Why the disdain for Mick?

[PenguinHead]

A lot posts portray Mick in a negative manner, as a heartless "cash grabber."
This seems a bit unfair. All the band members have enjoyed financial wealth from their success. Having lived most of their lives in a higher standard, you can't blame them for wanting to maintain that standard. That is not greed to me.

Unlike the writers in the band, Mick does not get revenue on song royalties. I assume most of his income comes from touring. If you were in his position, wouldn't in be your best interests to keep your job, i.e. keep the band active?

Mick genuinely loves and respects the legacy of Fleetwood Mac. One thing to remember: the music industry is big business. Mick, more than anyone else in the band, is a business man. Instead of castigating him, how about thanking and praising him for being the catalyst that has kept the band together all these years, depsite huge upheavals and challenges?

[jbrownsjr]

I love Mick Fleetwood. If it wasn't for him, this board wouldn't exist.

[Brad]

I think he's great. He's probably one of the most down to earth celebrities out there. I did the Meet and Greet with him this last tour, and if you didn't know who he was, you'd think he was just a really friendly guy you met off the street who likes to tell long stories. He seemed very appreciative, did not rush anything, and really went out of his way to make sure we all had a good experience. You might say the money he was making for the M&G was motivating his behavior, but I don't think you can really fake it that well. He's the only one to do the M&Gs, and I think that says a lot about his character and fan appreciation despite making money off of it. Plus, I agree with the OP. I mean, don't we all work to make as much money as we can? How is his job any different? If it wasn't for him treating the band as a business (which it is), FM would've died a long time ago.

Brad

[brickney723]

I like them all pretty equally actually, they each have their quirks.. Mick seems like a very cool person to me.

[SteveMacD]

He's made some boneheaded business decisions. Outside of that, I don't get it myself. He's always been good the fans, and really that's all that matters.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

I love Mick Fleetwood. If it wasn't for him, this board wouldn't exist.

Yes, and if it wasn't for him, the band would have died long ago.

And whether it's for money or not, thanks to Mick we got all those bonus and unreleased tracks from the special editions (Rumours, Tusk, box set, etc.)

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Yes, and if it wasn't for him, the band would have died long ago.

And whether it's for money or not, thanks to Mick we got all those bonus and unreleased tracks from the special editions (Rumours, Tusk, box set, etc.)

He has, for the most part, kept this band alive when this band was straight lining!!

[elle]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

A lot posts portray Mick in a negative manner, as a heartless "cash grabber."
This seems a bit unfair.

thank you! i expressed something similar a while ago. it's almost like Mick is a fair game as a punchbag and people are rarely defending him. it seems kinda assumed by many he's a cash-grabbing person and that's his only motif for getting FM together, or doing anything, really.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by elle

thank you! i expressed something similar a while ago. it's almost like Mick is a fair game as a punchbag and people are rarely defending him. it seems kinda assumed by many he's a cash-grabbing person and that's his only motif for getting FM together, or doing anything, really.

I think Mick loves the band like family. I don't think money is his primary motivation for keeping them together at all. I think he's a very emotional and loving person.

However, I'm disdainful of some things he's done.

Michele

[David]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I think Mick loves the band like family. I don't think money is his primary motivation for keeping them together at all. I think he's a very emotional and loving person.

However, I'm disdainful of some things he's done.

Michele

His crasser side really started to show itself big when he started his own website years ago. He put a guy in charge of it who was a real weirdo—a scummy Hollywood-agent type. Disgusted fans took to calling this clown "Toad."

Stevie used to say that Mick has expensive tastes. He loves fine clothes, fine cars, fine food, fine real estate. I think he's always been like the majority of the population—he leverages himself to within an inch of his life by buying things that he doesn't have the cash for at the moment so he uses loans based on investments he makes. So when his investments tank, his loans go into default. But all his marketing—sellings wines at Costco, opening dozens of restaurants (and then closing them), selling digital drum instruments and software, etc.—is really no different from what Gene Simmons does. Gene Simmons is just better at it.

