Fans from the 70's: Rumours memories?

[EveryHour]

For those of you who were around when Rumours came out.....
What are your memories of the "Rumours mayhem"?

[jbrownsjr]

I remember seeing 10,000 Eight Track tapes of Rumours and the White Album in the store. I was 9. I remember hearing Don't Stop, Dreams and You Make Lovin Fun and Go Your Own Way about 10 million times on the radio.

I remember hearing people say Stevie Nicks was a man. the name Stevie thru them off. I really didn't know who the members were at that time, so I remember wanting to look it up, but our 8 track had very little info.

I remember being in love with Christine McVie's Songbird and Oh Daddy. I loved the Chain so much more than GYOW, but they didn't play it as often.

Another Side note

I was playing with my friends in the back yard and I remember it was a sunny day in Cleveland and the DJ came on and said "finally some new Fleetwood Mac! here the new Tusk track." And we all stopped and listened to it. I was shocked that it was FM but I liked it.

[David]

Originally Posted by EveryHour

For those of you who were around when Rumours came out.....
What are your memories of the "Rumours mayhem"?

The big stuff came about a half-year to a year after "Rumours" was released. The mayhem seemed to exist in the press & the buzz: a neverending stream of magazine articles, photos, awards, talk shows, all that entertainment industry stuff. My classmates in grade school & junior high were more interested in Cheap Trick, Aerosmith & dance/disco music. A few kids loved "Dreams" & sort of Fleetwood Mac in general, but it wasn't a kid movement -- it was a marketing hype movement. And it was BIG. And like a tsunami inundating a shoreline, it just kept getting bigger.

It lasted almost all the way to "Tusk," & then "Tusk" ignited it all over again, with all the hype & buzz. But with "Tusk," it fizzled out a lot sooner -- while the band was still on tour, actually. You could actually see the periodicity of magazine articles & cover stories throughout that time drop off. A lot of that had to do with punk -- I remember the early punk bands were what my junior high & high school classmates were talking about: the Ramones, the Clash, the Dead Kennedys, etc. They played punk at school dances & functions, & there was a lot of disdain for "old" bands, including Fleetwood (to the extent that kids thought about Fleetwood Mac at all).

I think MTV videos -- & Stevie's first album -- helped revive Fleetwood Mac's status in 1981/82. I don't think otherwise the band would have interested the general public. Kids talked a lot more about the band in 1982 than they did in 1980. These are all my firsthand impressions & memories of the cultural climate (totally radio driven) in Southern CA.

[Regina]

But I do remember them.
How could I not?
AM radio had kind of a top 40 format--with the top ten being in near constant rotation (I don't listen to contemporary radio now so I have no idea if it's changed or not).
Dreams was literally being played on one of the two main AM radio stations every fifteen or twenty minutes. When you went to the beach, you heard it either from your own radio or the radio of someone next to you.
I thought it was a terribly creepy song.
I also remember watching the Midnight Special with my grandmother. I thought they were odd looking folks.
I was an extremely straightlaced teen (as opposed to the wildwoman I am now ) who essentially was drawn to the clean cut and well shaved.
Kind of ironic that I now think Lindsey was the hottest thing during his "wolfman" era (although, he's not half bad now, either;-)

[WelshWitchPMD]

Fleetwood Mac were just about everywhere back in 1977. You could not escape. I was in junior high at the time and I was a bit young to be a fan of them at the time.
Most of the kids were into disco or Olivia Newton-John. Not that there is anything wrong with these types of music.
I just wish that the internet existed back then. I could have used it to find out news and tour dates. It seems like I was always the last to know. That will never happen again!
Like I said they were everywhere esp. Stevie. I still have that article in People magazine where she was on of the most 'Intriguing people of 1977".

[ThePenguin]

Originally Posted by WelshWitchPMD

I just wish that the internet existed back then. I could have used it to find out news and tour dates. It seems like I was always the last to know. That will never happen again!
.

How did we function without the internet?!

