September 14, 2021 • 33 mins
Few bands can boast a rock ’n’ roll lore at the level of Fleetwood Mac. The band lost not one but two guitarists to cult-like religious freaks. Two band members were arrested on gun charges. They encountered doom brought on by drugs, money, and Jesus Christ. Most famously, the band involved themselves with each other romantically in ways that brought on jealousy, distrust, anger, divorce and resulted in one of the most successful albums of all time. From their earliest days as an English blues band to the pop superstars they would become in the mid to late ’70s, one thing about Fleetwood Mac never faltered: They always had talent — and drama — to spare.
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This episode was originally published on September 14, 2021.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about
Fleetwood Mac are insane. Drummer Mick Fleetwood reportedly snorted over
seven miles of cocaine in his lifetime. The band lost
(00:24):
not one but two guitarists to predatory Jesus freaks. Two
band members were arrested on gun charges, another was believed
to pay roadies to administer cocaine via enema. Come on,
I couldn't not say it. It's only like the most
famous rock and roll rumor of all time, despite being
total bullshit. But more on this to come later in
the episode. And famously, band members involved themselves with each
(00:47):
other romantically in ways that brought on jealousy, distrust, angered, divorce,
and resulted in one of the most successful albums ever.
Fleetwood Mac made great music from their earliest days as
an English blues band to the pop superstars they would
become in the mid to late seventies. Unlike that music
I played for you at the top of the show.
(01:09):
That wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for
my melotron called Mustache Montage MK one. I played you
that loop because I can't afford the rights to Tonight's
the night Gonna be Alright by Rod Stewart, And why
would I play you that specific slice of Rod the
Bad Cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the
(01:31):
number one song in America on January first, nineteen seventy seven,
And that was the day the Hot one hundred charts
would feature a song that didn't come from Fleetwood. Max
rumors for fifty three straight weeks, marking with authority the
undeniable success of one of the biggest albums of all time.
On this part one of a special two part episode
(01:54):
Smuggled Guns, Predatory Cults, tourd love Affairs, Cocaine, and the
ever evolving lineup of Fleetwood Mac. I'm Jake Brennan and
this is disgrace lam Tara Brown, heir to the Guinness fortune,
(02:29):
as prominent a member of London's swinging set as his father, Dominic,
fourth Baron Ornmore, and Brown was a member of the
House of Lords. The younger Brown, Tara Brown, pushed his
tiny but fast Lotus elon through the curve of the road.
He felt the tiny machine hug him tight. His girlfriend
sat in the passenger seat like him. She was blurry
(02:52):
eyed from drugs and alcohol. Nineteen sixty six had been
a whirlwind. The booze, the hashish, the lsd it all,
the night's pass in technicolor, in the day's drag in
various shades of hungover gray. Tara's twenty first birthday party
from earlier that year was on his mind. Still it was,
by all accounts, one of society's most talked about affairs.
(03:16):
Tara Brown knew how to throw a party and how
to take care of himself and his famous friends. He
flew them in by private jet. Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney,
Brian Jones, another heir, John Paul Getty, and poet Brian
Bian among others, were all assembled by Tara at one
of his family's castles in Ireland's county Wicklow, five thousand
(03:36):
acres of greens and woods, surrounding a grand lodge, complete
with full staff, chauffeurs and all the requisite posh and
decadence befitting a young heir on the eve of his
twenty first trip around the sun, including a performance that
night by the Love and Spoonful, who currently enjoyed a
massive US Top ten hit with the song do You
Believe In Magic? Mick Fleetwood and John mcvee, hardly upper
(04:00):
echelon members of Swinging London, had managed their way into
the party, no doubt because of their relationship with one
of London's most promising blues guitarists at the time, Peter Green.
The three were currently mixing it up with a cocky,
young Sam Cook inspired blues singer named Rod Stewart in
a band called Shotgun Express. Word had it that Peter Green,
(04:21):
who was becoming known around London as the Green God,
was about to leave Shotgun Express to replace that other God,
Eric Clapton and John Mayle's Blues Breakers, and when he did,
he'd be taking his rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John
McVie with him. As for young Rod Stewart's future, time
would tell Mick Fleetwood entered Tarre Brown's castle wide eyed
(04:46):
and full of appreciation of the moment. In the United Kingdom,
unlike in the United States, you were born into your position,
and there you likely stayed. Class and social structure prevented
you from upward mobility, achieving anything beyond your station in life.
Rock and Roll challenged that rule. Tara Brown challenged that
(05:07):
rule as well, and in The Rolling Stones in nineteen
sixty six personified that challenge. For young London's upper class
in the mid sixties, there was no greater accessory than
a rough and tumble Rolling Stone. Mick Fleetwood was not
born into this, but young, as he was eighteen at
the time he knew he had arrived. Brian Jones, guitarists
(05:29):
and founding member of the Rolling Stones, flung open the
castle's giant double doors. Brian, cooler than most devilish but
somehow kind at the same time, gave Mick Fleetwood a
warm smile as he paced backwards slowly with the door
in one hand and his other arm extending behind him
to reveal the party in full swing. Men in the
(05:49):
latest Tommy Nutter tailored savel rose suits danced with women
in short skirts and smart new cropped hairstyles. English blues
blared from the speakers. Jugglers mixed among the cut with
costumed goblins for extra effect. Brian Jones was in possession
of all of his charm, greetings, how is my favorite
Mick doing this evening? Come come, Bick, Come inside out
(06:11):
of the cold. With that, Nick Fleetwood entered and was
quickly ushered by Brian upstairs into a large private bedroom.
The room was mostly empty and quiet, but for the
sounds of the party leaking through its walls. In the
center of the room, on a small table, a giant
ball of opiated hash and an orneat hookah. Mick Fleetwood's
(06:32):
jaw nearly hit the floor. Is it yours, Brian, he asked, Sure,
it is, Mick, it's mine, it's ours. It's here for everyone,
so let's have some. Tara couldn't remember who procured the hash.
Maybe it was the Count. He did remember that Brian
Jones and Mick Fleetwood did their damnedest to make it disappear.
(06:54):
Tara pressed into the Lotus' gas pedal and pushed him
and his girlfriend through another curve at one hundred miles
per hour. He sped into the intersection at Redcliffe Square
in Redcliffe Gardens. He didn't notice that the lights had changed.
