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Fleetwood Mac Pt. 2: Going to #1, and Going Your Own Way · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The story of
0:18
Speaker 1: Fleetwood Mac their beginning days as an English blues band
0:21
Speaker 1: helmed by the wildly expressive and emotionally fragile guitarist Peter Green,
0:26
Speaker 1: to their mid seventies merger with the musical duo of
0:29
Speaker 1: Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and top forty rock stardom
0:34
Speaker 1: that drove them to Cocaine Field. Excess is so complex
0:38
Speaker 1: that we needed two episodes to properly tell this story.
0:42
Speaker 1: If you're just getting hip to this now, I suggest
0:44
Speaker 1: you hip pause and go back to the last episode
0:47
Speaker 1: of Disgraceland, part one of the Fleetwood Mac story. In
0:50
Speaker 1: this episode, we get into the band's signature album Rumors
0:55
Speaker 1: and the intra band personal dynamics that stressed the group
0:58
Speaker 1: and simultaneously to the creation of one of the top
1:02
Speaker 1: selling albums of all time. We also get into the
1:05
Speaker 1: band's famous excess and ultimately their creative demise, but not
1:10
Speaker 1: before delving into the great music that Fleetwood Mac made.
1:14
Speaker 1: Unlike that music I played for you at the top
1:16
Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a
1:19
Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called Game forty two point
1:23
Speaker 1: two MK one. I played you that loop because I
1:28
Speaker 1: can't afford the rights to Torn Between Two Lovers by
1:31
Speaker 1: Mary McGregor. And why would I play you that specific
1:34
Speaker 1: slice of on the Nose Cheese? Could I afford it?
1:38
Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America On
1:42
Speaker 1: February fourth, nineteen seventy seven, and that was the day
1:46
Speaker 1: Fleetwood Max's album Rumors was released, marking the beginning of
1:50
Speaker 1: what would become one of the most successful sales runs
1:52
Speaker 1: of any pop record from any time in music history.
1:56
Speaker 1: On this the second chapter of a special two part
2:00
Speaker 1: episode Vicious Rumors, Ill advised New Wave seven miles of
2:04
Speaker 1: On the Nose Cheese in Fleetwood Mac. I'm Jake Brennan
2:09
Speaker 1: and this is Disgraceland. Fleetwood Mac's decision to record their
2:36
Speaker 1: second album with Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks outside of
2:40
Speaker 1: Los Angeles up in Sasolito was made in part to
2:43
Speaker 1: pull the band out of the chaos and excess that
2:46
Speaker 1: was fast consuming them in Los Angeles. Christine and John
2:50
Speaker 1: mcvie's marriage had fallen apart, and Mick Fleetwood's marriage with
2:54
Speaker 1: Jenny Boyd was also on the Rocks, Lindsay Buckingham and
2:58
Speaker 1: Stevie Nicks were never married, but given the closeness of
3:01
Speaker 1: their romantic relationship and importance of their partnership that went
3:05
Speaker 1: back far beyond joining Fleetwood Mac, they might as well
3:08
Speaker 1: have been husband and wife, and at the moment they
3:11
Speaker 1: were very much split up. All of them were self
3:15
Speaker 1: medicating with drugs and alcohol, mainly cocaine. Los Angeles, where
3:20
Speaker 1: all manner of temptation and distraction was just a short
3:24
Speaker 1: ride away, was a bad scene for the band at
3:26
Speaker 1: the time, given their collective vulnerability. So up to Saucelito
3:30
Speaker 1: they went, and the cocaine, of course followed them would.
3:35
Speaker 1: Mick Fleetwood was sitting on the couch in the studio
3:38
Speaker 1: control room. Mick was bored overdubs were happening, it didn't
3:42
Speaker 1: concern him, and frankly, Mick had no idea whether the
3:45
Speaker 1: music they were making was any good or not. The
3:48
Speaker 1: band was hardly speaking, unless, of course, they wanted to
3:51
Speaker 1: get stoned. Then a mutual want would momentarily saw whatever
3:55
Speaker 1: coldness was in the air long enough to execute the
3:57
Speaker 1: ritual of lining up some rails and getting down to
4:00
Speaker 1: the business of getting high. The studio engineer knew what
4:04
Speaker 1: Mick wanted more blow There was coke in a little
4:08
Speaker 1: black velvet bag under the mixing poart. Not wanting to
4:11
Speaker 1: derail the session into a mid afternoon coke party, the
4:14
Speaker 1: engineer pretended he didn't know what mc wanted. Mick played along.
4:19
Speaker 1: He definitely attempted to move the conversation from music to drugs.
4:24
Speaker 1: How much cocaine do you think I've snorted in my
4:26
Speaker 1: entire life? It was an interesting thought. The engineer, leaning
4:30
Speaker 1: over the console, arms outstretched over the dials, turning this
4:34
Speaker 1: track up and the other down, punching inputs, listening intently
4:37
Speaker 1: to the playback, tried ignoring the question, but he couldn't.
