Fleetwood Mac released Rumours

Rumours Fleetwood Mac

Released: February 4, 1977 Peak: 131 US, 11 UK, 121 CN, 18 AU, 110 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 20.0 US, 3.3 UK, 45.0 world (includes US and UK), 66.95 EAS Genre: classic California rock

Tracks: Click on a song titled for more details. Second Hand News [2:56] Dreams [4:14] Never Going Back Again [2:14] Don’t Stop [3:13] Go Your Own Way [3:43] Songbird [3:20] The Chain [4:30] You Make Loving Fun [3:31] I Don’t Want to Know [3:15] Oh Daddy [3:56] Gold Dust Woman [4:56] Total Running Time: 39:43 The Players: Lindsey Buckingham (vocals, guitar, et al) Stevie Nicks (vocals, tambourine) Christine McVie (vocals, keyboards) John McVie (bass) Mick Fleetwood (drums, percussion)

Rating: 4.714 out of 5.00 (average of 33 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album Fleetwood Mac started out as a British blues outfit in the late ‘60s created by drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. Over the years, players came and went until Californians Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks came on board and transformed the band’s sound into “crisp, professional soft-rock.” DW 1975’s self-titled album lifted the band to its greatest commercial heights, reaching #1 and achieving multi-platinum status. The follow-up, 1977’s Rumours, would be even more successful. It became “one of the best pop records of the ‘70s” VB and one of the best-selling albums of all time. “Its blending of folk, pop, blues, and rock genres led to a timeless quality that has proven revolutionary as the decades have passed. Every single track has worn a groove in our brains and made countless impacts on pop culture…These 11 perfect songs came during an era when the dream of the 1960s was haunted by the blunt realities of the 1970s, creating a moment where honest emotional truths were exactly what people were hoping to hear in music.” CQ Romantic Turmoil: The making of the album was frought with difficulty. The newfound fame would be a lot to adjust to under even the best of circumstances. However, during the recording sessions for Rumours, “keyboardist Christine McVie sparred with husband/bassist John, and singer Stevie Nicks scrapped with boyfriend/guitarist Lindsay Buckingham.” CD “And nearly everybody was on loads of cocaine.” VB Christine said, “We had two alternatives – go our own ways and see the band collapse, or grit our teeth and carry on playing with each other.” CM The resulting album “captures wounds that hadn’t yet scabbed over, as bloody and raw as a heartbeat.” PM “The two couples confess, blame, sigh and ride a deep, chugging groove” RS which made Rumours “the ultimate hangover album for the lovestruck.” DV “It’s a miracle that this album exists at all.” CQ However, “Rumours is proof that harmony can be born in chaos.” CQ Fleetwood Mac’s “angst gave us an album that defined a decade” DV with its “confessional pop-rock gems.” UT “The emotionally stormy, immaculately produced Rumours remains the near-perfect apex of dissolute 1970s Jacuzzi rock.” EW’12 Mick Fleetwood said, It would “take us almost a year, during which we spoke to each other in clipped, civil tones while sitting in small, airless studios listening to each other’s songs about our own shattered relationships.’” CRS In the Studio: The sessions for Rumours “were notorious not only for the emotional dilemmas but also for the amount of studio time the project ate up. The band spent two months in San Francisco before moving to Miami and then Los Angeles for several more months. At one point there had been so much overdubbing that the magnetic tape actually wore out.” CM Mick Fleetwood said, “We went four or five weeks without sleep, doing a lot of drugs…Eventually the amount of cocaine began to do damage. You’d do what you thought was your best work and then come back next day and it would sound terrible, so you’d rip it all apart and start again.” CM Masterful Musicians: The soap opera surrounding Rumours made for interesting stories, but don’t explain why it became “such a wildly successful album. It’s the unique chemistry in Fleetwood Mac and the craftmanship in songwriting and production that make Rumours the most perfect pop album of all time.” CM “Though they wanted to kill each other, they still wanted to sound damn good while they were doing it.” DV “Every song is catchy and clever.” DW It doesn’t hurt that “they’ve got three melodist-vocalists on the job” RC and that “each songwriter makes his or her presence known.” AZ “The cute-voiced woman writes and sings the tough lyrics and the husky-voiced woman the vulnerable ones.” RC They “were both at the height of their powers.” CM In addition, “Buckingham pushed the production into a magnificent combination of intricate and spare.” RS There’s also his “precise guitar, and the taut blues rhythms of John McVie and Fleetwood.” TL “The ensemble playing, the elastic rhythms, and lush harmonies…transform the material into classic FM fare” AZ and make the album “consistently memorable” AM – “a milestone in classic rock.” GS Reissue A 2004 remaster added B-side “Silver Springs” to the original track listing and a second disc of outtakes and demos. A 35th anniversary edition once again added “Silver Springs” to the original album, a second live disc recorded during the Rumours tour, two discs of outtakes, and a DVD of The Rosebud Film. The Songs Here’s thoughts about the individual songs on the album.

