Fans from the 80's: Tango memories?

[Villavic]

Tango was released 5 years after Mirage. During those years I became a mac fan. And I remembered being a fan just when the band seemed to separate (no news from them during 83-86, just solo records).

Most of biographies, docs, tv special give details from the Rumours-Tusk era, but very little info from the 80s.

It was a surprise also when Lindsey was not in the tour

[David]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Tango was released 5 years after Mirage. During those years I became a mac fan.

The "Tango" buildup -- a lot smaller than "Rumours" or "Tusk" -- came just about the time that my FM fanaticism was waning. I really enjoyed the whole year of 1986 with Stevie's excellent tour & the few appearances with Lindsey, but I felt it was all sort of unraveling. Fleetwood Mac was no longer a real group group, just a collection of different people with different schedules & different tastes. But I knew the album was in the works (it was very late, as usual) & I got pumped about it when Lindsey played a show in 1986 & told the crowd it was going to be a great album, & also gave the impression that the members of Fleetwood Mac were orbiting around one another a lot more (which turned out to be untrue).

I was driving north on I-5 from San Diego at sunset, alongside the Pacific, when I heard "Big Love" on the radio. It took me a few moments to realize that I was listening to Fleetwood Mac; everything always sounds a little pallid on your car stereo. So "Big Love" went into pretty heavy rotation for the next few weeks. In the L.A. Times, Robert Hilburn said the single was "great" & "mysterious," & put it on a list of new singles worthy of good bands. A few days before release day, KMET or KLOS or one of those stations previewed the whole album (Jim Ladd did the same thing with "Rock a Little" in 1985), & I was extremely pleased & moved by what I heard -- especially all the pentatonic stuff going on throughout (I figured Lindsey had just discovered the five-tone scale & was using it to create musical motifs throughout to tie everything together) & also the track "When I See You Again," which made me think of old Buckingham Nicks stuff.

The album was pretty big as far as airplay goes: "Big Love" sort of died out, but "Seven Wonders" followed & got played a lot, & then "Little Lies" became the most frequently played single from the album: an instant radio classic. Everybody was humming "Little Lies" wherever you went: grocery store, Post Office, bank. Fleetwood Mac fans really began to look forward to a Mac tour.

MTV previewed the "Little Lies" video in July or August with an announcement that LB had left the group. I got to see that. It was a bit of an Oh **** moment. That video hit me as the "closing of a chapter," just like from that Buckingham song (although I saw the band later that winter play in San Diego & Los Angeles).

That was all really sort of the end of my fanaticism, right around that time, so that era seems slightly weird but very clear in my memory.

[Johnny Stew]

'Tango' was the first new Mac album to be released after my love for Stevie/FM really kicked in.

As I've said before, I "discovered" Stevie when "Talk To Me" was all over the radio. Really dug the song, but more than anything, I was enamoured with her voice. I BEGGED for 'Rock A Little' for Christmas, and luckily I got it. By December 26th, I practically had the whole thing memorized. I was that taken by it.

Because of that, I started to seek out Stevie's earlier work, and when I got my hands on her first two solo albums and some of her albums with Fleetwood Mac, I realized that I had already been listening to FM for years (via the radio) and already knew and loved so many of their songs. Even had memories attached to many of the songs!

Anyway, I was THRILLED when 'Tango' was released... even made sure my parents took me to the mall the day it was released, so I could get it (I was 14 at the time).

As David said, "Big Love" was all over the radio, and the video was in heavy rotation on MTV... the song rocked and it was all very exciting, being a "new" fan.
The album bowled me over... pretty much loved every song on it (though a couple, like "Mystified," had to grow on me), and Stevie's three contributions actually cemented my love for her music.

"Seven Wonders" and "Little Lies" followed... with plenty of MTV airings of their respective videos (I used to sit by the TV with a blank videocassette handy, so that I could tape them and ANY Mac mention the VJs made), and the singles all contained Non-LP tracks, which I thought was totally cool.

As David said, "Little Lies" was unavoidable... every station you turned to was playing it (I even heard the extended version on the radio a few times!), the kids I went to school with would sing it while walking down the halls, even 'The Young And The Restless' played it in the background during one episode. And I couldn't have been happier!