4:42
Speaker 1: John mcvee, seated next to Mick, gave a quick and
4:45
Speaker 1: went back to being miserable. Stevie Nicks, also in the
4:49
Speaker 1: control room, looked up from her book and widened her
4:51
Speaker 1: big round eyes. Christine McVie said nothing, just continued listening
4:56
Speaker 1: to Lindsay Buckingham overdubbing in the playback. Lindsay entered from
5:00
Speaker 1: the live room and wanted to know what they all
5:02
Speaker 1: thought of that last take. It never entered his mind
5:05
Speaker 1: that those assembled may be interested in something other than
5:07
Speaker 1: his playing, And at the moment they could give a shit,
5:11
Speaker 1: I'll play along, Stevie said, ignoring Lindsay, A country mile,
5:15
Speaker 1: a country mile of cocaine. No one, not even Stevie Nicks,
5:19
Speaker 1: actually knew what a country mile was. It was just
5:21
Speaker 1: one of those things that was in her head, possibly
5:24
Speaker 1: from all those old country and folk tunes she sang
5:26
Speaker 1: with Lindsay when they were coming up the Everly Brothers,
5:29
Speaker 1: Hank Williams. That sort of thing. Mick had their attention.
5:33
Speaker 1: He leaned forward in his seated position on the couch
5:37
Speaker 1: over his gangly bent knees and started to explain that
5:40
Speaker 1: the only way to figure this out, the question of
5:42
Speaker 1: how much coke he'd done in his lifetime, was to
5:45
Speaker 1: cut up an average sized line, measure it, and try
5:48
Speaker 1: to figure out the math of it all. The engineer
5:51
Speaker 1: was no dummy. He knew what Mick was doing, but
5:54
Speaker 1: the thought experiment was just too interesting. So out came
5:57
Speaker 1: the little velvet bag, and in no time the engine
6:00
Speaker 1: was dicing up an eight ball on the coffee table.
6:03
Speaker 1: He put to use one of the razor blades he
6:05
Speaker 1: used to cut and edit the two inch tape to
6:07
Speaker 1: create one perfectly average line of cocaine compared to what
6:11
Speaker 1: non rock stars snorted. The line was above average in thickness,
6:15
Speaker 1: but Mick Fleetwood was an above average sized man. He
6:18
Speaker 1: stood tall at six six weighed a lean one hundred
6:21
Speaker 1: and eighty pounds. Average was a part of his life's
6:23
Speaker 1: equation in any respect. Using the thickness of the rail,
6:28
Speaker 1: they assumed how long a gram of cocaine would stretch
6:30
Speaker 1: out in one single line. Then they multiplied that by
6:34
Speaker 1: three and a half, approximately an eighth of an ounce
6:36
Speaker 1: aka and eight ball, which is what Mick estimated he'd
6:40
Speaker 1: snorted one a ball every day for the past decade
6:43
Speaker 1: or so. From there, it was estimated, on scientifically, of course,
6:47
Speaker 1: that the line of coke would stretch about seven miles long.
6:51
Speaker 1: Seven miles of cocaine. No one was impressed. They were
6:56
Speaker 1: grossed out, but it didn't stop anyone from doing more coke.
7:00
Speaker 1: Oh they didn't. By now, the drugs were the last
7:04
Speaker 1: refuge the band had from each other. Normal bands rally
7:08
Speaker 1: against their problems, which are largely external through making music.
7:12
Speaker 1: For Fleetwood Mac that was impossible. They were their own problem,
7:16
Speaker 1: and their interpersonal conflicts were now deeply entangled. Into the
7:19
Speaker 1: music they were making. Given their dissolving romantic relationships. Christine
7:24
Speaker 1: with John, Lindsay with Stevie, Mick in the middle going
7:26
Speaker 1: through his own divorce, the band barely spoke to each other,
7:30
Speaker 1: so they communicated through song, and the results were vicious.