Another car was coming. Tarras slammed on the brakes, cut
the wheel to his left, and collided with maximum impact
with his driver's side into a parked lory. He died
(07:18):
the next day of his wounds. One of Swinging London's
first rock and roll casualties. It shook mcfleetwood, who read
about it in the news. So it did John Lennon
as well, who would later write about it in the
Beatles song A Day in the Life. What Brian Jones
thought about Tara Brown's death is unknown, for he was
(07:39):
fast on his way to becoming one of London's next
rock and roll casualties. Mickfleet Would could sense the danger
of his chosen profession. The rock and roll game was
no joke, especially with the way mixed generation played. Non
survivors need not apply. Bass player John mc v was
(08:00):
Mick Fleetwood's partner in crime as well as his rhythm
section mate, and John mcvee was a survivor. He and
Mick made it through the sixties together through that heady
stint in John Male's Blues Breakers. In the first few
incarnations of the band that bore their names Fleetwood Mac
named after the rhythm section, yet fronted by their incomparable
(08:21):
guitarist and frontman, the highly expressive and emotional blues player
Peter Green. The band that led to John's marriage to
Christine Perfect, one of London's most sought after female blues players.
She'd take his name mcvee and Christine mcvee would play
on in a band that now bore her name as well.
Her husband, John mcvee, or Mack as he was called,
(08:42):
along with Christine and Mick Fleetwood, survived the tumult of
the sixties, the confusion of the early seventies, and the
excess of their unprecedented late seventies success. John mcvee would
eventually even survive cancer, but first, in nineteen eighty one,
he'd need to survive hanolul lose top drug sniffing dog Max.
(09:05):
Max was an alpha, not only among his canine counterparts,
but also among the members of the Honolulu Police Department
he worked for. If Max really was a dog, he
didn't seem to know or care. One look at the
way he carried himself, and you'd think Max saw Burt
Lancaster's sergeant Milton Warden character in From Here to Return.
It was staring back at him in the mirror. Tall,
(09:26):
broad shouldered for a dog anyway, and authoritative. Max, like
Sergeant Warden, did not fuck around. Max. While on his airport,
Beat caught the smell in the expensive luggage immediately. Cocaine
tucked away in a brown and white tape package was
too easy what hubris the owner had, who'd barely tried
even hiding it. Max's police partners used the package to
(09:49):
quickly obtain a search warm with it. They followed the
scheduled delivery of the package to what was no doubt
a very rich person's home in the wealthy resort area
of Nepali. Hanolu Lulu police with Max at their side,
rang the bell. Upon entry, they heard the sounds of
someone frantically rushing upstairs, along with the unmistakable sound but
toilet being frantically flushed. Max barked non stop. An hour
(10:13):
long search ensued. Max quickly turned up the brown and
white package. In it four grams of cocaine. The police
also found marijuana and some pills, along with seven guns,
a Remington shotgun, three loaded pistols, and three rifles, all
illegally in the possession of their owner. The owner of
this home. This home, with its gold and platinum records
(10:34):
hanging from its walls, alongside all of its occulent furnishings,
the home of no ordinary Honolulu resident, The home of
a rock star of rock and roll survivor, John mcvee
of none other than Fleet with Mac, who would now
have to survive a trial for possession of illegal drugs
and weapons and face jail time impossible deportation. He would,
(10:55):
of course survive this incident, just as he had survived
all of the previous high wire acts, incidents that nearly
spelled his doom in the past, like they had for
numerous members of Fleetwood Mac, doom brought on by drugs, money,
and Jesus Christ. Peter Green, guitarist for Fleetwood Mac, founder
(11:46):
of Fleetwood Mac, the mid sixties blues guitarist so skilled
he was able to replace Eric Clapton and John Mayle's
blues breakers, so impressive he would later be cited as
influencing such rock and roll luminaries as English songsmith Elvis
caught Stello, an American journalist and screenwriter director Cameron Crowe.
Peter Green, the man who gave Fleetwood Mackett's name after
(12:07):
its rhythm section, the best rhythm section in the world
by his account, the man who wrote Oh Well, Albatross
and Black Magic Woman, a song later recorded by Santana
and sent all the way up to number four in
the US charts. That Peter Green was not having it,
and by it I mean money. Take the money back,
(12:27):
take the fucking money, man. I don't want to fucking
take the savage milk and take him, take it back.
This was in nineteen seventy seven, but in nineteen seventy
Fleetwood Mac was off like a rocket from nineteen sixty seven.
In nineteen sixty nine, after Peter left the Blues Breakers,
Fleetwood Mac had climbed to steady success as a heavy
(12:50):
blues band with their first solid lineup Green, Mick Fleetwood,
John McVie and Jeremy Spencer. They had talent and influence
to spare peterswriting, especially earning them all the trappings of
rock and roll success. They could ask for hit singles
in their homeland international tours Drugs Women, But it started
(13:12):
to turn for Peter Green. In New Orleans in nineteen seventy,
Fleetwood Mac were sharing a bill with San Francisco's Grateful Dead.
The Grateful Dead sound man chemist Augustus Auseley Stanley Third
dosed the members of Fleetwood Mac. Peter Green did not
react well to the LSD, yet after that trip he
kept taking it. He grew morose, sullen, moody, and it
(13:34):
started showing up and is already highly emotional playing music
in his opinion, became commodified. Music for money increasingly became
a ridiculous notion. Music was about expression and expression only
Peter Green could no longer wrap his brain around playing
the same song the same way more than once. How
could he? He'd already done that, He'd already expressed that emotion.
(13:57):
Peter turned his focus from rock and roll Christianity. The
fact that he was raised Jewish didn't matter. He gave
himself over to his new Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
He continued to play, but askewed the rock and roll
trappings he was so taken by just months earlier. Mainly
that meant no more groupies, and not just for himself. Quickly,
(14:19):
as leader of Fleet with Mac, he turned his judgy
eyes to his bandmates, deeming them disgraceful for taking up
with women after their shows. Peter could be found in
his hotel room after gigs, crying in front of the
eleven o'clock news that the various injustices being broadcast. He
then demanded his bandmates join him and turning over all
the band's earnings to various charities. They gave, of course,
(14:42):
but all of their money. This was too much to
ask of young musicians who were finally realizing their rock
and roll dream, and at that moment in nineteen seventy,
out selling both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in Europe,
Peter descended further into madness. He began wearing a big
wooden crucifix and a papal like rope, grewed his beard
(15:04):
and hair long, not unlike artistic depictions of the Son
of Man, and would only speak to the music press
about one subject, Jesus Christ Fleetwood Mac's success. At this point,
the accolades, record sales, ticket sales, the press had all
became a source of suffering for Peter Green because all
of it was cheap, fickle child's play, compared to what
(15:24):
he now saw as his life's true calling to do
good in the name of Christ. Peter announced to his
bandmates that he was leaving the band. There would be
one more European tour to fulfill previous obligations, but in
Munich one night after a gig, Peter Green disappeared took
off with some hippies, real far archetypes, not your standard
(15:46):
Summer of Love nineteen sixty Zeitgeist type of youth. These
hippies were more off the grid, underground, untethered from society
in any real way, dark and running almost entirely on LSD,
dosed for days straight at their commune. When Fleetwood Max's
road manager finally found him, Peter could speak, but barely.
