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Thread started 10/08/19 1:01pm

Wolfie87

What was the legacy of "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mack?

This is NOT a bashing of said album, but I have always wondered why Rumours was the second most successful album on the charts (behind Thriller) of all time? It didn't really have any lasting visually themes that has stuck with us to this day. No music videos that I have seen. Thriller had the music videos. Purple Rain had the movie and well... Purple. Etc etc. So what made Rumours to the masterpiece it clearly is? Remember that I'm relatively young, so I wasn't there when it happened. I would guess Stevie Nick's unique voice.
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Reply #1 posted 10/08/19 1:39pm

kitbradley

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My guess would be, because the album was released in 1977, that was a time when the music spoke for itself. Although music videos were starting to come into play more heavily around this time, the album did not need any extra bells and whistles like videos or movies like "Saturday Night Fever", which was released that same year.

Speaking of that, I'm thinking a lot of people gravitated towards "Rumours" because Disco was the most popular music in 1977 and "Rumours" did not contain any Disco songs so it was different from what we were being inundated with on the radio at that time.

"It's not nice to fuck with K.B.! All you haters will see!" - Kitbradley
"The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing." - Socrates
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Reply #2 posted 10/08/19 1:45pm

TheFman

5 of the 10 highest selling albums of all time came from 1976-77. That gives some perspective as well.

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Reply #3 posted 10/08/19 4:30pm

TrivialPursuit

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Wolfie87 said:

This is NOT a bashing of said album, but I have always wondered why Rumours was the second most successful album on the charts (behind Thriller) of all time? It didn't really have any lasting visually themes that has stuck with us to this day. No music videos that I have seen. Thriller had the music videos. Purple Rain had the movie and well... Purple. Etc etc. So what made Rumours to the masterpiece it clearly is? Remember that I'm relatively young, so I wasn't there when it happened. I would guess Stevie Nick's unique voice.


I have to say, I laughed while reading your post. The ideas are ill-informed.

I'm not sure what "visual themes" is supposed to mean, but in the days before MTV, people relied on talent. You didn't have talent, you didn't make it to radio or an appearance on a music TV show. People didn't necessarily make proper music videos that we know today. Those "videos" were often performance videos recorded for overseas press outlets and entertainment shows if the band didn't travel there to promote the album.

Thriller had seven singles, and only three videos, which is less than half. No tour either, not until he grouped with his brothers, and divided up with older material (they didn't even sing music from Victory, except one or two occasions).

Clearly, not every album is going to have a movie or a "visual album" like Beyonce needs to have to sell a record. The closest I remember to that was the Beatles movies before I was born, and Electric Light Orchestra doing visual album, of sorts, for Discovery (I think).

I mean, unless you're a real lover of music, and remain open to new, I'm not sure how you can ever appreciate an older record before the onset of MTV. You'll just continue to sound uneducated and ignorant of real music. You think Prince was referencing Human League or The Thompson Twins when he said "real music by real musicians?"

It seems dense to not consider that albums were great before visuals set in. Rumours album didn't solely rest on Nick's voice, either. TheFman makes a good point that 5 of the 10 biggest albums came from the mid-70s. Go read a book, a wiki page, anything to educate yourself on the history of a record, the recording process, the layering of instruments, the stories behind the songs. Find Classic Albums series from VH1 and watch the one about Rumours. It was the final episode from season one of the show.

I was never a fan of Rumours when it was out, but as I grew up and realized there was more to the world than disco, Thriller and Purple Rain, I enjoyed the immensely well-crafted and incredible albums by people like Fleetwood Mac, or Steely Dan (who, seriously, wasn't on my radar until about 12 years ago when I randomly heard "Peg" while sitting in a parking lot and had no idea what it was, but I knew I had to figure it out; I wrote lyrics on a napkin, took them home and searched for the song. Aja is now one of my favorite records. It was also profiled on Classic Albums.)

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #4 posted 10/08/19 4:39pm

mynameisnotsus
an

I think the songs still hold up. 'Go Your Own Way', 'Don't Stop', 'You Make Loving Fun' and 'Dreams' have never really left rotation on a classic radio format because they still sound good. Note that Stevie only takes lead vocals on one of those tracks - I like her voice but it can be polarising. The soap opera/drama/coke fuelled stories around the album seem to give the rock press something else to write about the album. Like most classic albums there's not really a dud track - no flab. They have a good live reputation shrug
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Reply #5 posted 10/08/19 4:41pm

Jestyr

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Reply #6 posted 10/08/19 4:57pm

MickyDolenz

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Wolfie87 said:

It didn't really have any lasting visually themes that has stuck with us to this day.