7:34
Speaker 1: Christine rubbed John's face into the hard reality of her
7:37
Speaker 1: new relationship with another man with her vibe you make
7:40
Speaker 1: Loving Fun. Lindsey brutally kissed off Stevie with is excellent
7:44
Speaker 1: you can go your own way. Stevie documented her heart
7:47
Speaker 1: wrenching disappointment in Lindsay when she sang in her ballad
7:50
Speaker 1: you could be My Silver Springs. John, monster musician that
7:54
Speaker 1: he was, was just the bass player and therefore incapable
7:57
Speaker 1: of speaking through song. John was fucked. Mick just did
8:00
Speaker 1: more blow. The band were communicating through creativity, and not
8:04
Speaker 1: in a good way, not as far as their emotional
8:07
Speaker 1: well being was concerned anyhow. Imagine the worst breakup you've
8:13
Speaker 1: ever gone through if you're married, Imagine getting a divorce,
8:17
Speaker 1: Really imagine it. Think about just how brutal that would
8:20
Speaker 1: be emotionally. Think about how painful it would be to
8:23
Speaker 1: deal with on a day to day basis. Think about
8:25
Speaker 1: how difficult it would be to deal with your ex,
8:27
Speaker 1: especially during the beginning of this process, and how difficult
8:31
Speaker 1: it would be for them to deal with you. Think
8:33
Speaker 1: about starting to see someone new, How weird that would be,
8:36
Speaker 1: how different, how awkward. Now think about your spouse or
8:39
Speaker 1: your girlfriend or your boyfriend as a new ex, and
8:41
Speaker 1: think about them starting to see other people. Think about
8:44
Speaker 1: just how hard that would suck. Now, Think about having
8:48
Speaker 1: to deal with all that while also having to go
8:50
Speaker 1: to work every single day with your ex. That's what
8:54
Speaker 1: it was like for Fleetwood Mac during the making of
8:56
Speaker 1: their second album in this new lineup. It was hard
8:59
Speaker 1: not to feel bad for them. Everyone around them knew
9:01
Speaker 1: what was going on. The engineers crew, hell, even the
9:04
Speaker 1: coke dealer, who was coming around so much that Mick
9:06
Speaker 1: was lobbying to have him formally thanked on the new
9:08
Speaker 1: album's liner notes. Even he knew what was up. Lindsay
9:11
Speaker 1: had taken up with a cocktail wagress. Chris was shagging
9:14
Speaker 1: the lighting guy make it a thing for Stevie. Stevie
9:16
Speaker 1: was sleeping in slash stones. Bad John was running a
9:18
Speaker 1: brothel out of his rented home. Lindsay was losing his
9:20
Speaker 1: grip on reality. Chris hated Stevie, Stevie hated Chris. Chris
9:23
Speaker 1: loves Stevie. Stevie love Chris. John was banging on Chris's
9:26
Speaker 1: door late at night, screaming on her name and agony.
9:28
Speaker 1: Mikett spent all his money on cocaine. Lindsay had collapsed
9:31
Speaker 1: the exhaustion. They said. Lindsay was going to quit. Stevie
9:33
Speaker 1: was going solo. John was buying too many guns. Mick
9:35
Speaker 1: was the devil. Stevie was a which Lindsay was gonna
9:37
Speaker 1: go and get religion like Peter and Jeremy. Hay Sewss
9:39
Speaker 1: was gunning. She was gonna shoot him down, but one
9:41
Speaker 1: of Max's guns. Rampant Rumors. Stevie Nicks later said about Fleetwood,
9:48
Speaker 1: Max Time and Salslito trying to make her second album
9:50
Speaker 1: with the band that the truth about Rumors was that
9:53
Speaker 1: rumors was the truth, and so Fleetwood Max Rumors was born.
10:20
Speaker 1: The Record Plant studio in Sasolito was partially designed by
10:23
Speaker 1: Psychedelic funk supernova sly Stone. Sly recorded as Excellent LP.
10:28
Speaker 1: There's a riot going on at the Record Plan at
10:31
Speaker 1: the moment Stevie Nicks was in sly Stone's quote unquote pit,
10:35
Speaker 1: a studio room in the record plant. Sly had specially
10:38
Speaker 1: designed that was a literal pit, an engineering booth sunk
10:42
Speaker 1: ten feet deep into a round room so the engineer
10:45
Speaker 1: could hear a session in full three sixty. The pit
10:48
Speaker 1: was covered in red shag and had a loft for
10:50
Speaker 1: the bed where a singer could record lying down with
10:53
Speaker 1: such a trip that the room was often used for
10:55
Speaker 1: more than recording, for sex and for makeshift escape as
10:58
Speaker 1: coke parties. Sly even had his own tank of nitrous
11:01
Speaker 1: oxide installed in the pit for when inspiration was waning.
11:05
Speaker 1: But right now, Slyestone's pit was where Stevie Nicks went
11:09
Speaker 1: to escape the chaos of Fleetwood Mac. On this day,
11:12
Speaker 1: she had a little keyboard with her. Stevie clicked on
11:15
Speaker 1: a preset drum pattern and began messing with a simple
11:18
Speaker 1: chord progression. The melody came easy, the words too, dreams, freedom,
11:33
Speaker 1: a heartbeat, driving you mad, longing, longing for that thing
11:36
Speaker 1: he once had. It's gone, now washed away, clean, thunder rain,
11:40
Speaker 1: crystal visions. The words eventually came together and too fully
11:44
Speaker 1: realized the lyrics scept to Stevie's heartache melody. It's Hank
11:47
Speaker 1: Williams by way of Helena Blovatsky. Over the chords and
11:50
Speaker 1: the simple beat. Stevie's new song was at once lonesome,
11:53
Speaker 1: witchy impact with special knowledge. She called him Dreams, and
11:59
Speaker 1: when she brought it to the rest to the band,
12:01
Speaker 1: they latched onto its power. Quick Dreams would anchor Fleetwood
12:06
Speaker 1: Max Rumors. The song quickly went to number one when
12:09
Speaker 1: it was released as the album's second single in the
12:11
Speaker 1: spring of nineteen seventy seven, and it stayed there for
12:14
Speaker 1: twenty three weeks throughout the entirety of the summer nineteen
12:17
Speaker 1: seventy seven, and Rumors as an album out of the
12:19
Speaker 1: Gate went platinum in just one month. By nineteen eighty
12:23
Speaker 1: it sold thirteen million, and by nineteen ninety seven sales
12:26
Speaker 1: were at twenty five million. To date, Rumors has sold
12:29
Speaker 1: more than forty five million copies, making it the fifth
12:33
Speaker 1: best selling album of all time in the US, in
12:36
Speaker 1: eleventh in the UK, eighth overall in the world, and
12:40
Speaker 1: as recently as twenty twenty, Stevie Nix's Dreams once again
12:44
Speaker 1: landed on the charts as the number one iTunes song
12:47
Speaker 1: due to a TikTok being of a dude on a skateboard,
12:49
Speaker 1: drinking cranberry juice and singing along to her crystal visions.
