Record Rewind: Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
2 min read
Of all the iconic bands ever to grace the earth, Fleetwood Mac are revered and revelled in with equal measure. The Buckingham/Knicks incarnation of the Californian band continues to inspire, educate and indulge generations of people some 40 years after its release – making it one of the ultimately timeless records in history.
It captured a band during their most tumultuous times; infidelity, divorce and lies all find themselves given breathing space by a band notorious for drug use and paranoia. The Fleetwood Mac behind Rumours were not a happy band, but one that transformed their darkest times into the most profitable.
Rumours gave rise to multiple timeless hits such as; Dreams, Gold Dust Woman and the inimitable The Chain. Numerous bands have tried to mimic the harmonies and heartbreak chronicled by Fleetwood Mac yet none have even come close to their trademark squabbles. One of the bands most indebted to the Mac are Florence & The Machine, a fact heavily referenced by lead singer Florence Welch throughout interviews and standalone covers of songs like The Chain at 2010’s Glastonbury Festival, and her emotional version of Silver Springs during her comeback campaign for her third album.
Haim are often compared to a Rumours era Fleetwood Mac, their harmonies and melodies occasionally misleadingly placed in the same category. Not as they are weaker than the band, but because Haim develop the Fleetwood Mac sound further using technology and more modern stylings. All across the musical landscape, it is clear to see the influence of Fleetwood Mac is far from dying out.
Few records evoke such a varied range of emotion as Rumours does, seeing it being played live by a reformed Fleetwood Mac on both their recent comeback tours brought tears to this harsh music critics eyes. For me this record brings back my childhood, my present and my future. I dread the day this record stops being relevant both in music and in pop culture, because it really reached further than ever expected for good reason. Never has infidelity sounded so sweet and never has a band made a more culturally significant record.
