwood Mac songs right here just because. Enjoy. 20 ‘Save Me’ With Lindsey Buckingham gone, Fleetwood Mac roped in new members Billy Burnette and Rick Vito for 1990’s ‘Behind The Mask’. ‘Save Me’ is indicative of the era – with Wayne’s World-style guitar solos, and standard back-beat.

Regardless, there are flashes of brilliance – the vocal harmonies in the bridge on “You just won’t look my way”, and Nicks declaring “I can’t wait any longer for paradise.” From: ‘Behind The Mask’, 1990 19 ‘Big Love’ Lindsey Buckingham was originally going to use ‘Big Love’ for his third solo album, but instead the track found its way to ‘Tango In The Night’. Buckingham still managed to claim the track though – the feminine ‘aah’s on the track are his. He had his voice sampled and altered in studio so that it would sound like a woman’s. Which once you’ve heard, you can’t un-hear. From: ‘Tango In The Night’, 1987 18 ‘Family Man’ A tropical track from ‘Tango In The Night’ that sees Lindsey Buckingham channel a futuristic mix of Peter Gabriel and Friendly Fires’ Ed McFarlane. Using the layered male and female vocals of the other tracks on the album, coupled with flamenco guitar and a beatboxing segment ought to sound rushed and ill-advised. Instead, it feels like all the best bits of a mix-tape, all in just over four minutes.

From: ‘Tango In The Night’, 1987 17 ‘Beautiful Child’ Out of kilter with ‘Tusk’s mainly new-wave vibe, ‘Beautiful Child’ is a sweet respite towards the end of the album. Melancholic harmonies between Nicks and McVie lament the loss of innocence, but also look forward to change and growth. It’s not easy, it’s always complicated, but that’s how life is sometimes, they sing. “I’m not a child any more, I’m tall enough to reach for the stars.” From: ‘Tusk’, 1979 16 ‘Tusk’ That drum tattoo you hear at the start of ‘Tusk’? It’s actually the University of Southern California’s Trojan Marching Band. All 300-ish of them. The track set the record for the highest number of musicians performing on a single, and considering that it came in the wake of ‘Rumours’, still went to #6 in the UK. Opening with a chanted “Why don’t you ask him if he’s going to stay?” before moving into a shriek of “Just tell me that you want me”, it’s paranoid, aggressive, and totally brilliant.

From: ‘Tusk’, 1979 15 ‘Little Lies’ We’re not sure why the video for this track is set on an abandoned farm, but we’ll try and put that in the past. Fleetwood Mac’s final top ten in the US, 1987’s ‘Little Lies’ has a similar haunting hook to ‘Everywhere’, coupled with the surreptitious guitar lines of ‘Dreams’, making it mathematically at least 10% better than anything else. From: ‘Tango In The Night’, 1987 14 ‘I’m So Afraid’ A Fleetwood Mac concert without ‘I’m So Afraid’ would be like a Bruce Springsteen concert without ‘Thunder Road’. Originally a B-Side to ‘Over My Head’, the track quickly became a live staple, closing nearly every Mac gig, and appearing on each Fleetwood Mac live album (including an almost 10-minute version on 2004’s ‘Live: In Boston’). Thematically, it’s not classic Mac – more hard rock than blues- but it’s worth it for the lengths the group take it to.

From: ‘Fleetwood Mac’, 1975 13 ‘Don’t Stop’ A happier spin on a ‘Rumour’s break-up, vocalist Christine McVie committed to looking forward, rather than backward after eight years of marriage with bass guitarist John McVie. A relentlessly positive piano riff opens the track, and a trotting drum fill urges the listener- and the singer to remember that ‘it’ll be better than before, yesterday’s gone’. From: ‘Rumours’, 1977 12 ‘Silver Springs’ A ‘Rumours’ off-cut, ‘Silver Springs’ was the B-Side to ‘Go Your Own Way’, and only made it onto a Fleetwood Mac album almost twenty years after it was written – on 1997’s ‘The Dance’. With an Appalachian bent, Nicks sings, “I know I could have loved you, but you would not let me”. Silvery strings echo around a slide guitar, as the harmonies rise, as Nicks leaves the past behind.