12:53
Speaker 1: It's easy to reason that the immensely strong pop sensibility
12:57
Speaker 1: of Rumors is what makes the record so popular, But
13:00
Speaker 1: that's too simple. There's a universal truism to the album,
13:03
Speaker 1: the depths of which could only be carved by writers
13:06
Speaker 1: and musicians experiencing and working through such intense feelings together.
13:10
Speaker 1: Lindsey Buckingham later explained that under all that beautiful pop
13:14
Speaker 1: production lies a murkiness, a darkness due to an emotional
13:18
Speaker 1: duress each band member was forced to endure while writing
13:22
Speaker 1: and recording Rumors, and there was a mystery to Rumors
13:25
Speaker 1: as well that is to this day hard to describe.
13:28
Speaker 1: Part of it is, in fact, the actual rumors. As
13:31
Speaker 1: a listener, you can't help but listen for the cracks,
13:33
Speaker 1: the emotional fault lines that intra bands squabbling. Within the songs.
13:37
Speaker 1: You can't help but play the parlor game of asking
13:39
Speaker 1: yourself what this band member was saying to that band member.
13:42
Speaker 1: But deeper than that is more of a mystery beyond
13:45
Speaker 1: understanding a feeling a vibe. It's more than just pop.
13:49
Speaker 1: It's heavy. It's Stevie Nicks. We'll be right back after
13:57
Speaker 1: this word word word. The house in Florida was rented large,
14:06
Speaker 1: in cavernous, hot, sticky, in old mansion, southern gothic. Outside,
14:12
Speaker 1: the bullfrogs barked, swampy, sweaty, spooky. Overgrown vines reached down
14:17
Speaker 1: onto the estate's grounds. Fleetwood Mac huddled inside. They were
14:21
Speaker 1: taking a couple days off before shows. Lindsay had just
14:25
Speaker 1: debuted you Can Go Your Own Way, his newest song,
14:27
Speaker 1: to his fellow band members. It was obviously about Stevie.
14:31
Speaker 1: It was mean, low down, accusational, unnecessary by her account,
14:36
Speaker 1: but man wasnt a good song, so there was no
14:38
Speaker 1: way it wasn't getting recorded. Stevie hung in her room
14:43
Speaker 1: by herself, hurt. She felt the vibe of the house dark, mysterious,
14:49
Speaker 1: Like Stevie herself. Stevie had intuition, what's some called quote
14:53
Speaker 1: unquote special knowledge, a way to read into things, to
14:57
Speaker 1: see around corners, to understand crystal. That old house seemed
15:02
Speaker 1: to be telling her something. Lindsay's song wasn't wrong, you
15:06
Speaker 1: can Go your Own Way. Stevie Nicks was brought into
15:10
Speaker 1: Fleetwood Mac as part of a package deal with her
15:12
Speaker 1: boyfriend Lindsay Buckingham. Mick Fleetwood only asked Lindsay to join
15:17
Speaker 1: Fleetwood Mac only needed a guitar player and a front man.
15:20
Speaker 1: Lindsay checked both of those boxes himself, and Christine McVie,
15:24
Speaker 1: already in the group, was plenty capable of singing, leading
15:27
Speaker 1: and composing in her own right. What did they need
15:29
Speaker 1: Stevie Nicks for? What did Fleetwood Mac need Lindsay Buckingham's petite, cute, blonde,
15:33
Speaker 1: hippy girlfriend for nothing? Which is why Mick didn't inquire
15:37
Speaker 1: about Stevie. He inquired only about Lindsay. But Lindsay back then,
15:42
Speaker 1: was loyal to Stevie. It insisted that they were a
15:45
Speaker 1: package deal. To Mick Fleetwood's great credit, he quickly understood
15:49
Speaker 1: the power of the duo and was smart enough to
15:51
Speaker 1: bring the novel idea of adding an existing songwriting tandem
15:55
Speaker 1: to his band to his husband and wife. Group members
15:57
Speaker 1: John and Christine McVie and John and Christine were no fools.
