The Real Question Is...

[BigAl84]

What is the trouble with stevie nicks? Hmmm

[Macfanforever]

Hum.I like to know too.I would like to read the story.Does anybody have a copy of this magazine and share it with us.

[bangdrum]

I have that magazine. It's this article.

[elle]

Originally Posted by bangdrum

I have that magazine. It's this article.

thanks for that! enjoyed reading about all the love, mutual respect and enjoyment in working with each other between Christine and Lindsey.

[louielouie2000]

How eerie... Mick's comments in the article about the eventual meltdown of the band seem to have come true (according to his recent Playboy interview). It's just interesting how prophetic the entire article is... the band is still held in limbo entirely by the whims of Stevie. And she's still keeping her cards close, not really letting anyone know her intentions (which she herself might not even know).

Mick also nailed the strategic importance of Tusk on the band's career, too.

And Lindsey talking about being a stylist! Who knew he'd been using that term for 30 years?!

Anybody else find it intriguing that Christine referenced the band being 7 years old? Obviously she's referring to the Mac's mini-rebirth in '75... but it's interesting she certainly feels the Rumours era Mac is a different band that what came before it. You'd think she of all people would be a bit more inclusive, or even poetic about the definition of the band.

What a fascinating moment in time... thanks so much for sharing!!

[elle]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

How eerie... Mick's comments in the article about the eventual meltdown of the band seem to have come true (according to his recent Playboy interview).

or FM keeps having similar meltdowns every few years over and over again?!

[MacFan92]

It's actually funny how many "problems" the band has with its members. It almost borders on self-parody sometimes.

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by MacFan92

It's actually funny how many "problems" the band has with its members. It almost borders on self-parody sometimes.

It sure does!

[henryscutter]

Well obviously Stevie pulled the knife out of her back and moved on. I think the whole band minus John McVie are drama queens and ego maniacs. When I read this article before I thought Lindsey, Mick and Chris came off as snobby aholes. Same ol FM we know and love.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by henryscutter

Well obviously Stevie pulled the knife out of her back and moved on. I think the whole band minus John McVie are drama queens and ego maniacs. When I read this article before I thought Lindsey, Mick and Chris came off as snobby aholes. Same ol FM we know and love.

David Gans had an obvious agenda when he sat down and wrote this hit piece towards Stevie in 82'. Cherry picking quotes and focusing mostly on all the negativity about Stevie, towards Stevie, including forcing the reader to swallow his own slanted & skewed opinion's concerning Stevie. Perhaps its worth considering his own ego was bruised when Stevie or her management declined to participate being interviewed along with the rest of the band. She was clearly one of the top female rockers/stars in demand at this time and it must have stung a little bit. As Stevie was clearly already focusing on the future, prepping & recording songs for her next solo album The Wild Heart. Anyway you look at it, Stevie had her reasons to feel disenchanted about the band, the wounds were already DEEP. Her huge success with Bella Donna finally gave her more power within the band dynamic & they clearly were all uneasy with that.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by Christopher

Anyway you look at it, Stevie had her reasons to feel disenchanted about the band, the wounds were already DEEP. Her huge success with Bella Donna finally gave her more power within the band dynamic & they clearly were all uneasy with that.

Yeah, pretty good for a girl who was the "weakest link" when she joined the band. I'm sure that wasn't lost on anyone.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Anybody else find it intriguing that Christine referenced the band being 7 years old? Obviously she's referring to the Mac's mini-rebirth in '75... but it's interesting she certainly feels the Rumours era Mac is a different band that what came before it. You'd think she of all people would be a bit more inclusive, or even poetic about the definition of the band.

I wouldn't expect her to be the one at all. I'd think Mick and John would, of course. I think Christine found her footing when they found Stevie and Lindsey in that orange grove and she considered it a birth of sorts. Michele

[fairydust75]

Although I realize the quotes were strung together to create the most drama, I wouldn't want to be there anymore than Stevie was at that particular time. The lack of respect for her is still alive and well to this day. If her songwriting is so childish and hard to produce then why do her thousands and thousands of demos sound so much like the ones that are produced and recorded (melody and structure wise). It does sound just like the same interview just 20 years later. Why would she want to come back. Maybe because she is handed a major quilt trip (on Mick's part). Christine seems to be the most kind. Lindsey just loves to berate her, I can't imagine what he's like to her in private. I am sure Stevie is a complete drama queen, especially during this time. Her cocaine habit was at it 's height before she took her spiral into hell. If Christine was her only real ally at the end of the day (Mick was and is two-faced as hell), she must have felt even more terrified than she has stated when Chris left after The Dance. Overall, the drama, the fantacy, the raw emotion, illusions and/or dellusions of Stevie's spectra is what makes her and her music who she is... I love her music just the way she wants to write it and have it sound. Lindsey demands to have his songs and most of the time their songs sound exactly the way he hears it in his head. He doesn't respect Stevie the way he does Chris. I fear their relationship bagage and meeting each other as teens totally screwed up their adult way of dealing with each other on any level (they will love and hate each other till the day they die).... Imho..

