Does Stevie Nicks dislike Billy Burnette?
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One of the reasons Stevie gave for quitting FM in 1990 was, "Mick keeps trying to recreate FM in its heyday and it's simply not going to work." However she never publicly said anything bad about Billy and she hired Rick to perform as lead guitar player on the SA Tour. So really then, what was her real issue for quitting?
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I don't think her comments represent anything personal. In fact, Billy made a similar comment specifically regarding Bekka Bramlett. The problem with the post-1987 bands is that the band DID try to recreate the Big Mac instead of letting the new people bring their true personalities into the music, like they did with Welch, Nicks, and Buckingham. Behind The Mask could've been a monster album, but the band caved in to label pressure to focus more squarely on the girls. Billy and especially Rick had better material that got ****canned. I think that rubbed Stevie the wrong way. Even the Tango tour set lists could've been a better showcase for the new guys as well as revisiting the classics. |
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While I'm partial to the Rumours lineup, I think given the chance, the band could have really made some cool music with Rick Vito. In my eyes, Billy Burnette was what made the whole thing cheesy. They didn't need another guitarist. I don't think Billy's style complemented the Mac's at that point either. His presence muddled what possibly could have been an interesting transition. I think Rick's solo song "Intuition" is a good example of how his distinct style could have been exploited within the Mac. |
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:shrug: |
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Again, my whole problem with the '88-'95 era was simply the way everything was done. Some really interesting, cool music could have been made. I don't know though... Billy Burnette's rockabilly style really just didn't have a place within the band, and that's the way I feel. :sorry: I do however think a big opportunity was missed with Rick, but that's ancient history now. |
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Rick could have held his own quite nicely as a replacement for Mr Buckingham, and while Billy wasn't in the same league as a guitarist, he certainly brought a fresh new sound and feel to the Mac, something that Rick on his own probably wouldn't have achieved. I guess it could be argued that Buckingham's style really didn't have a place in the band in 1975 either, but that didn't seem to work out too badly for them. I think that Rick, Billy and later Bekka Bramlett were under-utilised in the band, were not given the freedom to create their own sound. Nicks and Buckingham had it easy in 1975, they weren't expected to write hits, but Rick, Billy and Bekka had a lot of pressure simply because of the history of the band. Sure, they should have been allowed to do their own thing, create their own music, and be true to themselves. That they didn't really get that opportunity wasn't really their fault. Honestly though, give me Rick and Billy over Lindsey any day... :shrug: |
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Rick was the lead on guitar. So instead of getting Lindsey & Ray on "Second Hand News," "Gypsy," & "Go Your Own Way," we got Rick & Billy on most of the set. In terms of guitar numbers, it was the same setup*. The thing the band lacked during those years (before Richard Dashut came aboard again in 1995) was a studio engineer who knew what the hell he was doing. With Buckingham, Dashut, & Caillat gone, the band suffered as a studio band of former crispness & vitality. As evidence, their concerts continued to sell; it was only their albums that nobody (except the British) was interested in. *I didn't bring up the presence of workstation hardware because that's a whole nuther subject, & a very unfortunate one. |
On the Tango in the Night Tour I think it was a smart idea to feature the music of Christine and Stevie, which they did. Lindsey pulled out of the Tour and the band at the last minute so it was also a smart idea to have the new members play some of the old FM classics. When Stevie and Lindsey first joined FM, they too performed many of FM's classics.
I never cared for Billy's guitar playing. His song In The Back Of My Mind is one of the best FM songs ever, IMO. But that was the ONLY contribution of his that held any worth with me. Rick Vito should have been the only guitarist hired. It was one thing back in 1987 to except the fact that Lindsey was permanently gone and another thing to try and accept two new replacements. Sorry to say this but Billy was not good looking enough for FM. Rick was. I enjoyed the Behind The Mask album. It simply wasn't promoted properly. Like I mentioned in another thread I always felt Love Is Dangerous would have made a great lead off single. FM fans have always wished the band would release the most rockin' songs from their records but they or the record companies keep wanting to present them as MOR . They have enough slow songs, so I say keep the radio songs fast and loud. Time was doomed though because without Stevie Nicks no one(myself included) really gives a damn about FM anymore. I did go see them on the 1995 Tour and Bekka sounded good singing GDW in concert but overall Mick was trying too hard to recreate Stevies' prescence and it really just wasn't gonna work. |
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The same thing was said when Peter Green left the band. And y'all would've never gotten your twirling ditz queen, had the public taken the view you're putting forward. While I don't care for Dave Mason, the Time band SHOULD HAVE completely revamped FM, from the ground up. Really pushed Billy and Bekka's songs, reinvented itself, as they had, so many times before. |
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Michele |
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Michele |
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Matt |
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The (unpleasant to some) reality is, by '95 the image of FM was cemented... and it's face was Stevie Nicks. Any deviation from that wouldn't be accepted by the general public. The same could be said of '70 Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green. I honestly have no idea how 5 years later the band was able to rise to fame again and totally reinvent itself. You would have thought the band's legacy would have been cemented at that point as well. Perhaps it was because the success of the Peter Green era was so short lived... and the subsequent bands were pretty obscure and anonymous (before I am jumped on for this, I ADORE Bob Welch, and think he was one of the best things to ever happen to our band). Come '95 though, I think the band was out of reinventions. The Rumours era fame was huge... eclipsing any other lineups before or after it. The general public just wouldn't swallow any other form of the band after that. That may be good, that may be bad, but that's the way it is! :p |
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FM had always been about reinvention(intentional or not), but Stevie sealed the fate of the band, as far as the CHIFFONHEADS are concerned. God, no offense here, but people think I dislike Stevie, which isn't really true. Her fanbase(not all of them!) is another story.:wavey: :laugh: So yeah, as far as many Christine, Welch, Green, etc fans are concerned, she's the worst thing that ever happened to FM. Your mileage may vary.... |
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For you to get angry at another fan because you don't like their opinion is ridiculous. |
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Michele |
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Michele |
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You and Ethan, with your contests....:rolleyes: |
Does Stevie Nicks dislike Billy Burnette? Does Stevie Nicks like soymilk? Does Stevie Nicks still embroider stars on Lindsey's jeans?
