Thinking About Tomorrow Edition Part 2

Summary

Hit Parade: "Thinking About Tomorrow Edition Part 2"

Podcast: Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Host: Chris Molanphy, with producer Kevin Bendis
Date: January 28, 2023

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Episode Overview

This episode of Hit Parade dives deep into the pivotal late-1970s through the 2010s chapters of Fleetwood Mac, focusing especially on the creative output and chart success of Christine McVie. Host Chris Molanphy explores how the band—amid internal turmoil—crafted their biggest hits, details each album’s production saga, and analyzes why McVie's songwriting became the backbone of their commercial and critical achievements.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" Era: Turmoil Breeds Triumph

[00:00–09:54]

• Personal Chaos, Chart Gold:
  Every Fleetwood Mac member underwent personal breakups during the recording of Rumors.

  • “The legend of Rumors is that all this turmoil…made the music better. It’s a plausible theory and a great backstory.” —Chris Molanphy [03:13]

• Songwriting Synergy:

  • Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsey Buckingham spurred each other to ‘never better songwriting’.
  • Rumors rapidly climbed to No. 1 in early April 1977, eventually spending 31 weeks atop the charts—the third longest run ever.

• Singles Breakdown:

  • “Go Your Own Way” (Buckingham) – first US Top 10 hit (#10)
  • “Dreams” (Nicks) – only US #1 single
  • “Don’t Stop” (McVie)—optimistic breakup song, peaked at #3
    • “Don't Stop was written by Christine McVie alone… expressing hope about her post-married life.” [07:45]
  • “You Make Loving Fun” (McVie)—peaked at #9
  • Rumors became the first album by a single act to generate four Top 10 hits on the US charts.

• Album Legacy:

  • Rumors certified for 20 million US copies, estimated 40 million worldwide.

2. Tusk: Experimentation and Aftermath

[10:03–13:09]

• Difficult Follow-Up:
  • Tusk (1979) was expensive, experimental, and saw less commercial success.
  • Buckingham introduced punk and new wave influences—title track partially recorded at Dodger Stadium with USC Marching Band, still peaking at #8.
  • McVie’s “Think About Me” stood out for its accessible pop tone (#20), though Tusk sold a fraction of Rumors.

3. Solo Pursuits and “Mirage” Comeback

[14:34–17:34]

• Solo Careers Bloom:

  • Stevie Nicks (Bella Donna, 1981) and Lindsey Buckingham (Law and Order) found solo success; Mick Fleetwood also released a solo LP.
  • Christine McVie held back, saving her material for the next Mac record—“a wise move”.

• Mirage (1982): Return to Pop:

  • “Hold Me” (McVie/Patton) reached #4, holding in Top 5 for seven weeks.
  • “Gypsy” (Nicks) hit #12; “Oh Diane” (Buckingham) marked a UK Top 10 return.
  • McVie also scored with “Love in Store” (#22).

4. Christine McVie's Solo Hits and Fleetwood Mac's 1980s Success

[17:34–25:32]

• Christine McVie Goes Solo (1984):

  • “Got a Hold on Me” peaked at #10.
    • “That makes Fleetwood Mac the only group to ever have two active members in the top 40 at the same time twice.” —Casey Kasem [19:36]
  • “Love Will Show Us How” peaked at #30.

• Tango in the Night (1987):

  • Album initially began as Buckingham’s solo project; became the last full studio Mac record with the classic 5-member lineup.
  • “Big Love” (#5), “Seven Wonders” (#20), then two big McVie tracks:
    • “Little Lies” (McVie/Quintella) peaked at #4 [23:53]
    • “Everywhere” (#14) became a long-lived radio favorite and Spotify staple.
      • “‘Everywhere’ is an integral part of her pop legacy.” [25:26]

• Post-Buckingham Era:

  • After Buckingham’s 1987 departure, new members kept the band going, but commercial strength slipped.

5. Late 1980s/90s: McVie Anchors Fleetwood Mac Through Change

[25:37–32:14]

• Greatest Hits and “As Long As You Follow”:

  • Christine's track topped multiple charts and drove compilation sales.