[elle]

Originally Posted by fairydust75

Christine seems to be the most kind. Lindsey just loves to berate her

i didn't exactly get that impression, but it can easily be just my bias...

i tried to paste + bold parts where either LB or CM (or MF) were not very nice towards SN, but if you also read through the other pasted parts they were also understanding at the same time:


"She phones her part in," says McVie

McVie elaborates. "We play well together and sing well together. That side of Fleetwood Mac I really enjoy. And I feel very comfortable working with Lindsey. Dare I say this with him present?" She casts an affectionate wink his way. "I have a lot of respect for this man; I don’t really imagine anybody else being able to do what he does with my songs.

"There have been many rough times," she continues, "but we’ve always ended up on some high note, standing around and jamming, or whatever, just really getting a charge out of playing together. It’s a joyous situation, and that takes over the bad points."

"That may have something to so with why Stevie is the way she is now," Buckingham suggests. "Because she is not a musician, she doesn’t share in that thing with use. She can feel totally out of her depth-which she is, on some levels-and you can understand why she doesn’t want to some down to the studio or be involved in certain things."

Buckingham ...... admits to having always considered her songs "a little flaky." But, "there’s obviously something about her material that people relate to. She’s always been a little bit hard for me to take seriously, because I really appreciate a beat, having been weaned on Elvis and Little Richard and Chuck Berry.

"There’s something emotional that gets through, through, "he says, "and her voice is so recognizable. I’ve been listening to Stevie sing for years and years, and when you’re that close to it, it’s easy to overlook certain aspects of anything."

"Stevie’s a very prolific," McVie notes. She writes constantly, and all her songs are like babies to her, even though some of them are rubbish. When I write, I sit down and work on an idea until it’s finished, but Stevie cranks out songs all the time."

Fleetwood agrees. "We definitely have a problem sometimes with Stevie and John, but if they hate being in the studio then they certainly have less right to complain about what’s done. That’s just a matter of fairness-and that’s why I hate being away from the studio. There are usually two or three poignant moments during the making of an album where there are hurt feelings walking around-"What have you done to my songs:’ or that sort of thing. But there’s also a lot of stuff which is appreciated by others."

"Lindsey’s never that adamant about keeping a track a certain way," comments McVie. "If everyone says that they think it’s caca, then obviously he’s not going to feel happy about it being on there anyway."

It’s fitting that McVie came to Buckingham’s aid when he was at a loss of words: although it’s not generally recognized, the two share a mutual respect for each other as musicians that pulls the band together in a special way. "I’m not really a writer. That’s not my strong point, lyrical or melody wise. "Trouble’ (on Law and Order) us a good melody, ‘Go Your Own Way.’ I’ve had my moments, but I don’t consider that to be my strong point at all. It’s the style involved."

Says McVie: "I don’t tell Lindsey, for example, ‘I want you to play such-and-such kind of guitar, that lick,’ That’s why Lindsey has got the (additional production credit on the album-he’s been largely responsible for helping to bring across on the record the atmosphere that I want to come over on a song that I write."

"She and I have a real valid kind of rapport between us," Buckingham continues, "something that was there before we even met. It’s like she can play the piano and I can play the guitar just wonderfully along with her. It’s almost like parallel lines during our formative years of music until we met, and it gave us a lot of common ground,."

"There’ve been many times when she might come out in the studio and try and sing along, and we’d tend to say, "Don’t do that right now, let us work this out first," Says McVie. "Now she’s just go to the studio and go, "There’s no need for me to be here." She does feel left out."


i don't know - "many of her songs are rubbish while i work on my songs till they turn good" - doesn't sound incredibly nice to me... and is en par to "her songs are a little flaky".

[David]

This guy Gans was a critic for San Francisco newspapers and Bay Area Music (BAM). He was a Deadhead who chronicled the history of the Dead, and he also loved Fleetwood Mac. He just felt that Stevie was unnecessary to the band's art. He, like several critics and even some fans in those days, thought she was overrated. Aside from that, Gans was always one of about three guys I wish had written an extensive Fleetwood Mac critical biography.

There are photos of Lindsey, Mick, and Christine at Mick's Bel Air home, taken by Gans. They were probably taken during the same visit as this interview.