Introduction to Fleetwood MacThe Early Days: British Blues RootsThe Transformation: Joining Forces with Buckingham and NicksBehind the Scenes of "Rumours"The TikTok Resurgence of "Dreams"Homework: Listen to "Rumours"
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Michael: Welcome to Educating Isabella, a history of
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 Rock and roll. The show where we introduce
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 Isabella and you to the legends, the stories
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 and the music that shaped generations.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 I'm your host, Michael. And today we're
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 starting with a band that defined rock and
00:00:14 --> 00:00:15 roll drama and brilliance.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 Fleetwood Mac Isabella.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 Did you know that one of the biggest viral
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 songs on TikTok in the last few years wasn't
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 by Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish or Harry
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 Styles. It was a song from 1977,
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 long before TikTok, iPhones or even you
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 were born. And yet millions of people,
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 many your age, rediscovered it as if it were
00:00:38 --> 00:00:40 brand new. The song
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 Dreams by Fleetwood Mac
00:00:43 --> 00:00:45 and the band, their history is wilder than
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 any Netflix drama. They weren't always the
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 Fleetwood Mac you know today. In fact, they
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 started out as a completely different band.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 One of the best British blues groups of the
00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 late 60s. Back in 1967,
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 Fleetwood Mac wasn't a pop rock band. They
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 were a hard edged British blues outfit led by
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 a brilliant but troubled guitarist named
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 Peter Green. Think of him as the Kurt
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 Cobain of the blues. Genius level talent,
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 but haunted by his own demons.
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 By the way, if you don't know who these
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 people are that we mention, have no fear as
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 we'll be introducing them to you in future
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 episodes. Green wrote
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 Black Magic Woman, a song you might know
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 better from. Santana's version. He was one of
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 the most respected guitarists of his time,
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 right up there with Eric Clapton. But
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 tragically, drugs and mental health struggles
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 forced him out of the band. After
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 Peter Green's departure, the band could have
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 easily faded away, but two key figures
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 helped keep the heart of Fleetwood Mac
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 beating. John and Christine McVie.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 John McVie had been with the band from the
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 start. The Mac in Fleetwood Mac
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 and his steady melodic bass lines gave the
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 group a backbone through every era of chaos.
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 Christine, meanwhile, was already making a
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 name for herself as a singer and keyboard
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 player with a blues band called Chicken
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 Shack. She had a warm, soulful voice,
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 smooth but powerful. And when she joined
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 Fleetwood Mac in 1970, she became
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 their secret weapon. Christine's
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 songwriting added melody and emotion that
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 balanced the band's rawness. Songs like
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 Over My Head, say youy Love Me and later you
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 Make Loving Fun gave Fleetwood Mac a softer,
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 poppier edge that widened their audience and
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 helped them cross from blues into radio
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 friendly rock. But with all that
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 brilliance came heartbreak. Christine and
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 John's marriage was once a creative
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 partnership started to unravel as fame grew.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 By the time their breakthrough album, Rumours
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 was being recorded, their relationship had
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 ended. And yet there they were. Still playing
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 together every day, performing songs about
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 their breakup. Christine's you Make
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 Loving Fun was actually written about someone
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 new in her life, and John had to play bass
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 on it. It was messy, emotional and very
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 human. But out of all that tension came
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 timeless music. Years later, after
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 decades of reunions, separations and
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 comebacks, Christine's voice still carried
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 that warmth and grace. When she
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 passed away in 2022, fans across
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 generations mourned, not just because she was
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 part of Fleetwood Mac, but because her songs
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 had become part of the soundtrack of so many
00:03:29 --> 00:03:29 lives.
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 Fast forward to 1974.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 Fleetwood Mac had been through so many lineup
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 changes that they barely resembled the band
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 that started it all. That's when Mick
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 Fleetwood, the only other original member
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 left from the very beginning, heard a demo by
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 two young California musicians, Lindsey
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. He invited them
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 to join Fleetwood Mac. And just like that,
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 the band transformed overnight from a British
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 blues group into a rock and roll supergroup.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 Within two years, they released Rumours, one
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 of the best selling albums of all time.
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 And here's where things get interesting.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 Because, Isabella, if you think modern
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 celebrities are messy, wait till you hear
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 about Fleetwood Mac's personal lives.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 Imagine being in a band with your ex now.
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 Imagine having to write and perform songs
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 about that breakup every single night.
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 Forevermore on tour. That was Fleetwood
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 Mac. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 Buckingham were breaking up. Christine and
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 John McVie were divorcing. MC Fleetwood was
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 having his own personal crises. And yet
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 somehow they turned all that chaos into a
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 masterpiece. Every song on Rumors
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 was a message to someone else in the band.
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 Go your own way was Lindsay lashing out at
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 Stephie? Dreams was Stephie's response. And
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 don't stop was Christine's way of telling her
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 ex husband to move on. It's basically rock n
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 roll's most dramatic breakup album.
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 Now Fast forward to 2020. A guy
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 named Nathan Apodaca posts a TikTok video.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 He's skateboarding down a highway, sipping
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 cranberry juice and casually lip syncing to
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 dreams within hours. Millions of
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 people, many younger than you, Isabella, are
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 obsessed with this song. Fleetwood Mac, a
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 band that was topping charts 40 years ago,
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 is, is suddenly back at the top again.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 Why? Because a great song is a great song, no
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 matter the decade. And you know who else
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 loves Fleetwood Mac? Harry Styles.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 He's covered their songs, performed with
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 Stevie Nicks, and called her his rock and
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 roll godmother, Taylor Swift. She wrote you
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 belong with me with the same storytelling
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 magic that Stevie Nicks used in Landslide.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 Even Billie Eilish's dreamy, melancholic
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 vocals. You can trace them back to the way
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 Stevie Nicks made every lyric feel like a
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 whispered secret. So, Isabella,
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 here's your first piece of rock and roll
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 homework. Listen to Fleetwood Mac's rumors
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 from start to finish. No skipping. Just let
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 it play from start to finish the way people
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 did back in 1977. Then tell
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 me, does it hold up? And to
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 make it even easier, I've put together
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 Educating Isabella playlists on on Spotify,
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 YouTubeMusic Music, and Deezer, where you'll
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 find all the essential tracks from this and
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 future episodes. Going forward, just
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 search for Educating Isabella, the ultimate
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 rock and roll playlist, and let the music do
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 the talking. And to everyone else listening,
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 what was the first classic rock album that
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 truly clicked for you? Let me know and we'll
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 keep Educating Isabella one rock legend at a
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 time. Until next time, keep on rocking.