But Mick is a very kindhearted guy who has always been accommodating with the news-hungry press.

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by David

His crasser side really started to show itself big when he started his own website years ago. He put a guy in charge of it who was a real weirdo—a scummy Hollywood-agent type. Disgusted fans took to calling this clown "Toad."

Yeah, I think people are forgetting how much of a disaster that website was. So many people got banned from it for very silly reasons.

Also, I think people forget how disloyal he was to the rest of the band with his book that came out around 1990. There was a fair number of untruths in it, and Lindsey even responded to it with his song "Wrong" on the Out of the Cradle CD.

[sjpdg]

I've never understood the "Mick-bashing" that goes on here either. Sure, the guy's made some poor business decisions (who hasn't?!?!) and gotten cross ways of Stevie more than once, but honestly, I don't think the guy is a bad person.

As others have said, if it wasn't for him, FM would have flatlined long ago. Just look at who he's brought into the band over the years (or at least was involved in bringing them in): Bob Welch, Lindsey and Stevie, Rick and Billy, all awesome players and singers who have made a definite mark on FM. I think he's doing what he can for the FM brand and not doing too poorly of late. He probably doesn't get much at all in terms of royalties, most likely album royalties as he's not a songwriter, but I'm not that music business savvy so I don't know how that works.

He certainly seems a "larger than life" type of celebrity (not just in terms of size), being so boisterous in terms of performance and public personality, no idea if he's that way in private, but sometimes that boisterousness can rub people the wrong way.

I think a lot of people are turned off by the news of his divorces, alimony, business failures, and then we get another FM album or tour, leading to the thought that it's all Mick trying to pay his debts and it's not about the music.

Personally, I think the guys is fantastic and would love to meet him. Honestly, if I had the chance for a "meet & greet", I'd love it to be him and John! I'd be in heaven listening to those guys tell stories about their adventures in the Mac!

[chriskisn]

Probably because Mick would do anything for a dollar. We aren't talking about Fleetwood Mac, of course he wants the band back on the road, although I suspect that isn't necessarily always for the sake of the music or the fans.

You just get the feeling he would lend his name to pretty much anything if it meant a dollar. Mick Fleetwood wines is an example. He didn't grow the wines, he didn't bottle the wines, he just threw his name on some wines he liked and they called it the Mick Fleetwood Collection or some such.

I understand he doesn't make as much money as some of the others in terms of royalties but then again neither does John McVie.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by chriskisn

Probably because Mick would do anything for a dollar. We aren't talking about Fleetwood Mac, of course he wants the band back on the road, although I suspect that isn't necessarily always for the sake of the music or the fans.

You just get the feeling he would lend his name to pretty much anything if it meant a dollar. Mick Fleetwood wines is an example. He didn't grow the wines, he didn't bottle the wines, he just threw his name on some wines he liked and they called it the Mick Fleetwood Collection or some such.

I understand he doesn't make as much money as some of the others in terms of royalties but then again neither does John McVie.

But why is that anybody's business but his own (and maybe his family's)? Why would his foolhardy business decisions cause a fan to have "disdain" for him? Does venturing into "get rich quick" schemes (and often failing at them) really affect what a fan thinks of his drumming ability and what he does to keep FM together? I mean, you might say that what he does is "tacky" or in poor taste, but to to have disdain for the guy because of it? I don't get it.

I'm really not trying to be political, but when did doing everything you could in order to make as much money to provide for you and your family become a bad thing? Are we supposed to hit some upper income level and then all of a sudden stop being ambitious and productive and be content living at 75% of our potential? I can see if Mick was trampling on people or screwing them over in the process to do so, but from what I can tell, that's not how he operates. Someone mentioned Jonathan "Toad" Todd from several years ago with the official FM site. Yes, that guy screwed over a lot of fans. But he's gone now and has been gone for years. I don't think Mick hired him in order to screw over fans; he did that himself. Perhaps once he finally got word of and saw how he was treating the fans, that's when he let him go. Or maybe he left for other reasons. Who knows?

Brad