25 Years Ago: Fleetwood Mac Release ‘Behind the Mask’ Without Lindsey Buckingham

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Yes, that's my point. Stevie said that she was on drugs at the time. My comment was that you are wrong about Lindsey citing Mick or Stevie's substance abuse as the reason he left the band. He never did. Nor did he talk about their personal vices. When he talked about band craziness, it was always in the context of all 5 of them and the way they were interacting.

And since 1997 he has talked about his own demons as reasons why he needed to leave the band. He even said he left and went into therapy.

As for his bashing BTM, there are no interviews in which he did that, except the one where he boasted it took two guitarists to replace him.

But Christine is the one who said that Mick should have gone another route (instead of Dave Mason) instead of trying to fix a broken vase. Lindsey didn't talk about Behind the Mask being destined to failure. He did put down the nostalgia tour with Pat Benatar a few years later though. He said that was sad. He didn't say that about BTM. When he talked about appearing on stage with BTM he said it was easy for him because all he had to do was come out and play GYOW and that was sure to go over well, but he didn't say anything else about BTM, the album or the tour. In fact, he said he didn't watch their live show, even when he was backstage.

I don't disagree with you that Lindsey talks in code sometimes, but I don't think there are any interviews or quotes that suggest he was telling the press "Oh, Mick and Stevie's drug abuse force me out." That's why they said he left. He didn't say that's why. He cited mostly creative reasons for leaving and, in his Say Goodbye discussions, said that he couldn't get over Stevie while he was still in the band with her, again freely admitting he had his own demons to deal with.

Michele

Last night I went to youtube to check out Lindsey's Wrong video. The song is about his bitter leaving Fleetwood Mac almost making it look like he was being forced to perform or something. But there is a quick scene of him in a bathroom chugging what looks like a prescription pill bottle. I want to know is this him or is this a swipe at Stevie. The Piggy in the middle and Piggy on the cover line is classic. More code language to think of the excesses a pig enjoys.
Back to my original point... I would love a candid interview with Lindsey someday

There are some great songs on BTM
A little known fact that I learned listening to Dick Clark's countdown in 1990 when Skies the Limit was on the Adult contemporary charts was the song was a last minute addition to the album. The album was finished and Christine thought the album sounded too dark. It lacked one of her peppy love songs. So she quickly wrote Skies the Limit and made it a first cut on the album.
I would say half the songs on the album are good to very good. Some of the songs like Hard Feelings by Billy is pretty bad IMHO.
My favorites are:
Skies the Limit
Back of my Mind
When it comes to Love
Behind the Mask
Freedom
Save Me
Love is Dangerous

I don't like Hard Feelings or Affairs of the Heart. Affairs of the Heart almost seems like a demo IMHO. Very little on the creative side too. Stand on the Rock and Do you know are ok. The album only hit #18 on the US charts but went to #1 in the UK. That is interesting. Rolling Stone raved about the album giving it 4/5 stars and stating Rick and Billy were the best thing that ever happened to Fleetwood Mac. While other critics did not have good things to say.