Second Hand News Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Lindsey Buckingham Released: Rumours (2/4/1977), 25 Years: The Chain (box, 11/23/1992), The Very Best of (U.S. compilation, 9/30/2002), 50 Years: Don’t Stop (box, 11/16/2018) Peak: 11 CL, 18 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 139.30 streaming About the Song: Buckingham would have the sole songwriting credit on “Go Your Own Way” and two more cuts on the album. Second Hand News was inspired by the Bee Gees’ “Jive Talkin.’” CM With its “great, galloping guitar sound” DV it “sounds very close to [the previous album’s] ‘Monday Morning’ but…is actually better because it has some tremendous acoustic playing and a lot of silly happy noises.” GS Christine McVie’s talent on the keys offer “a cool, dark weight to Buckingham’s layers of guitars and vocal harmonies.” CM

Dreams Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Stevie Nicks (see lyrics here) Released: single (3/24/1977), Rumours (2/4/1977), Greatest Hits (compilation, 11/5/1988), 25 Years: The Chain (box, 11/23/1992), The Very Best of (U.S. compilation, 9/30/2002), 50 Years: Don’t Stop (box, 11/16/2018) B-side: “Songbird” Peak: 11 BB, 11 CB, 12 GR, 11 HR, 11 RR, 11 AC, 1 CL, 24 UK, 1 CN, 4 AU, 3 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 1.2 UK, 2.42 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 5.0 radio, 152.0 video, 2273.58 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Stevie Nicks sing and penned Fleetwood Mac’s only #1 song. “The melancholy hit Dreams made it quite clear just how much depth and substance [she] was capable of.” AM “Her slightly hoarse, ‘magic’ voice [does] wonders to the song.” GS “‘Here you go again,’ breathed Stevie Nicks…‘you say you want your freedom.’ The emotional weariness captured in that line suffuses the album, notwithstanding the upbeat melodies and pristine, daring production.” BN She wrote the song in early 1976. She said she “sat down on the bed with my keyboard in front of me…I found a drum pattern, switched my little cassette player on and wrote ‘Dreams’ in about 10 minutes.” WK The line “players only love you when they’re playing” was directed at bandmate and ex-lover Lindsey Buckingham. He had already brought in “Go Your Own Way,” which was obviously about her. As she said, “I was trying to be all philosophical. And he was just mad.” SF She had to beg the band to record it since, as she said, “they weren’t nuts about it.” WK Christine McVie even called it “boring,” but warmed up to it after Buckingham “fashioned three sections out of identical chords, making each section sound completely different.” SF Nicks said, “we were couples who couldn’t make it through. But, as musicians, we still respected each other – and we got some brilliant songs out of it.” SF The song returned to the charts several times. In the UK, it recharted in 2011 after the Glee episode featuring Rumours. It hit the Billboard Rock Songs chart in 2018 after a viral tweet featuring the song playing with footage of cheerleaders from Alcorn State University and the caption, “Fleetwood Mac’s music is so boring, you can’t even dance to it.” SF However, it had its biggest resurgence in October 2020 as the result of a TikTok video featuring Nathan Apodaca lip synching to the song while skateboarding and drinking cranberry juice. The song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #12. In Australia, it outdid its original #19 peak and went to #4. WK

Never Going Back Again Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Lindsey Buckingham Released: B-side of “Don’t Stop” (US, June 1977), B-side of “You Make Loving Fun” (UK, September 1977), Rumours (2/4/1977), 25 Years: The Chain (box, 11/23/1992), The Very Best of (U.S. compilation, 9/30/2002), 50 yeas Peak: 10 CL, 22 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.40 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 373.29 streaming About the Song: “Second Hand News” and “Never Going Back Again” “go from anger to humor to insecureness.” DV The latter “is effectively a solo piece by Buckingham.” CM Engineer Chris Morris said, It “took forever…It was Lindsey’s pet project, just two guitar tracks but he did it over and over again.” CM

