WEBVTT - Lindsey Buckingham: Going His Own Way 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:27.756 Pushkin. Lindsey Buckingham's signature fingerstyle guitar is perhaps as recognizable 0:00:27.916 --> 0:00:30.476 as a countless classic songs he wrote while he was 0:00:30.476 --> 0:00:53.316 in Fleetwood Mac Done Go Back Again. Buckingham is a 0:00:53.356 --> 0:00:57.476 self taught guitar virtuoso and songwriter who famously joined Fleetwood 0:00:57.516 --> 0:01:00.556 Mac in the mid seventies with his then girlfriend Stevie Nicks. 0:01:01.156 --> 0:01:03.276 The band had been a round since sixty seven, with 0:01:03.436 --> 0:01:07.556 various singers, guitarists, and songwriters. The only constant was the 0:01:07.676 --> 0:01:11.956 rhythm section drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John mcviee, but 0:01:12.076 --> 0:01:14.756 the band didn't blow up until Buckingham and Nicks joined, 0:01:15.116 --> 0:01:19.076 writing mega hits for their insanely successful tenth and eleventh albums, 0:01:19.316 --> 0:01:23.796 including the twenty times Platinum Rumors. A lot of the 0:01:23.796 --> 0:01:27.396 songs were about Buckingham's romantic fallout with Nicks in nearly 0:01:27.436 --> 0:01:30.596 half a century later, tensions between the two are still 0:01:30.716 --> 0:01:34.556 very much alive. In twenty eighteen, Stephen Nicks supposedly had 0:01:34.596 --> 0:01:37.396 Buckingham fired from Fleetwood Mac after he asked for some 0:01:37.436 --> 0:01:41.116 time away from the band to work on his solo album. 0:01:41.156 --> 0:01:44.356 On today's episode, bruce Head, them talks to Lindsey Buckingham 0:01:44.476 --> 0:01:48.436 about that solo album. Buckingham also tells Bruce that he 0:01:48.476 --> 0:01:50.996 and Nix never really got closure from the breakup and 0:01:51.076 --> 0:01:54.716 how that affected their professional relationship and the decades. Since 0:01:59.476 --> 0:02:02.156 this is broken record. Liner notes for the digital age. 0:02:02.356 --> 0:02:11.196 I'm justin Richmondsham. Here's Bruce Head with Lindsey Buckenhan. So 0:02:11.316 --> 0:02:14.756 tell me about this album. Well, you know, I have 0:02:14.916 --> 0:02:19.716 had this ready to go for three years, at least 0:02:20.396 --> 0:02:25.636 I had actually finished it, you know, right after Christine 0:02:25.716 --> 0:02:28.956 mcviigh and I did that duet album a few years back, 0:02:29.476 --> 0:02:32.156 and we had Christine and I had done a tour, 0:02:33.396 --> 0:02:37.716 and it was my intention to you know, put this 0:02:38.076 --> 0:02:41.956 current album out back to back with that and do 0:02:42.436 --> 0:02:48.756 at least an American tour behind it before embarking on 0:02:48.796 --> 0:02:53.156 another Fleetwood Mac tour, which was already in the works. 0:02:53.516 --> 0:02:56.876 And I went and asked the band if I could 0:02:56.876 --> 0:02:59.476 have an extra three months before we started rehearsing for 0:02:59.916 --> 0:03:03.556 the Fleewod Mac tour, and there was some resistance to 0:03:03.636 --> 0:03:07.676 that from at least one member, so it got put 0:03:07.716 --> 0:03:12.596 off at that point, and then you know a series 0:03:12.676 --> 0:03:16.116 of other things occurred in the interim that kept it 0:03:16.196 --> 0:03:21.116 on the shelf. You know, one was having a bypass 0:03:21.156 --> 0:03:23.996 surgery a couple of years ago, and then of course 0:03:23.996 --> 0:03:27.836 the pandemic, so you know, which put everybody on hold. 0:03:27.916 --> 0:03:30.876 So you know, it's it's been a long time coming, 0:03:30.916 --> 0:03:33.276 but as I say, it has been ready to go 0:03:33.436 --> 0:03:36.156 for a number of years, and it's nice to finally 0:03:36.196 --> 0:03:39.156 get it out. You know. Listening to it, there's a 0:03:39.156 --> 0:03:41.796 lot of different kind of songs. There's a lot of sounds, 0:03:42.276 --> 0:03:44.556 three or four of the songs. If you told people 0:03:44.596 --> 0:03:47.156 these were like extra tracks from a kind of classic 0:03:47.196 --> 0:03:51.036 Fleetwood Mac album, they'd go, oh, yeah, that makes total sense. Well, 0:03:51.076 --> 0:03:54.436 you know, it was funny because I was, and when 0:03:54.436 --> 0:03:57.156 I began working on it, I you know, I've always 0:03:57.196 --> 0:04:01.076 defined my solo work as being a bit more off 0:04:01.116 --> 0:04:03.876 to the left, or a lot more off to the left, 0:04:03.996 --> 0:04:09.756 and more esoteric. Obviously, in doing that you lose a 0:04:09.876 --> 0:04:13.716 large chunk of potential listeners who don't really get what 0:04:13.756 --> 0:04:17.596 you're doing because it doesn't resonate with their preconceptions of 0:04:17.676 --> 0:04:21.076 you in Fleetwood Mac. But when I got, you know, 0:04:21.436 --> 0:04:24.956 into working on this album, I really was thinking about 0:04:24.996 --> 0:04:27.996 making just a straight ahead pop album, you know, with 0:04:28.076 --> 0:04:31.476 a few you know, odd touches as well. But so 0:04:31.636 --> 0:04:35.196 you're you are correct that many of these songs do 0:04:35.756 --> 0:04:40.276 sound very much in the spirit of the style that 0:04:40.716 --> 0:04:43.876 I applied to Fleetwood Mac as well. Now there's others 0:04:43.956 --> 0:04:47.156 like Scream, which is the first song, which you know 0:04:47.276 --> 0:04:49.996 instantly when you hear the opening of Scream, you're like, Oh, 0:04:50.036 --> 0:04:52.396 that's Lindsay Buckinghan play the guitar. You could just you 0:04:52.396 --> 0:04:55.956 could blindfold people. Man, it's just just like you. It 0:04:56.036 --> 0:04:58.636 just sounds like you. You know. That could be from 0:04:58.836 --> 0:05:02.556 Seeds We've Sewn or other other albums you've made, and 0:05:02.716 --> 0:05:04.316 a couple others. I just want to ask you about 0:05:04.316 --> 0:05:07.156 blue Light, which I thought was just an outstanding track 0:05:07.236 --> 0:05:10.036 and probably one of those that sounds closer to Fleetwood 0:05:10.076 --> 0:05:13.436 Mac than You're Solower. Yeah, you know, it's got sort 0:05:13.476 --> 0:05:18.156 of a shuffle, kind of bluesy base combined with something 0:05:18.196 --> 0:05:20.356 you might have found in Holiday Road or I'm not 0:05:20.396 --> 0:05:23.756 really sure exactly how to characterize that. But again, the 0:05:24.156 --> 0:05:28.036 content of the lyrics is just about a long term 0:05:28.036 --> 0:05:30.916 relationship and celebrating the fact that you go through all 0:05:30.916 --> 0:05:36.156 sorts of things and that all sorts of challenges can 0:05:36.156 --> 0:05:41.196 and do present themselves, especially the longer year together, and 0:05:41.316 --> 0:05:47.036 that you know, if the love and the clarity is there, 0:05:47.316 --> 0:05:49.996 that you will always rise above that and you will 0:05:50.036 --> 0:05:55.196 never succumb to in this case, the blue light. Okay, Now, 0:05:55.316 --> 0:05:58.396 your personal life is I know you filed for divorce, 0:05:59.076 --> 0:06:01.756 is it? Well, you know, we have, but there's there's 0:06:01.796 --> 0:06:04.556 really it's a work in progress. We're not really sure 0:06:04.596 --> 0:06:07.516 what we're doing. I mean, it was that was done 0:06:07.636 --> 0:06:11.516 at a moment in time. But I think there's a 0:06:11.556 --> 0:06:14.676 lot of interest with both of us to try to 0:06:14.716 --> 0:06:18.316 figure this out. And I had no idea how many 0:06:18.396 --> 0:06:21.756 people actually file and never follow through, you know, I 0:06:21.756 --> 0:06:26.356 guess said another. I didn't either until I was made 0:06:26.356 --> 0:06:28.956 aware of that. I may file later today. I didn't 0:06:28.956 --> 0:06:31.116 know that. Hey, you know, if you've got nothing else 0:06:31.116 --> 0:06:37.236 to do now, you grew up in northern California, I did, 0:06:37.356 --> 0:06:41.716 yes around Palowalt Atherton actually, And was there a lot 0:06:41.716 --> 0:06:44.356 of music in your house growing up? Well, you know, 0:06:44.916 --> 0:06:48.356 I probably, in fact, I can say with certainty