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Are you obsessed with Chris McVie? |
Just out of curiosity, why would anybody care what Stevie thinks of Billy? In any case, I've never heard/read Stevie say anything at all negative about him and she had worked on her solo material (Rock a Little) as well as with the band.
Anyway, this is the first I've heard of Buckingham wanting a second guitarist, but if they had taken on a second guitarist before LB's departure, Burnette would have been a logical choice - given his collaborations with the various members of the band. Also, it was always my understanding that part of the reason that two new members were brought onboard is because Billy is an excellent songwriter but is by no means a lead guitarist. While Rick is definitely more guitarist than songwriter and both had been friends and had worked together before. As for Burnette's "Rockabilly" style, that may be his primary sound, but he is entirely capable of playing just about anything and playing it well. But regardless of what anybody thinks of Burnette and Vito's talents, the fact is they never really stood a chance. It's a rare band indeed that can lose such a key member - not just a guitarist, but also singer, songwriter and producert - and not suffer on the charts. Though the complete inflexibility of a certain sub-group of Fleetwood Mac's fanbase doesn't help matters. |
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Frankly, I'm surprised the band didn't attempt this for the 1982 tour. |
As long as Mick is behind the kit it will always be Fleetwood Mac.
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It's sad to be imprisoned by your own production feats. Michele |
Here's part of an interview where Stevie responded to the 2 guitarists question in 1990.
STEVIE: It didn't take two guitarists to replace Lindsey; Fleetwood Mac has had as many as three guitarists, even four, in its long history. However, having a rhythm guitarist and a lead guitarist makes the live shows much more true to life, [it] gives the band that extra fullness that we have on records so what you do on stage sounds very much like the record. I feel that the audience has to appreciate that factor, since I appreciate it so much, and once again, this means you are giving more to them, and to me, that is the most important thing of all. Again, the quality of all of our lives improves. This makes us happy campers. As far as the writing of songs together, this is a dream come true because I always wanted it to be that way, but it never was. Solidarity. . .the songs were good, but the separatism was consistent. MUSIC PAPER: Why exactly did Lindsey Buckingham leave the group? STEVIE: Lindsey left the group because he could no longer deal with the pressure of feeling responsible for it, though he need not have taken it so seriously, but he did. So that was the way he looked at it and I feel that it was just too much for him. When he and I split up in the very beginning, Lindsey was never quite able to understand what had happened to us, and that in itself had to make day-to-day living very difficult for him, and it did for me. I feel that after 12 years, Lindsey and I finally broke up, not Fleetwood Mac, and that is the tragic part. We continued because Fleetwood Mac does not and never has been one to quit anything. I think we were probably more surprised at Lindsey's departure than the whole rest of the world. |
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However, it's not like Stevie's touring for Street Angel was all that big. And Lindsey opened for Tina Turner. In fact, Lindsey's album rave reviews and he even made videos for it, and it only sold about the same as Time. Quote:
If they could've gone a little more country, there was a huge alt.country movement going on at that time that they could have capitalized on. This is the scene that brought the likes of Lucinda Williams, Uncle Tupelo/Wilco/Son Volt, and Steve Earl to the forefront. Bekka Bramlett and Billy Burnette could have easily lead the band down that road. With Christine out of the picture, the band would've needed to part company with Dave Mason and maybe bring in somebody like John's friend Mick Taylor, who was instrumental in helping the Rolling Stones craft their country sound. I'm not saying that there would have been huge concert sales, but there would've been a consistent fan base. I easily see them being able to hang with the likes of Wilco, who usually draw huge crowds at mid-sized venues. |
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Time generally got so-so to bad reviews and the band did absolutely no promotion for that album whatsoever. Fleetwood Mac basically broke-up immediately after it came out (mainly because the big reunion was already underway). Their tours prior to its release were a way to make money and build chops as a band. The sad thing is that the two albums sold about the same. |
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It leads to a great "what if", doesn't it? What if Lindsey had stayed and they brought in Billy? |
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Even better, having Billy around with the Fireflies might have -- might have -- prevented the amassing of workstation hardware that encrusted their live shows from that point on. |
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What if Billy Brunette ate too much laxative? Would he have a poo onstage? |
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On the great majority of guitar-intricate songs in the set, Buckingham paraphrased: "Oh Daddy," "Say You Love Me," "I'm So Afraid," "Over My Head," "The Chain," "You Make Loving Fun," "Gold Dust Woman," "Sara," "Sisters of the Moon," "Tusk," "Love in Store," "Hold Me," etc. Leads to good question, though, about why Ray didn't play the whole set with them. |
I remember that for me Rick Vito was a hired studio musician to replace LB and Billy was someone the whole band liked, who had frontman quality and could write songs plus he was fun to be around. I liked the "Mask" album when it came out, liked Billy's contributions, especially "Do you know" with Christine, I totally liked Billy when I saw FM on tour in 90. From an interview about the video for "As long as you follow" I know that Christine didn't take him seriously, but she has a long history in not taking the guitar player seriously. And why should she?
That's all, peace out. |
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