The news that Lindsey was leaving the band was disappointing, because I liked his songs and was really developing an appreciation for his offbeat style... but being that I was a "new" fan, his departure wasn't devastating to me, so long as the band... with Stevie... continued.

Vito and Burnette came on board, and seemed like cool guys who were happy to be a part of Fleetwood Mac (which scored them additional points in my eyes), and I continued to watch MTV as much as possible for all the tourdates, and road reports.

In the meantime, "Everywhere" and "Family Man" were released as singles. For a moment, it almost seemed as if "Everywhere" would match the success of "Little Lies," but its radio play seemed to taper off pretty quickly. At the time, I blamed that on the lack of a video, never realizing that it HAD a video that MTV simply didn't play.
I don't recall ever hearing "Family Man" on the radio... but with the 12" maxi-single in my possession, it certainly got a lot of plays on MY turntable.

Unfortunately, MTV coverage of the band began to wane after the hoopla for 'Tango' died down. Videos like "As Long As You Follow" and "Save Me" received considerably less airplay than the 'Tango' videos. And "Rooms On Fire" was the last Stevie video and single to receive any big attention from MTV.

My enthusiasm for FM remained undiminished, but the next decade became a virtual drought for Mac fans. When 'Time' flopped, I gave up hope of Fleetwood Mac ever again receiving significant attention or airplay for a new album. Then, after reading a comment from Mick that Fleetwood Mac was over and he was moving on with his life, and reading Stevie's comments that she'd never again be a part of Fleetwood Mac unless Lindsey was there too (who, in his own interviews, seemed to squash any hope of that ever happening), I figured my favorite band was dead once and for all.

Guess I should have heeded Christine's advice in "Don't Stop," because "tomorrow" was on its way, and it would prove to be better than before.

[blackdove]

I was 16 years old and my sister had been brought Tango for her birthday by a friend....she never got a look in because I played it to death, lol!

I had heard Big love as a single (and seen the video on TV) but it was Little Lies that originally drew me in. The haunting keyboard sounds at the start and Christine's vocal really stuck in my head, and I loved it. So when my sister got her cassette copy of Tango I had to listen to it all.

I think the thing I liked most about the group was them having three different singers. Being a teenager who easily lost interest in full albums by the same artist, having three singers was kind of like listening to a compilation album, the variety in styles helped to hold my attention that bit longer.

However, at that point in time I didn't feel the need to go rushing out and buying all their back catalogue...that would come a little later after listening to a copy of their green cover greastest hits. After listening to the tape until it stretched and wore out, it was Stevie that got to me hook, line and sinker! I had to have everything she'd touched.

I didn't get to see them play live until 1990's Behind the mask tour, which I enjoyed very much, but I couldn't help wishing it was Lindsey up there instead! Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would ever happen again, especially me being a UK Mac fan...it took another 13 years for me to realise that wild dream (6 times over ) and I couldn't have been happier.

Love Sarah

[amber]