that 0:06:48.396 --> 0:06:51.516 I would not be here now doing what I'm doing 0:06:52.716 --> 0:06:55.396 had it not been for my older brother. You know, 0:06:55.556 --> 0:07:00.036 I was an avid listener of the music that was 0:07:00.076 --> 0:07:03.396 in our household when I was very young, three four five, 0:07:04.556 --> 0:07:09.236 if it wasn't children's records, you know, it was what 0:07:09.276 --> 0:07:12.036 your parents bought for themselves. So I was an avid 0:07:12.116 --> 0:07:17.316 listener of you know, South Pacific Soundtrack and some of 0:07:17.396 --> 0:07:22.956 my dad's Dixieland Jazz seventy eights or Nutcracker Sweet or 0:07:22.996 --> 0:07:25.716 whatever they happen to have. You know, it's funny you 0:07:25.756 --> 0:07:27.916 mentioned that, because because we had a Nutcracker Sweet, we 0:07:27.956 --> 0:07:29.796 had Peter and the Wolf on the other side of it, 0:07:29.836 --> 0:07:32.556 and those records were just magic when you were a kid. Well, 0:07:32.596 --> 0:07:35.276 you know, Nutcracker Sweet, all of those songs are actually 0:07:36.316 --> 0:07:40.636 I see them as great pop constructions, you know, they're 0:07:40.676 --> 0:07:46.516 they're they're really very accessible, even though technically it's classical music, 0:07:46.636 --> 0:07:49.836 you know. I mean they're very thematic and very sort 0:07:49.876 --> 0:07:53.836 of kind of structured as pop songs, you know, And 0:07:53.876 --> 0:07:57.356 I always loved that about that anyway, So I was 0:07:57.396 --> 0:08:02.596 already attuned to, you know, sort of a fine attentive 0:08:02.756 --> 0:08:05.916 level of listening even when I was very very young. 0:08:05.956 --> 0:08:08.836 But then when I was about six, my older brother 0:08:10.116 --> 0:08:12.396 came home one day and said, well, there's this new singer. 0:08:12.476 --> 0:08:17.356 His name is Elvis Presley, And of course I couldn't 0:08:17.356 --> 0:08:19.516 even imagine what this guy was going to look like. 0:08:19.556 --> 0:08:21.876 I was picturing like al fred Astaire or something in 0:08:21.916 --> 0:08:24.276 a top hat and tales. I didn't know. So he 0:08:24.316 --> 0:08:28.836 started bringing home Elvis and he's but he was an 0:08:28.876 --> 0:08:32.516 avid collector of all the early great rock and roll, 0:08:32.596 --> 0:08:36.756 whether it was Chuck Barry or Johnny Cash or Jerry 0:08:36.836 --> 0:08:42.076 Lee Lewis or Fats Domino, I mean everything. So without 0:08:42.116 --> 0:08:45.156 my brother being such an avid listener, I never would 0:08:45.156 --> 0:08:48.916 have taken to the rock and roll. And it was 0:08:48.956 --> 0:08:51.756 such a revelation, and it's not an uncommon story with 0:08:51.836 --> 0:08:55.756 people our age, where I, you know, suddenly there was 0:08:55.796 --> 0:08:59.716 this music that was for us, it was not for 0:08:59.796 --> 0:09:04.596 our parents, and it was something brand new. And of 0:09:04.596 --> 0:09:08.636 course that's when I started to teach myself to play 0:09:08.716 --> 0:09:13.036 guitar ukulele first and then eventually six string guitar, and 0:09:13.436 --> 0:09:16.156 just by buying a chord book and learning to play 0:09:16.236 --> 0:09:18.356 all of those rock and roll songs and so that 0:09:18.396 --> 0:09:22.596 I could sing and play them. It was an exciting time, 0:09:22.756 --> 0:09:25.316 you know. And what happened with the music in our 0:09:25.316 --> 0:09:30.316 house was that that lasted nineteen sixty sixty one and 0:09:30.356 --> 0:09:32.916 it started to fall off in terms of the impact 0:09:32.956 --> 0:09:35.356 and the newness, and at that point folk music took 0:09:35.356 --> 0:09:38.756 over for me, and I started listening to a lot 0:09:38.796 --> 0:09:42.796 of mainstream folk Peter Paul and Mary Kingston trio, and 0:09:43.516 --> 0:09:47.796 learned how to fingerpick, learned how to travis pick, and that, 0:09:47.916 --> 0:09:51.716 you know, became that really informed the style of my 0:09:51.756 --> 0:09:55.236 guitar playing at that point. So when