From: ‘The Dance’, 1997 11 ‘Sara’ An attempt to chronicle the relationships and ups and downs in the band during the ‘Rumours’ years, this single from 1979’s ‘Tusk’ exists in several different lengths and edits, but each is just as forlorn as the other. Nicks sings of “drowning in a sea of love, where everyone would love to drown”, over Mick Fleetwood’s brush drum-work, the harsh mixing with the mellow. From: ‘Tusk’, 1979 10 ‘You Make Loving Fun’ Another Christine McVie ‘Rumours’ track, ‘You Make Loving Fun’ came from a typically ‘Rumours’ background. Inspired by an affair McVie had with the group’s lighting director Curry Grant, she sings “sweet, wonderful you, you make me happy with the things you do”. Which we’re sure ex-husband John McVie enjoyed hearing, while playing the bass groove that runs through the track.

From: ‘Rumours’, 1977 9 ‘Everywhere’ Sometimes a song becomes so familiar that what makes it special is nudged into the background, like a favourite dress worn too many times. ‘Everywhere’’s blissed out vocals, perky bass line, and shimmering middle eight all combine to make a magical track about the joy of the first moments of a relationship. Feel free to give the Disney-via-ITV accompanying video a miss though. From: ‘Tango In The Night’ 1987 8 ‘Gypsy’ Originally earmarked for Stevie Nicks’ solo debut, ‘Gypsy’ instead ended up on 1982’s ‘Mirage’. The story behind the song is twofold. The lyrics refer to Nicks reflecting on her time before Fleetwood Mac, when she was playing in Buckingham Nicks and struggling to make ends meet. However, ‘Gypsy’ is also a memorial for Nicks’ best friend Robin Snyder Anderson who died of leukemia. Nicks explained that the line “I see your bright eyes” was written especially for Snyder.

From: ‘Mirage’, 1982 7 ‘Rhiannon’ ‘Rhiannon’ was Stevie Nicks’ breakthrough. Written before she joined Fleetwood Mac, the track was first featured on Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album, and soon made a single. At the time, her impassioned live performances of the track were a sight to behold, leading Mick Fleetwood to comment on Behind The Music that Stevie “is not a person that half cooks anything, so her Rhiannon in those days was like an exorcism.” From: ‘Fleetwood Mac’, 1975 6 ‘Gold Dust Woman” Along with ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘Dreams’, ‘Gold Dust Woman’ completes the triumvirate of classic Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac tracks. Though the track references cocaine use – “Take your silver spoon, and dig your grave” – Nicks insists it wasn’t autobiographical, because she wasn’t yet an addict at that point. From: ‘Rumours’,1977 5 ‘Songbird’ One of Christine McVie’s finer turns, ‘Songbird’ perhaps lives on now in current memory thanks to several definitive cover versions.

Firstly, of course, Eva Cassidy’s 1998 version of the track, and secondly, Willie Nelson’s 2006 recording – produced by Ryan Adams. We’ll leave the Glee version aside for now. Despite these versions of the tracks, it’s the original that sticks. McVie’s heart breaks as she sings “I wish you all the love in the world, but most of all I wish it for myself”. From: ‘Rumours’,1977 4 ‘The Chain’ The only track credited to all members of the ‘Rumours’-era line-up of Fleetwood Mac (Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine Mc Vie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks), the key to ‘The Chain’ lies in its simplicity. While other tracks on the album might be more sonically lush, ‘The Chain’ pares things back, leaving the bass riff to carry through the melody to its final, crashing end.

From: ‘Rumours’,1977 3 ‘Dreams’ The only U.S number one for the group , ‘Dreams’ was written amidst a trio of break-ups that would make ABBA look like the Brady Bunch, ‘Dreams’ was reportedly composed in under ten minutes. A plaintive slide guitar underpins the poignancy of lost love. “Women they will come and they will go/When the rain washes you clean you’ll know”. From: ‘Rumours’,1977 2 ‘Landslide’ When Stevie Nicks wrote ‘Landslide’, she was at a crossroads. Only 25, her previous group with Lindsey Buckingham – Buckingham Nicks – had been dropped by their label Polydor after only one album, and her relationship with Buckingham was strained. The track has been covered many times since – from Smashing Pumpkins to the Dixie Chicks – but the original remans the best. Nicks’ cautious vocal sounds even more helpless knowing what’s yet to come.

