Headline Act: Fleetwood Mac (transcription)

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Headline Act: Fleetwood Mac
VH1 Classic :: 30 minutes

On her ambitions:

I wanted to affect people. I wanted to be a singer/songwriter/entertainer that actually affected the audience with my music, with what I did with my body, with my mind, with my clothes, with my songs, with my words. I wanted to affect people. And that was my goal from the very, very beginning.

On Janis Joplin:

When I saw Janis Joplin, I was very taken with the power that she had. I was already in Lindsey's band (Fritz) and she was playing at Stanford Frost Amphitheater, which is an outdoor amphitheater up at Stanford University, and we opened for her. And Janis was not a real attractive girl. She was not pretty. But there was something about her that was so charming and so real that she was absolutely, stunningly beautiful. And when she took that microphone and started singing, it was like she had that whole audience right in the palm of her little hand. And I was stunned. And I just sat there all through it, you know, going, I don't wanna to be her, but I wanna have her power. And so I only saw her that one time. And I sponged in every little thing she did. And in my own Stevie way tried to take what I learned from her in that hour and a half and put it into what I did from that day onward.

Cue: "Landslide" from "Live in Boston"

On stage fright:

I felt like I could have that thing. I felt like it was there for me. If I could like get you know through the nervousness and through the fear. If I could calm down enough to enjoy and appreciate what was happening, and not let my nerves completely ruin everything, I'd be ok. You know, I have terrible stage fright, so. And I still have really bad stage fright, so that never goes away. I think that that's probably one of the things that makes people great is the fact that they're so terrified before they walk on stage. That they really have all that pent up energy that starts from the second you wake up until the second you walk on stage. As soon as they go, "lights, camera, action...ladies and gentlemen, Fleetwood Mac," it's gone. The nervousness is gone, and then you just feel great. But the twenty-two hours leading up to that two hours is hard.

Cue: "Big Love" from LIVE IN BOSTON

On the story of "Stand Back":

Well, I had just gotten married and I was in the car with my husband (Kim Anderson) driving to Santa Barbara for our honeymoon night. And "Little Red Corvette" came on the radio. And I was like, "who is that?," you know. "Who-is-that?" And I happened to be married to somebody that was in the record business. He goes, "That's Prince and this song is 'Little Red Corvette.' And I'm like, "ok!" And all of the sudden, I start singing along to this song, another poem that I had written. And when we got to the hotel he, again being a very nice man in the record business, had a cassette with him so he set it all up for me. And we had actually brought a little keyboard, and I just sat there and wrote "Stand Back," that night.

Cue: "Stand Back" from LIVE IN BOSTON

On performing on stage:

It makes you much more honest and vulnerable and innocent when you walk on stage because you don't take it for granted, ever. I don't ever take it for granted when I walk on the stage. I don't ever say, "I'm gonna be great because I AM great because I've been great for so long." I don't ever say that. I go like, "Oh, please dear God, "let me be great tonight."

Cue: "Say You Will" from LIVE IN BOSTON

On the recording of RUMOURS:

It started in Sausalito at the Record Plant. We went like October, November, December and got all the tracks. Did all the tracks. And then went back to Los Angeles at the beginning of January and started working on it, working on all the tracks, which really, we didn't really need to. The tracks were done, they were great. We could've just put the vocals on and put it out, and it still would have been RUMOURS. Then we worked for another like 8 or 9 months in all the studios in Los Angeles. By then, we were rich and famous and crazy. And it was a riot, you know. It was riot. Everybody was breaking up. And everybody, you know, likes to say about how horrible it was and everything. But you know what? It was really fun, also. Everybody had a great time. Yes, we were breaking up. Yes, there was tragedy. But we were recording a huge album at the Record Plant in Sausalito. We were able to go and you know have Irish coffees and little tea sandwiches everyday on our way to our fabulous job. How bad can it get?

Cue: "Go Your Own Way" from LIVE IN BOSTON

More on the recording of RUMOURS:

The fact that we had stuff to write about, terrific. You know, we were breaking up. We had tragedy? Yes, we did. But were there just incredible moments? Yes, every single day. When we left the Record Plant and went back to Los Angeles, it became more serious because then we were REALLY breaking up. And then it was starting to get a little bit more ugly. We got through it.