Is that why some of Elvis Presley's movies are more well known than his individual albums?


You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #7 posted 10/08/19 5:06pm

MickyDolenz

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TrivialPursuit said:

You didn't have talent, you didn't make it to radio or an appearance on a music TV show.

What did The Archies have? They had a big hit single. I guess a hamburger eating drummer wearing a crown had a lot of appeal to record buyers. lol

You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #8 posted 10/09/19 12:58am

Wolfie87

MickyDolenz said:



Wolfie87 said:


It didn't really have any lasting visually themes that has stuck with us to this day.



Is that why some of Elvis Presley's movies are more well known than his individual albums?






Dude, it's not a clickbait thread where I am trying to shit on the album. But everyone in our days knows about Elvis, Prince, MJ, Madonna Beatles etc etc. I want to know the core reason why this album have sailed under the radar for a newer generation, when it's the second most successful album/LP of all time? Clearly, it stands on it's own merits.
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Reply #9 posted 10/09/19 1:03am

SoulAlive

Rumours is a wonderful album from a wonderful time.Takes me back to being a kid in the 70s,which was so much fun smile but as much as I love this album,I love their previous album (the self-titled one released in 1975) even more.Their music was a large part of my childhood.

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Reply #10 posted 10/09/19 6:49am

jaawwnn

Stevie Nicks as a beautiful, golden-haired hippie witch is one of the biggest images in rock history. There's more to visuals than videos.

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Reply #11 posted 10/09/19 9:32am

Empress

Really, it was just such a fantastic album. I remember listening to it when I was a kid and I was in awe of Stevie's voice and how sultry she sounded singing Dreams.

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Reply #12 posted 10/09/19 10:05am

namepeace

It's a legitimate question from a relatively younger Orger who acknowledges that Rumours is indeed a classic.

At the heart of it, I think that the album was deeply personal and honest. It was an album about love and loss, and conflict -- with no clear antagonist or protagonist. A group of artists were working oujt their issues against each other . . . with each other. I wish I could explain it better, but that's what made the album (IMO) extraordinary.

I was very young when the album came out, but when "Dreams" and "Go Your Own Way," they struck a chord. I've heard nothing like them before and nothing like them since. As an adult, I understand them and other great songs like "Second Hand News" even better. Because they're not merely great -- they're honest and genuine. They paint paint a picture so vivid that videos couldn't do them justice.

That's why IMO Rumours was and is so successful across the board. The audience can feel AND relate to the album from beginning to end.

[Edited 10/9/19 10:07am]

Good night, sweet Prince | 7 June 1958 - 21 April 2016

Props will be withheld until the showing and proving has commenced. -- Aaron McGruder
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Reply #13 posted 10/09/19 11:10am

alphastreet

They’ve transcended generations and still put on good shows. I’ve never been but people I know have. Even Glee did an episode that referenced the Rumours album
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Reply #14 posted 10/10/19 4:29pm

Cloudbuster

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Second Hand News

Dreams

Never Going Back Again

Don't Stop

Go Your Own Way

Songbird

The Chain

You Make Loving Fun

I Don't Want To Know

Oh Daddy

Gold Dust Woman



A clue or two right there.

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Reply #15 posted 10/11/19 6:12am

Poplife88

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Cloudbuster said:

Second Hand News

Dreams

Never Going Back Again

Don't Stop

Go Your Own Way

Songbird

The Chain

You Make Loving Fun

I Don't Want To Know

Oh Daddy

Gold Dust Woman



A clue or two right there.

Perfect reply.

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Reply #16 posted 10/11/19 7:26am

Cinny

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Stevie Nicks was with Lindsay Buckingham but had an affair with Mick Fleetwood. Christine McVie was divorcing John McVie. Buckingham Nicks were a duo before joining the band. So there was lots of drama inspiring these songs.

The songs are classics because they are genuine and the best work from a group that was full of solo star writers.

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Forums > Music: Non-Prince > What was the legacy of "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mack?