Fleetwood Mac bids farewell to Buckingham
When the news broke in April of 2018 that Fleetwood Mac had fired guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham, my heart sank.
What a sad way for a great band to limp into what probably will be their final tour, I thought. Some 44 years after the formation of its classic lineup, can’t they have some give and take to iron out their differences? It’s so close to the end for Fleetwood Mac, I wish they could have folded their tent with class and harmony.
But then again, this is a band that has carried battle scars for years. In 1976 Mick Fleetwood was divorcing his wife, John and Christine McVie were divorcing and Stevie Nicks was breaking up with Buckingham. Born from that hurt and havoc was “Rumours,” one of the best-selling albums of all time.
“This is absolutely a new band. This is the new lineup of Fleetwood Mac,” Fleetwood said in a CBS News interview in which new members Mike Campbell and Neil Finn were introduced.
Campbell, a longtime guitarist for the Heartbreakers, lost his gig last year when band leader Tom Petty died. Finn, of Auckland, New Zealand, was the front man for Crowded House, which last was active in 2016.
It seems that Buckingham was ousted because he wouldn’t sign off on the 2018-19 tour, which had been planned for a year and a half.
"It became just a huge impasse and hit a brick wall, where we decided that we had to part company," Fleetwood said.
Said Nicks, “This team wanted to get out on the road. And one of the members did not want to get out on the road for a year. We just couldn't agree. And you know, when you're in a band, it’s a team. I mean, I have a solo career, and I love my solo career, and I’m the boss. Absolutely. But I’m not the boss in this band."
The new lineup convened on the island of Maui on March 21, 2018, and practiced for two days. The tour hit the road in early October and visited more than 50 cities.
Amid rancor and dissention, Buckingham had left the band in August 1987. As now, it took two guitarists to replace him then – Billy Burnette and Rick Vito – for a 1987-88 tour.
Buckingham rejoined the lineup in 1997 for the live album “The Dance” and a subsequent arena tour. But then Christine McVie retired in 1998 and didn’t return until 2014. She and Buckingham toured as a duo in 2017 after releasing an album last June.
Here is how some other classic rock bands dealt with personnel changes:
The Beatles – With a lineup of John Lennon (guitar), Paul McCartney (bass), George Harrison (guitar) and Pete Best (drums), they had their first recording session with producer George Martin on June 6, 1962. Martin wasted no time in complaining to manager Brian Epstein about Best’s poor drumming. He suggested they replace him with a session drummer in the studio.
Already mulling Best’s dismissal, the Beatles selected Ringo Starr from Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, and on August 16 they fired Best.
Epstein went on record as saying that Best was “too conventional to be a Beatle” and “… though he was friendly with John, he was not liked by George and Paul.”
The end of the Beatles came in 1970, when McCartney went to court to force the break-up. But none of the members tried to continue the band with replacements, which would have been “Beatles Lite.” Harrison, McCartney and Lennon wasted little time in revving up solo careers. Starr sat at home for a year wondering what he was going to do, but by the end of 1975 he’d had 10 top 40 singles on the American charts as a solo act.
The Who – In their infancy as a band, the Who was a London quartet that was mostly ruled by lead vocalist Roger Daltrey. Keith Moon (drums) and John Entwistle (bass) liked to hang out together, but there was not much friendship among the band as a whole. Pete Townshend (guitar) was the fourth member.
In September 1965, while on tour in Denmark, tempers flared when Daltrey flushed Moon’s amphetamines down a toilet and fought him. After they returned to England, the band fired Daltrey. He later was reinstated on the condition that the band’s business was conducted democratically.
After Moon died in 1978, the band chose Kenney Jones to be the new drummer. A few years later when they were a concert act only, they hired Zak Starkey for most of their tours.
Upon the death of Entwistle in 2002, the bass duties were handled by Pino Palladino (2002-2016) and Jon Button.
The Rolling Stones – In 1964 the London band had a set lineup with Mick Jagger (vocals), Keith Richards (guitar), Brian Jones (guitar), Charlie Watts (drums) and Bill Wyman (bass). Although Jones founded and named the band in 1962, Jagger and Richards had taken over its musical direction.
