"Didn't do well" is relative.
Rumours sold what? 20 million or something, right? How is ANYONE supposed to follow that? ANYTHING they would've released wouldn't have come close, so as Lindsey said, "why try?". "Tusk" sold a decent 4 million copies...of a DOUBLE ALBUM. Just because it didn't come close to Rumours numbers doesn't make it a "failure". Granted it cost a million dollars to make the album, it DID make a profit for both the band AND the record company so I don't understand this perception that "Tusk" "tanked".
BUT, one thing that DID hurt sales wasn't the music itself, but that the night before it was released to the public, Westwood One radio played the ENTIRE ALBUM IN ORDER WITH NO COMMERCIAL BREAKS (per side) People just taped it, they didn't have to BUY it. That lack of judgement probably cost a couple of million units in sales...people copying their tapes for friends, etc.
Just from seeing some of the polls and reading the posts here on the Ledge(s) over the years, most folks say that "Tusk" is their favorite Fleetwood Mac album. MICK & LINDSEY both say "Tusk" was their favorite album of theirs. (Of course, LINDSEY would say that!

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