16:02
Speaker 1: They got it, but still to Stevie, who didn't consider
16:05
Speaker 1: herself as advanced a musician and songwriter as her boyfriend Lindsay.
16:09
Speaker 1: A boyfriend whose talent she believed in so strongly that
16:12
Speaker 1: she worked all day and night at a shitty theme
16:15
Speaker 1: restaurant in West Hollywood while he choked reefer with waddiwoch
16:18
Speaker 1: Tell and fucked with his four track to financially support
16:21
Speaker 1: him in their dreams of a life in music. To Stevie,
16:25
Speaker 1: the fact remain she was just an add on a
16:28
Speaker 1: sidecar a foil. Had Lindsay not insisted on her being
16:31
Speaker 1: in the band, Fleetwood Mac very well could have existed
16:33
Speaker 1: as a foursome without her. But it was becoming clear
16:36
Speaker 1: to Stevie Nicks and to everyone else with eyes and ears,
16:39
Speaker 1: that Fleetwood Mac would not have gotten anywhere close to
16:42
Speaker 1: the level of success they achieved without Stevie Nicks. And
16:46
Speaker 1: in that room, on that hot, sticky flower to night,
16:49
Speaker 1: anger pulsing through her veins, Anger at Lindsay insecurity turned
16:53
Speaker 1: to confidence. Fuck Lindsay. It wasn't you can go your
16:57
Speaker 1: own way, as he put it, It was you can
16:59
Speaker 1: go your own way, as in she was Stevie fucking Nicks.
17:03
Speaker 1: She had a voice like no other, and she could
17:05
Speaker 1: write too. Maybe she didn't have the comprehensive musical vision
17:08
Speaker 1: Lindsay had, but she had her own musical intuition, and
17:11
Speaker 1: she knew how to put songs together, songs that reinforced
17:14
Speaker 1: her essence, her vibe. What is now known as the
17:16
Speaker 1: whole Stevie Nicks thing. You can go your own Way.
17:20
Speaker 1: That thing was Stevie's image. It was contrived out of
17:23
Speaker 1: second hand lags, chiffon, black flowy dresses, foods, long blonde locks,
17:26
Speaker 1: and a signature black top hat like the mansion she
17:30
Speaker 1: was holed up in the moment. Her new style was witchy,
17:33
Speaker 1: and that style played beautifully with her songs him In Dreams,
17:37
Speaker 1: Landslide and gold Dust Woman. Stevie Nicks was her own trip.
17:42
Speaker 1: You can go your own way, a witchy diva who
17:45
Speaker 1: appeared to be on some secret shit, special knowledge. They said,
17:48
Speaker 1: America ate it up. Stevie Nicks took Lindsay Buckingham's advice
17:55
Speaker 1: and indeed went her own way and became the focal
17:58
Speaker 1: point of his band, Fleetwood Mac. Their live shows became
18:01
Speaker 1: Witchy Rights. During Stevie's songs, thousands of women showed up
18:05
Speaker 1: at football stadiums to cheer Stevie on, dressed as Stevie
18:08
Speaker 1: in all black, flowing dresses and with black top hats.
18:11
Speaker 1: They staked her out at her hotel, jammed the entrance
18:14
Speaker 1: to the venues, looking for not only autographs, but insight
18:16
Speaker 1: advice visions of the future. It freaked Stevie out and
18:20
Speaker 1: the cocaine didn't help. Like the rest of the band,
18:23
Speaker 1: she descended deeper into the dust. As Rumors became the
18:27
Speaker 1: top selling album in the US and made Fleetwood Mac
18:30
Speaker 1: one of the biggest bands in the world. Everything became bigger,
18:33
Speaker 1: the shows, the crowds, the traveling entourage, the set pieces,
18:37
Speaker 1: the expectations. The band dove headfirst into the deep end
18:41
Speaker 1: of mega rock stardom and employed all the trappings. They
18:44
Speaker 1: traveled everywhere, now by private jet. They had fourteen limousines
18:48
Speaker 1: on call in every city to use at their whim
18:50
Speaker 1: for whatever the hell they wanted. Each band member wants
18:53
Speaker 1: to ride solo to a gig, No problem, we have
18:55
Speaker 1: a limo for that. The Koch dealer needs a lift
18:57
Speaker 1: to the hotel room from the pool haul downtown, No problem,
19:00
Speaker 1: we have a limo for that. Need a pack of
19:02
Speaker 1: smokes from the corner store down the block, No problem,
19:05
Speaker 1: we have a limo for that. The band insisted that
19:08
Speaker 1: every hotel they stayed in in every city. Usually Ritz
19:11
Speaker 1: Carlton's are four seasons painted one of their suites pink
19:14
Speaker 1: for Stevie, and that the suite came equipped with a
19:16
Speaker 1: white grand piano. Ritz Carlton's in four seasons hotels don't
19:21
Speaker 1: have pink suites and they don't have grand pianos in
19:23
Speaker 1: the suites that they do have, so the rooms would
19:26
Speaker 1: have to be freshly painted before Fleetwood max Wichi Diva arrived,
19:30
Speaker 1: and more often than not, the grand piano would have
19:32
Speaker 1: to be lifted by crane up to the suite's window
19:34
Speaker 1: and brought in that way. This wasn't a one time thing.
