How many of you were around when.....

[becca]

I played my brother's 1975 album bare. I remember hearing that Rhiannon bass line booming and pot smoke in the air from some party of his, he had just gotten the album. I got a casette tape of Rumours (I was 9 too) that lasted a long long time. My brother got the vinyl. I am still kind of sick of those albums though becaue I played them so much. Got Mirage on vinyl in 1982 and loved it too as did my freinds. All three albums have real vivid memories attached to some of the songs. Now I have the CDs I play them sparingly and mostly the McVie tracks. My boyfriend is from Calif. and his brothers were involved in the Tusk tour so I guess they were right there. I was so disappointed in Tusk then even though I was into a lot of quirky new wave and punk/ska at the time. I got it but I just felt so ripped off at the double album and high price I still can't warm up to it. I feel like I have it for the Sara track (which is edited, the one track I really can still enjoy and it's edited, oh well). I guess that's what I think of Lindsey, he ripped people off because he couldn't trim 'his' album but Silver Springs was trimmed from Rumours which was a great track.

So it was great when the good albums were new and exciting but I think the very indulgent Tusk was a big disappointment at the time and sounds dated now outside the times. Even boiled down to one lp it was a dissapointment, not a real FM album really. There was a black hole until Mirage reestablished there actually was any group at all and not a bunch of seperate creators indulging themselves. Tango In The Night was another good album but I don't remember the excitement. Mirage was kind of like having a familiar favorite sweet thing they quit making for some reason back again. Stevie Nicks' Belladonna album was kind of exciting at the time too though, probably because it came before Mirage and we were missing that sound. I remember French Kiss by Bob Welch being everywhere for awhile too and how sophisticated it seemed.

Now I am into the pre 1975 albums and getting into those. I really had my fill of the later stuff, and like the Eagles, it's just not usually something I want to listen to even if it is high quality. It took awhile before I wanted to listen to BeeGees or Abba ever again too however. I still feel burned by Tusk and resent it. I would love to see FM live someday but I am too far and too poor and without Christine I'm not sure it would be as cool.

The 1975 self titled white album really was the biggest thing, and Rumours just built on it, we imagined a series of great albums stretching into the future, but instead we got just two more like those over the next ten years and one double length dud. We didn't know that then though grooving on Over My Head and Say You Love Me and Rhinannon.

[WelshWitchPMD]

I became a big fan in the spring of 1977. I found out a little too late about the show in Providence. It was sold out. I was only 12 at the time and had no idea about scalpers and stuff. My parents were too old for rock and roll so they would have had no clue. In the spring of 1978 there was an article in our newspaper. There was a very long line of people waiting outside of the Civic Center. The reason was because Fleetwood Mac would be doing 2 shows in July in Providence and they wanted tickets. Well I went the next day with my Mother and we got the tickets. About a month latter I found out the shows were cancelled. The Mac was to tour Russia and they were stopping in Providence before the Russian tour. Well no Russia, no RI. I am still mad about that show to this day. To the best of my knowledge they did a few shows in 1978 why not keep Providence?
I did finally get to see them in 1979. I was still a huge fan. I got Tusk the day it came out(sent Mom to the store for that one). I would go to the store and look for any kind of article with them in it. I think about it now and say to myself that it would have been great to have the internet back then. At least I would not have missed out on the 1977 show. I still would not trade those times for anything. Just the thrill of finding an article with Stevie or the Mac was so exciting. I am an only child so I had nobody to share my enthusiasm with. My friends liked Abba and Olivia Newton-John. Nothing wrong with those people just that my friends were not into rock. The internet can bring you intouch with other fans from all over the world.
There are hardly any shows in Providence now. That is thanks to the outdoor venue in nearby Massachusetts. I really don't want to see the Mac there again. It just doesn't seem like a rock concert out there. I like the good old days.

Ok thats enough from me right now.

