Many may have known Lindsey left but could not name the 2 new guitarists. I agree with Michelle's point. You seemed to claim Lindsey leaving spiked album sales. That makes no sense. There was no social media in 1987 and his departure was one day news that ended after one week. MTV did air parts of the news conference announcing the new line up.
Yes of course any new Mac single in half a decade is going to get interest and I do agree with you if released as a solo song, it would not have charted. Claiming Little Lies was a bigger hit because of Lindsey's leaving is not only wrong but an insult to the song. It clearly was the most pop/radio friendly song on the album which is why it landed first track side 2. Michelle's point is accurate. The masses that crowd arenas are casual fans and mostly Stevie solo fans. 2/3 of Fleetwood Mac's singers could not even fill small theaters. No casual fans there though.

You also make a very weak analogy. A band reuniting with former members is much bigger and more powerful than one of them leaving. You are comparing Lindsey leaving to the buzz of Lindsey and Stevie coming back in 1997. That is apples and oranges.

That’s moving the goalpost, though. I was replying to Elle’s comment that people were going to shows in 1987 expecting to see Lindsey in the band, as if the split wasn’t highly publicized.

That happened, though. There was a controversy, the single that was released two or three weeks later became the highest charting single, followed by a promotional tour.

Except, it didn’t just end after a week.

So, is it an insult to Rumours that the album’s popularity went far beyond the music?

Both were extensively covered in the music media.

ABBA's sold 385 million records.


It's mean that you said "only". Fleetwood Mac doesn't belong to just to you.

Yeah, Christine’s TUSK songs are great. Happy New Year!

Well, Little Lies (and the reason for its success) does figure into the conversation tangentially. If that is any comfort.

Why do we complain that Fleetwood Mac plays to casual fans, rather than the dedicated ones who know their catalog by heart? Because they are so big that casual fans out number the diehards by the thousands. Many people go to Fleetwood Mac concert because itÂ’s the thing to do. ItÂ’s a fad. Not because they know anything about the performers as individuals.

For the SYW tour and beyond, many people didnÂ’t know Christine was no longer in the band. I know this because I sat near loads of these people in concert and although I really tried to mind my own business, sometimes I could not help but butt in and share with them knowledge that only focused fans, fanatics and stans actually care about.

People know the Beatles broke up. I think they know that there was some acrimony between Yoko Ono and Paul. I know that John claimed Paul looked at Yoko every time he sang the chorus to “get back”. That is universal knowledge. I don’t think the masses know what goes on in Fleetwood Mac other than the fact that they all supposedly slept together and used drugs during Rumours. People know more about that than they do about anything that happened in 1987. That’s probably why the band is not asked about 1987 in interviews. They are only asked about Rumours over and over and over again.

It’s like Macfan4life said, the bigger your audiences, the less likely people are to know intimate details about the band. When you’re a small, eclectic band the majority of your record buyers and concert goers are more likely to be into you. When you’re big, people just want to hop on the band wagon. They don’t care so much where that wagon is going or where it’s been or who hopped off along the way.

Haha! Yes it does, slightly. And sadly, you’re right about the bulk of FM concert-goers: they’re casual fans who kinda’ don’t care as long as their hits get played by someone.

Huh? Seriously, what are you talking about?

I said Elle “only” became a fan in 2006 because she said something about how people went to see Fleetwood Mac in 1987 expecting to see Lindsey. As someone who was only familiar with TITN and the Mirage singles in 1987, that’s simply not accurate. The change received extensive coverage and was all over MTV and classic rock and Top 40 radio in the fall of 1987.

Many might not have, but I’m sure most noticed there was only one blonde.

I don’t see how this can simultaneously exist with people not realizing one of the two women wasn’t there. At the very minimum, Fleetwood Mac’s imagine was largely as a band with two women.

Why didn't you write "Elle became a fan in 2006"? Why did you include "only became"?

Mindy and Jana were blondes in the band during SYW Tour.

Its a little known fact but Stevie's rebab stint may have brought terrible songs to Tango but the drama of it all increased Tango sales and brought Big Love into the top 10.

Lindsey’s departure created such national, well global, news that Elle probably bought Big Love in 1987, due to the scandal. But she didn’t actually think the song was any good. In short, it sucked. That’s why it took her awhile to become a fan.

Because she wasn’t a fan when everything went down in 1987.

What’s your problem? That’s maybe the single most juvenile, idiotic thing I think I’ve ever read on this forum.

Black Monday occurred on October 19, 1987 just as Little Lies was burning up the US charts. There has always been speculation that the global shock of Lindsey's departure caused one of the biggest market crashes in history plunging the stock market over 20%.
Coincidence? I think not. Just a few weeks after Black Monday, Little Lies hit its peak chart position fueled by this moment in rock history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(1987)

How did people not have the sophistication to realize she was gone, yet her comeback tour with Fleetwood Mac was the biggest in 17 years, and just a year after the last tour ended? How could people know that Fleetwood Mac was the band where everyone broke up with each other, but didn’t notice there was only one woman in the band? How many times has The Dance aired over the years?

Christine was on the back cover of an album that’s sold like 40 million copies, the front cover of an album that sold over five million copies and another that sold over three million copies, was in all of their music videos, and was in the pictures with the band over the span of decades. She was absolutely part of their public image even if she wasn’t a household name. You seriously think people didn’t notice? Of course most people noticed, even casual fans, anecdotal examples notwithstanding.