19:38
Speaker 1: This was every show, every night, in every city. And
19:41
Speaker 1: at the gig there was the standard rock star rider,
19:44
Speaker 1: a fair of gargantuan buffets that the band rarely touched
19:47
Speaker 1: due to the fact that the cocaine killed their appetites.
19:50
Speaker 1: The endless bottles of Kannac wine, Russian vodka, Heineken, and
19:53
Speaker 1: whatever else they wanted, all of it there for the
19:56
Speaker 1: after parties that seemed to never end. On stage, each night,
20:00
Speaker 1: cocaine was arranged at each band member's stationed by a
20:03
Speaker 1: roady carefully loaded into Heineken bottle caps and refilled by
20:06
Speaker 1: said rody as needed. Fleetwood Mac wanted for nothing excess ruled.
20:16
Speaker 1: Some years later, it was estimated that Stevie Nicks herself
20:19
Speaker 1: snorted a million dollars worth of cocaine. And there were
20:23
Speaker 1: other rumors too, like the fact that her septum was
20:26
Speaker 1: blown out from snorting too much coke, leaving a hole
20:29
Speaker 1: you could pass a gold ring through. And that rumor
20:31
Speaker 1: happened to be true, But it kicked off another rumor,
20:34
Speaker 1: the rumor that Stevie Nicks just couldn't say no, that
20:38
Speaker 1: she couldn't not do cocaine. If she couldn't minister it
20:41
Speaker 1: through her nose, then she'd find another way. But what
20:44
Speaker 1: was the point of having all this paid help around
20:46
Speaker 1: if you couldn't put them to work. The roady was
20:48
Speaker 1: one of the better looking ones, of course he'd do.
20:51
Speaker 1: The gig was only demeaning if you looked at it
20:53
Speaker 1: that way, it could be said that it was glamorous.
20:56
Speaker 1: This was Stevie Nicks, after all, She was a beauty
20:59
Speaker 1: like no and one of the most famous pop stars
21:02
Speaker 1: in the world. How many other roadies got to do
21:04
Speaker 1: this perform what could only be described as a cocaine enema,
21:09
Speaker 1: blowing the powdery drug of the backside of one of
21:11
Speaker 1: the world's most famous women, so the blow could penetrate
21:14
Speaker 1: her anal membrane and thus bypass the nose with its
21:18
Speaker 1: damage septum, and ultimately keep Stevie Nicks high on coke. None,
21:23
Speaker 1: no other roadies. That's how many, just Stevie Nick's roady
21:26
Speaker 1: got to perform a cocaine enema on his boss. It
21:30
Speaker 1: was a holy, unique gig only in rock and roll,
21:33
Speaker 1: except Stevie Nick swore it never happened. She heard the
21:37
Speaker 1: rumor like everyone else in the music industry and had
21:39
Speaker 1: the same reaction to it. Shock. The fact that this
21:43
Speaker 1: rumor was at least somewhat believable to those who knew
21:45
Speaker 1: Stevie and who knew the band's reputation. Their bend toward
21:49
Speaker 1: excess and now legendary addiction gave Stevie pause with or
21:53
Speaker 1: without cocaine enemas Stevie Nix's excessive use of the drug
21:57
Speaker 1: had exposed her to the very real danger of life,
22:00
Speaker 1: losing her voice, her looks, and quite possibly her life. Naturally,
22:04
Speaker 1: she was petrified was clean up time. The Betty Ford
22:08
Speaker 1: Clinic rehab. Drug rehab was no joke. Betty Ford put
22:30
Speaker 1: her addicts to work alongside members of Arrowsmith, backup singers
22:34
Speaker 1: from James Taylor's band, high powered Hollywood attorneys Boord, Beverly
22:38
Speaker 1: Hills housewives and Braddy children of Mega rich studio executives.
22:42
Speaker 1: Stevie Nicks Rose Early cleaned her room, did the rest
22:45
Speaker 1: of her chores, and kept her nose clean. It was
22:48
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six, nine years since Rumors was released. After
22:53
Speaker 1: the album hit, Stevie took Lindsay's whole you can Go
22:56
Speaker 1: your Own Way thing to its literal conclusion, began a
22:59
Speaker 1: short ten t affair with their drummer Mick Fleetwood, and
23:02
Speaker 1: then in nineteen eighty one, took a brief hiatus from
23:05
Speaker 1: the band and released her first solo album, Bella Donna.
