# Why was Fleetwood Mac so popular in 1977? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2013, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058 "2013-09-05T08:04:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/61 "2013-09-08T14:52:54Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > For those of us with Depression-raised parents, it was difficult and tricky to get a rock n roll album into the house sometimes. It was helpful if the band in question had been on the Mike Douglas show and looked not too Mansonesque. You know, like Fleetwood Mac. Yep; heck, they were one step away from the Carpenters! ;)\* \*Fascinating how true that has become, in terms of how highly-respected Karen has remained and grown; the enduring nature of their songs and brand and the dramatic / tragic backstory unfolding. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/62 "2013-09-08T16:26:04Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > _Rumours_ was essentially “Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll: the concept album” two years before The Wall, just without hammers and an animated talking arsehole. Someone’s gotta praise Lobot for this gem of a line, and I am just the (phun)guy to do it ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/63 "2013-09-08T17:28:17Z")
I joined the [Columbia Record Club](http://www.theweeklings.com/wp-content/uploads/columbia-house-penny.jpeg), made 11 selections and bought _ **Rumors** _ as the last of my 12 Records or Tapes for a Penny. The rest is history. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/64 "2013-09-08T20:17:18Z")
It was 1977. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/65 "2013-09-08T20:23:12Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > \*\* _Rumours_ was essentially “Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll: the concept album” two years before The Wall, just without hammers and an animated talking arsehole. That’s a harsh thing to say about Roger Waters … ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/66 "2013-09-08T20:40:02Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > They had to do something. She certainly couldn’t dance… I love the way Stevie dances! She’s adorable in the video for [I Can’t Wait"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJTrqTRSG28). Don’t be hatin’ on Stevie. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/67 "2013-09-08T21:30:47Z")
There are those of us who remember seeing them when they looked and sounded like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtPyk8_onO8). I don’t know who I like watching perform more - Stevie or Mick? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/68 "2013-09-08T21:58:08Z")
> [@Subterraneanus](#): > > It was 1977. This. I was there, I was 17, and I can tell you that in 1977 most people of album buying age were high. How else is there to explain for the popularity of some of the shitty groups back then? Fleetwood Mac sucks, Stevie Nicks sings like a tortured goat, and today she has prune lips. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/69 "2013-09-08T22:21:21Z")
That, sirrah, is a slander I cannot let lie. Trout at one hundred paces. My seconds will call. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/70 "2013-09-08T22:47:45Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > This. > > I was there, I was 17, and I can tell you that in 1977 most people of album buying age were high. How else is there to explain for the popularity of some of the shitty groups back then? > > Fleetwood Mac sucks, Stevie Nicks sings like a tortured goat, and today she has prune lips. Blech. Hah. I remember when I thought Ted Nugent was cool, too. Stranglehold, baby! ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/71 "2013-09-08T22:56:34Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Fleetwood Mac sucks, Stevie Nicks sings like a tortured goat, and today she has prune lips. Blech. Well, she can’t help the prune lips thing, but the rest is not so far off. And could somebody please tell that repetitive drummer to close his mouth? And another thing: I’m sorry, but Lindsey Buckinham’s musicianship is being vastly overpraised in this thread. Sure, he’s got enviable right hand technique, but you can’t be a “guitar monster” if your solo breaks fall just short of “fairly decent”. Exhibit A:[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYAoJ2QfKE0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYAoJ2QfKE0) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/72 "2013-09-09T00:26:48Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > This. > > I was there, I was 17, and I can tell you that in 1977 most people of album buying age were high. How else is there to explain for the popularity of some of the shitty groups back then? > > Fleetwood Mac sucks, Stevie Nicks sings like a tortured goat, and today she has prune lips. Blech. So what did you think was good then? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/73 "2013-09-09T00:39:00Z")
> [@DonLogan](#): > > Radio-friendly crossover. Soft enough to be considered soft rock, but with enough energy to crossover and get played on rock stations. > > Like others have said, you have to consider the context - disco, rock that tended to the hard side, and soft rock that was treacly. > > Fleetwood Mac filled an open space. > > Plus, good songs, great production, two women in the band. This is very close to the ‘correct’ answer. People who didn’t live through the era don’t understand how important ‘format’ was. Consider Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Despite being the most-requested song on FM radio in the 1970’s, Stairway to Heaven was never even released as a single because it was too long to play on AM radio. On the hand, the short, catchy “Whole Lotta Love” went to #4. The big hits that sold millions of records had to be AM friendly. And AM radio itself was segmented into disco, easy listening, and rock. Back then, FM was where ‘serious’ music fans went, and AM was generally pop. So you had great bands like Pink Floyd who sold enough albums to fill arenas based on their FM popularity, but who had an incredibly hard time cracking the billboard top 10 charts because their music didn’t fit the AM format where the mass market was. That’s why so many of the bands we think of as classic rock actually didn’t sell all that well when they were at their prime. For instance, the Allman Brothers are considered one of the great bands of the 70’s, but they only had one top-10 hit (“Ramblin’ Man”), and only three songs that cracked the