RIP Christine McVie

[spanx]

Fleetwood Mac have been a constant in my life since I can remember. Early Peter Green stuff on my Dad’s stereo, dancing with my Mum and sister to Tusk, long car journeys with Rumours playing in the car. In recent years they’ve been a source of warmth and comfort despite the often tragic lyrics, they are a bit of a relic of a time gone by when music sounded expensive and lusciously produced. Hearing about Christine McVie dying was quite a shock, despite her tracks never being my favourites she was clearly a strong and supremely talented woman. 
 

Tusk on right now…

[Plissken]

I think this is a good obituary - https://www.theringer.com/music/2022/12/1/23488194/christine-mcvie-fleetwood-mac-obit

Quote

From the day one fans, to the people for whom the mega-selling Rumours soundtracked their Rick Moody–esque key parties, to the children conceived at said key parties, to the contrarians who insist (possibly correctly) that Tusk is the real masterpiece, to the punks and hipsters that eventually admitted to themselves that Fleetwood Mac is as great as their parents said, to the casual music fans whose record collection can be counted on one hand, Fleetwood Mac’s reach was as wide as that of any artist you could possibly name. But that sheer ubiquity wouldn’t have happened without McVie.

 

In addition to “Don’t Stop,” McVie wrote, well, half of the songs on Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits, and had more singles credited solely to her than any other member of the band. This includes the 1987 hit “Everywhere,” a luscious ball of harmonies that always seems to pop out of nowhere and that is currently soundtracking a commercial for Chevrolet’s electric vehicles. She also wrote “You Make Loving Fun,” a song whose backstory is endlessly mythologized. McVie’s expert deployment of electric piano, organ, and clavinet still sounds futuristic, while also nailing the classy yet groovy spirits of the ’70s.

 

[Corranga]

I was sad to read this too, though the shock was perhaps that of all the members, it was her who had passed, rather than a shock of someone from Fleetwood Mac passing!

I'm another for whom her tracks were never my favourites, but without her (notable and sizable) contributions to the FM back catalogue, I suspect that many of us, myself included, may never have heard of them in the first place.

 

 

[Hanzo the Razor]

I saw them live in 2015. The MVP was Lindsey Buckingham but she was also bloody good. Seemed a lovely person too. Her version of Etta James "I'd Rather Go Blind" is well worth seeking out.

[ZOK]

There was a good documentary about her on BBC4 last night called Songbird, I guess it’s on iplayer.

[englishbob]

Although I can't really stand the Mac (the story is better than the music) I realise she was the best songwriter of the bunch.

 

RIP Christine

[Jammy]

Similar to you @spanx, the Mac in all their forms wove their way through my childhood and beyond. Always on the stereo, whether at home or in the car. My parents even called their house ‘Fleetwood’, and before they got divorced they went to see them numerous times from the Peter Green days through their 70s/80s heyday. ‘Songbird’ played at my father’s funeral too.
 

Although not a terrible shock as such, it’s extremely sad.