When I think of the time I spent poring over that damn microfilm machine....wasn't that what they were called?-- trying to locate articles etc....It could take HOURS !!! Also borrowing from the library's stash of old magazines, and you had to fill out a little slip of paper for each one, and then pray that they had the magazine, and that the one article you wanted to read was not torn out, and that the copy machine was working that day as you were not allowed to borrow the older materials!! such stress.

-Lis

[Nixxxed]

Originally Posted by ThePenguin

How did we function without the internet?!

When I think of the time I spent poring over that damn microfilm machine....wasn't that what they were called?-- trying to locate articles etc....It could take HOURS !!! Also borrowing from the library's stash of old magazines, and you had to fill out a little slip of paper for each one, and then pray that they had the magazine, and that the one article you wanted to read was not torn out, and that the copy machine was working that day as you were not allowed to borrow the older materials!! such stress.

-Lis

I ... did ... the ... same ... thing!

Only our microfilm/fiche machine was OLD, and all the pages came out basically black. The funniest was the Rolling Stone concert review, "Fleetwood Mac Clicks Despite Nicks" that had the picture of her in the macrame/feather headdress (from TWH & RAL promo posters). The page was so dark, I couldn't tell what the f*ck was on her head -- it looked like a bunch of snakes, or like she had been rolling around in a pile of sticks.

[Lala]

Originally Posted by WelshWitchPMD

Like I said they were everywhere esp. Stevie. I still have that article in People magazine where she was on of the most 'Intriguing people of 1977".

Is there somewhere I could read this? Is it transcribed in the archives?

[Nixxxed]

I wasn't a fan at the time, either, but I knew who they were. I didn't know the music, although I'm sure I heard it inbetween "Grease" songs and disco songs on the radio. When I finally got my copy of Rumours in the '80s, I recognized almost every song on the thing. Mac mentions were everywhere. I distinctly remember 2 from TV sitcoms I watched.

One was on "One Day at a Time". Schneider was hitting on a girl, complimenting her on her hair. The girl said, "Oh, thank you! It's the new Stevie Nicks style..." And Schneider said, (you guessed it) "Who's he???".

The other was, strangely enough, on "Mork & Mindy". Someone was asking which Mac record to buy, and Mindy said something along the lines of, "If you want the full Fleetwood Mac experience, you definitely want to buy 'Rumours'."

(OK, so maybe the memories aren't so distinct nearly 30 years later... )

[terrivac]

I was a senior in high school in 1977 and I remember me and both of my good friends had copies of the album. All three of us would just sit there all day and listen to it and talk about LB. We all wore out our albums and had to go to Woolworths in Cleveland to get another copy. I wore that one out too. I am on my 3rd album (which I still have). I even still have the 8 track. We waited for the next album and got it the first day it was out. We didn't play Tusk as much we still enjoyed it. The only thing I regret is not seeing them live in the 70's.

Terri

[WelshWitchPMD]

Originally Posted by Lala

Is there somewhere I could read this? Is it transcribed in the archives?

I don't know if it's on the web anywhere. There is a copy of the photo of Stevie however.

If I get this stupid printer going today (It's already too long ) I might be able to transcribe it.

Here is the Stevie photo. Well, half of her anyway.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by David

I think MTV videos -- & Stevie's first album -- helped revive Fleetwood Mac's status in 1981/82. I don't think otherwise the band would have interested the general public.

Hmmm....interesting perspective.

[rbs3676]

I remember buying the GYOW 45 and just totally being taken in by SILVER SPRINGS...it was the prettiest and most heartbreaking song...and then in February, when Rumours was released, they were huge...they were everywhere...I remember having the LP, the cassette AND the 8-track...the 8-track's GOLD DUST WOMAN went on longer than the LP and cassette and I would crank it up in my bedroom...I remember the Rolling Stone cover and thinking it was "wild"...I remember watching the American Music Awards and the Grammies and I was so excited when they would show Stevie in the audience wearing her glasses and I would scream when they won...

I had incredible teenage years and FM was a major reason for that...they were MY band and I adored them...

rbs