Fleetwood Mac

[Freypower]

I don’t agree with a lot of this but I don’t feel the need to argue about it

I am not arguing. I am expressing an opinion. I feel particularly strongly on this particular point.

[YoungEaglesFan]

I am not arguing. I am expressing an opinion. I feel particularly strongly on this particular point.

Oh sorry, I didn’t mean that you were arguing. I just meant I didn’t feel to engage in a discussion over that topic which would inevitably lead to a dispute of sorts. I apologize if you took it as me meaning you were starting an argument

[Delilah]

I understood what Mary was saying as well and didn’t construe her posts as saying Lindsey’s firing is worse than Glenn’s dying. She was obviously talking about the touring situation.

I don't think Journey's situation is comparable to the Eagles or Mac because they were a lot younger when Steve Perry initially left the band. He left of his own volition - not because he was fired. Additionally, most of Journey's hit song were written by Cain and Schon so I find replacing Perry to be more acceptable, although I still don't think I'd ever go see them.

I agree they are not really comparable given that Steve Perry was the sole lead singer and frontman plus they are now using a Steve Perry soundalike. So to me, it is less acceptable that he was replaced and I would never see them now. However I hold nothing against them for continuing on and I don’t look down on anyone who chooses to see them. Also, Perry left after suffering a hip injury and being given an ultimatum by Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain. So he quit after being pushed, basically.

Finally, just about all of Journey’s hit songs are Perry co-writes; the exceptions are “Wheel in the Sky” and “Faithfully.”

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I also understood what Mary was saying as well, and I didn’t interpret it to mean that she thinks it's a good thing that Glenn died. However, I stand by what I said before that there is no scenario ever that anyone could give me to justify where someone being fired is worse than someone dying. So, I appreciate Mary not attempting to do that for those of us who so strongly disagree. Since this is a very sensitive and touchy subject, I think it is best if we chalk this up as different value systems and just drop it.

As far as Journey, so as not to take this thread too far off topic, I say we agree to disagree on this as well or either move the discussion to their thread. However, I didn’t research this, but was thinking that Cain and Schon wrote most of the band’s hits, so I stand corrected for not remembering that Perry co-wrote the songs.

[sodascouts]

"I think what you would say is that there were factions within the band that had lost their perspective," Buckingham continued. "The point is that they'd lost their perspective. What that did was to harm – and this is the only thing I'm really sad about, the rest of it becomes an opportunity – it harmed the 43-year legacy that we had worked so hard to build, and that legacy was really about rising above difficulties in order to fulfill one's higher truth and one's higher destiny."

Right on Lindsey.

The legacy has been harmed. And it is sad. But he's a realist and appears optimistic about the opportunities ahead that await him and his music.

Hope Lindsey comes my way ... I will go see him.

I thought Lindsey's comments were very classy. I'm glad he finally said something.

The legacy has been terribly tarnished, and my respect for Stevie and Mick continues to dwindle when I see they are not being forthcoming in the circumstances surrounding the firing.

A member of Lindsey's solo touring band has stated that Lindsey did not insist that they put off the tour until 2019. Rather, Lindsey suggested that the band allow him to tour solo along with Fleetwood Mac's tour in 2018. This has been verified by famed guitar maker Rick Turner.

What's more, Lindsey was led to believe the band was OK with this. He left MusiCares believing that the arrangement was acceptable to them (which is backed up by the fan video where Lindsey says as much and Christine's statement that she left for London believing that Lindsey was still in the band and that they would be touring with him).

Thus, Lindsey had not declared that he would not tour with the band until 2019. I don't know if Mick and Stevie are making that up out of whole cloth, or if he said it at one point as a possible alternative, or what... but I do know that's not how things stood when he was fired.

So, as I said, they let Lindsey believe that his plan to tour concurrently was OK with them. Then, after he left believing that to be true, within days they had lined up people to replace him (Mike Campbell says that he was called days after MusiCares). After that, they let him know he was fired, not giving him a chance to negotiate. Obviously, from his statement that he didn't want to be fired, he was prepared to negotiate.

They didn't want to give him a chance. Why? Because, as Stevie states by her own admission, part of the rationale for the firing was that she wanted to be "happy." My translation: They had a fight at MusiCares, she decided touring with Lindsey would be too stressful, and she issued the ultimatum to have him fired without a thought as to how it would affect the music.

Now, they are painting him as an unreasonable bad guy who wasn't a "team player" and they don't mind stretching the truth to do it.

If Stevie wasn't able to tour with Lindsey, she should have pulled out, not done all this shady backdoor crap to get him fired, then lied about it. But she wanted her Fleetwood Mac touring money, so she eliminated him instead.

I believe that if Stevie chose to tour as part of Fleetwood Mac, then she needed to suck it up and tolerate Lindsey for a couple of hours for a few months. But in her mind, it wasn't about the band. It was about her. She destroyed the band to suit herself, and Mick went along with it. So much for being a team player. So much for her protestations that she doesn't act like the boss of the band.