Tango....I heard the song Seven Wonders once (I was 13 at the time, maybe 12, I believe). My parents listened to a mainstream Rock station.
And i became obsessed. I asked my friends, no one knew. Then i went to visit my best friend's older cousin with her. She knew. she loved Stevie.
But...I was never able to get ahold of the album. I just had to wait to hear it on the radio.
How many times did i hear Little Lies during this same period?
Consta - effing - ly!
Yes, it's a good song. Better and more worthy of radio play than Seven Wonders? I think not.
But, that whole time, I never knew that the same band was playing both songs...
There was also lots of Tom Petty on that station at the time. With his "Dixie" (which i really like) and his "Free Fallin" and his "My sister got lucky, married a yuppie" song.
As a matter of fact, said best friend even made me a Tom Petty tape that year; it was all his new album...
It was the same year we watched Monty Python, and also Eddie Murphy's Delirious, or the other one,(Raw?) or both.
My friend kept going...
"PULLOVAH! PULLOVAH! WOOWOOOWOOOWOOO! (insert cop siren noise here)"
that was also the same year she drew a picture on my yearbook of:
"The inquisition, what a show, the inquisition, HEY, let's go!" with people in the stockades...I literally have a picture on the back of my yearbook of people in stockades....All because of "The History of the World" (Thank you Mel Brooks)
cartoonishly, of course...(but how magnificent is Madeliene Khan? Unprecedented, I would say! R.I.P., Madeleine is much missed)
Then, in highschool, I happened upon PBS airing the BellaDonna concert. I recorded SB and EO17 off the TV. I shouted..."omgod! omigod! i've been looking for these songs! this is the lady!" (still not knowing she did Seven Wonders, or GDW). It was on my "drive to school tape", then, although I didn't like the live versions as much as i remembered. It was with "Peace Train" sung by Natalie Merchant, and...Bridge Over etc? and some other songs.
In reality, I obtained TITN in 1993, or '4, when my friend was getting rid of tapes she didn't want. (she liked Poi Dog Pondering, and other obscure intellectual bands) I was 19/20 at the time.
The rest is my very own Mac History, excluding my youthful and brief but passionate brushes with Stand Back (very passionate, it was love at first listen.VERY! that's one of my forevah and constant loves.The first love i remember Vividly )
It was Seven Wonders that cemented the whole thing...
But, this whole time, I had never seen the Mac and didn't know what anyone looked like, their names, that they were with each other in a band, or anything like that. I knew nothing except these songs i loved that i had heard on the radio. When i was 8, I thought Stand Back was on the Flashdance soundtrack
I guess i just fell in love, always, with...THE VOICE.
I think now that it must have always been the voice of my dream, my subconscious. *cheese out!*
A friend of my mom's when i was little had a very husky voice, and i would just sit and stare at her while she was talking,completely enraptured, so
And if i've loved Stevie songs since i was 3, and at different periods every since, without ever knowing who she was or seeing them, it must be love at first...
aww, you guys know what i mean.
admittedly, I did grow up with them, i was born in '74. But...

Thus concludes my lengthy thesis...

[skcin]

Originally Posted by amber

Tango....I heard the song Seven Wonders once (I was 13 at the time, maybe 12, I believe). My parents listened to a mainstream Rock station.
And i became obsessed. I asked my friends, no one knew. Then i went to visit my best friend's older cousin with her. She knew. she loved Stevie.
But...I was never able to get ahold of the album. I just had to wait to hear it on the radio.
How many times did i hear Little Lies during this same period?
Consta - effing - ly!
Yes, it's a good song. Better and more worthy of radio play than Seven Wonders? I think not.
But, that whole time, I never knew that the same band was playing both songs...
There was also lots of Tom Petty on that station at the time. With his "Dixie" (which i really like) and his "Free Fallin" and his "My sister got lucky, married a yuppie" song.
As a matter of fact, said best friend even made me a Tom Petty tape that year; it was all his new album...
It was the same year we watched Monty Python, and also Eddie Murphy's Delirious, or the other one,(Raw?) or both.
My friend kept going...
"PULLOVAH! PULLOVAH! WOOWOOOWOOOWOOO! (insert cop siren noise here)"
that was also the same year she drew a picture on my yearbook of:
"The inquisition, what a show, the inquisition, HEY, let's go!" with people in the stockades...I literally have a picture on the back of my yearbook of people in stockades....All because of "The History of the World" (Thank you Mel Brooks)
cartoonishly, of course...(but how magnificent is Madeliene Khan? Unprecedented, I would say! R.I.P., Madeleine is much missed)
Then, in highschool, I happened upon PBS airing the BellaDonna concert. I recorded SB and EO17 off the TV. I shouted..."omgod! omigod! i've been looking for these songs! this is the lady!" (still not knowing she did Seven Wonders, or GDW). It was on my "drive to school tape", then, although I didn't like the live versions as much as i remembered. It was with "Peace Train" sung by Natalie Merchant, and...Bridge Over etc? and some other songs.
In reality, I obtained TITN in 1993, or '4, when my friend was getting rid of tapes she didn't want. (she liked Poi Dog Pondering, and other obscure intellectual bands) I was 19/20 at the time.
The rest is my very own Mac History, excluding my youthful and brief but passionate brushes with Stand Back (very passionate, it was love at first listen.VERY! that's one of my forevah and constant loves.The first love i remember Vividly )
It was Seven Wonders that cemented the whole thing...
But, this whole time, I had never seen the Mac and didn't know what anyone looked like, their names, that they were with each other in a band, or anything like that. I knew nothing except these songs i loved that i had heard on the radio. When i was 8, I thought Stand Back was on the Flashdance soundtrack
I guess i just fell in love, always, with...THE VOICE.
I think now that it must have always been the voice of my dream, my subconscious. *cheese out!*
A friend of my mom's when i was little had a very husky voice, and i would just sit and stare at her while she was talking,completely enraptured, so
And if i've loved Stevie songs since i was 3, and at different periods every since, without ever knowing who she was or seeing them, it must be love at first...
aww, you guys know what i mean.
admittedly, I did grow up with them, i was born in '74. But...

