Fleetwood Mac – ‘The Chain’
  • Writers: Fleetwood Mac
  • Producers: Fleetwood Mac, Richard Dashut, and Ken Caillat
  • Recorded: Late summer/fall 1976 at studios in Los Angeles, North Hollywood, and Miami
  • Released: Spring 1977
  • Players:
    Christine McVie — vocals, keyboards
    Lindsey Buckingham — guitar, vocals
    Stevie Nicks — vocals
    John McVie — bass
    Mick Fleetwood — drums
  • Album: Rumours (Warner Bros., 1977)
  • Also On:
    25 Years — The Chain (Warner Bros., 1992)
    The Dance (Warner Bros., 1997)
    The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac (Reprise, 2002)
    Live In Boston (Reprise, 2004)
  • “The Chain” was the only group-written song on Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours album. The other 10 tracks were all penned individually either by Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, or Christine McVie.
  • Though it was not released as a single, “The Chain” is nevertheless one of Fleetwood Mac’s most popular songs, receiving substantial airplay and opening many of their concerts.
  • Buckingham told Rolling Stone that the song got its name because it was edited down from many different pieces of tape.
  • Though it appears in the middle of the album — the first song on side two of the original vinyl issue — it outlines the album’s theme of romantic loss, relationship turmoil, and the resilience of bonds strong enough to withstand such tribulations.
  • Rumours was marked by the splintering of the couples within the group. In addition to the Nicks-Buckingham split-up, Christine and John McVie also broke up, and Mick Fleetwood‘s marriage went sour.
  • Rumours was Fleetwood Mac’s commercial peak, spending 31 weeks at Number One on the Billboard 200 and launching five hit singles — an accomplishment unheard of in the mid- and late-’70s.
  • With more than 19 million copies sold, it’s one of the top-selling album of all-original material ever released by a group.
  • Rumours won a Grammy for Album Of The Year and was named Favorite Album at the American Music Awards. The group also won the AMA for Favorite Pop/Rock Duo Or Group.

FAST FORWARD:

  • Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac in 1987. Nicks remained until 1992.
  • Fleetwood published his memoirs in 1990 and angered some members of the band with his frank accounts of the group’s behind-the-scenes life, including an affair with Nicks.
  • The group reunited for a one-off performance of “Don’t Stop” at Bill Clinton‘s first inaugural celebration on January 19th, 1993, after Clinton used it as the theme song of his presidential campaign.
  • The group got back together in 1997 for the live album The Dance and a reunion tour.
  • Christine McVie has since retired from the band on good terms.
  • Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
  • The lineup of Fleetwood, Buckingham, Nicks, and John McVie released a new studio album called Say You Will in 2003, which they followed with a lengthy world tour.
  • Buckingham released a solo album in 2006 called Under The Skin.
  • Fleetwood now lives at least part of the year in Hawaii, and he recently announced the formation of a group called Mick Fleetwood’s Island Rumours Band.

Sheryl Crow recently announced she will be touring as part of Fleetwood Mac in the future, probably next year.