Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge. 

I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode will be on the super group, Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood Mac interestingly is a British and American rock band which was formed in London in 1967.  Peter Green was the original founder of the band which played blues rock, but he soon departed in 1970 saying he had become thoroughly disillusioned with the music business, and he didn’t deserve the fame, and that he wanted to give his money to charity, which he actually did.

Of the classic lineup Mick Fleetwood joined when the band was formed in 1967.  John McVie also joined in 1967 replacing temporary bass guitarist Bob Brunning.  His wife Christine McVie joined on the departure of Peter Green in 1970.  While Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band together in 1974.

Following many lineup changes early in the band’s history it remained stable with the above lineup from 1974 through to 1987 where Lindsey Buckingham left the band, which was then followed by Stevie Nicks in 1990.  Both artists would go on to pursue solo careers.

Fleetwood Mac produced one of the most successful albums of all time “Rumours” which came at a time when all the band members relationships were in turmoil with each member of the band going through a breakup whilst making the album.  Which validates the quote from Christopher Zara “Great art comes from great pain.”

Over the years they have had a total of 18 band members, so as I can’t include everyone in the podcast, a special mention goes out to:

Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, Bob Brunning, Danny Kirwan, Bob Welch, Bob Weston, Dave Walker, Billy Burnette, Rick Vito, Dave Mason, Bekka, Bramlett, Mike Campbell, and Neil Finn.

Today’s mnemonic will be on Fleetwood Mac band members from the classic lineup between 1974 and 1987.

So, with no further ado, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

 

Wikipedia Summary

 

Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967 by guitarist and singer Peter Green.[5] Green recruited drummer Mick Fleetwood, guitarist and singer Jeremy Spencer and bassist Bob Brunning, with John McVie replacing Brunning a few weeks after the band's first public appearance at the 1967 National Jazz & Blues Festival in Windsor. The band became a five-piece in 1968 with the addition of guitarist and singer Danny Kirwan.

Primarily a British blues band in their early years, Fleetwood Mac achieved a UK number-one single in 1968 with the instrumental "Albatross",[6] and had other UK top ten hits with "Man of the World", "Oh Well" (both 1969), and "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" (1970). Green left the band in May 1970, with McVie's wife Christine McVie (who had previously contributed to the band as a session musician) joining as an official member on vocals and keyboards two months later.

Spencer and Kirwan also left in 1971 and 1972 respectively, with Bob Welch replacing Spencer, and Bob Weston and Dave Walker replacing Kirwan. By the end of 1974, Weston and Walker had been dismissed and Welch had left, leaving the band without a guitarist or male vocalist. While Fleetwood was scouting studios in Los Angeles, he heard the American folk-rock duo Buckingham Nicks, consisting of guitarist and singer Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks.

In December 1974, he asked Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham agreed on the condition that Nicks could also join. The addition of Buckingham and Nicks gave the band a more pop rock sound, and their 1975 album Fleetwood Mac topped the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. Their next album, Rumours (1977), produced four U.S. Top 10 singles and remained at number one on the Billboard 200 for 31 weeks. It also reached the top spot in countries around the world and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978. 

Rumours has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums in history. Although each member of the band went through a breakup (John and Christine McVie, Buckingham and Nicks, and Fleetwood and his wife Jenny Boyd) while recording the album, they continued to write and record together.

The line-up remained stable through three more studio albums, but by the late 1980s began to disintegrate. After Buckingham left in 1987, he was replaced by Billy Burnette and Rick Vito, although Vito left in 1990 along with Nicks. A 1993 one-off performance for the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton reunited the classic 1974–1987 line-up for the first time in six years. A full-scale reunion took place four years later, and Fleetwood Mac released their fourth U.S. No. 1 album, The Dance (1997), a live album marking the 20th anniversary of Rumours and the band's 30th anniversary.

Christine McVie left in 1998 after the completion of The Dance tour. Fleetwood Mac released their final studio album, Say You Will, in 2003. Christine McVie rejoined in 2014 for their On With the Show Tour. In 2018, Buckingham was fired[7] and replaced by Mike Campbell, formerly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House. After Christine McVie's death in 2022, Nicks said in 2024 that the band would not continue without her.

Fleetwood Mac have sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling bands. In 1979, they were honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1998, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[8] and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.[9] In 2018, Fleetwood Mac received the MusiCares Person of the Year award from the Recording Academy in recognition of their artistic achievement in the music industry and dedication to philanthropy.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood_Mac]

 

 

Mnemonic

 

Fleetwood Mac - Band Members Mnemonic (Classic Lineup 1974-1987) – Stevie Just Cannot Marry Lindsey

(Picture Stevie Nicks breaking up with Lindsey back in 1976) 

 

1.      Stevie Nicks

2.      John McVie

3.      Christine McVie

4.      Mick Fleetwood

5.      Lindsey Buckingham

 

 

Five Fun Facts

 

1.       The name Fleetwood Mac came from a combination of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie’s surnames.  This name actually came from the original founder of the band Peter Green who named the rhythm section of the fifth song they recorded “Fleetwood Mac” before they were a group.  Soon after this, Green suggested to Mick Fleetwood that they form a new band, which they did, and it was initially called “Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac.”

