The majority of people are familiar with Fleetwood Mac thanks to hits like “Go Your Own Way” and “Dreams,” which are taken from the now-classic album Rumours. Regarded by many as their magnum opus, the album is among the best-selling records ever. Its success was so spectacular and came from such a difficult time that it is still regarded as one of the most legendary from that era. Its combination of pop and rock had a huge impact.
Rumours, a crossover hit, gave Fleetwood Mac a bright future. Amid a shifting zeitgeist that swept up many of their classic rock era contemporaries into the punk movement, they were able to assert their cultural relevance and metamorphosis. Following the release of the hit song in 1977, they transformed from a struggling group of drug-addled hippies into a major force in the global music industry.
The cult-like 1979 follow-up Tusk is still around. However, the subsequent records in the 1980s saw them further evolve with the times. Tracks like “Seven Wonders,” “Little Lies,” and “Everywhere” took them further into a heady pop style that would later arouse some of the strongest nostalgia for the era.
Fleetwood Mac experienced great success during this time. However, fans tend to forget that the band had a lengthy past prior to Rumours. Their roots were in the 1960s passionate blues scene in London. This environment gave rise to many of the most influential musical breakthroughs of the decade and produced a number of heroes, including Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones. Drummer Mick Fleetwood was the only original member of the group when they released Tango in the Night in 1987. It illustrated just how twisted their path is.
Peter Green, the band’s founder, frontman, and guitarist, hired Fleetwood in 1967. He remained for the duration of the band’s erratic career. As they had all gained experience in the scene during these formative years, the blues deeply ingrained the group. Green had replaced Clapton in John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers prior to forming his own band. Additionally, he had performed with Fleetwood in two prior bands, Peter B’s Looners and Shotgun Express.
The band put a unique spin on emotive blues during this formative period. With 1968‘s instrumental “Albatross,” they achieved a UK number one. Other hits from this period included “Man of the World” and “Oh Well.” Under Green’s leadership, the group became one of the most well-known in Europe. According to Fleetwood, they even outsold The Beatles, the all-time greatest band, in terms of sales.
In an interview with Paste in 2017, Fleetwood reminisced about the times when the group outperformed The Beatles in terms of financial success. Even though he acknowledged it was a brief triumph, this is an interesting point to consider considering the group’s eventual years-long rise to commercial success. This was early on, and even Christine McVie hadn’t joined the fold yet.
When asked if it was odd that Fleetwood Mac achieved international success five years after their founder left the band in 1970, the drummer pointed out that people shouldn’t forget that their debut album was a number-one hit and that it was recorded not long after the band’s founding. He added that Green had enjoyed “huge success” with The Bluesbreakers in the past.
Naturally, their initial success was “not on the level” of what followed Rumours, but according to Fleetwood, everything is relative. “We went from nothing to the biggest band in our world, which was Europe”. He clarified, comparing his world to our own.
“The band was huge, and there was this joke—which I still think is a joke. But it’s true—that we used to outsell The Beatles, which is kind of like, ‘Well, who cares?'” he continued. It was untrue. Well, it is true in a somewhat literal sense, but only for a period of perhaps five days. Whatever the case, Peter was aware of his own enormous success.
The drummer for Fleetwood Mac has accomplished something truly incredible. Though, their story is among the most captivating in music history. He has had a career of nearly constant success spanning several decades. He is among the few living artists who can truly claim to have outsold The Beatles. Maybe that’s the reason he’s so indifferent to defeating Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