(16:07):
He recovered in time to play one final gig, but
committed to living with his new German friends on their commune. Afterward,
Peter's bandmates attempted to coax him to finish the tour,
but in response, he melted down, wholly focused on the money,
how there was too much of it, and how he
didn't deserve it, how he couldn't possibly go on playing
in the band and generating such unheard of sums of cash,
(16:29):
and all the darkness it brought into the world. Peter
Green was unhinged, the LSD had tripped, some wired and
his already fragile psyche. Somehow the band convinced him to
finish the tour, but the Munich hippies by this point
were all over, following him on the road and back
to London afterward. Shortly thereafter, Peter Green played his last
(16:50):
gig with Fleetwood Mac at the Lyceme Theater, ironically, with
the grateful dead. Afterward, he held his focus on lsd
J says Christ to what he called on clean money,
and throughout the seventies he wanted no part of it,
which is why in nineteen seventy seven, Peter Green, long
since being a member of Fleetwood Mac, was threatening to
(17:12):
shove a shotgun in his accountant's face and blow them away,
demanding that he take the money back that he stopped
the royalty checks from coming in. He was arrested, jailed,
diagnosed with schizophrenia, and eventually released into his family's custody.
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green's old band, had carried on without
him and found even more fame, but not through Peter
(17:34):
Green's blues, and not through visions of Jesus Christ. Instead
through commercialized pop and crystal visions and the unclean money
rained down on Fleetwood Mac. We'll be right back after
this word word word, Peter Green was gone, and so
(18:00):
that was Fleetwood Max's other guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, once again
the culprit Jesus Christ. Los Angeles was reeling in the
aftermath of the nineteen seventy one San Fernando earthquake six
point six on the Richter scale, more than sixty people dead,
half a billion dollars in damage, tens of thousands evacuated,
(18:21):
the near total failure of the water supplied, the partial
collapse of major freeway exchanges, and none of it could
keep the predatory Jesus freaks off of Hollywood Boulevard. There
they roamed down the famous Walk of Fame, barefoot over
the sidewalk stars of Hollywood's Golden Row, Judy Garland, Burt
Lancaster himself, Bogey and bacall among them, all of whom
(18:44):
would not suffer the trashy Hippi funk stylings of jc's
post Summer of Love disciples, garbed in literal rags sandals
if they were lucky either way, their filthy, disgusting feet
exposed for all to see, with dirt on their skin,
long mangy, entangled hippie hair headbands, homemade beads, say brothers
spilling from their lips on repeat, yellow yuckmouthed teeth, creepy
(19:07):
perma smiles, while googly eyes, all of it gross. The
hookers made fun of them. The cross dress who sympathized
the pimps, paid them no mind. The John scoped for
young strange the cops harassed them non stop. Turus averted
their eyes, and Mick Fleetwood and John McVie asked questions
like have you seen this man? They were inquiring about
(19:29):
their guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, and working through vicious hangovers, blinding
mid afternoon California's sun, unseasonable winter heat, the drag of
the day's beginning. A couple nights earlier in San Francisco,
their guitarist Jeremy Spencer ate some mescaline trip balls, played
out of his mind, touched down in La post earthquake,
(19:50):
took GoF out of his hotel like an aftershock, down
toward Hollywood Boulevard, and hadn't been seen or heard from
in twenty four hours. Their gig was canceled and everyone
feared the worst kidnapping, murder. Haesius, Mick and John handed
out flyers, posted Jeremy's photo on telephone polls. The local
news picked up the story have you seen this man?
(20:13):
Local Christian churches on the up and up knew what
had gone down. More Hazius Death called Tom Fuckery. They
got in touch with the band's management and hit them
to some of the Lord's lesson savory radicals, cults. Their
locations were noted San Fernando Valley, the heart of the earthquake.
Fleetwood Mac drove into the angry, upset belly of Los
(20:36):
Angeles on high alert, scoping for their latest lost soul.
They drove through the destruction, toppled buildings, destroyed homes, dilapidated bridges.
Pedestrians peered at them from the roadside. Was shocked through
hollow eyes. Everything it seemed was happening in slow motion.
It was post apocalypse. The city of Angels was end times.
(20:58):
God wasn't green, God was dead, and their guitarists was gone,
maybe gone another one. How the fuck had this happened?
Mickfleetwood wondered. Another Fleetwood Mac guitar player got religion and
got himself lost. The so called children of God had
found Jeremy Spencer, and Jeremy Spencer wasn't coming back. Jeremy
(21:21):
Spencer wasn't even Jeremy Spencer anymore. He was Jonathan and
by the time his bandmates found him, he was unrecognizable,
having shaved off all of his hair, denounced his worldly possessions,
turned his back not only on his band, but on
his family, his wife and young child, explaining that Jesus
would now take care of them. Fleetwood Mac replaced Jeremy
(21:47):
Spencer with another guitarist who eventually took up with Mickfleetwood's wife,
an act that eventually cost him his job, and, along
with band managerial chaos that progressed steadily through the next
few years, seemed to spell the end for Fleetwood Mac.
But Mick Fleetwood was determined to give it one more go.
There was a new batch of songs to demo. He
(22:08):
visited Sound City Studio and his and his bandmate's new
home of Los Angeles to book studio time and was
struck by what he heard coming out of the studio
speakers mixes from a folk duo from upstate. The guitar
playing was sublime. Who was this? Mick Fleetwood needed to know.
He grabbed the guitar player's number from the Sound City
(22:28):
producer and quickly rang him up. Lindsay Buckingham, This is
Mick Fleetwood. Hey there, how you doing. I'm well listen,
we're looking for a guitar player and I'd like to
know if you'd like to come play with us. That
sounds great, we'd love to We not I we Lindsey
Buckingham finished his sentence with because my girlfriend comes with me.
(23:09):
Lindsay Buckingham's girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, couldn't wait to get off work.
She was exhausted. It was the hour she kept her shift,
kept her tied up until five PM, and by the
time she fought through rush hour traffic and got home
it was six. Then she'd have to clean up for Lindsay,
who worked from home all day perfecting songs for their
duo Buckingham Nicks. Stevie would empty the ashtrays, open their
(23:33):
tiny LA apartments windows, light candles, and clear out the
dank smell of dope. Lindsay, along with whichever other LA
working musicians cycled through that apartment Wadiwa Tawl and Warren
Zevon among them, smoked all day long while working. Stevie
would handle the mess. Then she'd clean herself up, force
herself to remember to eat something, and by nine PM
(23:55):
she'd be at Lindsay's side, writing and working on music
with them until three am, when she'd knock off, start
to wind down, crash by five, sleep until nine, be
out the door by ten, and back to start her
shift at eleven. Welcome to Clementines. My name is Stevie.