[PenguinHead]

I was 13 in 1977. My older sister graduated from high school that year. My first recollection of taking notice of the group was that year when she had a house party. I remember Rumours was playing on her record player...Gold Dust Woman was echoing through the hallway and Stevie's moans captivated me! The group were the embodiment of 1970s "cool." I didn't see my first concert until 1979 (Styx!). Missed the Tusk tour regretfully. Saw them for the first time in 1982 for the Mirage tour. A very memorable and rocking concert. Glad I got to see just the five of them....without the background singers, players, synths and patches. They carried the show just fine by themselves.

[Vianna]

Most definitely I was around=:-) I was in my 30's. I knew their music but didn't know it was them! until the song "Sara". I've been a Fleetwood Mac fanatic ever since=:-)

These are the songs I liked before I knew it was them-these come from different incarnations-weird kind of isn't it but you know there is a thread of sameness between all the incarnations..

Station Man
Black Magic Woman
Oh Well
Albatross
Sentimental Lady
Hypnotized
Rhiannon
Dreams
Warm Ways

[sara1998]

Originally posted by Vianna
I knew their music but didn't know it was them! until the song "Sara". I've been a Fleetwood Mac fanatic ever since=:-)

I was born the year Rumours came out, '77. I was drawn to Mac when I heard Sara, too. I guess I was about 10. I've been a fan since! Even named my daughtor Sara!

[Grainuaile]

Welp, I was born in '84, just a few years too late! It would've been neat to have been around during the heyday of the 70's.

My mom told me that when she, my dad, and their friend lived out west in '77, the only thing their friend listened to was Rumours. Now neither one can stand the Mac! My mother even asked me once if Stevie Nicks was the lead singer for Aerosmith.

[golddustwoman77]

I was around in 1977, but I wasn't very old. I was like four, but my parents played Fleetwood Mac's albums all the time. I can remember my parents playing Rumours when it came out and for many years after that. They had many of their albums, but that one was played the most. I would always ask my parents to play The Mac, and they were happy that I liked them too. It brings back wonderful memories of singing and dancing to The Mac with my parents, especially my mom. Fleetwood Mac was one of the first bands that I really remember, and I have loved them since then. I loved them even more once I was old enough to really understand their music. Now, I love them more than my parents do. They have even given me their albums to have. I just wish I had been a little older then, so I could have really shared in the excited and went to a concert. Nevertheless, I was really lucky to have parents with great musical taste to introduce me to such quality music!

[Janet]

Well I was actually born in 1977 so I wasn't around. I remember Mirage...I remember the videos on MTV but my mom always HATED FM and Stevie. She was 19 in 1977 and she told me that Rumours was just played so much she hated it pretty quickly and she always disliked Stevie's persona...especially when Gypsy came out...she always would tell me Stevie was a witch when the video came on.

Its funny how I pictured Stevie back then...I would always think she was skinny and be almost scared of her because I guess I kinda believed my mom.

When I became a real fan in 1997, then saw Gypsy..it brought back memories and Stevie didn't look at all how I used to think of her...

To be a fan in the 70's though...how amazing. I always think if you were a fan in the 70's...the Dance must have been that more magical..and seeing people like me...too young to have appreciated them anytime before the Dance..must have been cool..and totally new generation of fans!!!

But we will all be around for the new album!!!!!!! I CANT WAIT!

[seteca]

I was born around the time that FM reached their absolute peak, so yea I seriously wish I was properly around during those times...! My very slight consellation is that I have a pretty damn good memory and I can remember the Tango In The Night (which happens to be my 2nd fav FM album) era really well.

[madformac]

I was 3 then, so I was into Sesame Street and toys, not Stevie's voice or Lindsey's frilly perm.

I really hit my Mac peak in '87 like Seteca with Tango. Although I was a bit of a fan from about my 7th year of being in '81 when I remember The Chain from the Formula One TV coverage.