Thus concludes my lengthy thesis...

What she said

[skcin]

Seriously, though. It was Seven Wonders for me too.

I LOVED it. And that VOICE!

Alas, being 12, I couldn't pack up & follow Mac around seeing show after show. So instead I put them away for a bit & became obsessed with Bon Jovi & all things hair.

But I came back!

[Nixxxed]

I knew the Mac was recording, thanks to the blurb in Rolling Stone about a year before the album came out, but I could never find a definitive release date. Then, one day, I was in the library and opened RS to the centerfold to find a huge 2-page heavy-paper black glossy advert about the album. It was beautiful, and without hesitation I ripped it right out and stuck it in my backpack. Then, I carried my backpack home (in front of me, rather than wearing it) because I didn't want the ad to get bent or wrinkled.

I stared at it for hours -- that painting is just amazing. All the little eyes in the foliage, and the alien spaceship... Then, on release day, I rushed to the record store, only to find they didn't have any LPs, only cassettes and CDs. I was crushed, but got a cassette anyway figuring I'd get the LP (and full-size cover painting) later. I never did.

I spent that summer on a merchant marine training cruise through the Caribbean and down to South America (Rio de Janeiro!!!). While I was gone, a friend sent me a mix tape that started off with "Seven Wonders" and "Book of Miracles", and included the 45 single sleeve in the package. I taped it to the wall above my bunk, and stared at it every night before going to sleep, imagining how freakin' fun that photo shoot must've been. I heard "Seven Wonders" on the radio and in nightclubs all over the islands and in Rio. Also, in Rio (at a nightclub called Help! that was LOADED with Brazilian hookers for some reason...) I heard the 12" remix for the first time, and the dance floor filled to overflowing ... everyone LOVED it.

I also tortured all my shipmates with my mix tape any time we were working on the ship. Like I said, it started off with SW and BOM, but the rest of it was just 2 hours of American radio. Everyone loved it, especially after two months of hearing steel drum reggae versions of Elvis and '50s songs. And several people asked about SW -- if it was the Mac. I said yes, it was from the new album. And they ALL said, "Man, that song is SO much better than that first single "Looking Out for Love" or whatever... I HATE that song!!!"

[mondaymornin1]

Originally Posted by Nixxxed

And they ALL said, "Man, that song is SO much better than that first single "Looking Out for Love" or whatever... I HATE that song!!!"

Too funny! I distinctly remember talking on the phone with a friend while listening to Big Love, and she was all, "WHAT are you listening too?? I HATE that song!" I was a "closet" fan ---ya know, there weren't many of us out there! I was a senior in high school. Everybody was in to Bon Jovi, etc. So, I just told her I was...ummm...listenin to the radio... But I never agreed with her that I hated the song.

My fandom really began with Mirage and the whole MTV exposure, so when I heard the news that Tango was soon to be released I was so psyched. Wow, it had been a long wait! But, seemingly being the only fan in Alabama, I had no one to share my excitement with. My favorite release was probably Seven Wonders simply because I loved Little Lies, but it was way overplayed! I also loved Tango in the Night and Caroline, but again, those were played behind closed doors only because I was a huge wimp that couldn't take the jests from my "cool" friends. Then I read an article about Lindsey (maybe in BAM, can't remember now!), where he said something about how he was not thrilled with the outcome of Mirage and that if Tango ended up being his swan song, he'd be much happier with it being his last work with the band. So...I was like, oh****noplease!!!! And sure enough, he left and I was so devastated. I still had never seen them in concert. I remained a huge fan, though I really missed him. I bought Behind the Mask and even Time, but they weren't the same for me. I NEVER thought I'd have the opportunity to see them live ever, but YAY the unimaginable happened and Lindsey came back! And my Fleetwood Mac world was set right again...............