Can I take your order? Clementines was a roaring, twenty
(24:15):
scened West Hollywood restaurant, Taurus pencil necks, three martini lunch,
businessmen avoiding their bosses, geeks off the street, total cheese,
hardly roaring, more of an unimpressive burger slinging wax museum
with waitresses, dames done up and flapper outfits. Stevie Nicks
was one of them. Go on fries is that she
Santo and johnnied her way through her shifts. She couldn't
(24:37):
remember the last time she had a real full night
of sleep, and tonight would be no different. She wasn't
working on music with Lindsay tonight after work, though. Instead
the two of them were meeting up with three remaining
members of the English blues band Fleetwood Mac to discuss
joining forces with Buckingham Nicks. Little did Stevie know this
merger would prevent her from getting a proper night of
(24:58):
sleep for the next decade plus, but it would be
worth it. Magically, the two disparate styles of the folk
duo Buckingham Nix and hard blues of Fleetwood Mac fused
into something wholly unique and wildly compelling. Lindsay quickly sees
control musically, asserting his vision, chops and songwriting prowess. It
(25:20):
was hard for him not to inspired by the power
and precision of the Fleetwood mac rhythm section he now
had playing behind him. Teaming the studied guitar, singing and
arrangement talents of Lindsay Buckingham with Mick Fleetwood's steadily unique
groove in John mcvie's monster bass playing was like giving
Mario Andretti the keys to a tricked out Peterbilt Semi.
(25:41):
Something powerfully effective emerged, and this new sound was completely original.
Stevie singular vibrato, a voice never and I repeat never
heard in pop music before, floated perfectly atop this new sound.
Into Stevie's credit. She was relatively egoless in her new
role in a band with another female vocalist, Christine mcvee,
(26:03):
who herself was also without ego, and in many ways
the musical glue that held these wildly different parts together.
Christine McVie formerly Christine Perfect, was a veteran in a
total pro She was an educated musician who understood harmony
as well as she understood lowdown blues. Her playing was tasteful,
rooted in Americana, but fully conscious of the pop sensibility
(26:25):
that was alchemating within this minu and she sang like
a bird. Stevie Nick's voice may have been the siren
call that pulled you into bed under the lace canopy,
but Christine mcvie's voice was the one that kept you
there all weekend. The new Fleetwood Mac got down to work.
(26:47):
They squirreled themselves away at Sound City with a new
batch of songs demoed out at Christine and John's apartment,
and with a whole bunch of cocaine. America's first tidal
wave of coke hit in Los Angeles in the mid seventies,
and City Studios was practically fueled by the drug. Nearly
everyone who worked there or entered used, or was at
least offered cocaine. The creatively obsessed members of Fleetwood Mac
(27:10):
fell in love with the drug, at first as a
tool to use to help them stay up all night working,
then as a tool to help them fight through their
hangovers the next day. And the cycle was full tilt,
and in the beginning it yielded miraculous creative results. The
new Fleetwood Max first self titled album, released in nineteen
seventy five, not to be confused with the old Fleetwood
(27:31):
Max first self titled album released with Peter Green at
the Helm back in nineteen sixty eight, was a powerful
reminder of the promise of American pop music. Not since
The Eagle's eponymous debut in nineteen seventy two had an
American band so effortlessly melded American roots influences into top
forty pop alchemy that proved irresistible to radio programmers and
(27:52):
thus indelible to young music fans. Fleetwood Mac broke the
band through of the States. It went to number one
and sold more than seven million copies with three different
hit singles, Christine mcvie's over My Head and Say You
Love Me and Stevie Nix's Rhiannon, not to mention classic
album plays like Landslide and the Saday opener Monday Morning.
(28:14):
With success in America came a tour of Europe. The
band stayed with Eric Clapton. In England, Eric lived with
Patty Boyd Harris and George Harrison's ex and Mick Fleetwood's
sister of Awe. Patty was the sister to Mix's wife
Jenny Clapton's massive home was unheeded, and despite the copious
amounts of cocaine they ingested, they all nearly froze. That
(28:36):
chill stayed with them throughout their tour, That feeling of
never being warm enough unless you were on stage. Cold
and hungover were two constants, cold in the hotel, hungover
in the morning, dragging through sound jack, freezing on the plane,
exhausted at customs France, Sweden, Germany. Didn't matter where they were,
they were frigid, hanging, and had no shape to deal
(28:58):
especially what was to happen next. Amsterdam Airport, Holland, Netherlands.
Whatever time of the day it was, it felt like morning.
Whatever the temperature, it wasn't warm enough, and the show
the night before cooked, and so too did the requisite afterparty.
(29:18):
Waiting to pass through customs, the airport was eerily quiet.
Fleetwood Max entourage said little just waited in line, passports
in hand, to quietly move through this annoying ritual that
always seemed to take too long, no matter how quickly
it passed. Band members, crew, management, hangers on, long haired
men in heavy coats with unbuttoned shirts, chests exposed, two
(29:42):
tight pants, smelling of cigarettes, dank weed and expensive cologne.
Women in floppy hats, coats, button tight fur collars, expensive handbags,
and the allure of rich perfume, all of them wearing sunglasses. Inside,
they looked great, exactly like a traveling rock and roll
band in the sun. He should look glamorous, vampirec hungover,
(30:03):
and the women especially hot. Not just Stevie and Chris,
their hair and make up girls and the crew as well.
The pervy customs agents weren't going to let them pass
without a search. They had cause, after all, look at them.
They screamed, drugged out mess. The women, just the women,
were unceremoniously pulled out of line and into a private
(30:24):
back room. Each was told to lose their jackets, then
their blouses, but grudgingly, Stevie Nicks and Christine mcvee, each
of whom looked as though they could pommel the manipulative
customs agents at any moment, obliged along with the female
members of their crew. Then they were told to strip
off their pants down to their panties. The pervy agents
(30:45):
could barely suppress their giggles. The girls, despite their brave front,
were more than likely scared standing near naked in that
freezing room, as were the men in the entourage waiting
for them outside of the room with no idea what
was going on. No drugs were found. The whole affair
amounted to a pathetic, manipulative, and cheap scene, A humiliating
(31:07):
strip search of just the women in the band's entourage
by the male customs agents. Customs inform Fleetwood Max Management
that they were operating on a tip of the band's
rumored cocaine use rumors, not actual evidence. Rumors supposedly compelled
the customs agents to search the women in the band's entourage,
and rumors would also compel Fleetwood Mac to a level
(31:30):
of success that would ensure the band would never have
to fly commercial again, a level of rock stardom that
was beyond the band's wildest dreams of excess and deepest
fears of disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan in this episode of
disgrace Land is to be continued. Disgraceland was created by
(32:11):
Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis.
Credits for this episode can be found on the show
notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as
a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show.