[chiliD]

As I've posted here (and elsewhere) numerous times...ok, just about any time someone starts a similarly themed thread, it seems...I've been a Fleetwood Mac fan pretty much since their inception in 1967. Having "musically aware" older cousins, my taste in music is actually that of someone a few years older than I am. One cousin turned me on to Eric Clapton (during his tenure in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) when I was 10 (I was already a fan of early rock & roll and R&B, plus a die-hard Beatles & Stones fan, so anything "British" or blues was REALLY cool with me...so Eric being BOTH was just wild!). When I read that Clapton had left John Mayall to co-form Cream, I wondered who would be ABLE to take his place...enter Peter Green...the rest is history.

My recollections of when FMac "hit it big" here in the states...well, my view is kind of jaded, since, TO ME, they've always been "big", whether anyone ELSE knew about them or not.

It was less than a month after I'd attended Bob Welch's last show as a FMac member (Dec 1974...Long Beach Arena...opening act: Climax Blues Band) when I'd read a VERY, VERY small blurb in Rolling Stone about "Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks replacing the recently departed Bob Welch in Fleetwood Mac" Bob Welch LEFT?!? OMIGOD!! How can that BE?!? Oh...well, another Fleetwood Mac personnel change...but BOB WELCH LEFT?!?! What's going to happen to Fleetwoo..um...wait...Buckingham Nicks?!? I KNEW (of) them (I'd had their album for about a year and a half already) and now they're joining Fleetwood Mac?!?!? HOW COOL!! The "Fleetwood Mac" album was pretty much what I'd expected (but was worried how those tunes would play out live), but what I DIDN'T expect was to hear "Over My Head" twice or three times an hour on AM RADIO by the end of summer. THAT'S when I'd realized I'd lost my "own personal little secret" of a band to the masses.

AND...I was PLEASANTLY surprised at how powerful the songs on what we've since become to know as "the white album" became once played on stage.

[Nicks Fan]

I was a fan since 97. I was born in 81 and have enjoyed the band since. I really wish I had been alive then so that I could have seen all of the fun nd excitement that was FM

[estranged4life]

a fan since I can remember (I was born in 1970). I remember when I was between ages 5-6 and going to the restuarant my grandmother worked at and hearing "Rhiannon" on the jukebox along with alot of the other popular music of the times...

Plus having 2 older brothers during the late 70's/early 80's led to hearing the Mac alot of the time...Brian "I survived the disco 70's" J.

[Bella Figura]

I've been a fan since my father purchased Rumours for our new 8-track stereo in '77, I was about 13 at the time but I had already taped Dreams off the radio, it was one of my favorite songs. I really became a fanatic during HS when Bella Donna was making it big. My first FM/Stevie related concerts were during the Wild Heart tour from then on I pretty much have done at least one concert per tour except for RAL when my best friend backed out because of her "boyfriend". My hubby was working that night and I was toooo scared to go by myself. She and her husband (totally different man) later made up for it by taking my hubby and I to an Enchanted concert. I also blew off Street Angel during the early 90's which I now regret...

as I've gotten older, the Internet has helped me stay connected as a fan so I'm just as much a fanatic (maybe more) as I was in HS, seems the Ledge is one way to stay young...

[sulamith]

Bella, you and I have alot in common!
Hey, all you other about-to-turn-40 FM heads haha!!

I've been a fan since 77 when I 13, but I also remember taping Rhiannon off the radio the year before.......

Ah, yes, you young uns.......
you haven't lived until you have stood there, holding that little cassette player up to the speaker of the stereo, waiting for the
*&%$#@ DeeJay to shut up talking over your favorite song so you can tape it! Then, in my case, you usually wind up with a track that has your kid sister screaming on it in the background and then you yelling back at her to shut up 'cause your "taping Fleetwood Mac off the radio!!


Sigh.........nothing like being a teenager in the 70's!

I went to a Tusk show in Atlanta. I recall having similar feelings about Tusk that becca had, but now I have grown to love it. What a time I had at that show!
I'll tell you about it sometime if you want to hear it!
-Sharon