you left high 0:09:55.236 --> 0:09:58.076 school and you did start pursuing, I know, you went 0:09:58.076 --> 0:10:00.516 to college for a couple of years. Yeah, and you 0:10:00.556 --> 0:10:03.396 did throw yourself into the music business, what did your 0:10:03.396 --> 0:10:05.116 family think. Did they think, hey, he'll give it a 0:10:05.156 --> 0:10:07.956 couple of years, will support on. Well, it was kind 0:10:07.996 --> 0:10:11.076 of incremental because, as you know, I only got into 0:10:11.116 --> 0:10:13.236 a band because I had been asked to play guitar 0:10:14.076 --> 0:10:17.036 at an assembly my senior year and we did that, 0:10:17.996 --> 0:10:21.036 and then we all graduated, and then all of the 0:10:21.076 --> 0:10:24.196 people in that band ended up at Samiteo Junior College 0:10:24.196 --> 0:10:28.116 the next year, and we decided to get the band 0:10:28.156 --> 0:10:30.196 back together and to try to see if we could, 0:10:30.716 --> 0:10:33.956 you know, actually get some work because one of the 0:10:34.356 --> 0:10:38.716 keyboardists was actually a very skillful writer at age eighteen, 0:10:38.836 --> 0:10:41.156 you know, and at that point we were looking for 0:10:41.876 --> 0:10:44.116 a different girl singer because the one we'd had had 0:10:44.156 --> 0:10:46.876 moved away, and so that's when Stevie came into the picture. 0:10:47.196 --> 0:10:49.796 You had known her in high schools that right. She 0:10:49.916 --> 0:10:54.996 transferred in as a senior to Menlo Atherton High when 0:10:55.036 --> 0:10:58.236 I was a junior, and so we knew each other. 0:10:58.316 --> 0:11:01.076 We'd made each other a few times at social events, 0:11:01.116 --> 0:11:03.996 and we both were aware that the other sang and 0:11:04.036 --> 0:11:07.476 played guitar, and there might have been sort of a 0:11:07.596 --> 0:11:11.236 very subtle mutual attract, but you know, nothing that was 0:11:11.836 --> 0:11:14.996 played out in any way. And then she went off 0:11:15.356 --> 0:11:17.956 to college the following year and I stayed and finished 0:11:17.996 --> 0:11:19.836 high school for one more year, so I didn't see 0:11:19.836 --> 0:11:22.316 her for a year, you know, but we knew she 0:11:22.396 --> 0:11:23.916 was a singer, and we knew she was at San 0:11:23.996 --> 0:11:27.476 Mateo where we were all at college, and so we 0:11:27.556 --> 0:11:30.596 asked her to join the band and she said yes. 0:11:31.636 --> 0:11:35.716 And at that point we also connected with a manager 0:11:36.116 --> 0:11:40.036 who was a hustler kind of guy who was at 0:11:40.076 --> 0:11:44.316 going to Stanford, a guy named David Forrest, who actually 0:11:44.396 --> 0:11:46.356 was a very good manager for us at that point 0:11:46.436 --> 0:11:51.436 and started getting us gigs at high schools and clubs 0:11:51.476 --> 0:11:55.076 and things or you know, local stuff, and so you know, 0:11:55.196 --> 0:11:58.396 The way my parents took all of this in was, 0:11:58.436 --> 0:12:01.996 as I said, to be supportive of it. We needed 0:12:01.996 --> 0:12:05.716 a place to rehearse, and they were willing to soundproof 0:12:05.796 --> 0:12:08.396 the garage and let us rehearse there five days a week, 0:12:08.756 --> 0:12:11.836 to my dad's probably my poor dad coming home from 0:12:11.876 --> 0:12:14.076 work and having to listen to this stuff every night. 0:12:14.836 --> 0:12:17.236 But again, I was just doing it because it was 0:12:17.716 --> 0:12:21.676 two things. One, it was just an extension of my 0:12:21.756 --> 0:12:26.476 love of music. And I think the second thing was 0:12:26.516 --> 0:12:29.956 that after high school in nineteen sixty seven, when I graduated, 0:12:30.116 --> 0:12:33.436 that was, you know, I started to d program a bit. 0:12:33.516 --> 0:12:36.996 I started to grow my hair out, and you know, 0:12:37.116 --> 0:12:40.116 the whole Summer of Love up in San Francisco was happening, 0:12:40.156 --> 0:12:42.876 and obviously the Beatles had had a huge influence on 0:12:43.676 --> 0:12:47.356 the world. But