We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become
a member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com
slash Membership. Members can listen to every episode of Disgraceland
(32:34):
ad free, Plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode
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slash Membership for details, Rate and review the show, and
follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at disgracelampod
(32:55):
and on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at disgracelampod,
Rock and Roller. He's a bad, bad man.
Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about
Fleetwood Mac are insane. Drummer Mick Fleetwood reportedly snorted over
seven miles of cocaine in his lifetime. The band lost
(00:24):
not one but two guitarists to predatory Jesus freaks. Two
band members were arrested on gun charges, another was believed
to pay roadies to administer cocaine via enema. Come on,
I couldn't not say it. It's only like the most
famous rock and roll rumor of all time, despite being
total bullshit. But more on this to come later in
the episode. And famously, band members involved themselves with each
(00:47):
other romantically in ways that brought on jealousy, distrust, angered, divorce,
and resulted in one of the most successful albums ever.
Fleetwood Mac made great music from their earliest days as
an English blues band to the pop superstars they would
become in the mid to late seventies. Unlike that music
I played for you at the top of the show.
(01:09):
That wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for
my melotron called Mustache Montage MK one. I played you
that loop because I can't afford the rights to Tonight's
the night Gonna be Alright by Rod Stewart, And why
would I play you that specific slice of Rod the
Bad Cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the
(01:31):
number one song in America on January first, nineteen seventy seven,
And that was the day the Hot one hundred charts
would feature a song that didn't come from Fleetwood. Max
rumors for fifty three straight weeks, marking with authority the
undeniable success of one of the biggest albums of all time.
On this part one of a special two part episode
(01:54):
Smuggled Guns, Predatory Cults, tourd love Affairs, Cocaine, and the
ever evolving lineup of Fleetwood Mac. I'm Jake Brennan and
this is disgrace lam Tara Brown, heir to the Guinness fortune,
(02:29):
as prominent a member of London's swinging set as his father, Dominic,
fourth Baron Ornmore, and Brown was a member of the
House of Lords. The younger Brown, Tara Brown, pushed his
tiny but fast Lotus elon through the curve of the road.
He felt the tiny machine hug him tight. His girlfriend
sat in the passenger seat like him. She was blurry
(02:52):
eyed from drugs and alcohol. Nineteen sixty six had been
a whirlwind. The booze, the hashish, the lsd it all,
the night's pass in technicolor, in the day's drag in
various shades of hungover gray. Tara's twenty first birthday party
from earlier that year was on his mind. Still it was,
by all accounts, one of society's most talked about affairs.
(03:16):
Tara Brown knew how to throw a party and how
to take care of himself and his famous friends. He
flew them in by private jet. Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney,
Brian Jones, another heir, John Paul Getty, and poet Brian
Bian among others, were all assembled by Tara at one
of his family's castles in Ireland's county Wicklow, five thousand
(03:36):
acres of greens and woods, surrounding a grand lodge, complete
with full staff, chauffeurs and all the requisite posh and
decadence befitting a young heir on the eve of his
twenty first trip around the sun, including a performance that
night by the Love and Spoonful, who currently enjoyed a
massive US Top ten hit with the song do You
Believe In Magic? Mick Fleetwood and John mcvee, hardly upper
(04:00):
echelon members of Swinging London, had managed their way into
the party, no doubt because of their relationship with one
of London's most promising blues guitarists at the time, Peter Green.
The three were currently mixing it up with a cocky,
young Sam Cook inspired blues singer named Rod Stewart in
a band called Shotgun Express. Word had it that Peter Green,
(04:21):
who was becoming known around London as the Green God,
was about to leave Shotgun Express to replace that other God,
Eric Clapton and John Mayle's Blues Breakers, and when he did,
he'd be taking his rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John
McVie with him. As for young Rod Stewart's future, time
would tell Mick Fleetwood entered Tarre Brown's castle wide eyed
(04:46):
and full of appreciation of the moment. In the United Kingdom,
unlike in the United States, you were born into your position,
and there you likely stayed. Class and social structure prevented
you from upward mobility, achieving anything beyond your station in life.
Rock and Roll challenged that rule. Tara Brown challenged that
(05:07):
rule as well, and in The Rolling Stones in nineteen
sixty six personified that challenge. For young London's upper class
in the mid sixties, there was no greater accessory than
a rough and tumble Rolling Stone. Mick Fleetwood was not
born into this, but young, as he was eighteen at
the time he knew he had arrived. Brian Jones, guitarists
(05:29):
and founding member of the Rolling Stones, flung open the
castle's giant double doors. Brian, cooler than most devilish but
somehow kind at the same time, gave Mick Fleetwood a
warm smile as he paced backwards slowly with the door
in one hand and his other arm extending behind him
to reveal the party in full swing. Men in the
(05:49):
latest Tommy Nutter tailored savel rose suits danced with women
in short skirts and smart new cropped hairstyles. English blues
blared from the speakers. Jugglers mixed among the cut with
costumed goblins for extra effect. Brian Jones was in possession
of all of his charm, greetings, how is my favorite
Mick doing this evening? Come come, Bick, Come inside out
(06:11):
of the cold. With that, Nick Fleetwood entered and was
quickly ushered by Brian upstairs into a large private bedroom.
The room was mostly empty and quiet, but for the
sounds of the party leaking through its walls. In the
center of the room, on a small table, a giant
ball of opiated hash and an orneat hookah. Mick Fleetwood's
(06:32):
jaw nearly hit the floor. Is it yours, Brian, he asked, Sure,
it is, Mick, it's mine, it's ours. It's here for everyone,
so let's have some. Tara couldn't remember who procured the hash.
Maybe it was the Count. He did remember that Brian
Jones and Mick Fleetwood did their damnedest to make it disappear.
(06:54):
Tara pressed into the Lotus' gas pedal and pushed him
and his girlfriend through another curve at one hundred miles
per hour. He sped into the intersection at Redcliffe Square
in Redcliffe Gardens. He didn't notice that the lights had changed.
Another car was coming. Tarras slammed on the brakes, cut
the wheel to his left, and collided with maximum impact
with his driver's side into a parked lory. He died
(07:18):
the next day of his wounds. One of Swinging London's
first rock and roll casualties. It shook mcfleetwood, who read
about it in the news. So it did John Lennon
as well, who would later write about it in the
Beatles song A Day in the Life. What Brian Jones
thought about Tara Brown's death is unknown, for he was
(07:39):
fast on his way to becoming one of London's next
rock and roll casualties. Mickfleet Would could sense the danger
of his chosen profession. The rock and roll game was
no joke, especially with the way mixed generation played. Non
survivors need not apply. Bass player John mc v was
(08:00):
Mick Fleetwood's partner in crime as well as his rhythm
section mate, and John mcvee was a survivor. He and
Mick made it through the sixties together through that heady
stint in John Male's Blues Breakers. In the first few
incarnations of the band that bore their names Fleetwood Mac
named after the rhythm section, yet fronted by their incomparable
(08:21):
guitarist and frontman, the highly expressive and emotional blues player
Peter Green. The band that led to John's marriage to
Christine Perfect, one of London's most sought after female blues players.
