http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/0...s-ever-100-51/
79. Fleetwood Mac – “The Chain”
Rumors, 1977
Maybe it’s the way the kick drum seems to quite literally find a way into your heart, setting the pace for how your body will work for the next four minutes and 31 seconds. Or the slight rattle of Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar string before the vocals kick in. Perhaps it’s the way his voice sounds knocked next to Stevie Nick’s howl, especially when you remember they were staring into one another’s souls as their relationship broke when this was written in 1976. It could be John McVie’s classic, chest-pumping bassline that creeps in halfway, created first before Buckingham musically adopted it, and Nicks wove lyrics around it. It’s hard to pick the best thing about “The Chain” because it’s the inseparable nature of these elements that makes it Rumour’s classic centerpiece, and the only song from the era credited to Fleetwood Mac’s five members. -Amanda Koellner