anyway, I'd grown my hair out, and 0:12:47.396 --> 0:12:49.756 so I was starting to think of myself as someone 0:12:49.836 --> 0:12:54.716 who wasn't going to be probably what my parents expected 0:12:54.756 --> 0:12:59.556 me to be. Although I wasn't actively thinking about a 0:12:59.676 --> 0:13:01.956 music career per se. I was just happy to be 0:13:01.996 --> 0:13:04.436 in a band and enjoyed the gigs we were doing, 0:13:04.476 --> 0:13:08.716 and enjoyed the evolvement of that band. And that lasted 0:13:09.676 --> 0:13:12.636 you know, about four years and we ended up trying 0:13:12.676 --> 0:13:16.476 to get a record deal and failed. But at that 0:13:16.556 --> 0:13:19.516 point there was interest in Stevie and myself. Had you 0:13:19.556 --> 0:13:22.676 written stuff by this point? No, this is what I'm saying. 0:13:22.716 --> 0:13:27.236 I still had not written songs, and I'd been playing 0:13:27.236 --> 0:13:29.476 bass for four years. So when suddenly there was all 0:13:29.516 --> 0:13:32.636 this interest in Stevie and me, That's when Stevie and 0:13:32.676 --> 0:13:37.556 I got together and became a couple. And that's when 0:13:37.596 --> 0:13:39.636 I said to myself, I guess I've got to start 0:13:39.716 --> 0:13:42.636 writing songs and figure out how to do that. I'm 0:13:42.676 --> 0:13:45.276 fascinated when you sat down to write a song, did 0:13:45.356 --> 0:13:47.276 you like to listen to a couple other singers or 0:13:47.756 --> 0:13:50.196 how did you even begin to do it? Well? I 0:13:50.236 --> 0:13:54.156 think there was you know, again, I think Kat Stevens 0:13:54.276 --> 0:13:57.596 was a big influence at that time. I think some 0:13:57.676 --> 0:14:00.916 of the guitar work was influenced by Jimmy Page and 0:14:00.996 --> 0:14:04.316 the fact that he was really doing a good job 0:14:04.356 --> 0:14:08.676 of using acoustics and electric sometimes in the same song. 0:14:09.796 --> 0:14:13.956 A song like Frozen Love, which is this big epic ending, 0:14:14.156 --> 0:14:16.916 you know, as sort of influenced by that. I don't know, 0:14:17.076 --> 0:14:18.996 I just kind of made it up as I went along. 0:14:19.036 --> 0:14:23.236 I had I had managed to get an old Ampex 0:14:23.276 --> 0:14:26.836 four track tape machine, and so in the kind of 0:14:26.836 --> 0:14:30.116 the mode of les Paul playing everything yourself, I started 0:14:30.556 --> 0:14:33.876 putting stuff down and combining tracks and you know, which 0:14:33.996 --> 0:14:36.916 I still do today, right, But that was also a 0:14:37.036 --> 0:14:39.676 help in terms of, you know, figuring out how to write. 0:14:40.356 --> 0:14:43.556 And Stevie and I basically came up with an album's 0:14:43.556 --> 0:14:47.356 worth of material and worked on it probably for ten 0:14:47.396 --> 0:14:51.636 months or a year, and then figured it was maybe 0:14:51.676 --> 0:14:56.396 time to shop it in Los Angeles. And we had 0:14:56.436 --> 0:14:59.996 one attempt at doing that, which was kind of led 0:15:00.036 --> 0:15:04.116 to more or less tepid responses, I would say. And 0:15:04.196 --> 0:15:06.916 at that point, you know, I still wasn't so driven 0:15:06.996 --> 0:15:10.196 that I that I would have done what Stevie suggested 0:15:10.276 --> 0:15:13.036 we do. Stevie said, lindsay, if we're going to make 0:15:13.076 --> 0:15:15.636 a go of this, we've got to move to LA 0:15:15.836 --> 0:15:18.756 We've got to be where the action is, you know. 0:15:19.556 --> 0:15:22.236 And that's not something I would have done on my own, 0:15:23.156 --> 0:15:26.196 probably because I lived in one place my whole life 0:15:26.196 --> 0:15:29.476 and I loved Atherton and Palawalto in the Bay Area 0:15:29.516 --> 0:15:33.356 in general. She, on the other hand, came from a 0:15:33.436 --> 0:15:36.836 family that got uprooted and moved almost yearly because her 0:15:36.916 --> 0:15:41.716 dad was quite ambitious and kept either changing jobs or 0:15:41.796 --> 0:15:47.036 kept getting promoted, which required a move from city to city. 