Neil Finn on Fleetwood Mac internal politics

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Why would you think its laughable Billy would think he would get the job? He replaced Lindsey before and knows the songs. He also was friends and worked with pretty much everyone even before joining. There had to be a reason why and I want to know. There could be some issue with Billy we don't know.
Or the band has really bad memories of the Rick/Billy era?

I agree, Billy was probably considered for replacing Lindsey. As for why he wasn’t hired, SteveMacD had a pretty good idea as to why he wasn’t chosen- he posted a picture of Billy around that time, and Billy did not look well. Between his health issues and surgeries, he looked unhealthy, even bloated. It pains me to say that, but I’m sure his looks and health were issues that may have contributed to their decision.

Despite a throwaway comment by Christine where she lumped the Billy/Ricky years with the Time lineup, I remember several interviews with both Stevie and Christine where they raved about the new guys, and I remember Casey Kasem in his top 40 countdown describing a joke the band played on John McVie where they put hay and chickens in his hotel room or something like that. And Billy and Stevie spoke about how, after they finished a show, they would still play in their hotel room together, because they enjoyed each other that much.

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by bwboy

, I remember several interviews with both Stevie and Christine where they raved about the new guys, and I remember Casey Kasem in his top 40 countdown describing a joke the band played on John McVie where they put hay and chickens in his hotel room or something like that. And Billy and Stevie spoke about how, after they finished a show, they would still play in their hotel room together, because they enjoyed each other that much.

Just wanted to say john was in on the chicken joke, it was played on JC who had kind of a phobia of chickens lol but this was around the Tusk tour, way before Rick and Billy's time w FM.

--Lis

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Penguin Emeritus

Just wanted to say john was in on the chicken joke, it was played on JC who had kind of a phobia of chickens lol but this was around the Tusk tour, way before Rick and Billy's time w FM.

--Lis

I seem to remember that from Mick's book


****someone frantically flipping through pages in a book ******
I don't know how to learn from the pages of a book.
She consults her book

[stevierocks87]

I went to the Cleveland show on the 2018 tour and was pretty much in tears the whole time, it was sad and a joke. I HATE what Stevie has done to the legacy of our favorite band, someone who I used to adore. I know that is not an uncommon sentiment here!

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by stevierocks87

I went to the Cleveland show on the 2018 tour and was pretty much in tears the whole time, it was sad and a joke. I HATE what Stevie has done to the legacy of our favorite band, someone who I used to adore. I know that is not an uncommon sentiment here!

It was just a nasty power move on her part. And she's more full of herself than ever in her latter years. Ahhhh well, Christine passed and FM died.

The only hope of her killing it again is if Mick let's her.

[Villavic]

Before the band left San Francisco, we decided to play a prank on John Courage, who had been ushering us around America like a herd of dazed cattle for the past three months. The prank came on Colonel Courage's birthday and was entirely John McVie's idea. We bribed a bellboy at the St. James Hotel to look the other way while a barnyard scene was lovingly recreated in Courage's room.

When he returned to the hotel that night, he opened his door to find fifty hens and roosters had turned his room into an immense chicken coop. The whole suite had been filled with fresh hay. and the chickens were everywhere all over the bed, stutled in drawers, and one hen had even laid an egg in the smashed TV set. There was chicken sh-t all over his clothes. All the hay made it a fire hazard, and when I walked in, there was Dennis Wilson Iying drunk in the bathtub, smoking two cigarettes at the same time. It was actually Mite scary, but the colonel took it in good humor. In the end we rounded up the poultry, shoved them in the elevator, and pushed "Lobby."

[SteveMacD]

The real legacy of Fleetwood Mac is Mick, John, and Christine enduring and always finding their way back to each other. From Chicken Shack playing just before Fleetwood Mac debuted to the joint auction between those three -and only those three- signaling the end of Fleetwood Mac without actually having to say it, Fleetwood Mac was their journey. The band might have had an awkward ending, the story did not.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Before the band left San Francisco, we decided to play a prank on John Courage, who had been ushering us around America like a herd of dazed cattle for the past three months. The prank came on Colonel Courage's birthday and was entirely John McVie's idea. We bribed a bellboy at the St. James Hotel to look the other way while a barnyard scene was lovingly recreated in Courage's room.

When he returned to the hotel that night, he opened his door to find fifty hens and roosters had turned his room into an immense chicken coop. The whole suite had been filled with fresh hay. and the chickens were everywhere all over the bed, stutled in drawers, and one hen had even laid an egg in the smashed TV set. There was chicken sh-t all over his clothes. All the hay made it a fire hazard, and when I walked in, there was Dennis Wilson Iying drunk in the bathtub, smoking two cigarettes at the same time. It was actually Mite scary, but the colonel took it in good humor. In the end we rounded up the poultry, shoved them in the elevator, and pushed "Lobby."

She consults her book

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Before the band left San Francisco, we decided to play a prank on John Courage, who had been ushering us around America like a herd of dazed cattle for the past three months. The prank came on Colonel Courage's birthday and was entirely John McVie's idea. We bribed a bellboy at the St. James Hotel to look the other way while a barnyard scene was lovingly recreated in Courage's room.

When he returned to the hotel that night, he opened his door to find fifty hens and roosters had turned his room into an immense chicken coop. The whole suite had been filled with fresh hay. and the chickens were everywhere all over the bed, stutled in drawers, and one hen had even laid an egg in the smashed TV set. There was chicken sh-t all over his clothes. All the hay made it a fire hazard, and when I walked in, there was Dennis Wilson Iying drunk in the bathtub, smoking two cigarettes at the same time. It was actually Mite scary, but the colonel took it in good humor. In the end we rounded up the poultry, shoved them in the elevator, and pushed "Lobby."

Thank you, Villavic and Lis, for the correction. I guess I got the Johns mixed up. I remember hearing the story on the radio when Save Me was released, which made me think the story took place when Rick and Billy were in the band. Although now I’m even questioning that!

[Mr Scarrott]

Originally Posted by stevierocks87

I went to the Cleveland show on the 2018 tour and was pretty much in tears the whole time, it was sad and a joke. I HATE what Stevie has done to the legacy of our favorite band, someone who I used to adore. I know that is not an uncommon sentiment here!

I couldn't face going to see them. The only good thing about the tour was some of the pre-BN material that got an airing but that was largely gone by London. And whoever is going to go "Oh. Neil Finn- the Fleetwood Mac guy?"

I felt sorriest for Christine. Although she could have just pulled the plug on the whole enterprise and toed, in public at least, the company line, she wasn't part of the majority that ousted Lindsey; Stevie couldn't be bothered to even provide some cameo backing vocals on a Buck/Vie song, and I just felt she was marooned in a mess. She couldn't have needed the money, but she came back for this? It was one tour and a twist too far. The band didn't look like legends by the end, more fagends after a terrible trip...