Lindsey Buckingham claims Fleetwood Mac didn’t work “on paper”
Fleetwood Mac guitarist and songwriter Lindsey Buckingham has admitted that the band’s unique characters didn’t necessarily fit together.
Reflecting on the band’s success and longevity, the 72-year-old believes that their “synergy” was greater than their individual parts.
He said, "Early on, soon after joining Fleetwood Mac, I realised that we were the kind of group who didn’t – on paper – belong in the same group together.”
"But yet that was the very thing that made us so effective.”
"There was a synergy there, where the whole became more than the sum of its parts. What happens is that you begin to understand that, and accept it as a gift."
Lindsey was ousted from Fleetwood Mac in 2018 due to a reported “disagreement over the band’s upcoming tour,” and was replaced by Crowded House’s Neil Finn.
Lindsey, who released his seventh solo album in September, also claimed that “inside politics” is the reason why Fleetwood Mac haven’t released a studio album since the 2003 release of Say You Will.
Despite receiving international success and recognition during his time in Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey said that losing fans while he pursues his solo project was bound to happen.
He said, “Fleetwood Mac is this big machine, and my solo endeavours are this smaller machine.”
"I’ve always done what I’ve wanted to do, basically, and I think the realisation I had to come to was being willing to lose some of the huge audience Fleetwood Mac have in order to pursue that.”
"It’s just a trade-off you have to be willing to make in order to do things on your own terms."
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