Former Fleetwood Mac member, Bob Welch found dead

[BramwenR]

For what it's worth these are the members of Fleetwood Mac who were inducted into the Hall of Fame:

http://rockhall.com/inductees/fleetwood-mac/

Worth being the operative word.

They are not well liked by the press in Australia because of their overblown egos. I have never seen them live and quite frankly, would not part with one brass razoo anyway after this.

Such very talented people, it's such a shame the spotlight got in the way.

[EagleLady]

I think you're being a little harsh on them but you're certainly entitled to your opinion.

[Topkat]

Further information has been reported on Bob Welch's suicide. After a failed surgery, he felt he would be a burden to his family. Very sad. RIP

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/bob-w...icide-surgery/

[Brooke]

That's very sad news and I can't imagine how I would react to this kind of diagnosis. It's something that you just never know about until you reach that place. I can, in a way, understand his decision.

Bram, as far as FM and Stevie, I love them and their music and have never thought of Stevie, especially, as being arrogant. Sorry you don't like them.

[TimothyBFan]

I'm going to stick up for Stevie here. I also would never think of her as being arrogant or anything of the sorts. I know she's nothing but kind to her fans and have never seen evidence of "bad behavior", etc.... And let's face it, if she had, we all here would know it because of our resident Stevie expert. We surely would of heard of it.

I love FM and it's rather upsetting to see that not everyone feels the same I guess.

As for Bob not being put into the HOF, I don't remember (there was another little band inducted the same year that I was a bit more concentrated on) but was there anything back then in regards to how Bob felt about it? I guess I will go google that because now I'm curious.

[TimothyBFan]

According to Wiki:

Hall of Fame controversy

When Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, original band members Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie were named to the Hall, as were Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Welch, who anchored the band for several years and three albums, was not. "My era was the bridge era," Welch told the Cleveland newspaper the Plain Dealer in 1998, after he was snubbed by the Hall of Fame. "It was a transition. But it was an important period in the history of the band. Mick Fleetwood dedicated a whole chapter of his biography to my era of the band and credited me with 'saving Fleetwood Mac.' Now they want to write me out of the history of the group. It hurts."
Welch went on to tell the Plain Dealer, "Mick and I co-managed the group for years. I'm the one who brought the band to Los Angeles from England, which put them in the position of hooking up with Lindsey and Stevie. I saw the band through a whole period where they barely survived, literally." At the time, Welch believed that he had been blackballed by the Hall because of the breach of contract lawsuit against Fleetwood and John and Christine McVie. At the time of his snubbing by the Hall, he believed that the falling out with three band members led them to pressuring the selection committee into excluding him from the Hall.[18]
In a 2003 online question and answer session on the Fleetwood Mac fan site The Penguin, Welch revised his opinion of why he was snubbed by the Hall. He had recently attended a Fleetwood Mac show and visited the band members back stage after the show. The visit reconnected him with Mick Fleetwood, his ex-band mate and ex-manager, after being estranged for many years. (He had never been estranged from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who were not party to the lawsuit.) By 2003, Welch believed that he had been snubbed by the Hall as the directors in New York, music industry insiders, did not like his style of music. However, he did believe that the lawsuit was a factor in his being blackballed, as it prevented him from getting in touch with Mick Fleetwood, whom he was not talking to at the time of the induction, who may have otherwise have used his influence to get Welch included with other members of the band. (Jerry Garcia had used his influence to get 12 members of the Grateful Dead inducted into the Hall, including some band mates whose contributions were considered marginal.) Welch said he had also communicated with Christine McVie but was still estranged from John.


Well, that sheds a bit of light. To bad.

[Brooke]

Yes it does. All I can say is I'm more of a casual fan and don't normally delve in to the deep dark secrets of the bands I love, except for the Eagles. Now they are more of an obsession! For me, it's mostly,all about the music.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Well - Like everyone, I'm very saddened to hear about Bob's passing. Such a shame that he felt so desperate that he would take his own life. My heart goes out to his family.

R.I.P. Bob.

And I agree that I like band's based on their music - not their dirty laundry. Fleetwood Mac rocks for me.

[Freypower]

Worth being the operative word.

They are not well liked by the press in Australia because of their overblown egos. I have never seen them live and quite frankly, would not part with one brass razoo anyway after this.

Such very talented people, it's such a shame the spotlight got in the way.

I'm Australian too. On the last Mac tour the Sydney Morning Herald ran a very sniffy review by a critic who specliases in writing derogatory reviews of 'classic' bands; he does the same with the Eagles. I don't see this as the band not being liked by the entire press. I don't know where you get that from. I went to see them & I went to see Stevie solo; I had a great time.

As for Mr Welch I only knew him from Ebony Eyes; I never heard his Fleetwood Mac albums & so am in no position to offer an opinion on whether or not he should have been inducted into the HOF. I will be interested to hear Soda's views on this when she returns, but I would venture that none of the albums on which he featured would be considreed the band's best remembered albums.

[BramwenR]

I'm Australian too. On the last Mac tour the Sydney Morning Herald ran a very sniffy review by a critic who specliases in writing derogatory reviews of 'classic' bands; he does the same with the Eagles. I don't see this as the band not being liked by the entire press. I don't know where you get that from. I went to see them & I went to see Stevie solo; I had a great time.

As for Mr Welch I only knew him from Ebony Eyes; I never heard his Fleetwood Mac albums & so am in no position to offer an opinion on whether or not he should have been inducted into the HOF. I will be interested to hear Soda's views on this when she returns, but I would venture that none of the albums on which he featured would be considreed the band's best remembered albums.

I hear you and understand your opinion. I know about the sniffy reviews and whether it is true or not, also I read that their demands when they came here on tour were excessive. I also read some opinions from fans somewhere too I think, I can't remember now. I guess it is just a matter of taste, I liked a few of their old songs, such as Sara and Tell Me Lies but was never what you call a complete fan. I don't doubt their talent, just what has been said previously may have been misconstrued by the press.

Shame about legal battles and personal stuff amongst bands, despite all of that I felt he should have been included. Three former Eagles were and they had been gone for many years. I think the inductees should be admitted on merit, it only seems fair with the contributions to a band's success. But that's just me.