Little Lies 35 Years Ago

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by bwboy

I agree news of Lindsey’s leaving wasn’t viral, because it couldn’t have been back then, but where you and I disagree is where you say it was underplayed by the band. It was definitely not underplayed- Fleetwood Mac did a ton of press the second they signed Billy and Rick up. They were very open about Lindsey leaving- probably because they didn’t want fans to think he was fired. Lindsey was mum but FM did all the talking. There was no “put a hat on Billy and no one will notice it’s not Lindsey.” That’s disrespectful to Lindsey, for any fans to think most concert goers wouldn’t notice it wasn’t Lindsey on stage. FM had a huge press conference introducing Billy and Rick to the public, they took out full page ads in all the major newspapers promoting the tour with a big picture of Mick, John, Christine, Stevie, Billy, and Rick and the tour dates, and there were big, long articles in music press magazines.

No, Lindsey’s departure definitely wasn’t underplayed by the band.

Disagree. I remember this first hand and couldn’t believe how they were trying to carry on without really talking about it. Even later, when Mick spilled the beans in his book about Lindsey quitting, the enormous drama of the event was undermined by the sentiment that “no one really asked ‘Where’s Lindsey?”’ (when he spoke about the Tango Tour.) They did his songs, replicated his parts, but didn’t really call attention to his absence or the lack of band chemistry that remained because of it. Was it a big deal? Of course it was—to FM fans, but my comments stemmed from the claim that Little Lies charted as high as it did by benefitting from news of Lindsey’s leaving, and that is just not true. People sang the words, hummed along to the melody, and even today it is one of the band’s most definitive hits. It would not have survived beyond 1987 if its enormous success hinged on a publicity stunt.