[chiffon head]

Tango was the first FM concert I was able to go to. I saved up my money and took my parents and my boyfriend. I made them go with me.
Lindsey not being there was a bummer, but Christine singing Songbird at the end just blew me away!!!
I had already been a big fan of the Mac since I was around 14 or so, but I had always LOVED Stevie the most. My love for FM has never died. I'm sooo protective over them when it comes to other people saying stuff. In my eyes they can do no wrong. Good show. Good album. IMO

Renee

[no_spoken_word]

I was only five years old when Tango came out, but I remember hearing Little Lies and Everywhere, well, everywhere. I remember I always got Little Lies confused with that "hungry eyes" song, does anyone remember that?

[catinthedark]

Tango will always hold a special place in my heart....

I had heard Big Love on the radio. Didn't like it. Didn't know who sang it. Didn't care.

Then, the station I listened to suddenly started playing both Little Lies and Seven Wonders at the same time (it was sort of an album rock station). I loved both of them - again, had no idea they were both by the same band (I was 17. Had bigger things on my mind). Anyway - what really got me, other than Stevie's voice (which I adored), was the drums in Seven Wonders. I looooved Stevie's voice, and I quickly figured out that that voice was the voice I loved in SDMHA, L&L, SB, IAF, etc etc etc - so, I loved Stevie Nicks, I just never really knew it. ANYWAY - yes, for some reason, I loved the drums in Seven Wonders (especially in the musical bridge part after she says Taaaraa...). So I listened and listened and listened to it. And then, I remember the moment the radio station announced FM was coming to town for a concert, and I was like, I have to go see them. I didn't own a single album or anything. It was like a force greater than me. I just had to be at that show. I bought a ticket for a friend, bought the album, and I was in my own world for the two hours they played. Stevie blew me away. I don;t think I took my eyes off her. I was hooked. At that point, the fact that Lindsey wasn't going to be there meant nothing to me. To me, Fleetwood Mac was all about Stevie Nicks. I loved her voice, and loved her words. After the show (where I was stunned to recognize so many old songs!), I went and bought all Stevie's solo albums, and all the old FM albums. To say I was hooked would be the understatment of the year. They were and always have been my band.

All because of Tango in the Night...

[Vianna]

I became a fan in 1980 but because my mother was ill and I was the sole caregiver, I did not see the Mirage tour even though I did get the album immediately.

Mother died in Jan 1987 so when Tango came out-I think it was late summer when I started hearing Big Love and Everywhere on the radio-I was ready and waiting for the concert=:-)What I didn't fully appreciate at the time was the loss of Lindsey for the tour. TITN was my first Mac concert and I loved it!


Then I saw the Dance show...shall we say more=:-)???

[ThePenguin]

Originally Posted by mondaymornin1

those were played behind closed doors only because I was a huge wimp that couldn't take the jests from my "cool" friends...

Sounds much like me! i was was a Sr in HS and FMac were really not a cool band to like. That didn't stop me from saving my babysitting $ and buying the tape, plus I saw the Seven Wonders and Little Lies video on MTV sometimes. I was a little disappointed w/ LB's songs. I loved seven Wonders on the tape, but once I saw the video I was reminded again of how much I adored those 5 people, oh my goodness thier faces were all just beautiful to me. That video is still probably my favorite.

But the fact that i loved them was kept quiet... I think only a couple close friends knew I still adored them and considered myself for all intents and purposes married to Lindsey Buckingham LOL, although the eraser head hair was majorly dorky IMO.

-Lis

[rbs3676]

I have many TANGO memories...this was the first project that was released on CD, but I got the LP as well ('cause it took me a long time to part with vinyl)...this was the first post-Betty Ford batch of songs we were treated to, and I knew that Stevie was going to have something to say about that experience, and that made WTTRS very meaningful to me...I got the 45 to Big Love just for the B-side and I still, to this day, don't know why Y&I part 1 wasnt included on the album -- the vocals are so lush and gorgeous...MTV was all about this release, so the videos were in heavy rotation, which I loved (everyone looked gorgeous)...when it was announced that LB had finally left, it was so surreal -- I didn't know how they were going to go on, but they managed just fine...I went to all 3 Texas dates on this tour and got to meet the band in Dallas, which was very cool -- I got a great picture of Christine and I as well as one with Mick (Stevie was a doll but did not want her picture taken)...this was the first tour where FM played Stand Back...TANGO is a great record and the production was fabulous - it still sounds great today.

rbs