23:08
Speaker 1: It was, of course, a hit hit, sold a million
23:11
Speaker 1: copies and went platinum in less than three months, hit
23:14
Speaker 1: number one of the charts in the US and Australia,
23:17
Speaker 1: and produced the mega hit Edge of seventeen that went
23:20
Speaker 1: to number four on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts. Who
23:24
Speaker 1: knew if Fleetwood Mac Would get back together? Stevie remembered
23:28
Speaker 1: back to the beginning of the end nineteen seventy eight,
23:33
Speaker 1: Rumors was huge, But suddenly rumors wasn't hit. A new
23:36
Speaker 1: form of music was making inroads and captivating critics and
23:39
Speaker 1: kids alike. Punk It was everything. Fleetwood Mac was not
23:44
Speaker 1: stripped down, devoid of pomp and excess, raw, not pop, clubs,
23:48
Speaker 1: not stadiums, heroin not coke, and just like that, Fleetwood Mac,
23:53
Speaker 1: despite their record still selling like mad were out. Punk
23:57
Speaker 1: new wave was in the class Elvis Costello talking heads.
24:02
Speaker 1: The urgency and hipness demonstrated by these artists captivated Lindsay Buckingham, who,
24:07
Speaker 1: by his estimation, was now charged with creatively shepherding a
24:11
Speaker 1: band of English blues dinosaurs led by a witchy diva
24:14
Speaker 1: who he used to share a bed with. Fleetwood Mac
24:17
Speaker 1: was so old in comparison to this new wave of
24:19
Speaker 1: punk that their first album was released when most of
24:22
Speaker 1: these artists were wearing short pants back in grade school.
24:26
Speaker 1: Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Christine Perfect were literally from
24:29
Speaker 1: another generation. Elvis Costello was a bona fide Peter Green
24:34
Speaker 1: fan and had been since he was a little boy,
24:36
Speaker 1: and in nineteen seventy eight, as far as musicians and
24:39
Speaker 1: songwriters were concerned no one was cooler than Elvis Costello.
24:46
Speaker 1: He was smarter, angrier, peggier, better dressed, and more mysterious
24:50
Speaker 1: than anyone putting songs together in LA. At the time,
24:53
Speaker 1: he was an enigma, so much so that when his
24:55
Speaker 1: first album was released My Aim Is True with the
24:58
Speaker 1: pigtoed Buddy Holly lookalike on its cover, some smart American
25:02
Speaker 1: listeners refused to believe that Elvis Costello was real. He
25:05
Speaker 1: was too good to be true. That sound, that image,
25:08
Speaker 1: those songs, that perspective. It had to be a Nick
25:10
Speaker 1: Low joke some Dave Edmunds protege cooked up in the
25:13
Speaker 1: studio to take the piss out of dumb American audiences.
25:16
Speaker 1: A music industry prank on a ride, one that resulted
25:19
Speaker 1: in busting radio formats. In America's old garb, popsmiths like
25:22
Speaker 1: Lindsay Buckingham questioning their approach, but Elvis Costello was very real.
25:28
Speaker 1: Lindsay Buckingham's old friend, guitarist Waddi Wattell, told him that
25:32
Speaker 1: LA's much revered songstress Linda Ronstadt was going to record
25:35
Speaker 1: three of Elvis's tunes for her hotly anticipated next album,
25:39
Speaker 1: No Shit no shit. Lindsay Buckingham cut off all of
25:44
Speaker 1: his hair, He stopped wearing unbuttoned blouses and opted for
25:47
Speaker 1: bespoke Armani suits. Robert planned as an Avatar was out
25:51
Speaker 1: and David Byrne was in. Lindsay went at the writing
25:54
Speaker 1: of Fleetwood Mac's next album from an entirely different direction.
25:57
Speaker 1: No more pomp, no more excess. They would strip everything down,
26:02
Speaker 1: he would let his anger loose. Following up the success
26:05
Speaker 1: of Rumors was not going to be easy. The album
26:07
Speaker 1: sold ten million copies worldwide in its first year, eight
26:11
Speaker 1: million in the US alone, and the pressure was immense.
26:14
Speaker 1: The rest of the band cleared the way. They let
26:17
Speaker 1: Lindsay be Lindsay, that is to say controlling. He had
26:20
Speaker 1: a vision, or so he said. They believed him, and
26:23
Speaker 1: that meant more pressure. Again. The cocaine did not help.
26:26
Speaker 1: At this point Fleetwood Max used to the drug was
26:29
Speaker 1: way out in the open. Stevie and Chris wore coke
26:31
Speaker 1: spoon necklaces wherever they went. Lindsay didn't have time for
26:34
Speaker 1: going anywhere. He holed up in the studio. There was
26:37
Speaker 1: a rock and roll revolution going on, and King Fleetwood
26:40
Speaker 1: Mac was about to be dethroned, and there was no
26:42
Speaker 1: time to waste. New music, different music, edgi or music.
26:45
Speaker 1: Smarter music was needed. Lord Lindsay Buckingham dug himself in.
