Stevie Nicks Reflects on 'Rumours' as Album Turns 40
"If anything was keeping us from falling apart, it was going into the studio."
— -- Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the release of one of the most beloved, not to mention best-selling, albums of all time: Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours."
While the making of the album was full of drama, Stevie Nicks still looks back on the experience as "fantastic."
"We were all writing little movies around what was really happening, and we were digging it," she told ABC News. "We were having a lot of fun recording those songs, even though we were falling apart ... if anything was keeping us from falling apart, it was going into the studio every day. And we were totally having a great time."
At the time they recorded "Rumours," newly divorced keyboardist Christine McVie and bass player John McVie were on the outs, and Lindsey Buckingham and Nicks also were breaking up. In addition, drummer Mick Fleetwood was having marital issues. "Rumours" co-producer Ken Caillat added that the band "started throwing champagne in each other's faces and yelling at each other," and that fights broke out in response to the song lyrics, which they all wrote about each other.
Nicks, however, insisted that the band thrived on the turmoil.
"It was not awful at all, it was fantastic!" she gushed. "We were rich, we were young, we were falling out of love with each other, but, hey ... there was a lot of other men and women in the world, and we were all moving on. ... So as bad as it was, it was still great."
"Rumours," which featured songs including "Go Your Own Way," "Dreams," "Don't Stop" and "You Make Loving Fun," topped the Billboard album chart and won the Grammy for album of the year. It's sold more than 45 million copies worldwide.