Quote:
Originally Posted by Street_Dreamer
The legacy of Fleetwood Mac was ruined in 1977 when Rumours was released. Fleetwood Mac is one of the most unique bands in the history of pop music. The story of the band itself could not be written by the best script writers in Hollywood. Fleetwood Mac has made so much great music throughout the years with its various different members, but the focus always ends up on Rumours and the drama in and surrounding the making of that album. The thing is Rumours saga isn't even the best story of the band. You can start with the band having its name hijacked, to Bob Weston having an affair with Mick's wife, to Jeremy joining the Children of God, to Peter getting messed up on LSD. I can't speak for anyone else, but I find those stories and others to be so much more fascinating than the tired old Rumours story.
As far as I'm concerned, Fleetwood Mac should be placed on the level that bands like The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, The Beatles, The Who, etc. are, but they aren't. The difference between Fleetwood Mac and the bands I mentioned is that you can pick and choose what albums are the greatest of their releases. It's an argument as to which album is the best. With Fleetwood Mac, it's already been set in stone that Rumours is the best album the band ever made which in my view is not the case. Fleetwood Mac has had some of the greatest guitarists ever in the band, but you never hear about it. It's such a shame that one album has overshadowed so many good things about this band.
Matt
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Great points. Massive success and over-exposure has its downfall. Rumours did, indeed, eclipse some of the light of prior works, and then completely sucked the light out of future efforts (exempt Tusk).
Perhaps, if the Rumours phenomena came much later in their career, we would have a few more fine albums by that line-up. The over-the-top success allowed their egos to run wild...and from each other. If they were still kept a little "hungry for a while," their dependence on one another would have kept their chemistry intact.