• Behind the Mask (1990):

  • “Save Me” (McVie/Quintella) - FM's last Top 40 hit, peaked at #33.
  • McVie declined to tour, but her influence remained.

• Presidential Inauguration:

  • At Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration, the classic lineup reunited to perform “Don’t Stop”.

• The Dance (1997):

  • MTV special and live album spurred a resurgence; McVie debuted “Temporary One” live.

6. Final Decades and McVie's Legacy

[32:22–37:18]

• Retreat and Return:

  • McVie contributed vocals to 2003's Say You Will but did not rejoin full-time.
  • A 2017 collaborative album with Buckingham received strong reviews.

• 2013–2019: A Triumphant Return to the Stage:

  • McVie’s 2013 onstage appearance at London’s O2 Arena marked a full return.
    • “This precious lady whose songs echo through this band's history, England's own. Our Songbird… Welcome, Christine Mac.” —[35:05]
  • Toured extensively with Fleetwood Mac through 2019.

• Christine McVie’s Passing and Enduring Importance:

  • Last tour: November 2019; passed away in November 2022.
  • “Her stage presence was, as ever, unflashy, friendly, familiar and reliable. Her music, however, was and will continue to be every day a little louder.” —Chris Molanphy [37:07]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Chart Destiny:

  • “I have a simpler theory about Rumors. It was just Fleetwood Mac’s time.” —Chris Molanphy [03:37]

• On Christine McVie’s Songwriting Style:

  • “When it came to writing about romantic travail, Christine later said, ‘I’m just definitely not a pessimist.’” [06:30]

• Band Dynamics:

  • “Tusk was the opposite of Rumors, thorny and experimental where its predecessor had been warm and accessible.” —Chris Molanphy [11:54]

• On “Everywhere”’s Enduring Appeal:

  • “‘Everywhere’ is an integral part of her pop legacy.” —Chris Molanphy [25:26]
  • “Pitchfork…called ‘Everywhere’ ‘incandescent and the best song on Tango in the Night.’” [25:27]

• Casey Kasem’s Chart Trivia:

  • “That makes Fleetwood Mac the only group to ever have two active members in the top 40 at the same time twice.” —Casey Kasem [19:36]

• Christine McVie’s Impact:

  • “Her songs were all over the set list, a reminder of how she had quietly anchored Fleetwood Mac for nearly 50 years.” [36:54]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:00–03:30: Setting the stage—post-1975 ascendancy of Fleetwood Mac.
• 03:30–09:54: Rumors era—breakups, hit singles, and McVie’s key contributions.
• 10:03–13:09: Tusk, experimentation, and moving away from the formula.
• 14:34–17:34: Mirage—return to pop, McVie’s comeback hits.
• 17:34–25:37: Solo success, the 1980s chart run, Tango in the Night, and enduring McVie classics.
• 29:30–32:14: The 1990s, reunions, and live album The Dance.
• 32:14–37:18: The final decades, McVie’s return to the band, her last tours, and legacy.

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Conclusion

This episode highlights Christine McVie's consistent and crucial role in Fleetwood Mac’s success, chronicling her songwriting, her understated leadership, and her ability to blend optimism with sophisticated pop musicianship. In tracing five decades of band history, Chris Molanphy underscores the idea that even in a group marked by spectacle and personal drama, it's often the steady hand (and song) of a figure like McVie that anchors the legend.

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For fans and newcomers alike, this episode is a comprehensive guide to Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits era and Christine McVie’s unforgettable contributions—making clear why her legacy endures in every note that plays “Everywhere.”

Transcript

[Chris Melanfi]

You're listening ad free on Amazon Music. Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One series. On our last episode we talked about the formation of transatlantic band Fleetwood Mac and how the songwriting of the late Christine McVie carried them from their early days as British blues rock hitmakers through a long early 70s dry spell. We're now up to the late 70s. The Americans Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have joined the band and their songs and McVie's are going to power for Fleetwood Mac's biggest LP ever. The album that would become Rumors began to take shape before the promotional cycle for 1975's Fleetwood Mac LP was even half over. The self titled LP took so long to climb the charts that Rumors was largely in the can before its predecessor even hit number one in the fall of 76.