Additionally, Jones did not get along with band manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Jones’s burgeoning drug problem affected his performance in the recording studio, and the band axed him in June 1969. Mick Taylor was brought in from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers to replace him.
In 1973 Taylor had to miss recording sessions due to sinus surgery, and then his relationship with Richards began to sour. In December of 1974 he announced he was leaving the Rolling Stones.
Although he was still a member of the Faces, guitarist Ronnie Wood participated in the March 1975, sessions for the Stones’ “Black and Blue” album. He toured North America with them that year. After the Faces announced their break-up in December 1975, Wood became an official member of the Stones in 1976.
Bill Wyman had been the Stones’ bass player since 1962, also contributing some keyboards. He decided to retire from the band in 1993, and no official replacement was ever named.
Creedence Clearwater Revival – This was a four-man band that formed in El Cerrito, Calif., by three members who knew each other in junior high school. Their name originally was the Blue Velvets and then it became the Golliwogs. Stu Cook (bass), Doug Clifford (drums) and John Fogerty (guitar) eventually added older brother Tom Fogerty on rhythm guitar and backing vocals.
In 1967 they were offered their first recording contract, on the condition that they change their name. Creedence Clearwater Revival was the result.
Their break-out album was released in 1968. As their popularity grew and the hit singles and albums began to pile up, John emerged as the driving force in the group, both musically and businesswise. He wrote the most of the songs, sang all of the lead vocals and played lead guitar, and the others were like a supporting cast.
After the recording of the “Pendulum” album in late 1970, Tom quit CCR. He was frustrated with his inability to get his songs into the band’s repertoire and with his brother’s choke-hold control.
The remaining three members briefly considered replacing Tom, but they decided to carry on as a trio.
Their final album, “Mardi Gras” in 1972, surpassed sales of 500,000 to earn gold status, but it was panned by reviewers. After a two-month tour, CCR and Fantasy Records announced the band’s break-up on Oct. 16, 1972. They never formally reunited.
The Eagles – The band formed in Los Angeles in 1971 and helped fuel the new country-rock genre. Don Henley (drums), Glenn Frey (guitar, piano), Randy Meisner (bass) and Bernie Leadon (guitar) were the original members.
After two albums, the majority of the Eagles sought to attain a sound with a harder rock edge and added guitarist Don “Fingers” Felder. Following the successful “One Of These Nights” album in 1975, Leadon became so unhappy with the musical direction of the band that he quit.
On Dec. 20, 1975, Joe Walsh was announced as Leadon’s replacement. With that addition the Eagles had all of the players they needed to become a world class rock band. The proof came late in 1976 with the release of the classic album “Hotel California.”
On the heels of that release the band toured the world for over a year. On Sept. 3, 1977, Meisner played his last show with the Eagles and then resigned and went home to spend much needed time with his family.
With much touring yet to be done, the Eagles dipped into the lineup of Poco to replace Meisner with Timothy B. Schmit, who had replaced Meisner in Poco back in ‘71.
The Eagles broke up in 1980 and then reformed with the same five members that had been on board 1976-79.
After the reunion Henley, Frey and manager Irving Azoff formulated a new financial plan for the distribution of band wealth. Originally, the Eagles were like most other bands and split their revenues equally among the members. Henley and Frey, the lone remaining founding fathers and main contributors of songwriting and lead vocals, pushed a plan in which revenues would be divided into seven parts. Henley and Frey would get two parts each, and the other three members were offered one part each.
Walsh and Schmit signed off on the plan with little hesitation, but Felder resisted. Eventually he signed the agreement but continually had his attorney monitor revenues and details of the deal. Nonetheless, Henley and Frey fired him in Feb. 2001, as detailed in Felder’s autobiography. The last concert he’d played with the Eagles was Dec. 31, 1999.
Felder and his legal team filed a battery of lawsuits against the Eagles and against Henley and Frey as individuals. As the band went into its “Farewell I Tour,” session guitarist Steuart Smith came on board to fill Felder’s shoes. Although he could play Felder’s parts admirably, note for note, he never was given status as a member of the Eagles. He even participated in the recording of the album “Long Road Out of Eden” in 2007.
The Eagles and Felder reached an undisclosed, out of court settlement on May 8, 2007, bringing to an end one of the messiest break-ups in the history of rock and roll.