26:49
Speaker 1: He would not be outflanked by the punk revolutionaries storming
26:52
Speaker 1: the castle. He worked harder than he ever had. Day
26:55
Speaker 1: and night he collapsed. He worked more, crashed work some
26:57
Speaker 1: more kept him seeing hours. Became a real life of
27:00
Speaker 1: Hollywood vampire, lost all perspective. He turned the knobs on
27:03
Speaker 1: the board into the red. He taped microphones to the
27:06
Speaker 1: studio floor, planked himself over them, and recorded vocal takes
27:09
Speaker 1: while doing pushups. Lindsey Buckingham burned himself out, and there
27:16
Speaker 1: were rumors always there were rumors of real darkness where
27:20
Speaker 1: it was. Lindsay lost it, raised his hand in anger
27:23
Speaker 1: to his new girlfriend Carol, and this did not surprise
27:26
Speaker 1: Stevie Nix. Lindsay denied it. Lindsey Buckingham crashed. It was
27:34
Speaker 1: one of those parties that came on way too fast.
27:38
Speaker 1: Last night's party had ended just hours before. Everyone was
27:41
Speaker 1: still hungover and the sun was blinding even inside the
27:44
Speaker 1: Hollywood home of this Evening's host Lindsay Buckingham and the
27:48
Speaker 1: fact that it was a Halloween party made the drag
27:51
Speaker 1: ass vibe even weirder. Lindsay was dressed as a Pope,
27:55
Speaker 1: Mick as a vampire Stevie, and all white as a
27:57
Speaker 1: wintery Coke spooned Witch Chris and faces on Jemima John
28:01
Speaker 1: in full Naziss regalia. Fleetwood Mac was shockingly out of touch.
28:06
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just their offensive costume choices. Their music.
28:11
Speaker 1: The new music Lindsay was spearheading that would become their
28:13
Speaker 1: next record, entitled Tusk, was also out of touch. Lindsay
28:18
Speaker 1: Buckingham was so obsessed with creating a record that was
28:21
Speaker 1: as authentic and inspired as the new wave and punk
28:24
Speaker 1: music that was captivating America that, in trying to be authentic,
28:28
Speaker 1: he wound up creating an inauthentic, uninspired mess of a record.
28:32
Speaker 1: He is not solely to blame. His bandmates did him
28:35
Speaker 1: no favors by turning the reins over to him with
28:37
Speaker 1: little creative governance. Tusk sounds disconnected, random and flat, the
28:43
Speaker 1: irony being that, in attempting to sound authentic, Lindsay Buckingham
28:46
Speaker 1: sold out by trying to be something they weren't, something
28:49
Speaker 1: less than the glorious, amalgamated messive excess and emotional duress
28:53
Speaker 1: that they were when they made Rumors, proper rock stars,
28:56
Speaker 1: not punks, stupidly debotch, not smartly pissed. But in Fleetwood
29:01
Speaker 1: Mac's defense, recreating rumors would have been impossible. Rumors was
29:05
Speaker 1: born out of painful emotions so real that a group
29:08
Speaker 1: of people couldn't live through twice. It is such a
29:11
Speaker 1: product of a specific moment in time. You go through
29:14
Speaker 1: what you go through. And Fleetwood Mac were no longer
29:17
Speaker 1: the same five people who set up camp at that
29:19
Speaker 1: Saucelito studio. The romance had been extracted from their relationships
29:23
Speaker 1: with each other for good, and they had dealt with
29:25
Speaker 1: that in song and moved on to expect Fleetwood Mac
29:28
Speaker 1: to live through that hell and then linger in that
29:30
Speaker 1: limbo just to tell us all about it again, as
29:32
Speaker 1: secondhand news would be unfair. The band would live on.
29:35
Speaker 1: Of course, Stevie Nicks would make it out of rehab
29:38
Speaker 1: more than once, and through her solo career, Lindsey Buckingham
29:42
Speaker 1: would find success on his own as well, and then
29:44
Speaker 1: find his way back to Fleetwood Mac. At the behest
29:46
Speaker 1: of the country's first baby boomer President Bill Clinton, who
29:50
Speaker 1: would reintroduced the band to Generation X by adopting Fleetwood
29:53
Speaker 1: Max's nineteen seventy seven hit from Rumors Don't Stop as
29:57
Speaker 1: his nineteen ninety two campaign song, and as Mick fleet
30:01
Speaker 1: would put it, the band would play on as they
30:03
Speaker 1: do to this day without Lindsay Buckingham. Of course, he
30:06
Speaker 1: was kicked out of the band in twenty eighteen, but
30:09
Speaker 1: the rumors are that he's about to make his return.
30:14
Speaker 1: Of course, there are rumors, always rumors. Anything less would
30:18
Speaker 1: be a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland.
30:44
Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in
30:47
Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
30:50
Speaker 1: found on the show notes page at disgracelamdpod dot com.
30:54
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Speaker 1: He theddan Man