Thread by @thetimes

Last week Lindsey Buckingham announced that he was fired in 2018 from Fleetwood Mac because Stevie Nicks made an ultimatum: it was either him or her. They chose her.

@Willjhodgkinson spoke with the former lead guitarist and singer
thetimes.co.uk/article/lindse…

Where does this antipathy come from?

Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 masterpiece, Rumours, was dominated by songs about the pair’s romantic tussles. Nicks wrote Dreams about him, Buckingham wrote Go Your Own Way, Second Hand News and Never Going Back Again about her.

Since Rumours they have dealt with cocaine addiction, alcohol abuse, solo careers, Nicks going through rehab, Buckingham getting married, and countless worldwide tours.

If they could survive all of that, why should it fall apart in 2018?

Tensions reached boiling point after Nicks refused to delay a tour so Buckingham could promote his solo album, and because of a perceived slight during her speech at the MusiCares charity event in New York, when she felt he was smirking behind her back.

“There were a number of years where I wasn’t over her,” says Buckingham, “It is possible that she has never been completely over me either.”

Buckingham’s suggestion — essentially that he got kicked out of the band because Nicks is still in love with him — connects with a not-so-romantic tale that goes all the way back to Rumours.

Made in the wake of the couple’s split, the album’s subsequent generation-defining success meant Buckingham and Nicks not only had no time to process their feelings but also were stuck together whether they liked it or not.

“The way we had to get through Rumours is part of the legacy of the whole thing,” Buckingham says. “We didn’t have time to heal or move on in the traditional sense. We both had to compartmentalise our feelings – that is not a healthy thing to do.

Read the full story here:
thetimes.co.uk/article/lindse…