0:15:47.076 --> 0:15:51.676 So she, you know, it was a much easier proposition 0:15:51.716 --> 0:15:53.916 for her to think about picking up roots and moving 0:15:53.956 --> 0:15:56.796 to LA. So, because it was the two of us, 0:15:56.796 --> 0:15:59.956 and because I sensed that she was correct in her 0:15:59.996 --> 0:16:04.756 intuition there, we did decide to move to LA and luckily, 0:16:04.956 --> 0:16:07.516 luckily enough, Keith Olsen, who was one of the people 0:16:07.596 --> 0:16:12.716 we'd met not too long before, invited us to stay 0:16:12.716 --> 0:16:15.636 at his house for a few months until we until 0:16:15.676 --> 0:16:19.036 we could find a place and was also instrumental in 0:16:19.516 --> 0:16:23.316 helping us get a deal, and obviously was a brilliant 0:16:23.316 --> 0:16:27.596 engineer and co produced the Buckingham Knicks album as well. 0:16:27.716 --> 0:16:30.196 So we picked up our roots and moved to LA 0:16:30.276 --> 0:16:33.956 And again, I probably wouldn't have done that without Stevie. 0:16:34.756 --> 0:16:38.676 But then, because you know, you're known as a studio guy, 0:16:38.756 --> 0:16:41.716 you're known as a producer and a great arranger. Did 0:16:41.756 --> 0:16:44.516 you learn that through the process of that first record? 0:16:44.636 --> 0:16:47.836 When did that interest start? Well, you know, I think 0:16:47.876 --> 0:16:50.876 I just had it in me and I that's all 0:16:50.916 --> 0:16:53.356 I can say. I mean, if I were to go 0:16:53.396 --> 0:16:55.836 back and listen to the Bucky Ham Knicks album, I 0:16:55.836 --> 0:16:58.796 think a lot of that holds up quite well, you know, 0:16:58.876 --> 0:17:02.396 in terms of the musical vision I had for that. 0:17:02.676 --> 0:17:06.796 And I was only twenty two, but you know, I 0:17:06.836 --> 0:17:09.236 think it so much of it comes from having and 0:17:09.356 --> 0:17:13.716 oriented to music for the better part of my life, 0:17:13.716 --> 0:17:17.316 and having started so young, and maybe even the fact 0:17:17.396 --> 0:17:21.356 that I, you know, was so self sufficient as a 0:17:21.396 --> 0:17:25.356 guitarist and had taught myself to play, and I figured, 0:17:25.436 --> 0:17:27.876 if I can do that, I can teach myself to record, 0:17:28.036 --> 0:17:31.116 I can teach myself to produce. And it all kind 0:17:31.156 --> 0:17:35.916 of came together in one kind of fell swoop. We'll 0:17:35.956 --> 0:17:38.876 be right back with Lindsey Buckingham. After a quick break, 0:17:42.956 --> 0:17:46.476 We're back with more from Lindsey Buckingham and Bruce had them. 0:17:46.636 --> 0:17:51.036 You've said years ago that just because you guys were 0:17:51.076 --> 0:17:53.476 so busy and there was so much around the band, 0:17:53.516 --> 0:17:58.596 that you could never really process your split with Stevie 0:17:58.676 --> 0:18:00.716 next right, And I don't know if that you've been 0:18:00.716 --> 0:18:03.356 even married for a long time, you've got adult kids. 0:18:04.276 --> 0:18:07.436 But it's interesting to me that all these years later, 0:18:08.356 --> 0:18:11.676 part of the Fleetwood Mac Show, when you're there is 0:18:11.716 --> 0:18:15.676 people kind of watching that time in your relationship. She's 0:18:15.716 --> 0:18:18.396 singing Landside and they're looking at you, or you're singing 0:18:18.436 --> 0:18:21.316 the Chain. Are they looking at each other? I can't 0:18:21.316 --> 0:18:24.796 think of anything else in popular music like it. Maybe 0:18:24.796 --> 0:18:27.236 Simon and Garfunkle if they ever sing again together. But 0:18:27.276 --> 0:18:31.356 it's but it's this strange thing. Did you ever feel 0:18:31.636 --> 0:18:33.876 when you when you were with them, and God knows 0:18:33.916 --> 0:18:36.556 you might be again in the future. You're good being? 