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TL;DR:

  • Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks barely worked on one of her band’s albums.
  • Lindsey Buckingham said he was surprised she didn’t work on it even less.
  • Several songs from the album became hits in the United States.
Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks with a microphone
Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks | Paul Natkin/Getty Images

Fleetwood Mac‘s Stevie Nicks is arguably the most famous member of the band. Despite this, she didn’t contribute much to one of her band’s most famous albums. The album included “Everywhere” and other famous songs.

Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks worked for 3 weeks tops on an album that took about a year to record

During a 2021 interview with Vulture, Buckingham discussed Fleetwood Mac’s 1987 album Tango in the Night. “Getting to the end of Tango in the Night was a bit of a triumph,” he opined. “We actually made it through!”

The album took a while to make. “That album probably took about a year to record,” Buckingham recalled. “During that time, I swear to God, we probably saw Stevie for only a few weeks. Maybe three at most. I don’t even know how we got the stuff out of her.”

Stevie Nicks wasn’t the only one who was dysfunctional during the creation of the album

Buckingham said Mick Fleetwood’s behavior was also unusual during the recording of Tango in the Night. “Mick didn’t want to drive home at night,” Buckingham said. “Basically, for months, he was living in a trailer in my front yard. So the whole thing was a bit less than ideal on that level. It was sort of a harbinger of dysfunction.” 

Buckingham blamed this behavior on the band’s subculture. “Obviously, the whole subculture of rock ‘n’ roll was living that life to some degree or another,” he said. “Many people were beginning to hit the wall and realizing they had to come out the other side and pivot away from that.”

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How Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tango in the Night’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

Tango in the Night became a big success for the band in the United States. The album hit No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 58 weeks. Two singles from the album — “Big Love” and “Little Lies” — reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, the album’s songs “Everywhere” and “Seven Wonders” reached the top 20.

The Official Charts Company reports Tango in the Night topped the chart in the United Kingdom for five weeks, remaining on the chart for 123 weeks in total. In addition, three songs from the album — “Big Love,” “Little Lies,” and “Everywhere” — reached the top 10 of the U.K. chart.

Tango in the Night is one of Fleetwood Mac’s classic albums even if Nicks didn’t spend much time working on it.

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