She'd take his name mcvee and Christine mcvee would play
on in a band that now bore her name as well.
Her husband, John mcvee, or Mack as he was called,
(08:42):
along with Christine and Mick Fleetwood, survived the tumult of
the sixties, the confusion of the early seventies, and the
excess of their unprecedented late seventies success. John mcvee would
eventually even survive cancer, but first, in nineteen eighty one,
he'd need to survive hanolul lose top drug sniffing dog Max.
(09:05):
Max was an alpha, not only among his canine counterparts,
but also among the members of the Honolulu Police Department
he worked for. If Max really was a dog, he
didn't seem to know or care. One look at the
way he carried himself, and you'd think Max saw Burt
Lancaster's sergeant Milton Warden character in From Here to Return.
It was staring back at him in the mirror. Tall,
(09:26):
broad shouldered for a dog anyway, and authoritative. Max, like
Sergeant Warden, did not fuck around. Max. While on his airport,
Beat caught the smell in the expensive luggage immediately. Cocaine
tucked away in a brown and white tape package was
too easy what hubris the owner had, who'd barely tried
even hiding it. Max's police partners used the package to
(09:49):
quickly obtain a search warm with it. They followed the
scheduled delivery of the package to what was no doubt
a very rich person's home in the wealthy resort area
of Nepali. Hanolu Lulu police with Max at their side,
rang the bell. Upon entry, they heard the sounds of
someone frantically rushing upstairs, along with the unmistakable sound but
toilet being frantically flushed. Max barked non stop. An hour
(10:13):
long search ensued. Max quickly turned up the brown and
white package. In it four grams of cocaine. The police
also found marijuana and some pills, along with seven guns,
a Remington shotgun, three loaded pistols, and three rifles, all
illegally in the possession of their owner. The owner of
this home. This home, with its gold and platinum records
(10:34):
hanging from its walls, alongside all of its occulent furnishings,
the home of no ordinary Honolulu resident, The home of
a rock star of rock and roll survivor, John mcvee
of none other than Fleet with Mac, who would now
have to survive a trial for possession of illegal drugs
and weapons and face jail time impossible deportation. He would,
(10:55):
of course survive this incident, just as he had survived
all of the previous high wire acts, incidents that nearly
spelled his doom in the past, like they had for
numerous members of Fleetwood Mac, doom brought on by drugs, money,
and Jesus Christ. Peter Green, guitarist for Fleetwood Mac, founder
(11:46):
of Fleetwood Mac, the mid sixties blues guitarist so skilled
he was able to replace Eric Clapton and John Mayle's
blues breakers, so impressive he would later be cited as
influencing such rock and roll luminaries as English songsmith Elvis
caught Stello, an American journalist and screenwriter director Cameron Crowe.
Peter Green, the man who gave Fleetwood Mackett's name after
(12:07):
its rhythm section, the best rhythm section in the world
by his account, the man who wrote Oh Well, Albatross
and Black Magic Woman, a song later recorded by Santana
and sent all the way up to number four in
the US charts. That Peter Green was not having it,
and by it I mean money. Take the money back,
(12:27):
take the fucking money, man. I don't want to fucking
take the savage milk and take him, take it back.
This was in nineteen seventy seven, but in nineteen seventy
Fleetwood Mac was off like a rocket from nineteen sixty seven.
In nineteen sixty nine, after Peter left the Blues Breakers,
Fleetwood Mac had climbed to steady success as a heavy
(12:50):
blues band with their first solid lineup Green, Mick Fleetwood,
John McVie and Jeremy Spencer. They had talent and influence
to spare peterswriting, especially earning them all the trappings of
rock and roll success. They could ask for hit singles
in their homeland international tours Drugs Women, But it started
(13:12):
to turn for Peter Green. In New Orleans in nineteen seventy,
Fleetwood Mac were sharing a bill with San Francisco's Grateful Dead.
The Grateful Dead sound man chemist Augustus Auseley Stanley Third
dosed the members of Fleetwood Mac. Peter Green did not
react well to the LSD, yet after that trip he
kept taking it. He grew morose, sullen, moody, and it
(13:34):
started showing up and is already highly emotional playing music
in his opinion, became commodified. Music for money increasingly became
a ridiculous notion. Music was about expression and expression only
Peter Green could no longer wrap his brain around playing
the same song the same way more than once. How
could he? He'd already done that, He'd already expressed that emotion.
(13:57):
Peter turned his focus from rock and roll Christianity. The
fact that he was raised Jewish didn't matter. He gave
himself over to his new Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
He continued to play, but askewed the rock and roll
trappings he was so taken by just months earlier. Mainly
that meant no more groupies, and not just for himself. Quickly,
(14:19):
as leader of Fleet with Mac, he turned his judgy
eyes to his bandmates, deeming them disgraceful for taking up
with women after their shows. Peter could be found in
his hotel room after gigs, crying in front of the
eleven o'clock news that the various injustices being broadcast. He
then demanded his bandmates join him and turning over all
the band's earnings to various charities. They gave, of course,
(14:42):
but all of their money. This was too much to
ask of young musicians who were finally realizing their rock
and roll dream, and at that moment in nineteen seventy,
out selling both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in Europe,
Peter descended further into madness. He began wearing a big
wooden crucifix and a papal like rope, grewed his beard
(15:04):
and hair long, not unlike artistic depictions of the Son
of Man, and would only speak to the music press
about one subject, Jesus Christ Fleetwood Mac's success. At this point,
the accolades, record sales, ticket sales, the press had all
became a source of suffering for Peter Green because all
of it was cheap, fickle child's play, compared to what
(15:24):
he now saw as his life's true calling to do
good in the name of Christ. Peter announced to his
bandmates that he was leaving the band. There would be
one more European tour to fulfill previous obligations, but in
Munich one night after a gig, Peter Green disappeared took
off with some hippies, real far archetypes, not your standard
(15:46):
Summer of Love nineteen sixty Zeitgeist type of youth. These
hippies were more off the grid, underground, untethered from society
in any real way, dark and running almost entirely on LSD,
dosed for days straight at their commune. When Fleetwood Max's
road manager finally found him, Peter could speak, but barely.
