Recording "Tusk" With Fleetwood Mac in 1979

[David]

Several years ago, one of the 1979 members of the Trojan Marching Band shared with me his memories of recording the marching band parts for the "Tusk" single. I thought it might be interesting to share. Here's what he said:

I was one of the members of the USC Marching band who recorded with FM in 1979. We did the recording first at Dodger Stadium, and then a few of us overdubbed at a recording studio. We did the final recording in June, 79. Around mid August, 79, I heard a tune on the radio which sounded vaguely familiar. It wasn't until the name of the song was announced, that I realized it was the song we had recorded the prior June.

FM was a lot of fun and was really great to the band; they gave us enough money to buy new uniforms (for +250 members!), turned us on to a buffet and several cases of beer at the Dodger Stadium recording session, had us play with them for several nights at the Fabulous Forum, and even did a half-time show with us. During the drum break in the middle of the song, while the USC band did a scatter drill, I took the opportunity to give Stevie Nicks a little kiss. She was a great sport about it, and even laughed.