(...Story Continued from Previous Page) And when
you hear it, it's like being back there -- even for me. It puts me right back
there, and it makes me understand why I'm going out on the road with Fleetwood
Mac again, because it is that good.
Right now, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles and Bruce Springsteen are all on
the road -- it could be the touring calendar for 1979, not 2009. Does it
surprise you that you're all still standing and still out playing?
Nicks: If you'd asked me 25 years ago, I would have said that I think we
would all still be going, but that I also hope there are some great new bands
who are firmly established by the time I'm 60. And there are a few, but it's not
what I expected, and I really fault the music business for that. Artist
development really died about 15 years ago, and it's killing the ability of
talented kids who are just as good as Fleetwood Mac, just as good as Led Zeppelin -- and I know they're out there -- from
ever seeing the light of day.
Buckingham: We obviously had a lot of commercial success at that time, but
they weren't the happiest days for me personally, or the most artistically
satisfying. And in those days, the studio was crazy and the road was five times
crazier. People always ask now, isn't it tiring being on the road? It used to
be, when we were doing all that nonsense, but now with everyone behaving, the
whole day is really geared around having the energy for those two hours onstage.
It's very Zen, a very pared-down environment, if that's what you choose for it
to be.
Any time there's a band with a male and female singer -- from a rock
band like Rilo Kiley to a country group like Little Big Town -- they get
compared to Fleetwood Mac. Do you think that kind of harmony singing is your
most defining legacy?
Buckingham: It's hard to analyze your own work. You concentrate on the
process and not the impact that it's having. So it's hard to know what's passed
on. I mean, I can tell that Death Cab for Cutie has listened to Fleetwood Mac, I
can hear the chordal structure. But I think about the construction, the
complexity that makes up Fleetwood Mac; I don't necessarily think about the most
obvious things. You just have to let it go, out into the ether.
Nicks: I think two girls and a guy really worked. It adds that spark of
romance, no matter what. I mean, the Eagles have romantic songs and they're all
guys, but having a woman in a band of great guys is a big selling point. And if
she's as good as the guys, it's a huge selling point. So if I were a kid, I'd
definitely be looking to make that next Fleetwood Mac.
Alan Light is the former editor-in-chief of Spin, Vibe and Tracks
magazines and a former senior writer at Rolling Stone. His writing has also
appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, GQ and Entertainment Weekly. He
is the author of "The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys"
(Three Rivers Press, 2006) and is a two-time winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor
Award for excellence in music writing. |
Hotmail