[Kevin Bendis]

That doesn't mean recording.

[Chris Melanfi]

Recording the follow up had been easy. Infamously, every member of Fleetwood Mac, literally.

[Kevin Bendis]

All five of them, underwent some kind.

[Chris Melanfi]

Of romantic breakup during the making of Rumors. For those who need a brief recap, John and Christine McVie divorced in 1976. Years of John's alcoholism as well as the toil of life on the road and working together as spouses finally took their toll. Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, though unmarried.

[Kevin Bendis]

Had been together for over half a.

[Chris Melanfi]

Decade, but their fractious relationship splintered permanently, done in by Lindsay's controlling nature and an affair Stevie had. Even Mick Fleetwood found himself the victim of an affair when he discovered that his wife, model Jenny Boyd, had been romantically entangled with another former Fleetwood Mac guitarist, Bob Weston. Fleetwood and Boyd would divorce, remarry and divorce again. The legend of Rumors is that all this turmoil and the band members all agree that working together at this time was often torturous, made the music better. It's a plausible theory and a great backstory. To be sure, the spite between the former couples is all over the lyrics of songs like the Stevie Nicks penned Dreams. And the Lindsey Buckingham authored Go youo Own Way. Speaking as a chart analyst, I have a simpler theory about Rumors. It was just Fleetwood Mac's time. Their 1975 album had gradually sold millions by 76 and set the stage for whatever came next to explode on the charts. Nicks, Buckingham and Christine McVie were all spurring each other to never better songwriting melodically as well as lyrically. When Rumors arrived in February 1977 the dramatic backstory of the album wasn't widely disseminated in the press yet, but the LP shot to number one in just six weeks. Quite fast. In the days before computerized charts, it was on top of the LP chart by early April 77, when Go youo Own Way, the first single, had only just peaked on the Hot 100. Now we can't know if, hypothetically, a lack of interpersonal turmoil would have produced an LP as big as as Rumors, which, by the way, went on to spend a staggering 31 weeks at number one, the third longest run on top in chart history after the west side Story SoundTrack and Michael Jackson's Thriller. It's now certified for a stunning 20 million copies in the US alone, roughly double that worldwide. But I dare say that songs this melodically excellent with happier lyrics might have done virtually as well. Coming from a band in Fleetwood Mac's position, they were just destined to crush the charts and own 1977. The album's lyrical soap opera was just a delicious media stoking bonus. After Go youo Own Way peaked at number 10, becoming the band's first ever US top 10 hit, Dreams did even better, going all the way to the top of the Hot 100. By June, Stevie Nicks's resigned sigh of a breakup was Lament became Fleetwood Mac's only US Number one single. But the album wasn't done spinning off hits. The next two singles were by Christine McVie and rather belying rumors tortured reputation, the third single was quite sunny and optimistic. At one point, the Rumors album's original title was going to be Yesterday's Gone after a lyric in Don't Stop. As it turns out, Don't Stop was a breakup song too. Christine McVie said she wrote it after separating from husband John and expressing hope about her post married life. When it came to writing about romantic travail, Christine later said, I'm just definitely not a pessimist. Often mistaken for a Lindsey Buckingham song because he sang the first first verse. Don't Stop was written by Christine McVie alone. She sang the second verse and harmonized with Buckingham on the third. Don't Stop peaked at number three on the Hot 100 by September 1977, the album's third straight top ten hit to that date in Hot 100 history, no album by a single act had ever generated more than three 3 top 10s, but once again, Rumors was the exception. Again turning heartbreak into uplift. Christine McVie wrote you make Loving Fun about a fling she had with a lighting technician in 1976 while in the midst of breaking up with John. Groovy and sensual, the song echoed the woolly blues rock she'd written for Fleetwood Mac during the early 70s, but with a much brighter tone. When you make Loving Fun peaked at number nine in December 1977. Rumors became the first single artist LP in chart history to generate four top ten hits. How hot were Fleetwood Mac? By the end of 77 on album rock radio, almost every song on the album became an FM staple, from the Chain to Secondhand News to Goldust Woman. Deep cuts became fan favorites like Christine McVie's tender ballad Songbird.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

Singing Let Me Know the SC.