From: ‘Fleetwood Mac’,1975 1 ‘Go Your Own Way’ The first single from ‘Rumours’, ‘Go Your Own Way’ was a sign of things to come. Two months later, ‘Rumours’ went to number one. The track itself is defiant – a metaphor for all the heartbreak and struggle in the group. But within the anger, there’s catharsis, and a promise that next time won’t be the same. From: ‘Rumours’ 1977 Yes, we know we haven’t included anything pre-Buckingham and Nicks joining the band. But that’s a whole other feature… Latest Videos Tusk - Rolling Stone Tusk All Stories At a cost of two years and well over a million dollars, Fleetwood Mac's Tusk represents both the last word in lavish California studio pop and a brave but tentative lurch forward by the one Seventies group that can claim a musical chemistry as mysteriously right — though not as potent — as the Beatles'.

In its fits and starts and restless changes of pace, Tusk inevitably recalls the Beatles' "White Album" (1968), the quirky rock jigsaw puzzle that showed the Fab Four at their artiest and most indecisive. More News All Stories Like "The White Album," Tusk is less a collection of finished songs than a mosaic of pop-rock fragments by individual performers. Tusk's twenty tunes — nine by Lindsey Buckingham, six by Christine McVie, five by Stevie Nicks — constitute a two-record "trip" that covers a lot of ground, from rock & roll basics to a shivery psychedelia reminiscent of the band's earlier Bare Trees and Future Games to the opulent extremes of folk-rock arcana given the full Hollywood treatment. "The White Album" was also a trip, but one that reflected the furious social banging around at the end of the Sixties. Tusk is much vaguer. Semiprogrammatic and nonliterary, it ushers out the Seventies with a long, melancholy sigh. On a song-by-song basis, Tusk's material lacks the structural concision of the finest cuts on Fleetwood Mac and Rumours.

Though there are no compositions with the streamlined homogeneity of "Dreams," "You Make Loving Fun" or "Go Your Own Way," there are many fragments as striking as the best moments in any of these numbers. If Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks were the most memorable voices on Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, Lindsey Buckingham is Tusk's artistic linchpin. The special thanks to him on the back of the LP indicates that he was more involved with Tusk's production than any other group member. Buckingham's audacious addition of a gleeful and allusive slapstick rock & roll style — practically the antithesis of Fleetwood Mac's Top Forty image — holds this mosaic together, because it provides the crucial changes of pace without which Tusk would sound bland. "Not That Funny," "What Makes You Think You're the One," "That's Enough for Me" and "The Ledge" affect a rock & roll simplicity and directness that are strongly indebted to Buddy Holly, an obvious idol of Buckingham's. These songs have the sound and spontaneity of beautifully engineered basement tapes.

A bit more sophisticated yet still relatively spare, "Save Me a Place" boasts closely harmonized, un-gimmicky ensemble voices and acoustic textures that underline the tune's British folk flavor. But Buckingham's most intriguing contribution is Tusk's title track, an aural collage that pits African tribal drums, the USC Trojan Marching Band and some incantatory group vocals against a backdrop of what sounds like thousands of wild dogs barking. "Tusk" is Fleetwood Mac's "Revolution 9." The calculated crudeness of Buckingham's rock & roll forays both undercuts and improves Tusk's elaborately produced segments. And several of these segments demonstrate that the limits of the California studio sound, developed in the Sixties by Lou Adler and Brian Wilson for the Mamas and the Papas and the Beach Boys, have at last been reached. Fleetwood Mac has arrived at the point where technologically inspired filigree begins to break down rather than enhance music, where expensive playback equipment is not only desirable for appreciation but necessary for comprehension. In McVie's "Over & Over" and Nicks' "Storms," the production goes too far, and the tracks quiver with an eerie electronic vibrato.

The basic style of Tusk's "produced" cuts is a luxuriant choral folk-rock — as spacious as it is subtle — whose misty swirls are organized around incredibly precise yet delicate rhythm tracks. Instead of using the standard pop embellishments (strings, synthesizers, horns, etc.), the bulk of the sweetening consists of hovering instrumentation and background vocals massively layered to approximate strings. This gorgeous, hushed, ethereal sound was introduced to pop with 10cc's "I'm Not in Love," and Fleetwood Mac first used it in Rumours' "You Make Loving Fun." On Tusk, it's the band's signature. Buckingham's most commercial efforts — the chiming folk ballads, "That's All for Everyone" and "Walk a Thin Line" — deploy a choir in great dreamy waves. In McVie's "Brown Eyes," the blending of voices, guitars and keyboards into a plaintive "sha-la-la" bridge builds a mere scrap of a song into a magnificent castle in the air. "Brown Eyes" sounds as it if were invented for the production, rather than nice versa.

