How Fleetwood Mac Made a Masterpiece That Flopped

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

Tusk was the kind of album that hardcore fans would buy and maybe music lovers whose tastes leans toward the experimental but not too anti-commercial.

In 1979 most people determined whether or not they might buy an album based on their like ability of the single from the record played on the radio. Had they released a Stevie or Christine single first, I believe more people would have embraced and bought the record. All of SN's and CM's songs were commercial IMO. It was some of LB's songs that would shock the world although some of his tracks were commercial as well.The Eagles released The Long Road at the same time as Tusk and that album was very well received by the world, without having to compromise their sound that people were familiar with.
Another factor though was the high price sticker for the album that was a major turnoff for most consumers. I think a major backlash happened because of that. It was almost as if the people were thinking, "well we made you big stars with your Rumours album and this is how you pay us back, by charging double the price for your music. A 'who do you think you are' mentality, sort of."

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by vivfox

In 1979 most people determined whether or not they might buy an album based on their like ability of the single from the record played on the radio. Had they released a Stevie or Christine single first, I believe more people would have embraced and bought the record. All of SN's and CM's songs were commercial IMO. It was some of LB's songs that would shock the world although some of his tracks were commercial as well.The Eagles released The Long Road at the same time as Tusk and that album was very well received by the world, without having to compromise their sound that people were familiar with.
Another factor though was the high price sticker for the album that was a major turnoff for most consumers. I think a major backlash happened because of that. It was almost as if the people were thinking, "well we made you big stars with your Rumours album and this is how you pay us back, by charging double the price for your music. A 'who do you think you are' mentality, sort of."

Yeah, the double price certainly was the biggest factor.
But I don't believe this kind of experimentation could really "Shock the world", it was more quirkiness than anything else. It's the kind that looks too extravagant to the average listener but probably would be regarded as too conservative anyway for the more adventurous audience.
The point of Tusk was "to compromise their sound that people were familiar with", so I don't think they would ever have done like the Eagles.

However it is interesting that, since I wasn't familiar with the Eagles album you cited, I searched for it and in fact I found that it is "The Long Run" from 1979 and (quote):

Reviewing the album retrospectively in AllMusic, critic William Ruhlmann wrote of the album "the Eagles' follow-up to the massively successful, critically acclaimed Hotel California was a major disappointment, even though it sold several million copies and threw off three hit singles," adding that "amazingly, The Long Run reportedly was planned as a double album before being truncated to a single disc. If these were the keepers, what could the rejects have sounded like?"

I see some kind of connection.

[Fannymac]

It makes me laugh to hear TUSK referred to as a "flop".....by today's standards, it has sold over 10 million copies, maybe even closer to 12 now! What other FM album, other than RUMOURS (and maybe FLEETWOOD MAC at this point) can say that???