 

2.      In 1974 Mick Fleetwood was in search of a guitarist and male vocalist.  He found his man in Lindsey Buckingham in L.A. who was performing at the time with his girlfriend since high school Stevie Nicks in a folk-rock duo.  He eventually joined Fleetwood Mac on the condition that Nicks be part of the package deal.

 

3.      The band Fleetwood Mac not only produced great music but could have also probably produced a soap opera, with the number of relationships, affairs, breakups, and heartache.  Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham came into the band as a couple but were already on thin ice.  Christine McVie and John McVie were married but eventually broke up, while Mick Fleetwood had an affair with Christine McVie, a secret romance with Stevie Nicks and a divorce from his first wife Jenny Boyd who had an affair with Fleetwood Mac member at the time, Bob Weston who was fired following the affair.

 

4.      Fleetwood Mac’s most iconic album Rumours which is one of the highest-selling albums in music history could have been titled “Yesterday’s Gone.”  “Yesterday’s Gone” is a lyric from the track “Don’t Stop” which was written by Christine McVie.  “Don’t Stop” reached the number three spot on the American music charts and was about Christine McVie’s divorce and the need to continue life.

 

5.      Fleetwood Mac’s song “Dreams” shocked everyone when it reemerged from the ashes to hit the Billboard Hot 100 charts.  This came as a result of TikToker Nathan Apodaca posting a video clip on the 25th of September, 2020 where he lip-syncs to “Dreams” while skateboarding to work and swigging Ocean Spray cranberry juice.  The next week saw an increase to 8.47 million listens and 7,000 downloads.  This paid dividends to Nathan, being given a truck to replace his broken-down car and a large supply of cranberry juice from Ocean Spray.

 

Now, there was another fact that I was going to leave out, but I’ve decided to put it back in and this is, the generally unknown fact that William Shatner and Stevie Nicks were going to get married.  Now, unfortunately, at the last minute, she changed her mind.  The reason being, is that she wanted to keep her surname, and didn’t want to be known as, Stevie Shatner – Nicks!

 

 

Three Question Quiz

 

Q.1.  What was Fleetwood Mac’s biggest selling album and one of the best-selling albums of all time?

 

Q.2.  Which year did Fleetwood Mac reunite to perform at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton?

 

Q.3.  What year were Fleetwood Mac inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?  Options are 1988, 1998, or 2018

 

Bonus Q.   Which song is the only number one single of Fleetwood Mac?  Options are Go Your Own Way, Tusk, or Dreams

 

 

Mnemonic Recap

 

Fleetwood Mac - Band Members Mnemonic (Classic Lineup 1974-1987) – Stevie Just Cannot Marry Lindsey

(Picture Stevie Nicks breaking up with Lindsey back in 1976) 

 

1.      Stevie Nicks

2.      John McVie

3.      Christine McVie

4.      Mick Fleetwood

5.      Lindsey Buckingham

 

 

Three Question Quiz Answers

 

Q.1.  What was Fleetwood Mac’s biggest selling album and one of the best-selling albums of all time?

A.  Rumours released on the 4th February, 1977

 

Q.2.  Which year did Fleetwood Mac reunite to perform at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton?

A.   1993

 

Q.3.  What year were Fleetwood Mac inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?  Options are 1988, 1998, or 2018

A.  1998 by Sheryl Crow

 

Bonus Q.   Which song is the only number one single of Fleetwood Mac?  Options are Go Your Own Way, Tusk, or Dreams

A.  Dreams

 

 

Word of the Week

 

incandescent

[ in-kuhn-des-uhnt ] 

adjective

intensely bright; brilliant

 

Example

Stevie Nicks was incandescent in her solo career following her time with Fleetwood Mac.

Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]

 

 

👉 Free Memory Mnemonics at:

https://www.themnemonictreepodcast.com

 

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References

 

https://mymodernmet.com/fleetwood-mac/

https://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Music/Go-Your-Own-Way-324327.html

https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=can-you-pass-this-fleetwood-mac-quiz

https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/incandescent-2024-11-01/?nlsub&lctg=57708c0e11890d95148b4e8f&email=3f276a5f540b44c01982ed460d3a1eec&utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wotdnl&utm_term=incandescent

https://upjoke.com/fleetwood-mac-jokes

https://chatgpt.com/c/672de5d4-0be4-8010-946e-d04f51c5da94

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fleetwood_Mac_members