top-40. The Grateful Dead only had one top 10 hit with “Touch of Grey”, and that came near the end of their recording career. Before that, the highest they ever got was #68. The huge artists of the 70’s like the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Elton John shared one thing in common: They were capable of writing incredibly catchy tunes that played well on AM radio while still remaining ‘serious’ enough to appeal to the FM crowd. FM radio kept their album sales going while the singles filled the Billboard top 40 and brought in even more album sales. The same was true of the Beatles in the 1960’s. In the 1980’s the music video revolution changed the calculus, and a great music video could break the stranglehold AM radio had on the top 40, and/or force AM radio to change its format to allow a greater variety of songs. It’s no surprise then that bands like Genesis, ZZ Top, and Pink Floyd didn’t have much top 40 success until then even though they were much loved by the FM crowd for a decade or more before. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/74 "2013-09-09T00:46:41Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > And another thing: I’m sorry, but Lindsey Buckinham’s musicianship is being vastly overpraised in this thread. Sure, he’s got enviable right hand technique, but you can’t be a “guitar monster” if your solo breaks fall just short of “fairly decent”. Buckingham would struggle to break into the Top 5 of guitarists who’ve been in Fleetwood Mac… Admittedly that’s a pretty select group, probably only the Bluesbreakers have had as many great guitarists. Possibly the Yardbirds, if the current members are as good as the classics, I’ve not heard them. I guess I just prefer blues to pop. I also suspect I’m one of the few people born after Rumours came out that thinks of Fleetwood Mac as a blues band. I might like the later stuff more if they’d changed their name after Kiln House. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/75 "2013-09-09T01:00:52Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Buckingham would struggle to break into the Top 5 of guitarists who’ve been in Fleetwood Mac… Admittedly that’s a pretty select group, probably only the Bluesbreakers have had as many great guitarists. Possibly the Yardbirds, if the current members are as good as the classics, I’ve not heard them. > > I guess I just prefer blues to pop. I also suspect I’m one of the few people born after Rumours came out that thinks of Fleetwood Mac as a blues band. I might like the later stuff more if they’d changed their name after Kiln House. Do either you or **Enter the Flagon** play? Just curious. Buckingham is excellent. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/76 "2013-09-09T01:04:26Z")
Y’know, I’m surprised at the depth of the analysis. Never became familiar with them as-it-happened, but they sounded to me like just a good act with good material for the time. Analyzing why as Mike Myers’Wayne said “a copy of Rumours was issued to every suburban household in America” was not something I gave much thought. \* “Huh, very popular band. OK.”\* > [@silenus](#): > > I love Stevie to death, but [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6B6CyZHnZU&safe=active) is hilarious. 😃 “…and the incomparable _Hwlywh_” Yes, this skit crosses my mind every time I run into an extended discussion of Ms Nicks. Digitally remumbled, heh. > [@monstro](#): > > I love the way Stevie dances! She’s adorable in the video for I Can’t Wait That, she is. However the video itself also reminds me that the mid-80s didn’t really have much standing to look down upon the mid-70s on matters of pop style. Still and notwhitstanding that: > [@silenus](#): > > There are those of us who remember seeing them when they looked and sounded like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtPyk8_onO8). I just hope that John burned those cutoffs and dropped the ashes off the Santa Monica pier. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/77 "2013-09-09T01:21:09Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Do either you or **Enter the Flagon** play? Just curious. > > Buckingham is excellent. Been playing since 1975, myself. Normally, WordMan, I find very little to quibble over when reading your posts, but again: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYAoJ2QfKE0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYAoJ2QfKE0) This, in no way, compares to what Steve Howe, Jeff Beck and John McGlaughlin were doing in 1977, just to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/78 "2013-09-09T01:30:37Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Do either you or **Enter the Flagon** play? Just curious. > > Buckingham is excellent. I don’t, no. My opinion is based purely on listening, and my personal taste. That said, coming 5th when the top 4 are Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, Jeremy Spencer and Bob Welch! ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/79 "2013-09-09T01:43:14Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > Been playing since 1975, myself. > > Normally, WordMan, I find very little to quibble over when reading your posts, but again: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYAoJ2QfKE0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYAoJ2QfKE0) > This, in no way, compares to what Steve Howe, Jeff Beck and John McGlaughlin were doing in 1977, just to name a few. I just listened to half that video, and to be honest if I were to describe his playing in one word, it would be “safe”. It’s not bad, it’s not even boring, exactly, but it doesn’t take me anywhere or do anything that excites me. Compare him to, say, Neil Young, David Rawlings, Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, even Willie Nelson, let alone Peter Green, there doesn’t seem to be the fire there. And there’s certainly not the amazing technicality you’ll see from Steve Howe or John Petrucci, or any number of extreme metal guitarists. Which is not to say he’s not talented. The songs on Rumours, and other later Mac songs I’ve heard, are well written and produced, and he’s certainly more than capable of playing what he wants to. It’s just not really what I want to hear. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058/80 "2013-09-09T01:48:53Z")
I’m not a Fleetwood Mac fan but even I can listen to their material from that era and recognize truly great pop music when I hear it. It’s just finely crafted music performed by top musicians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-fleetwood-mac-so-popular-in-1977/668058.md?page=5)