[Chris Melanfi]

And Christine even sprinkled her hit Making Fairy Dust on an Old Friend when she helped former bandmate Bob Welch re record his 1972 Fleetwood Mac song Sentimental lady as a solo single.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

Because we live In a time, McVie.

[Chris Melanfi]

Co produced Welch's new Sentimental lady with Lindsey Buckingham, who also played guitar on the track. Both provided backing vocals and Mick Fleetwood played drums. Released in the fall of 77, Bob Welch's spin off of the Fleetwood Max cinematic Universe reached number eight in January 1978. That's how Hot Fleetwood Mac were at this time. Rumors was essentially impossible to follow up, so Fleetwood Mac didn't really try. They spent more than a million dollars a record at the time to record their 1979 double album Tusk. No word on how much of that money went to the cocaine bud. In essence, Tusk was the opposite of rumors, thorny and experimental where its predecessor.

[Kevin Bendis]

Had been warm and accessible.

[Chris Melanfi]

Dominated by songs from Lindsey Buckingham, who was intent on addressing the 70s punk and new wave movements within Fleetwood Max music, Tusk generated the band's strangest hits, including the title track, a tribal chant that was partially recorded in Dodger Stadium backed by the USC Trojan Marching Band, and somehow made it to number eight.

[Kevin Bendis]

On the Hot 100.

[Chris Melanfi]

This is what an imperial phase sounds.

[Kevin Bendis]

Like.

[Chris Melanfi]

Sarah, a tender Stevie Nicks ballad written about, intriguingly, an unborn child. It sprawled for more than six minutes and featured Mick Fleetwood playing with brushes rather than his usual pounding drumsticks. Sarah reached number seven in February 1980.

[Stevie Nicks (singing parts)]

Dead Sarah, you're the poet in my heart.

[Chris Melanfi]

As ever, the friendliest hit on the album came from Christine McVie, whose chugging rocker Think About Me reached number 20 in April 1980. Think About Me on an album this odd, McVie's work stood out for its approachability. Tusk, which only reached number four on the album chart and sold a fraction of what Rumors did, wound up the only LP of Fleetwood Mac's peak hit making period where Christine McVie didn't write either the most or the biggest hits. After an 11 month tour supporting Tusk, the band members were burned out on each other and eager to work outside of Fleetwood Mac. So in 1981, three out of the five members issued solo albums, including Stevie Nicks, who topped the Billboard album chart with her solo debut Bella Donna.

[Kevin Bendis]

Lindsey.

[Chris Melanfi]

Buckingham, who dropped his solo debut Law and Order, And even Mick Fleetwood, whose globe trotting solo LP the visitor also arrived in 81. The one regular Mac songwriter who resisted the solo siren song was Christine McVie, ironic as she'd been the first to release a solo LP way back in 1970. McVie instead saved the songs she was writing for the next Fleetwood Mac album, which turned out to be a wise move.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

Can you understand me baby? Don't you hand me a line?

[Chris Melanfi]

Hold Me was the lead single to Mirage, Fleetwood Mac's 1982 return to centrist pop recording after the experimental Tusk, co written with Robby Patton, a singer songwriter Christine McVie had been producing. Hold Me featured a joint vocal between McVie and Lindsey Buckingham in much the same style as 1977's Don't Stop it gave notice to fans of rumors that the kings and queens of co ed California style pop were back. In the summer of 82, Hold Me rose to number four on the Hot 100, where it held for seven straight weeks. In mid August, while the song was locked in the top five, Mirage hit number one on the album chart. Once again, Christine McVie had served as Fleetwood Mac's unassuming pop ambassador. Mirage went on to generate more hits, including the dreamlike Stevie Nicks Fantasia gypsy, a number 12 hit. And In England, Lindsey Buckingham's throwback 50s rock and roll style o Diane returned Fleetwood Mac to the UK top 10 for the first time in over three years.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

Whoa, whoa, Diane.

