Mac during their purple period.
Fleetwood Mac have become popular again but only by default. Their 1977 Rumours album was released on my 17th birthday, was playing when I lost my virginity a week later and is now being cited as a key musical influence on a new generation of singer/songwriters.
In the last month alone reviews for new albums by Chris Stills and The Webb Sisters have stated that the albums owe a debt to 'Fleetwood Mac's Rumours' and they've stated it without an undertone of irony. So, will Mac be re-evaluated and placed on the plinth of seventies AOR heroes alongside Peter Frampton, Boston and The Eagles who have all been allowed to fully integrate themselves back into society without ridicule?
I doubt it, there will always be someone, as Morrissey once wrote, "somewhere with a big nose who knows," who will stand up and shout "Tusk!" or "Where's Peter Green then?"
It's a shame really. The Anglo-American line-up, pictured above, recorded two excellent pop albums, "Fleetwood Mac" (which gave us Rhiannon) and Rumours (which made loving fun for a certain 17 year old) and enough people of a certain age obviously bought into the sound of two marriages falling apart to pass the baton on to a new generation of musicians.
Okay, anybody ready for the Steve Miller revival?
3 comments:
Oh Stevie Miller! Yes, I'll be the one and I'm no space cowboy, whatever a space cowboy ever was.
I'm a bit younger than you but I do recall the absolute fuss over Rumours when it was first released. It was seen as something quite unique straight away and I will not her anyone say anything different! I didn't lose my virginity when listening to the album but I did spend many happy hours when Rumours was part of the eclectic menu.
1977 was a very eclectic year in terms of my record buying Mags. As well as Rumours, there was the The Ramones 'Rocket to Russia', Dolly Parton 'Here You Come Again' and first albums by The Clash, The Damned, The Stranglers, Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel's first solo, Ian Dury's New Boots and Panties.
I'm grateful I had a summer job that paid very well!
It was a good year for music.
Ian Drury, now you're talking! I was lucky enough to see him and the Blockheads at the Forum in Kentish Town c.1991. Brilliant night. Got stoned just being there. Sex and drugs and rock and roll brought the house down.
Back in '77 I was being a very naughty young girl sneaking out at night without my parents knowing and going to places like Club Lafayette in Wolverhampton where I saw Toyah Wilcox before she hit the top 40. Those punks were scary! Also remember seeing Debbie Harry and Blondie at hmm, might have been the Talk of the Town in Brum a few weeks before Denis hit the charts.
I looked 18 for about 20 years. It was very handy!
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