Don’t Stop Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Christine McVie Released: single (4/30/1977), Rumours (2/4/1977), Greatest Hits (compilation, 11/5/1988), 25 Years: The Chain (box, 11/23/1992), The Very Best of (U.S. compilation, 9/30/2002), 50 Years: Don’t Stop (box, 11/16/2018) B-side: “Gold Dust Woman” (UK), “Never Going Back Again” (US) Peak: 3 BB, 1 CB, 1 GR, 3 HR, 1 RR, 22 AC, 1 CL, 32 UK, 1 CN, 30 AU, 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 5.0 radio, -- video, 492.24 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Christine McVie “was always the shyest member of the group and her self-confidence, never strong, was at its weakest as the recording began.” CM She said, “I was practically panicking because every time I sat down at a piano, nothing came out. Then, one day in Sausaliot, I just satddown and wrote in the studio, and the four-and-a-half songs of mine on the album are a result of that.” CM She turns in “fast, joyful, optimistic pop” GS and “ultra-catchy slogans” AZ on tunes such as “Don’t Stop, which President Bill Clinton used as his campaign theme song in 1992.” AM The band even reunited to play the song at Clinton’s 1993 inaugural ball. The song was the album’s third top-ten hit.

Go Your Own Way Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Lindsey Buckingham (see lyrics here) Released: single (12/20/1976), Rumours (2/4/1977), Greatest Hits (compilation, 11/5/1988), 25 Years: The Chain (box, 11/23/1992), The Very Best of (U.S. compilation, 9/30/2002), 50 Years: Don’t Stop (box, 11/16/2018) B-side: “Silver Springs” Peak: 10 BB, 10 CB, 6 GR, 10 HR, 8 RR, 45 AC, 1 CL, 38 UK, 11 CN, 20 AU, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 2.0 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 124.5 video, 1225.21 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: The recording sessions for Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours were fraught with extensive drug use and fractured relationships. Bassist John McVie and singer Christine McVie’s marriage crumbled, as did drummer Mick Fleetwood’s. Guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks, who’d just joined the band on the previous album, were also splitting up. She’d been romantically linked with the Eagles’ Don Henley and Jefferson Starship’s Paul Kanter and written songs about her breakup with Buckingham. He responded with “Go Your Own Way,” his “scathing” SJ “answer record” DM in which he slams her, singing, “shacking up is all you want to do.” Nicks demanded he remove the lyric, but he kept it. She said he “knew it wasn’t true” WK and that she hadn’t been with anyone else while they were together. SF She said he wrote it to push her buttons, saying “I’ll make you suffer for leaving me.” WK The song is “arguably Buckingham’s greatest track.” BN It is “a drum-driven cry at the death of love” BN featuring “fiery vocals” CD and “one of his finest guitar solos.” RV He aspired to create a groove similar to the drum feel of the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man.” WK It was the lead single from Rumours and the band’s first top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (Rumours went on to score three more top-ten hits – the first album to ever do so). It produced demand for the album: pre-orders hit 800,000 copies, the largest advance sales in Warner Brothers’ history at that time. WK Much of the album’s success can be attributed to Buckingham. He contributes “harder-driving” DV and “deceptively simple pop songs” AZ with “self-depreciating lyrics” DV that “reveal a complex account of their despair.” DV However, he also “had the studio savvy and production diligence to make their records far livelier models of craftmanship than ordinary pop-rock.” DM Co-producer Richard Dashpot said “It wasn’t necessary or even expedient for them all to be in the studio at once. Virtually every track is either an overdub or lifted from a separate take of that particular song. What you hear is the best pieces assembled, a true aural college.” TC

Songbird Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Christine McVie Released: B-side of “Dreams” (3/24/1977), Rumours (2/4/1977), 25 Years: The Chain (box, 11/23/1992), The Very Best of (U.S. compilation, 9/30/2002) Peak: 18 CL, 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 153.16 streaming About the Song: Alongside her top-ten hits “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Loving Fun,” Christine McVie also turns in “smiley-face ballads Songbird and Oh Daddy.” RS They “sound nothing like the boggy, all-too-identic kind of sentimental slush that marred so many of her earlier compositions.” GS “Songbird” is McVie’s “tribute to the Fleetwood Mac situation, its lyric about the redemptive qualities of song and the resilience of real love was an important centring for the band. She performs it almost entirely alone on the piano. The tune harks back to the lilting melodies of classic British pop and folk music.” CM

