In 1976, as a child, we used to drive down the road in my mother's chevrolet, you know, the one with the amazing installed stereo/8 track tape player. My mother was a FM fanatic who used to blare The White Album from her car (vinyl copies were also available inside the house for backyard listening). When Rumours was released, we went bonkers !! Suddenly, we were driving 200 miles to see FM play at a city arena. So, my first concert at 7 years old was Fleetwood Mac's RUMOURS lineup. Though Mother had been a fan since the Bob Welch era. The Mystery to Me/Bare Trees/HAHTF albums were also in the house but didn't receive near as much spin time.

As an adult, I have learned to delve into FM's back catalog. I have developed a keen appreciation for the PRE-Buckingham/Nicks lineups. There are some BEAUTIFUL recordings on those early records. Christine McVie's "Come A Little Bit Closer" is such a lush and layered recording. "Why" is simply sublime. Bob Welch's "Hypnotized" is the BIG FLEETWOOD MAC HIT THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN......simply put, it's a rock-n-roll classic. YES, I am all about the RUMOURS LINEUP, but I would strongly suggest that everyone venture back and give those early recordings due respect.

I was a Peter Green fan before Fleetwood Mac even existed.

(yes, I'm THAT old)

I started with the Rumours lineup. My parents were my age when F Mac were their most famous, so my parents liked some of their songs. My uncle was a bigger fan, and he got me started on the band. I then discovered the other eras by myself and the internet :D:cool:

Now that's really cool.

chiliD must be groaning at this poll's results. ;)

Pre-Rumours I have to say.I remember hearing "Rhiannon" "Over My Head" and
"Say You Love Me" on the radio and American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and wonder who has that pretty voice and a nice sounding band.

Casey did shed some light on who she was and rest of the band was.After that I went into country music and by the time Rumours came out .I was a hard core country music fan and starting to go to the country concerts.
I wish I had a chance to see them in that era live in concert.

I was to busy being a country bumpkin and googly eyes at Dolly Parton LOL and other country artists at that time.

Um, well, for 99 percent of us the answer is readily obvious. But I am glad I came to the band and explored beyond the Rumours lineup. The various incarnations, particularly the music the band made between 1969-1974 has given me endless I hours of enjoyment. I still remember the joy I felt when I first heard Penguin. Those Christine songs were terrific gems almost noone knew about. Night Watch fascinated me for years.

I remember, too, the rush of excitement I felt when I first heard Kiln House. It was so unpretentious and incredibly spirited!

The last album I bought from the 1969-1974 period was Future Games, and I remember being entranced by that spacey, hypnotic music.

The Rumours lineup cemented my fandom, but the BTM lineup (Tango tour video, and BTM) really got my attention first.

I think the first FM songs I heard were "Go Your Own Way," and then "Little Lies" or "Everywhere," and "Rhiannon." I was a major Chris fan at first, but then I transitioned into being mostly a Stevie fan, if I had to pledge allegiance to one member.

I had first heard of Lindsey in the summer of 1984. I was 9 years old (would be 10 in Sept.) My parents were hoping to relocate, so we were living with my uncle in South Carolina.

We didn't have cable at home. My uncle had MTV. When I saw the video for 'Go Insane', it really made a major impression on me. I could tell right away that this was someone I'd be a fan of for a long time.

Then in late 1985/early 1986, when I started hearing 'Talk To Me' and 'I Can't Wait' on the radio, I became a fan of Stevie. I loved these two songs!

I was 12 when I first saw the video for 'Big Love' and realized that Lindsey Buckingham was part of a group called Fleetwood Mac and that one of the other members of the band was Stevie Nicks.

After I bought more FM albums/solo albums, I realized that I'd heard plenty of these songs over the years and liked them. Being reasonably young, I just didn't realize who had sung them.

Very interesting. Even before Peter Bardens' "Peter B's Looners" ??

The first thing I ever knew about FM was a promo poster from "Tusk", back in 1979, when I was 15 years old and in London with my schoolclass. I then heard the single "Tusk" on the way back to germany and that basically was it. I listened to Rumours a few weeks later and knew all singles from hearing, I had not realized that they were all from one band.

After that, I was a Rumours lineup fan. But what made me stay with the band for all this time is the pre-Rumours lineup with Bob Welch. There is a laid back quality in the Welch years music that still fascinates me and makes me happy. Christine did some of her best work back then, my absolute favorite FM music must be the bootleg "Bermuda Triangle". While I hear and respect that LB is one of the best guitar players in the world, the Welch-years live music gives me the chills, because I listen to masters at work in all details.

This actually makes sense as you were growing up in the mid-80's. We gotta remember that FM didn't do anything from 1982-1987, yet all three vocalists were putting out albums and touring. :cool:

Yes, I had heard plenty of FM songs before I bought an album and I didn't connect the songs with a band, much less with the same band. But I became a fan before they had solo albums, so I was not introduced to them individually.

I believe that I was interested enough in Leather and Lace, EO17 and SDMHA to have bought Bella Donna if I did not know who FM was. But I don't know if Trouble would have made me like buy Law & Order. Of course, I love Trouble, but that's because I already knew who LB was.

But I distinctly remember listening to Casey Kasem when he spoke of both Stevie and Lindsey being in the same band when they were on the charts and maybe if I'd heard Bella Donna and then heard Casey's broadcast I might have said, "Now, who is that fellow who is in a band with her?" Maybe I should check him out to see if they have similar solo brands. Or maybe I would never have found Mr. B at all. As my beloved Scully said: "What I would have missed."

Michele

The Rumours lineup. I was 10 or 11 when The Dance premiered and I remember seeing Stevie sing Silver Springs. I was mesmerized, but for some reason I wasn't able to get the name of the song or the singer. I didn't learn the name of the song until I was 13 and flipping through the radio. After that I became a huge fan of the band and started to love the earlier FM lineups just as much. I wouldn't say that I love the BTM and Time lineups, but I do like those lineups.