1986 Christine McVie interview
 

I found this interview from December 4, 1986 on the Library of Congress with Christine McVie. A neat snapshot just before the Tango in the Night album was released. At one point of the interview, she is asked about her favorite time in the band. Her response was the time between the release of the White Album and Rumours; she appreciated the friendship and camaraderie they had at the time and said that they "actually enjoyed it back it then". She also said that the last year (from 1985-1986) was a positive period of time and added that she enjoyed her time working with Lindsey on Tango in the Night and that he did "so much great things" on her songs. We also learned from this interview that Mick was working on his first book around this time, which would be released several years later.

https://www.loc.gov/item/jsmith000049/

That coincides with my comment I posted in the Rainy day Tusk redux thread, about they were completely different people during the Tusk sessions from those in the 1975 and Rumours recording days.

Nice find! I haven’t heard that interview before. A hefty dose of unfiltered commentary (“bunch of fruits”) and botched timelines. It seems Christine wasn’t one to dwell on many details of the past. ;) Thanks for posting!

I don’t believe I’d ever heard this discussion before. Very cool! She provides some rich commentary on the Kiln House era (album and tour) and it’s good to hear her enthusiasm for making Tango.

She really puts herself down. Chicken Shack’s first single “It’s Ok With Me Baby” is excellent, one of the high notes in her late 60s work. But to hear her tell it, you’d think the song was dreadful.

It was interesting to hear how she’d grown as a keyboard player across 1970 and early 1971, learning to jam at long intervals.

I don't know if my perception is affected by everything I read about her mood in 1997, but I saw her more enthusiastic in the 1987 concert videos that in those of 1997. And I have always thought that her fear of flying was not the most important reason to leave the band that year.

I only got through the first few minutes, but she comes across as homophobic and racist. "working for fairies". Really? In 1986, the gay community was dealing with an epidemic that was killing thousands, so that makes this comment even more insulting. Maybe the British have a different meaning for the word? Additionally, there is really no reason to mention the skin color every time a r&b or blues artist is mentioned. I guess I forgot what it was like in 1986 and the respect for other people that are different. Disappointing.

I did not hear fairies but she said she worked for fruits. Its the 1980s more correct terms were not always used. Chris has always been conservative. I don't think she was anti gay but she could talk in slang like a drunken sailor. She lived in a man's world and played with drunken guys her entire life. She definitely has used worse words than "fruit." Chris also wore blackface in the 1980s and John even dressed as a Nazi soldier. I love that she clarified with the interviewer that it was ok to talk about all the hash use they did.

On another note. Never heard that John considered leaving the band to become the road manager. I love how you could hear her dragging on that cigarette in the beginning.
Sadly the Bob Welch era got glossed over except for the fact they loved his guitar playing.

Chris is so right how the band working together is what makes great music with her Paul McCartney comparison talking about solo stuff. McCartney was brilliant with the Beatles and Wings but people forget Paul had some major flop solo albums in the mid 80s when he went totally solo. Excellent comparison Chris!

Even though its 1986 she has really good instincts about the future of Fleetwood Mac. She is skeptical of any future tours because she says they would kill themselves if they did what they did on previous tours. Lindsey had the same feeling which is why he left one year after this interview.

Fun interview! Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, it wasn't really, although she didn't care for flying then, it wasn't a full-on phobia type thing until around/after she did In the Meantime, when she was kind of entering her agoraphobic phase. she used the flying as an excuse to avoid talking about other personal issues in her life then.

--Lis

I agree completely. It was only an excuse.

There was definitely a different way for people of a certain age/certain generation to talk back then. (and fruits meant the same in england as it did here lol.) She and John both used words that seem offensive to us today. i guess that stuff was just more accepted , although it *was* offensive. i remember my older relatives talking that way all the time. when she keeps mentioning 'black blues artists' etc i don't think she meant that in a bad or racist way, that's just how they described people.

i think we are all way more aware of it now, and try not to do it, but i don't think people were necessarily saying things with malicious intent back then.


--Lis

As a gay man, I agree with you. I guess I didn’t react this time because I’d heard her say homophobic things before (“lezzies” in a PEOPLE magazine story from 1976). My lack of reaction doesn’t make the terms she used any less disturbing and disappointing. I still find it disappointing, especially in someone who I absolutely adore and listen to more than any other pop music musician.

I haven’t heard her say racist things, though I could be blind to them without realizing. The one moment she dies come off as racist — and it’s a doozie — is the blackface costume for Halloween.

Overall, it’s hard to read and hear such things today, but I keep in mind that at the time (70s and 80s) saying such things was pretty common—and considered perfectly acceptable. I have noticed that by 1990 onward, I’ve never come across Christine saying anything either homophobic or racist. So maybe, like most of us, she got better, started to grow, become more aware.

As batty as Stevie could be, she has always been pretty damn good to her LGBTQ fans…

I agree.

The world has changed radically in 40 or 50 years. I often check a Facebook account that posts old tv and printed ads. So nostalgic. But many beer and other products commercials were sexist, some even misogynist. Not only peruvian products. I found old Brannif airline ads very sexist with disgusting pictures of the flight attendants. There were also clothes and food commercial very racist. Today those ads would be reported and banned. In the 70s and 80s they were acceptable, but they were wrong anyway.

I admit that as when I was a boy, and even a teen, I didn’t dislike those ads. But as I grew up and matured, I realized how wrong those things were, and especially that my parents never warned me they were wrong. Education at home has a lot to do with it, but one can improve as one grows and becomes more aware. Although in previous generations, it's harder for them to change. My grandparents were racist; they were raised that way, and they never changed, and they were sometimes surprised by my anti-racist views.

For example, I remember that in 1990, grandparents and old uncles weren't worried because the winner of the presidential election was a practically unknown man. And they weren't worried about whether he was left-wing, right-wing, honest, corrupt, etc. But rather because he was nisei (son of japanese). So ridiculous. But trying to change them was a lost cause.

I never had heard Christine saying things defined as homophobic. There are lot of interviews I haven't heard or read. That doesn’t change my taste in her music. I know it's not the same thing, but as an example, I wouldn't stop watching a Woody Allen movie, nor would I stop admiring a Caravaggio painting (two very questionable people for things they have done).

The only thing I can say in this case about Christine is that she was a human being born in the 40s, and that what we know of her, and of any artist, is only a little bit of that person.

As someone who watched a lot of Python, Fawlty Towers, Ab Fab, and Are You Being Served, Christine’s words were pretty normal for a 43 year old British woman in 1986. Yes, by modern sensibilities 38 years later, they’re problematic. Context matters.

As for saying “black blues”, again, in the context of what she was saying, it was to delineate the original music from what it was morphing into in Britain.

Agreed. And that distinction is still important. She was aware of the two traditions and that the Brits were essentially appropriating and extrapolating the music of American black musicians. Saying “black blues” is accurate—and depending on your view of the British blues boom, redundant.