Stevie Nicks Called This Fleetwood Mac Album “Ahead of Its Time”
via Stevie Nicks / Youtube
The Pressure After Rumours
Fleetwood Mac had always been known for change. But after the massive success of Rumours, the band faced an entirely new kind of pressure. Trying to follow up one of the biggest albums in history wasn’t just hard—it was almost impossible. Adding to the challenge was the shift in the music world. By the late 1970s, new wave and post-punk sounds were taking over, and older rock bands were at risk of being left behind.
In 1977, the same year Rumours was released, Talking Heads dropped Talking Heads: 77. It felt like the complete opposite of Fleetwood Mac’s polished, emotional storytelling. Songs from bands like Talking Heads came crashing through with raw energy, while Mac’s music still leaned into softer, emotional tones. The music scene was changing fast, and Fleetwood Mac needed to decide if they were going to keep up or stick to what they knew.
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Lindsey Buckingham’s New Direction
Lindsey Buckingham wasn’t interested in doing Rumours again. He had no desire to repeat what had already worked. He looked at new bands like Talking Heads with a mix of fear and inspiration. Buckingham wanted to push Fleetwood Mac into new territory and stay relevant in a world that was moving away from classic rock. He admitted he was “desperate to make Mac relevant to a post-punk world.”
This desire led to the creation of Tusk, an album that didn’t try to follow the success of Rumours but instead tried something entirely different. Buckingham wasn’t aiming for chart-topping love songs this time. He wanted something strange, bold, and experimental. And he got it. Tusk was a sharp left turn—unexpected and jarring to many fans.
Fleetwood Mac’s Bold Experiment
The release of Tusk marked a complete reinvention. It wasn’t just about the music—it was a full creative reset. Much like how bands like U2 and Arctic Monkeys later changed their styles between albums, Fleetwood Mac used Tusk to break free from expectations. The album was long, unpredictable, and didn’t sound like anything else they had done.
Many people didn’t understand it. Some even called it a flop. But not everyone in the band saw it that way. Stevie Nicks stood by the record and said it was an important move. She later described Tusk as “ahead of its time,” believing it helped prevent the band from falling into creative boredom. Doing Rumours 2 might have ended them altogether.
Stevie Nicks Remembers Studio D
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Nicks looked back at the wild and creative energy of the sessions. She described the scene inside Studio D, where they recorded much of the album. “Studio D was covered with Polaroids and shrunken heads and angel wings, and all of our stuff was in there. You walked into that room, and there were big, massive tusks on each side of the board, and the board was called Tusk,” she said.
She also spoke about how uncertain and emotional the process was. “It became something so beautiful and so ahead of its time. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall, too, when they played it, because they had to be horrified. I was a little horrified myself over that 13-month period, but it was an experience,” Nicks recalled. Despite the stress and relationship problems within the band, there was something magical about that creative space.
Buckingham’s Artistic Stand
Lindsey Buckingham saw Tusk as a way to break from the past. For him, it wasn’t just about music. It was about keeping control of the creative process. He believed that doing what people expected would have hurt the band more than taking a risk. Even if it felt like one wrong move could break everything apart, Buckingham stayed committed to creating something honest.
He later described the album as “undermining” everything they had done before. That wasn’t a mistake. It was part of the plan. Tusk may not have pleased everyone, but it showed that Fleetwood Mac was willing to grow. For Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, the record marked a bold step forward—even if it came with risk and doubt.
