Fleetwood Mac Puts Past Traumas Away
By Chris Dickinson
St.Louis Post November 16, 1997
70s super group is thinking (clearly) about yesterday, with adult
perspective, as it reunites for a tour that includes a stop at Kiel Center. It's been said that being in a band is a lot like being married. When the going is good, it's an endless honeymoon. When the going gets rough, however, it's a lot like getting divorced.
Fleetwood Mac - one of the most successful pop outfits to ever conquer the radio - literally and figuratively experienced both sides of that band / marital equation. Along with the addictive pop hits the band members cranked out, they also ran through marriages, affairs and bitter bust-ups, not to mention an armada full of booze and drugs. Now that the band has reunited for a tour, how does that melodramatic past affect the present?
"It was like getting together with a great friend and having a drink," says Christine McVie. "All of that animosity was swept aside." Christine, calling recently from her California home, sounds genuinely at peace with her past - and the collective past of her band. If time doesn't heal all wounds, it can at least put things in perspective. The best-known and most successful lineup of the band - Mick Fleetwood, John McVie,
Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham - are now in the throes of a much-touted tour, one that will hit Kiel Center on Monday.
The band also recently released "The Dance." The CD, recorded live for an MTV special, includes new renditions of 13 Mac hits - including "Dreams," "Rhiannon," "Landslide" and "Go Your Own Way," as well as four new songs. The new record captures the old feel - the epitome of '70s pop with Stevie Nicks' hippie gypsy looks, Christine McVie's regal Brit bearing, Lindsey
Buckingham's laid-back California cool and John McVie and Mick Fleetwood's classic rock stylings.
Although the band members briefly united to perform "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" at President Bill Clinton's 1992 Inaugural Ball, the current reunion is something of a historical benchmark. It marks the 20th anniversary of the release of "Rumours," the 1977 Fleetwood Mac album that spent 31 weeks at number one on the U.S. charts, and has since gone on to sell more than 25 million copies worldwide.
The road to selling all that product was hardly a smooth one. Yet today, the members of the band have not only survived the journey, they have also lived to tell the tale with genuine honesty.
Between them is a shared history that has garnered such ecstatic fans as contemporary pop culture heroes Courtney Love, Wynona Ryder and the Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan.
It's also a convoluted history. Although the original Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967 and went through a number of personnel changes, it was the addition of Buckingham and Nicks in 1974 that created a winning chemistry. Buckingham left in 1987, bringing the band's most commercially successful lineup to an
end.
"There were a lot of bad feelings when Lindsey first left the band, " says Christine. "But there's been a lot of healing going on, growing up, maturing. The bond is a great deal stronger than what we first thought." The personal bond between the members reached both its high and low after the release of "Rumours" in 1977. At that time, Fleetwood Mac dominated the airwaves and the arenas. But underneath the fame and fortune swirled enough
romantic melodramas to rival the soap opera extremes of a "Melrose Place" sweeps week episode.
Nicks and Buckingham - who were already a couple when they joined the band - played their stormy relationship into a bitter public break- up. Nicks also for a time was romantically involved with the very- married Mick Fleetwood, a situation that further strained the band' s already volatile dynamic. As for Christine, her seven-year marriage to then-husband John McVie was
more bitter wind than balmy breeze.
"John and I used to basically ignore each other," she says. "We were cold as ice to each other. He found it easier that way."
The complicated and painful personal relationships were exacerbated by wild partying that often spun out of bounds. In other words, the band members weren't exactly spending quiet evenings sipping Earl Grey tea.
"Yes, we were pretty nuts," Christine reflects about that time. "I used to
go on stage and drink a bottle of Dom Perignon, and drink one offstage
afterwards. It's not the kind of party I'd like to go to now. There was a
lot of booze being drunk back then, there was blood floating around in the
alcohol, which doesn't make for a stable environment."
Today, Christine says the craziness of that time is now just so much booze
under the bridge. With the retrospect provided by 20 years, the band members
have put the painful aspects of the past behind them.
"I think we're more forgiving," Christine says about the current
relationships between the members of Mac. "I think when you get older you're
more tolerant. You realize life's a pretty good deal. The bond between us
has been traumatic, and we've come through it unscathed now. There were
times we were all hurting really bad. If we don't take it much further,
there will be a public closure to this. We'll be very glad and gratified."
On the personal homefront, Christine happily remarried 10 years ago and is
firmly ensconced in her second marriage. She has also mended fences with
John McVie.
"We're more like brother and sister now," she says of her former marital
partner. "I'm not trying to paint too rosy a picture. I think it took quite
a few years to be able to sit down and talk to each other."
Besides a new-found understanding in their personal relations, the members
of Mac have found the old artistic bond resuscitated as well. The strong
harmonies and ringing melodies that marked the band' s best work have
survived. Christine notes that once they played together again, the original
chemistry that piloted them to the top of the charts was surprisingly
intact.
"That was astonishing," she says. "We picked up the instruments and hammered
through about 10 songs without batting an eye, just brushing off the
cobwebs. The added pleasure of playing with those other four musicians is
that it's now elevated to a joyful celebration. It's all very nostalgic for
us as well. There hasn't been an angry word between us, fingers crossed."
The positive reaction of old and new fans to the music has also been a
bonus. Past Mac hits have been so resilient that the crowd now stretches
between the Baby Boomer contingent and their offspring. "It's extremely
gratifying," Christine says about the band's enduring appeal. "We had no
idea when we were making `Rumours' that 20 years later it would hold up with
such freshness, even to us. It's been enjoyed by another generation, people
are handing the songs down to their children. It's another rediscovery.
We're rediscovering ourselves."
As for the band's wild heyday, which produced as much pain as it did glory,
Christine McVie has no regrets.
"What's past is past, it's too bloody late to do anything else, " she says
with a laugh. "I've been very blessed and lucky in my life. To want to
change the path of destiny is kind of a mistake, it leads to discontent. I
don't feel complacent, but I feel content."
Special thanks to Ali for sending this to Sarita!
