Hold Me Pop Charts

[David]

Originally Posted by WatchChain

Who would have thought that, based on Billboard Chart staying power, "Hold Me" is Fleetwood Mac's biggest hit?

“Hold Me” got some love in the rock press, too. It may sound recherché to us now (a little like the Buckingham McVie album), but the public thought it was catchy. I remember that the LA Times’ Robert Hilburn (who always preferred the adventurous and raw) named it one of the ten best radio singles of first half of 1982 (along with “Maid of Orleans” by OMD and “A Town Called Malice” by the Jam), even though he thought the album as a whole was a too-safe retread (he may have been the first actual rock writer to say so).

Rock radio was especially bland in 1982 (the really good stuff from ABC and Grandmaster Flash and Springsteen that year tended not to get airplay). A few people wondered where Tusk had got to. The band settled in to a groove to what? get another no. 1 album? Some of that is unfair — Mirage actually sounds a lot more inventive than much of the junk in 1982. I think we all agree that the album is more craft than heart, but the craft is quite clever.