Fleetwood Mac’s 30 Greatest Songs per The Guardian

[dougl]

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/may/19/fleetwood-mac-ranked-30-best-songs

Nice to see Keep On Going getting some love

[DownOnRodeo]

19. Hypnotised

I guess the Guardian's UK copyeditors changed the spelling. :rolleyes:

"Why" overlooked again.

Only Over You (srsly?) and The Legde (#11!) are interesting inclusions.

Good on him for putting together a listicle with some flavor (sorry, flavour).

[Macfan4life]

This list is much better than that Rolling Stone top 50 a few weeks ago. I like that Only Over You gets some love. It used to be one of my least favorite Mac songs in the early to mid 80s. Its now one of my favorites.
Still missing some better songs and no way the ledge should almost top 10.
At least this list has early Chris songs but not nearly enough.

[sue]

I guess the Guardian's UK copyeditors changed the spelling. :rolleyes:

"Why" overlooked again.

Only Over You (srsly?) and The Legde (#11!) are interesting inclusions.

Good on him for putting together a listicle with some flavor (sorry, flavour).

The Grauniad is well known for its typo‘s

[blinker12]

Stevie still gets half the Top 10! Go Steves!

I always liked Keep On Going, too.

[aleuzzi]

A far more interesting list than RS’s. It has its problems: the complete absence of a Danny Kirwan song, for instance. Station Man, Woman of a Thousand Years, Tell Me, Dust—something (if not “Sometimes”).

But including Keep On Going is awesome. It’s one of my favorite songs of that era. Dark, sexy, mysterious, and about five years ahead of its time.

Dreams still at #1?—and if you’re going to include Silver Springs, why not make it the 1997 version.

[Wdm6789]

They forgot Why, Hold Me, and That’s Alright.

It’s nice to see Only Over You finally getting some recognition. It’s a beautiful, underrated and under appreciated song. It’s one of my favorites from Christine. Listen to it again, it’s actually really good.

[Macfan4life]

They forgot Why, Hold Me, and That’s Alright.

It’s nice to see Only Over You finally getting some recognition. It’s a beautiful, underrated and under appreciated song. It’s one of my favorites from Christine. Listen to it again, it’s actually really good.
They forgot many and especially Why and Hold Me. Hold Me was their biggest hit staying on the charts the longest of any single. Dreams was their highest charting single but Hold Me was a chart dominator.
But besides Only Over You I like that Come A Little Bit Closer finally got mentioned on a list.

[HomerMcvie]

They forgot many and especially Why and Hold Me. Hold Me was their biggest hit staying on the charts the longest of any single. Dreams was their highest charting single but Hold Me was a chart dominator.
But besides Only Over You I like that Come A Little Bit Closer finally got mentioned on a list.

You said Oh Daddy was their biggest hit.

LIAR!

[aleuzzi]

They forgot many and especially Why and Hold Me. Hold Me was their biggest hit staying on the charts the longest of any single. Dreams was their highest charting single but Hold Me was a chart dominator.
But besides Only Over You I like that Come A Little Bit Closer finally got mentioned on a list.

Remember, this is The Guardian. In the UK, “Hold Me” only reached #94–one of their poorest performing singles of the Rumours-era band. There’s no telling why. The song seems pretty compatible with British pop at the time. “Oh Diane” (#9) and “Gypsy” (#46) fared better, “Oh Diane” because of its retro 50s sound was in step with a current strand of pop in the UK, and Stevie Nicks’ high profile solo debut probably kept her in the limelight.

It’s a fine pop song, featuring the band at its cleverest. But there’s no surprise why it doesn’t make The Guardian’s top 30.

[Macfan4life]

Remember, this is The Guardian. In the UK, “Hold Me” only reached #94–one of their poorest performing singles of the Rumours-era band. There’s no telling why. The song seems pretty compatible with British pop at the time. “Oh Diane” (#9) and “Gypsy” (#46) fared better, “Oh Diane” because of its retro 50s sound was in step with a current strand of pop in the UK, and Stevie Nicks’ high profile solo debut probably kept her in the limelight.

It’s a fine pop song, featuring the band at its cleverest. But there’s no surprise why it doesn’t make The Guardian’s top 30.
All of that is true. But most of the songs on the list never cracked the UK charts either. The picks from Mirage are Only Over You and Gypsy. None of his top picks were that big in the UK either.
Behind the Mask was a #1 album in the UK so where is the love on this UK list if that was the standard? I think everyone who make these lists agree that pop success should not be the factor for ranking songs. If I never heard any song from Mirage before and played the album for the first time, Hold Me would stand out as a great tune.
But then again, all of this is subjective and none of us could ever agree on anything. Dreams is a great song but it does get annoying because of its #1 status it always gets the top spot on these lists. I think Why would top my list.

[aleuzzi]

All of that is true. But most of the songs on the list never cracked the UK charts either. The picks from Mirage are Only Over You and Gypsy. None of his top picks were that big in the UK either.
Behind the Mask was a #1 album in the UK so where is the love on this UK list if that was the standard? I think everyone who make these lists agree that pop success should not be the factor for ranking songs. If I never heard any song from Mirage before and played the album for the first time, Hold Me would stand out as a great tune.
But then again, all of this is subjective and none of us could ever agree on anything. Dreams is a great song but it does get annoying because of its #1 status it always gets the top spot on these lists. I think Why would top my list.

I was responding to your claim that “Hold Me” was one of their biggest hits. Yes—in the US. It was released twice in the UK without any real action. The Brits weren’t biting then or later. Yes, they mention a lot of non-chart songs in the list, but when a single (as opposed to album track) refuses to chart twice in a place that means that place ain’t interested.

[Macfan4life]

I was responding to your claim that “Hold Me” was one of their biggest hits. Yes—in the US. It was released twice in the UK without any real action. The Brits weren’t biting then or later. Yes, they mention a lot of non-chart songs in the list, but when a single (as opposed to album track) refuses to chart twice in a place that means that place ain’t interested.
The bigger the Mac became in the states, the less successful they became in the UK. Mick wrote about this in his first book. It was not until Tango that things evened out a bit. You would have thought that the Mac's White album would have peaked interest with their band and new Americans but no.
As they say.....Oh Well ;)