(16:07):
He recovered in time to play one final gig, but
committed to living with his new German friends on their commune. Afterward,
Peter's bandmates attempted to coax him to finish the tour,
but in response, he melted down, wholly focused on the money,
how there was too much of it, and how he
didn't deserve it, how he couldn't possibly go on playing
in the band and generating such unheard of sums of cash,
(16:29):
and all the darkness it brought into the world. Peter
Green was unhinged, the LSD had tripped, some wired and
his already fragile psyche. Somehow the band convinced him to
finish the tour, but the Munich hippies by this point
were all over, following him on the road and back
to London afterward. Shortly thereafter, Peter Green played his last
(16:50):
gig with Fleetwood Mac at the Lyceme Theater, ironically, with
the grateful dead. Afterward, he held his focus on lsd
J says Christ to what he called on clean money,
and throughout the seventies he wanted no part of it,
which is why in nineteen seventy seven, Peter Green, long
since being a member of Fleetwood Mac, was threatening to
(17:12):
shove a shotgun in his accountant's face and blow them away,
demanding that he take the money back that he stopped
the royalty checks from coming in. He was arrested, jailed,
diagnosed with schizophrenia, and eventually released into his family's custody.
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green's old band, had carried on without
him and found even more fame, but not through Peter
(17:34):
Green's blues, and not through visions of Jesus Christ. Instead
through commercialized pop and crystal visions and the unclean money
rained down on Fleetwood Mac. We'll be right back after
this word word word, Peter Green was gone, and so
(18:00):
that was Fleetwood Max's other guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, once again
the culprit Jesus Christ. Los Angeles was reeling in the
aftermath of the nineteen seventy one San Fernando earthquake six
point six on the Richter scale, more than sixty people dead,
half a billion dollars in damage, tens of thousands evacuated,
(18:21):
the near total failure of the water supplied, the partial
collapse of major freeway exchanges, and none of it could
keep the predatory Jesus freaks off of Hollywood Boulevard. There
they roamed down the famous Walk of Fame, barefoot over
the sidewalk stars of Hollywood's Golden Row, Judy Garland, Burt
Lancaster himself, Bogey and bacall among them, all of whom
(18:44):
would not suffer the trashy Hippi funk stylings of jc's
post Summer of Love disciples, garbed in literal rags sandals
if they were lucky either way, their filthy, disgusting feet
exposed for all to see, with dirt on their skin,
long mangy, entangled hippie hair headbands, homemade beads, say brothers
spilling from their lips on repeat, yellow yuckmouthed teeth, creepy
(19:07):
perma smiles, while googly eyes, all of it gross. The
hookers made fun of them. The cross dress who sympathized
the pimps, paid them no mind. The John scoped for
young strange the cops harassed them non stop. Turus averted
their eyes, and Mick Fleetwood and John McVie asked questions
like have you seen this man? They were inquiring about
(19:29):
their guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, and working through vicious hangovers, blinding
mid afternoon California's sun, unseasonable winter heat, the drag of
the day's beginning. A couple nights earlier in San Francisco,
their guitarist Jeremy Spencer ate some mescaline trip balls, played
out of his mind, touched down in La post earthquake,
(19:50):
took GoF out of his hotel like an aftershock, down
toward Hollywood Boulevard, and hadn't been seen or heard from
in twenty four hours. Their gig was canceled and everyone
feared the worst kidnapping, murder. Haesius, Mick and John handed
out flyers, posted Jeremy's photo on telephone polls. The local
news picked up the story have you seen this man?
(20:13):
Local Christian churches on the up and up knew what
had gone down. More Hazius Death called Tom Fuckery. They
got in touch with the band's management and hit them
to some of the Lord's lesson savory radicals, cults. Their
locations were noted San Fernando Valley, the heart of the earthquake.
Fleetwood Mac drove into the angry, upset belly of Los
(20:36):
Angeles on high alert, scoping for their latest lost soul.
They drove through the destruction, toppled buildings, destroyed homes, dilapidated bridges.
Pedestrians peered at them from the roadside. Was shocked through
hollow eyes. Everything it seemed was happening in slow motion.
It was post apocalypse. The city of Angels was end times.
(20:58):
God wasn't green, God was dead, and their guitarists was gone,
maybe gone another one. How the fuck had this happened?
Mickfleetwood wondered. Another Fleetwood Mac guitar player got religion and
got himself lost. The so called children of God had
found Jeremy Spencer, and Jeremy Spencer wasn't coming back. Jeremy
(21:21):
Spencer wasn't even Jeremy Spencer anymore. He was Jonathan and
by the time his bandmates found him, he was unrecognizable,
having shaved off all of his hair, denounced his worldly possessions,
turned his back not only on his band, but on
his family, his wife and young child, explaining that Jesus
would now take care of them. Fleetwood Mac replaced Jeremy
(21:47):
Spencer with another guitarist who eventually took up with Mickfleetwood's wife,
an act that eventually cost him his job, and, along
with band managerial chaos that progressed steadily through the next
few years, seemed to spell the end for Fleetwood Mac.
But Mick Fleetwood was determined to give it one more go.
There was a new batch of songs to demo. He
(22:08):
visited Sound City Studio and his and his bandmate's new
home of Los Angeles to book studio time and was
struck by what he heard coming out of the studio
speakers mixes from a folk duo from upstate. The guitar
playing was sublime. Who was this? Mick Fleetwood needed to know.
He grabbed the guitar player's number from the Sound City
(22:28):
producer and quickly rang him up. Lindsay Buckingham, This is
Mick Fleetwood. Hey there, how you doing. I'm well listen,
we're looking for a guitar player and I'd like to
know if you'd like to come play with us. That
sounds great, we'd love to We not I we Lindsey
Buckingham finished his sentence with because my girlfriend comes with me.
(23:09):
Lindsay Buckingham's girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, couldn't wait to get off work.
She was exhausted. It was the hour she kept her shift,
kept her tied up until five PM, and by the
time she fought through rush hour traffic and got home
it was six. Then she'd have to clean up for Lindsay,
who worked from home all day perfecting songs for their
duo Buckingham Nicks. Stevie would empty the ashtrays, open their
(23:33):
tiny LA apartments windows, light candles, and clear out the
dank smell of dope. Lindsay, along with whichever other LA
working musicians cycled through that apartment Wadiwa Tawl and Warren
Zevon among them, smoked all day long while working. Stevie
would handle the mess. Then she'd clean herself up, force
herself to remember to eat something, and by nine PM
(23:55):
she'd be at Lindsay's side, writing and working on music
with them until three am, when she'd knock off, start
to wind down, crash by five, sleep until nine, be
out the door by ten, and back to start her
shift at eleven. Welcome to Clementines. My name is Stevie.