About the only quality that Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie share is a die-hard romanticism. On Tusk, Nicks sounds more than ever like a West Coast Patti Smith. Her singing is noticeably hoarser than on Rumours, though she makes up some of what she's lost in control with a newfound histrionic urgency: "Angel" is an especially risky flirtation with hard rock. Nicks' finest compositions here are two lovely ballads, "Beautiful Child" and "Storms." Her other contributions, "Sara" and "Sisters of the Moon," weave personal symbolism and offbeat mythology into a near-impenetrable murk. There's a fine line between the exotic and the bizarre, and this would-be hippie sorceress skirts it perilously. McVie is as dour and terse as Nicks is excitable and verbose. Her two best songs — "Never Forget," a folk-style march, and "Never Make Me Cry," a mournful lullaby — are lovely little gems of romantic ambiance. With a pure, dusky alto that's reminiscent of Sandy Denny, this woeful woman-child who's in perpetual pursuit of "daddy" evokes a timeless sadness.

The wonder of Fleetwood Mac's chemistry is that the casting of these two less-than-major talents in pop music's answer to Gone with the Wind elevates them to the stature of stormy rock & roll heroines — one compelled to reach for the stars, the other condemned to wander the earth. Within the context of the group, we not only accept these women's excesses and limitations, we cherish them as indispensable ingredients of their characters. The aura of romance is finally the real substance of Fleetwood Mac's music. If the band has an image, it's one of wealthy, talented, bohemian cosmopolites futilely toying with shopworn romantic notions in the face of the void. Such an elegant gossamer lilt is also synonymous with the champagne buzz of late-Seventies amour. But perhaps, as Tusk's ominous title cut and other songs suggest, in today's climate of material depletion and lurking disorder, the center of things — including Fleetwood Mac themselves — cannot hold.

Plagued by internal conflicts and challenged by New Wave rock, this psychedelically tinted folk-rock tribe might well be the last and most refined of a breed of giddy celebrants who, from the early Sixties on, prospered on the far shore of the promised land as they toasted the pure splendor of a beautiful and possibly frivolous pop dream. Can this dream survive the economic chill of the Eighties? How far can Lindsey Buckingham's rock & roll primitivism carry Fleetwood Mac when folk music, not rock, is really the basis of their style, and when erotic fluctuation remains their central preoccupation? Tusk finds Fleetwood Mac slightly tipsy from jet lag and fine wine, teetering about in the late-afternoon sun and making exquisite small talk. Surely, they must all be aware of the evanescence of the golden moment that this album has captured so majestically. Don’t Miss a Story Sign up for our newsletter to receive breaking news directly in your inbox. We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners.

For more information please read our Privacy Policy How we use your email address Trending Ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, the trending score reflects the number of users reading a story in real time. What is this? Top 10 Peter Green Fleetwood Mac Songs Top 10 Peter Green Fleetwood Mac Songs By Nick DeRiso October 29, 2015 2:03 PM REDDIT YouTube Fleetwood Mac will always be most associated with the Lindsey Buckingham – Stevie Nicks era, thanks to the band’s 1977 blockbuster Rumours. But the group was around since the late ’60s making pretty great records, largely supplied by often-forgotten founding frontman Peter Green, who met drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie as members of John Mayall’s band. Together with Jeremy Spencer and then Danny Kirwan, they helped craft Green’s singular vision of Chicago blues. By the end of the decade he would suffer through drug-fueled mental problems, leading to a diagnosis of schizophrenia that prompted his departure from the group by 1970.

Other than one-off appearances on 1973’s Penguin and 1979’s Tusk, Green would never record with the band again. But as as our list of the Top 10 Peter Green Fleetwood Mac Songs shows, the singer and guitarist had left quite a mark on the future legends. 10 Fleetwood Mac | New Music And Songs | Fleetwood Mac About Fleetwood Mac 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 Fleetwood Mac | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine 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 .

Question: Who of these is most associated with Fleetwood Mac?
Answer: Stevie Nicks