Little Lies 35 Years Ago

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Just like the Rumours couple's drama, I couldn't care less.

It all comes down to the songs for me.

:

Amen! I never cared who was with whom or who was breaking up or who hated Lindsey that week. When I heard “Gypsy” on mtv and the radio, I felt marvelous, all aglow from the magic of the band’s collective talents—their sound. Whenever I heard “SYLM” I felt the joy and tingle people feel when they’re infatuated with each other…that song was one huge serotonin lift.

Little Lies—I loved the catchiness of it, and the cynical edge. It’s a love song about disavowal, sung to an unforgettable melody. I remember hearing it and thinking “the band is back”—a feeling I did not get as intensely from the other three singles…

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Amen! I never cared who was with whom or who was breaking up or who hated Lindsey that week. When I heard “Gypsy” on mtv and the radio, I felt marvelous, all aglow from the magic of the band’s collective talents—their sound. Whenever I heard “SYLM” I felt the joy and tingle people feel when they’re infatuated with each other…that song was one huge serotonin lift.

Little Lies—I loved the catchiness of it, and the cynical edge. It’s a love song about disavowal, sung to an unforgettable melody. I remember hearing it and thinking “the band is back”—a feeling I did not get as intensely from the other three singles…

We should be called the Anti-shippers!

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

I remember hearing it and thinking “the band is back”—a feeling I did not get as intensely from the other three singles…

It’s the one I can tell John McVie and Mick Fleetwood are definitely playing on.

[jbrownsjr]

The opening chords and Christine's keyboard parts give me goose bumps on Little Lies.

[David]

Originally Posted by DownOnRodeo

I feel the "outlier/overshoot" portion of the Rumours sales, or at least the endless and still ongoing press attention on the narraitve drama, gave him a bit of a complex, such as making him unable to see that most people who like the songs like them sufficiently on their musical merits alone.

I think we tend to assume that the widespread interest in the people in the band was always an interest in whether those romantic relationships were crumbling. That grouping of Mac was interesting as a configuration of people and personalities. Even if they had all been happily married, they would have connected with the public more as people than, say, the Eagles or Jethro Tull or Heart (whose lead singers were beloved but whose bandmates were nondescript as personalities). But Mac decided to feed the press romantic problems for years and kept that angle alive. Some of the savvier writers starting in about 1980 even started rhetorically asking readers why Lindsey and Stevie hadn’t quit talking about each other in that way because it was several years later (see the New Musical Express writer in the book Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac, published in 2016).

In my own case, apart from trying to find little romantic “clues” in the songs, I never cared much about the breakups or even thought the breakups made for a fascinating perspective on how the band could keep working together. But I did very much always glom on to the five people because I thought they were all very attractive and very odd, and I loved hearing them talk about things or the character-driven way they looked. There was charisma in the five of them splayed out on a page spread in a rock magazine. It can’t be articulated or quantified all that successfully. (It’s like the much older question of what made a movie star a star.) If I had hated their music in 1978, I still would have found them unusual and attractive in a magazine or onstage. I think lots of people had that reaction to Fleetwood Mac, too.

[jbrownsjr]

One could argue Little Lies is the best song on Tango. Certainly, the best hit.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by David

I think we tend to assume that the widespread interest in the people in the band was always an interest in whether those romantic relationships were crumbling. That grouping of Mac was interesting as a configuration of people and personalities. Even if they had all been happily married, they would have connected with the public more as people than, say, the Eagles or Jethro Tull or Heart (whose lead singers were beloved but whose bandmates were nondescript as personalities). But Mac decided to feed the press romantic problems for years and kept that angle alive. Some of the savvier writers starting in about 1980 even started rhetorically asking readers why Lindsey and Stevie hadn’t quit talking about each other in that way because it was several years later (see the New Musical Express writer in the book Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac, published in 2016).

In my own case, apart from trying to find little romantic “clues” in the songs, I never cared much about the breakups or even thought the breakups made for a fascinating perspective on how the band could keep working together. But I did very much always glom on to the five people because I thought they were all very attractive and very odd, and I loved hearing them talk about things or the character-driven way they looked. There was charisma in the five of them splayed out on a page spread in a rock magazine. It can’t be articulated or quantified all that successfully. (It’s like the much older question of what made a movie star a star.) If I had hated their music in 1978, I still would have found them unusual and attractive in a magazine or onstage. I think lots of people had that reaction to Fleetwood Mac, too.

Yes. It’s hard to find a band shot of them all together that isn’t compelling. I remember watching the Little Lies video and feeling some annoyance that they weren’t all together in one space—but then that 2-second moment at the climax of the video when they are (and Christine isn’t wearing that silly hat) was so exciting. All of the features or characteristics that make any individual member annoying or bland or ridiculous somehow becomes attractive or enticing when all five of them are in the same space.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Yes. It’s hard to find a band shot of them all together that isn’t compelling. I remember watching the Little Lies video and feeling some annoyance that they weren’t all together in one space—but then that 2-second moment at the climax of the video when they are (and Christine isn’t wearing that silly hat) was so exciting. All of the features or characteristics that make any individual member annoying or bland or ridiculous somehow becomes attractive or enticing when all five of them are in the same space.

I love the way they dance and sing, too. Especially Stevie and Christine.

Stevie does that arm shuffle alternating back and forth. Christine does a kind of head shake.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

One could argue Little Lies is the best song on Tango. Certainly, the best hit.

Where were you 6 pages ago when it was being described as a B list scrub that was predisposed to being a minor hit?

I remember driving home from Century III Mall in West Mifflin, PA the day after Tango was released. I was driving home listening the cassette in the car. The first time I heard the song, I was puzzled why it was not the lead single from the album.
In the mid to late 80s, the singles were always first track side two or one. It was given the prime location to spring from on the album.
The band has always alternated the lead single from an album between Chris and Lindsey. Since Chris had the lead single off Mirage, it was Lindsey's turn. Since the creation of Tango was Tusk like with the bulk of work from Lindsey, I see why he got the lead off just like on Tusk.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Where were you 6 pages ago when it was being described as a B list scrub that was predisposed to being a minor hit?

I'll bet you're a lot of fun at parties.....

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

I'll bet you're a lot of fun at parties.....

Macfan was doing a JohnL. The discussion was closed and wasn't talking about it anymore for 5 pages!!

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Where were you 6 pages ago when it was being described as a B list scrub that was predisposed to being a minor hit?

I don't think that's exactly what Steve said. He was merely saying it was logical for Lindsey's departure to have helped the album and single. At least that was my interpretation of his Blist/scrub/predisposition/minor/hit speakathon.

[jbrownsjr]

What I will say is this: It's pretty incredible for Christine to have the 3rd and 4th singles on Tango and have the album survive that long.

I hear Little Lies and Everywhere much more today on the radio, where I rarely hear Seven or Big Love.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

Macfan was doing a JohnL. The discussion was closed and wasn't talking about it anymore for 5 pages!!

I always forget which John... Is he the one who comes here about every 3 months, RANTING AND RAVING, and calling me Satan, then disappears for another 3 months?

If so, I get a kick out of him!

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Where were you 6 pages ago when it was being described as a B list scrub that was predisposed to being a minor hit?

I remember driving home from Century III Mall in West Mifflin, PA the day after Tango was released. I was driving home listening the cassette in the car. The first time I heard the song, I was puzzled why it was not the lead single from the album.

I think it was smart of them to hold Little Lies for awhile, so they could time it with Lindsey’s departure. It added resonance to the drama, and helped draw attention to the single when he left… attention the song wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.