The Chain Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks Released: B-side of “You Make Loving Fun” (EU, September 1977), single (10/25/1997), Rumours (2/4/1977), 25 Years: The Chain (box, 11/23/1992), The Very Best of (U.S. compilation, 9/30/2002), 50 Years: Don’t Stop (box, 11/16/2018) Peak: 1 CL, 30 AR, 51 CN, 4 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 1.8 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, -- video, 1452.59 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “The Chain, written collectively, is the Mac at their most dramatic.” AZ It is “the full-band invocation of coming darkness and cramped emotional interdependence.” RS “Has there ever been a guitar intro as seductive as the one with which ‘The Chain’ begins? Especially when you know that incredible, explosive bridge is coming?” CQ It “begins as a slow dirge simply damning the lies of another, before surging into the angst-filled refrain, ‘Chains keep us together.’” RV It is “angry and menancing [and] beautifully constructed.” GS “It all works perfectly…a sort of tennis match between lovers.” DV

You Make Loving Fun Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Christine McVie Released: single (September 1977), Rumours (2/4/1977), Greatest Hits (compilation, 11/5/1988), 25 Years: The Chain (box, 11/23/1992), The Very Best of (U.S. compilation, 9/30/2002), 50 Years: Don’t Stop (box, 11/16/2018) B-side: “Gold Dust Woman” (US), “Never Going Back Again” (UK), “The Chain” (EU) Peak: 9 BB, 7 CB, 3 GR, 8 HR, 4 RR, 28 AC, 3 CL, 45 UK, 7 CN, 65 AU, 15 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, -- video, 273.72 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: The “beautifully understated…You Make Loving Fun,” CD which “has a steady, disco-ish beat (a very rare thing for Christine),” GS and “optimistic tones…[which] perfectly show a renewed sense of love. It’s one of Christine McVie’s shining moments in the band.” DV The song was the fourth and final single from the album.

I Don’t Want to Know Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Stevie Nicks Released: Rumours (2/4/1977) Peak: 11 CL, 25 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 109.17 streaming

Oh Daddy Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Christine McVie Released: Rumours (2/4/1977) Peak: 33 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 46.01 streaming About the Song: See comments for “Songbird.”

Gold Dust Woman Fleetwood Mac

Writer(s): Stevie Nicks Released: B-side of “Don’t Stop” (UK, 4/30/1977), B-side of “You Make Loving Fun” (US, September 1977), Rumours (2/4/1977), 25 Years: The Chain (box, 11/23/1992), The Very Best of (U.S. compilation, 9/30/2002) Peak: 3 CL, 10 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.20 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 156.80 streaming About the Song: Stevie Nicks “folkish Gold Dust Woman” AM finishes off the album. It “casts a great spell” DV and gives the album its “most chilling” DV moment.

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Alex Henderson AZ Amazon.com review by Rob O’Connor BN Barnes & Noble review by Bill Wyman CD CdUniverse.com RC Robert Christgau CQ Consequence.net (9/12/2022). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 741. CM Toby Creswell & Craig Mathieson (2012). 100 Best Albums of All Time. Hardie Grant Books. Pages 44-7. DV Daily Vault review by Seth McCarthy EW’12 Entertainment Weekly (9/27/2012). “Top 100 Albums” DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 319. CRS Tim Morse (1998). Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Rock Songs of All Time. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin. Pages 181-195. PM PasteMagazine.com (6/3/2024). “The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time” RV The Review (Oct./Nov. 2001). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher RS Rolling Stone review by Arion Berger (originally in print issue 896: 5/23/02) SJ Bob Shannon and John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Warner Books, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 32. SF Songfacts page for “Dreams” SF Songfacts page for “Go Your Own Way” GS George Starostin TL Time Magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light UT USA Today (12/5/2003). “Top 40 Albums – the USA Today Way” VB Vibe (Dec. 1999). “100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century,” pages 154-164. WK Wikipedia page for “Go Your Own Way” WK Wikipedia page for “Dreams” Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/15/2008; last updated 8/30/2025.