Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967 by guitarist Peter Green, who named it after drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, the two constant members across the group's history. They began as a British blues band, scoring a UK No. 1 with the 1968 instrumental "Albatross" before a turbulent series of lineup changes. The 1975 arrival of American singer-songwriters Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks reshaped them into a hugely popular pop-rock act; their 1977 album Rumours became one of the best-selling records of all time and a touchstone of the era. With more than 100 million records sold and a 1998 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they rank among the most successful and influential rock acts in history.
Genres & sub-genres
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How they fit — and how they differ
Their Rumours-era catalog is a defining example of late-1970s soft rock and pop rock: clean, interlocking guitars, polished analog production, midtempo grooves, and rich male-female vocal harmonies wrapped around hook-driven, emotionally direct songwriting. The early Peter Green years exemplify British blues and blues rock, with melodic slide-guitar instrumentals and shuffle grooves rooted in the late-1960s UK blues boom.
Few bands span such different identities under one name, mutating from a gritty British blues outfit into a glossy Anglo-American pop-rock juggernaut over a single decade. Within soft rock they were unusually adventurous, folding in folk-rock textures, Stevie Nicks's mystical imagery, and the experimental, new-wave-tinged sprawl of Tusk (1979) that deliberately defied the commercial template of Rumours. Their three distinct songwriters and famously entwined personal relationships gave the music an emotional rawness rarely found in radio pop of the era.
Defining songs
- Albatross(1968)
- Rhiannon(1975)
- Go Your Own Way(1976)
- Dreams(1977)
- The Chain(1977)
- Don't Stop(1977)