A LOVE AFFAIR OF TRUE SADNESS
As Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours celebrates its 35th birthday, drummer and band lynchpin Mick Fleetwood tells Charlotte Heathcote how he's kept the volatile band going so long.
By Charlotte Heathcote
Daily Express Weekend
AS Mick Fleetwood cheerfully admits, talking about Fleetwood Mac is like free therapy. The result is an unusually candid interview, tying in with the 35th anniversary re-release of the rock juggernaut that is Rumours, one of the bestselling albums in history.
Its success is largely thanks to it being an almost perfect record and one strewn with classics; but much of its emotional intensity flowed from the well-documented romantic, drug-fuelled dramas playing out in the studio.
Stevie Nicks had ended her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham after five years (so Stevie aimed Dreams at Lindsey who retaliated with the bitter, brilliant Go Your Own Way); while Christine McVie was splitting from her husband John (and taunting him with a song about a fling, You Make Loving Fun). At the same time, Fleetwood was divorcing his own wife Jenny. Not enough heartache and tension for one band? Mick would complicate matters by embarking upon a two-year affair with Nicks.