So we're going to be forced to listen to Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker covers, a bunch of Stevie solo tunes, and "Don't Dream It's Over" in the middle of a Mac set while staples like "I'm So Afraid" are off the table, not to mention everything else essential Lindsey added to the band. Oh, but won't it be groovy when this Neil dude who apparently is big in Australia sings the inestimable "Station Man!" That'll make it all better! Yeah, right.

Plop! Fleetwood Mac goes into the crapper, becoming a parody of itself.

But Miss Stevie is happy!

Lost perspective indeed.

It makes me so freaking sad.

[shunlvswx]

When I first heard that Lindsey was fired, I went looking for Fleetwood Mac's acceptance speech from MusiCares (which I can't find on Youtube anymore) to see if anything was off. The body language from them. I didn't notice anything. I did notice Stevie was locked arms with Lindsey majority of the time. Like she was happy and that nothing bad had happened between her and Lindsey hours before they went on stage.

I'm glad Lindsey spoke out. I was reading other comments on other boards and their weren't anything nice said about him from that video. Even if he didn't talk bad about Fleetwood Mac.

I feel bad for Lindsey. I hate that he was lied to, but IMO. I think they had finally found a way to get rid of Lindsey once and for all. Either keep Stevie or lose her. They didn't want to lose Stevie.

[sodascouts]

I totally believe Stevie would be upset about that because in that recent biography it seems she’s quite open about the fact she believed she was the most important, deserved better treatment, and could hold the band hostage to have her demands met. I think it’s partly her ego, her refusal to concede to Lindsey, and her desire to have a tour without tension. I can empathize with the last point but the first two I think are despicable and deserve criticism

I may be upset with Stevie right now but the above is not true. First, the biography was not written by her and she did not participate in it. Second, she has never stated what you claim she is "very open" about. We may perceive it that way, but she has not stated that.

In Stevie's mind, she is the heroine, not the villain. I'm sure she thinks that Lindsey brought all of this upon himself and she is doing what is best for everyone... HE was the one with the big ego, thinking Fleetwood Mac needed him. Well Fleetwood Mac can get along just fine without him, thank you very much. They still have her. They still have Christine. Dreams - that was the Mac's biggest hit. They still have Rhiannon, Gold Dust Woman. As for the rest - they'll find some other guy to sing his songs. Mike Campbell is just as good a guitarist and he is sweet and nice to Stevie. He never stresses her out.

Lindsey on the other hand is always stressing her out. Everyone else always was so understanding of her needs. No one else ever challenged her. Only Lindsey... always acting like he knew best. Well, he didn't know best. SHE did. He would never admit that, though! This request to tour concurrently is just one more thing... then the fight at MusiCares. Tom's death has shown her that life is too short to deal with things that make you unhappy. Life is too short to deal with Lindsey. Lindsey must go. Then life will be happy.

It all makes perfect sense to Stevie.

All I can hope is that when she has a little distance from Tom's death and from this fight, and realizes that you don't just throw a 50 year relationship away over petty crap, she will realize that she needs to mend fences with Lindsey before it's too late.

Life won't be happy when it's filled with regret.

[YoungEaglesFan]

I may be upset with Stevie right now but the above is not true. First, the biography was not written by her and she did not participate in it. Second, she has never stated what you claim she is "very open" about. We may perceive it that way, but she has not stated that.

In Stevie's mind, she is the heroine, not the villain. I'm sure she thinks that Lindsey brought all of this upon himself and she is doing what is best for everyone... HE was the one with the big ego, thinking Fleetwood Mac needed him. Well Fleetwood Mac can get along just fine without him, thank you very much. Mike Campbell is just as good a guitarist and he is sweet and nice to Stevie. He never stresses her out.

Lindsey on the other hand is always stressing her out, and this request to tour concurrently is just one more thing. Tom's death has shown her that life is too short to deal with things that make you unhappy. Life is too short to deal with Lindsey. Lindsey must go. Then life will be happy.

It all makes perfect sense to Stevie.

All I can hope is that when she has a little distance from Tom's death and from this fight, and realizes that you don't just throw a 50 year relationship away over petty crap, she will realize that she needs to mend fences with Lindsey before it's too late.

Life won't be happy when it's filled with regret.

I may have misspoke. I was aware that Stevie did not write the biography. I may be wrong but I believe there was a part where she mentioned a time where an album was being discussed and that they needed to build it around Stevie’s schedule because she had become the bigger star. I’ll have to find that specific part of the book. I again can empathize with Stevie with her desire to avoid a tense tour with stress especially at this age. I can empathize with her disliking of Lindsey but I think some motivations behind this move were in a way self serving even if she didn’t think they were. I also disagree about mike being just as good of a guitarist but that’s not an important topic right now lol

[MaryCalifornia]

I'm intrigued by the idea of a band member playing solo shows in between big band shows - seems like a dream for fans. You could see the band and your fave on back-to-back nights in totally different settings, and see the songs performed differently. Sounds exhausting for the artist, but it would be neat to see it play out.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I knew you would get down to the bottom of this, Soda. I'm glad Lindsey spoke out too and thought he handled the situation with class.

This sad situation seems to be just one more case of blatant rock star self-indulgence and greed.