0:18:36.796 --> 0:18:40.636 Are you reliving those feelings? Because that's what people that's 0:18:40.636 --> 0:18:44.156 what they're looking for. Well, you know, I think you 0:18:44.276 --> 0:18:49.356 have to start with the fact that Rumors as an 0:18:49.396 --> 0:18:54.356 album was so appealing, not just because of the music, 0:18:54.476 --> 0:18:57.756 but because of the subtexts and because of the fact 0:18:57.756 --> 0:19:00.556 that these songs the unique. As you said, it's a 0:19:00.716 --> 0:19:02.916 unique to have three writers, and it's unique to have 0:19:03.276 --> 0:19:08.956 three writers that were basically couples. You know, So Chris 0:19:09.156 --> 0:19:12.636 Teens writing songs to John, Stevie's writing songs to me, 0:19:12.876 --> 0:19:16.276 I'm writing songs to Stevie. I mean that the musical 0:19:16.316 --> 0:19:19.316 soap opera of that, the real life aspect of that 0:19:19.396 --> 0:19:24.076 being laid bare on vinyl at that time was irresistible. 0:19:24.636 --> 0:19:27.316 You know, Thank god the music was as good as 0:19:27.356 --> 0:19:32.236 it was because it you know, otherwise maybe the album 0:19:32.276 --> 0:19:35.796 would have eventually been seen as only that it created 0:19:35.956 --> 0:19:38.956 fabulous music, and people do love the music. I'm not 0:19:39.156 --> 0:19:42.396 downgrading that, but no part of it is this little 0:19:43.316 --> 0:19:49.396 drama they're seeing on stage. Yes, and people responded to that. 0:19:49.516 --> 0:19:51.796 I think they related to it in their own lives, 0:19:52.236 --> 0:19:55.796 and I think they respected the fact that somehow we 0:19:55.796 --> 0:20:00.636 were able to rise above all those difficulties in order 0:20:00.676 --> 0:20:03.476 to keep our eye on what appeared to be our 0:20:03.556 --> 0:20:05.716 destiny at that time, even though we didn't know what 0:20:05.756 --> 0:20:10.596 that destiny was, and to on with what we needed 0:20:10.636 --> 0:20:13.436 to do as a band and creatively for the big picture. 0:20:13.596 --> 0:20:16.676 But in doing that, you had to kind of compartmentalize 0:20:16.716 --> 0:20:20.396 all your feelings, and you know, a therapist would probably 0:20:20.396 --> 0:20:24.556 tell you it's not the most healthy way to go about, 0:20:24.636 --> 0:20:28.276 you know, getting closure, because I would have to see 0:20:28.276 --> 0:20:30.356 Stev every day and I would have to make the 0:20:30.396 --> 0:20:32.796 decision to do the right thing for her, even though 0:20:32.836 --> 0:20:36.276 I was in pain, and there was never any any 0:20:36.316 --> 0:20:40.636 physical distance to get closure. So, you know, I think 0:20:40.636 --> 0:20:43.876 there are echoes of that that are still tangible sometimes 0:20:43.916 --> 0:20:47.756 on that were still tangible on stage as recently as 0:20:47.796 --> 0:20:50.956 a few years ago with Stevie and myself, because those 0:20:51.036 --> 0:20:55.756 issues never really got resolved, you know, they kind of 0:20:55.756 --> 0:21:00.076 got pushed under the rug and yet completely exposed to 0:21:00.116 --> 0:21:03.396 the world at the same time. You're like a shell 0:21:03.516 --> 0:21:08.796 shocked soldier. They just keep spending them back to the front, right, Yeah, yeah, 0:21:09.236 --> 0:21:11.596 does that angry surface, like do you ever want to say, 0:21:11.836 --> 0:21:14.676 you know, and now Stevie's or you know, she thinks, well, 0:21:14.676 --> 0:21:16.716 now you know, lindsay the jerk is going to sing 0:21:16.716 --> 0:21:20.356 a song about me? Or is it? Is it all professional? No? 0:21:20.596 --> 0:21:23.276 I think it's all sort of You can take many 0:21:23.276 --> 0:21:27.996 steps back and look at it philosophically, and obviously for me, 0:21:28.756 --> 0:21:31.996 you know, meeting my wife and having children relatively late. 0:21:32.076 --> 0:21:34.476 I mean I saw so many people that I know 0:21:34.636 --> 0:21:36.956 who were trying to be rock and rollers and live 0:21:37.036 --> 0:21:41.036 the lifestyle and also be parents and spouses and failed 0:21:41.076 --> 0:21:44.316 at those and I wasn't going to be one of those. 