What Are Some Fleetwood Mac Songs That The Band Dislikes

WalkAThinLine. · #1 03-02-2025, 11:35 AM

I figured that we could compile a list of songs that various members of Fleetwood Mac have expressed grievances with.

Buckingham has been vocal about not resonating with some of Welch's songs. I have included a quote here from Musician Magazine, found on page 39.

"When I first joined the group, I had to go and play Bob Welch's songs and all this strange stuff that had nothing to do with me or me growing as an individual. But that was all part of it; I needed to do that one way or another."

Christine McVie dismissed Behind the Mask and Time as "terrible. They’re scrubbed under the carpet.", although she did not single out any song in particular.

For other examples, I remember hearing that John McVie disliked playing "Tell Me All The Things You Do" on their 2018-19 tour, so they dropped it from the setlist. I have yet to find a source for this, but does anyone have information on this?

Also, has Buckingham weighed in on "Oh Diane"? The song was a hit in Europe, yet he never performs the song live.

* Lindsey on playing Bob Welch's songs - https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Ar...an-1981-06.pdf
*Christine on Behind the Mask and Time - https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/...ie-remembered/

Macfan4life · #2 03-02-2025, 12:12 PM

I may surprise you but I bet there are not many official Mac songs that the band hates. There may not be favorites but the Mac did not phone things in during the recording process. Christine has generically dismissed her solo album, Mirage, BTM, Time, etc. But I bet if you really got down to specifics she would not use hate or dislike. Chris has never really had a dud song or "padding" as she would call it. We have songs we may not care for but in the end they are still decent songs. There were times members of the band even dissed Tusk. Chris regularly knocked her singing and songs in the very early years so I bet she would pick something early.
Stevie always recorded her own songs with the Mac so I doubt she dislikes them. Clearly she does not like the RAL era with being forced to sing other people's songs. I would love to know which are her least favorites. She also hates the Street Angel era but her life was so messed up then. She would probably say she hates that entire album minus a few songs.
This band was very good. I think they are very proud of the vast majority of their work. Stevie has dissed SYW but I get its something Lindsey is proud of like Tusk.

btw
I bet Lindsey likes Oh Diane. Its very Everly Brothers and what lured him into music.

WalkAThinLine. · #3 03-02-2025, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I may surprise you but I bet there are not many official Mac songs that the band hates. There may not be favorites but the Mac did not phone things in during the recording process. Christine has generically dismissed her solo album, Mirage, BTM, Time, etc. But I bet if you really got down to specifics she would not use hate or dislike. Chris has never really had a dud song or "padding" as she would call it. We have songs we may not care for but in the end they are still decent songs. There were times members of the band even dissed Tusk. Chris regularly knocked her singing and songs in the very early years so I bet she would pick something early.
Stevie always recorded her own songs with the Mac so I doubt she dislikes them. Clearly she does not like the RAL era with being forced to sing other people's songs. I would love to know which are her least favorites. She also hates the Street Angel era but her life was so messed up then. She would probably say she hates that entire album minus a few songs.
This band was very good. I think they are very proud of the vast majority of their work. Stevie has dissed SYW but I get its something Lindsey is proud of like Tusk.

btw
I bet Lindsey likes Oh Diane. Its very Everly Brothers and what lured him into music.

This is not entirely surprising. At most, certain members might have grievances with how a song was recorded, but outright hating a song is different. Often, there usually a good reason as to why a song was selected to appear on an album in the first place. Sometimes, this reason is to fill up an album with enough songs, but with multiple songwriters in the group over the band's entire history, this has not really been much of an issue, perhaps with the exception of Future Games, which only originally had seven songs. All of the examples you mentioned align with what I have read.

Macfan4life · #4 03-02-2025, 01:52 PM

I am sure there is a song or two or maybe more that Stevie hated Lindsey changing her demo in a different way. She did not like it except when it turned out to be successful. Supposedly Lindsey changed her Dreams demo to many more chords which made the song better. But I am sure many times she was not thrilled with the way it turned out. But I doubt we will ever know which ones.

UnwindedDreams · #5 03-04-2025, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.

For other examples, I remember hearing that John McVie disliked playing "Tell Me All The Things You Do" on their 2018-19 tour, so they dropped it from the setlist. I have yet to find a source for this, but does anyone have information on this?

Mike Campbell revealed in a 2020 interview that John said "I hate that song" during a soundcheck.