Fleetwood Mac in the 1980s: Decades

Out of the dozen different line-ups since Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967, there’s only one incarnation that truly matters for most listeners. During their time together, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham created some of popular music’s most enduring records, including 1977’s Rumours. Written and recorded as multiple relationships within the band were collapsing, the landmark album became a worldwide hit that still attracts new fans. Disbanding might have been the rational response to the turmoil surrounding the making of that album, but they continued touring and recording even as tensions within the group continued to accumulate. Although Fleetwood Mac only recorded two albums together in the 1980s, four of the five members released solo albums that brought their individual contributions to the band into focus. After the group splintered in the late-1980s, it took a request from a US President to fix it, if only temporarily. The underlying tension between the band members’ individual and group efforts - the truth that they worked best together but could only do so for limited periods - continues to the present day and reflects that even more so than the 1970s, the 1980s were the pivotal decade for Fleetwood Mac.

Don Klees literally watches TV for a living. When not basking in television’s glow, he enjoys debating the merits of theatre versus film with his wife, telling his kids about music from before they were born and writing about the pop culture of then and now. Don regularly contributes to Chromakey, CultureSonar, and We Are Cult as well as various anthologies, such as the David Bowie-inspired Me and the Starman.