0:21:44.356 --> 0:21:47.716 So you know, I had that as well, you know, 0:21:47.756 --> 0:21:52.076 to fall back on and to redefine myself. And so no, 0:21:52.276 --> 0:21:55.916 I don't think there was ever a time when those 0:21:55.956 --> 0:21:58.836 feelings got at least not for me. I can't speak 0:21:58.876 --> 0:22:02.396 for Stevie. You know, she may still be working that 0:22:02.476 --> 0:22:06.236 stuff through. I sometimes I thought that her some of 0:22:06.276 --> 0:22:11.196 her reactions to things and her involvement in what happened 0:22:11.236 --> 0:22:13.436 a few years back with the band you know, was 0:22:13.476 --> 0:22:16.556 somewhat based in that. But I don't know. Yeah, it's 0:22:16.556 --> 0:22:19.316 just interesting that he did a terrific album with Christine 0:22:19.436 --> 0:22:22.956 McVie and it had all that kind of magic. And 0:22:22.956 --> 0:22:24.356 I don't know how well it's sold, but I think 0:22:24.396 --> 0:22:25.716 and I'm sure the tour went well. But you know, 0:22:25.756 --> 0:22:27.676 if you announced tomorrow I'm going to do an album 0:22:27.676 --> 0:22:29.756 with Stevie Nicks, I'm not saying this is happening, but 0:22:29.836 --> 0:22:31.556 you know, you'd be on the front page of the 0:22:31.596 --> 0:22:34.596 New York Times. People. Yea, even though it's fifty years old. 0:22:34.596 --> 0:22:40.036 People are like they've just seized onto this an incredible way. Oh, 0:22:40.156 --> 0:22:43.716 it would be so circular in karmic it would be crazy. 0:22:43.996 --> 0:22:46.916 The story about how you to join Fleetwood, Mac is. 0:22:47.116 --> 0:22:49.796 It's famous that Fleetwood was in the next studio he 0:22:49.956 --> 0:22:53.276 heard your guitar playing. He was looking for a guitar player. 0:22:53.756 --> 0:22:56.996 But what interests me is when you joined you know, 0:22:57.036 --> 0:23:01.436 for example, there are whole books written about Lennon and 0:23:01.516 --> 0:23:04.756 McCartney and about the sort of psychology of their relationship, 0:23:05.196 --> 0:23:08.116 how they were friendly but competitive and they pushed each 0:23:08.116 --> 0:23:11.876 other to new heights. You joined a band that had 0:23:11.956 --> 0:23:16.876 three main songwriters, which is pretty unusual, and all three 0:23:16.916 --> 0:23:19.796 of you started to get better. If you look at, 0:23:19.996 --> 0:23:22.996 you know, the top twenty Fleetwood Mac singles, all you 0:23:22.996 --> 0:23:26.516 guys have written a bunch of them, you, Christine and 0:23:26.796 --> 0:23:30.076 Stevie Nicks. What was that dynamic like when you joined 0:23:30.116 --> 0:23:34.636 around songwriting? It was interesting because if you look at 0:23:34.676 --> 0:23:39.236 the whole thing of us moving to la and getting 0:23:39.276 --> 0:23:43.076 a deal and having that album come and go and 0:23:44.196 --> 0:23:46.476 connecting up with Fleetwood Mac, it all happened in a 0:23:46.556 --> 0:23:50.996 relatively short period of time, and clearly Stevie and I 0:23:51.036 --> 0:23:56.156 were prepared for the opportunity that was coming our way, 0:23:56.196 --> 0:23:59.756 although you know that opportunity had yet to really be defined. 0:24:00.676 --> 0:24:04.596 You know, one of the things that was in our 0:24:04.636 --> 0:24:10.076 favor going into Fleetwood Mac was that we had been 0:24:10.476 --> 0:24:13.836 demoing songs for a new album. So all of my 0:24:13.996 --> 0:24:17.116 songs that are on that first Fleetwood Mac album and 0:24:17.316 --> 0:24:22.076 all of Stevies Rhiannon everything, and there's one Crystal which 0:24:22.116 --> 0:24:24.916 was from the Buckingham Nick's album. But all of those 0:24:25.276 --> 0:24:28.876 were completely worked out and very much in the form 0:24:28.956 --> 0:24:32.836 that you hear them, you know, minus the rhythm section 0:24:32.956 --> 0:24:36.716 of John and Mick per se, and so there was 0:24:36.756 --> 0:24:40.236 no sense of having to interact, you know, to sort 0:24:40.276 --> 0:24:44.836 of make something happen, because we all were somewhat self sufficient. 0:24:45.196 --> 0:24:49.116 I will say that that in I remember very clearly 0:24:49.156 --> 0:24:53.436