Can I take your order? Clementines was a roaring, twenty
(24:15):
scened West Hollywood restaurant, Taurus pencil necks, three martini lunch,
businessmen avoiding their bosses, geeks off the street, total cheese,
hardly roaring, more of an unimpressive burger slinging wax museum
with waitresses, dames done up and flapper outfits. Stevie Nicks
was one of them. Go on fries is that she
Santo and johnnied her way through her shifts. She couldn't
(24:37):
remember the last time she had a real full night
of sleep, and tonight would be no different. She wasn't
working on music with Lindsay tonight after work, though. Instead
the two of them were meeting up with three remaining
members of the English blues band Fleetwood Mac to discuss
joining forces with Buckingham Nicks. Little did Stevie know this
merger would prevent her from getting a proper night of
(24:58):
sleep for the next decade plus, but it would be
worth it. Magically, the two disparate styles of the folk
duo Buckingham Nix and hard blues of Fleetwood Mac fused
into something wholly unique and wildly compelling. Lindsay quickly sees
control musically, asserting his vision, chops and songwriting prowess. It
(25:20):
was hard for him not to inspired by the power
and precision of the Fleetwood mac rhythm section he now
had playing behind him. Teaming the studied guitar, singing and
arrangement talents of Lindsay Buckingham with Mick Fleetwood's steadily unique
groove in John mcvie's monster bass playing was like giving
Mario Andretti the keys to a tricked out Peterbilt Semi.
(25:41):
Something powerfully effective emerged, and this new sound was completely original.
Stevie singular vibrato, a voice never and I repeat never
heard in pop music before, floated perfectly atop this new sound.
Into Stevie's credit. She was relatively egoless in her new
role in a band with another female vocalist, Christine mcvee,
(26:03):
who herself was also without ego, and in many ways
the musical glue that held these wildly different parts together.
Christine McVie formerly Christine Perfect, was a veteran in a
total pro She was an educated musician who understood harmony
as well as she understood lowdown blues. Her playing was tasteful,
rooted in Americana, but fully conscious of the pop sensibility
(26:25):
that was alchemating within this minu and she sang like
a bird. Stevie Nick's voice may have been the siren
call that pulled you into bed under the lace canopy,
but Christine mcvie's voice was the one that kept you
there all weekend. The new Fleetwood Mac got down to work.
(26:47):
They squirreled themselves away at Sound City with a new
batch of songs demoed out at Christine and John's apartment,
and with a whole bunch of cocaine. America's first tidal
wave of coke hit in Los Angeles in the mid seventies,
and City Studios was practically fueled by the drug. Nearly
everyone who worked there or entered used, or was at
least offered cocaine. The creatively obsessed members of Fleetwood Mac
(27:10):
fell in love with the drug, at first as a
tool to use to help them stay up all night working,
then as a tool to help them fight through their
hangovers the next day. And the cycle was full tilt,
and in the beginning it yielded miraculous creative results. The
new Fleetwood Max first self titled album, released in nineteen
seventy five, not to be confused with the old Fleetwood
(27:31):
Max first self titled album released with Peter Green at
the Helm back in nineteen sixty eight, was a powerful
reminder of the promise of American pop music. Not since
The Eagle's eponymous debut in nineteen seventy two had an
American band so effortlessly melded American roots influences into top
forty pop alchemy that proved irresistible to radio programmers and
(27:52):
thus indelible to young music fans. Fleetwood Mac broke the
band through of the States. It went to number one
and sold more than seven million copies with three different
hit singles, Christine mcvie's over My Head and Say You
Love Me and Stevie Nix's Rhiannon, not to mention classic
album plays like Landslide and the Saday opener Monday Morning.
(28:14):
With success in America came a tour of Europe. The
band stayed with Eric Clapton. In England, Eric lived with
Patty Boyd Harris and George Harrison's ex and Mick Fleetwood's
sister of Awe. Patty was the sister to Mix's wife
Jenny Clapton's massive home was unheeded, and despite the copious
amounts of cocaine they ingested, they all nearly froze. That
(28:36):
chill stayed with them throughout their tour, That feeling of
never being warm enough unless you were on stage. Cold
and hungover were two constants, cold in the hotel, hungover
in the morning, dragging through sound jack, freezing on the plane,
exhausted at customs France, Sweden, Germany. Didn't matter where they were,
they were frigid, hanging, and had no shape to deal
(28:58):
especially what was to happen next. Amsterdam Airport, Holland, Netherlands.
Whatever time of the day it was, it felt like morning.
Whatever the temperature, it wasn't warm enough, and the show
the night before cooked, and so too did the requisite afterparty.
(29:18):
Waiting to pass through customs, the airport was eerily quiet.
Fleetwood Max entourage said little just waited in line, passports
in hand, to quietly move through this annoying ritual that
always seemed to take too long, no matter how quickly
it passed. Band members, crew, management, hangers on, long haired
men in heavy coats with unbuttoned shirts, chests exposed, two
(29:42):
tight pants, smelling of cigarettes, dank weed and expensive cologne.
Women in floppy hats, coats, button tight fur collars, expensive handbags,
and the allure of rich perfume, all of them wearing sunglasses. Inside,
they looked great, exactly like a traveling rock and roll
band in the sun. He should look glamorous, vampirec hungover,
(30:03):
and the women especially hot. Not just Stevie and Chris,
their hair and make up girls and the crew as well.
The pervy customs agents weren't going to let them pass
without a search. They had cause, after all, look at them.
They screamed, drugged out mess. The women, just the women,
were unceremoniously pulled out of line and into a private
(30:24):
back room. Each was told to lose their jackets, then
their blouses, but grudgingly, Stevie Nicks and Christine mcvee, each
of whom looked as though they could pommel the manipulative
customs agents at any moment, obliged along with the female
members of their crew. Then they were told to strip
off their pants down to their panties. The pervy agents
(30:45):
could barely suppress their giggles. The girls, despite their brave front,
were more than likely scared standing near naked in that
freezing room, as were the men in the entourage waiting
for them outside of the room with no idea what
was going on. No drugs were found. The whole affair
amounted to a pathetic, manipulative, and cheap scene, A humiliating
(31:07):
strip search of just the women in the band's entourage
by the male customs agents. Customs inform Fleetwood Max Management
that they were operating on a tip of the band's
rumored cocaine use rumors, not actual evidence. Rumors supposedly compelled
the customs agents to search the women in the band's entourage,
and rumors would also compel Fleetwood Mac to a level
(31:30):
of success that would ensure the band would never have
to fly commercial again, a level of rock stardom that
was beyond the band's wildest dreams of excess and deepest
fears of disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan in this episode of
disgrace Land is to be continued. Disgraceland was created by
(32:11):
Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis.
Credits for this episode can be found on the show
notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as
a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show.
We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become
a member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com
slash Membership. Members can listen to every episode of Disgraceland
(32:34):
ad free, Plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode
every month, weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, and
early access to merchandise and events. Visit disgracelampod dot com
slash Membership for details, Rate and review the show, and
follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at disgracelampod
(32:55):
and on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at disgracelampod,
Rock and Roller. He's a bad, bad man.
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