[Stevie Nicks (singing parts)]

Talking about Diane.

[Chris Melanfi]

Yet once again, the biggest hit maker on the album was Christine McVie. Her mid tempo bop Love in Store reached number 22 in January 1983, giving her a pair of hits from Mirage. Then once again, after the Mac album cycle ran its course, the birds all flew away from the nest. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham went back to solo projects, with Nicks scoring another hit album with 1983's the Wild Heart. And Buckingham cracking the top 40 in 1984 with his synth pop heavy LP Go Insane. Finally, after resisting for nearly a decade and a half, Christine McVie succumbed to the solo bug. 1984's Christine McVie, simply titled after her name. Like her 1970 Christine Perfect album was only her second ever solo LP. And of course, given her gift for melody, she generated a hit.

[Kevin Bendis]

Co written with guitarist Todd Sharp.

[Chris Melanfi]

MCV's Got a Hold on Me cracked the top 40 in the winter of 84, and Casey Kasem offered some deep Fleetwood Mac trivia.

[Casey Kasem]

A minute ago, at number 33, we heard Stevie Nick's latest solo hit, Nightbird. Now, at number 32, we have Christine McVie with Gotta Hold On Me. And that makes Fleetwood Mac the only group to ever have two active members in the top 40 at the same time twice. Here's one of those solo hits by a Fleetwood Mac member debuting at number 32 this week. Christine McVie and got a Hold On Me.

[Chris Melanfi]

Got A Hold On Me ultimately reached number 10 in March. Christine's first and only top 10 solo hit. McVie even generated a solid follow up. When Love Will Show Us how reached number 30 in June.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

I don't know how love will survive but it's all right for now.

[Chris Melanfi]

It would be the last time a song written by Christine McVie would touch the top 40 for three years. When she came back, it was within the comforting confines of Fleetwood Mac. But this album would not prove entirely happy either.

[Kevin Bendis]

In 1985, Lindsey Buckingham began work on what he thought would be his third solo album, the follow up to Go Insane. Instead, Mick Fleetwood talked Buckingham into turning the project into the next Fleetwood Mac album. The resulting lp, Tango in the Night, was, in essence, a Lindsey Buckingham album disguised as Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham even took a full producer credit for the first time on a Mac album. The album took 18 months to piece together, even longer than Tusk. Buckingham later called it the worst recording experience of his life. He'd painstakingly compiled songs from fragments contributed by the other band members, including Mick Fleetwood, who was battling cocaine addiction, and especially Stevie Nicks, who actually went to rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic for her cocaine addiction. When Tango's first single, Big Love, arrived in March 1987, it sounded like co quintessential Buckingham, with backing vocals from the other Mac members and even Lindsay himself, modifying his own voice to sound female. In a sign that the public had missed the band after their five year absence, Big Love was a remarkably big hit, peaking at number five. For the second single from Tango in the Night, Fleetwood Mac went with one of the few songs Stevie Nicks had contributed to the sessions, the otherworldly Seven Wonders. It reached number 20. And then yet again, the album's biggest, longest lasting hits came from Christine McVie her compositions were very well served by Lindsay's atmospheric, meticulous production. Buckingham and McVie had always worked well together, and Tango in the Night contained some of their most polished productions. Released as Tango's third single, Little Lies, co written by McVie with her then husband Eddie Quintella, climbed all the way to number four by November 87, and it was followed by one of Christine's most beloved singles written by her alone, the lush Ballyrick Everywhere. Though it only reached number 14 in early 1988, everywhere has had a remarkably long shelf of life. To this day, it's one of Fleetwood Mac's most popular songs, ranked third among all their hits on Spotify, fourth if you include the non hit the Chain. According to Luminate, Everywear receives more than 6,000 radio spins a year. Pitchfork magazine ranked it among the 200 greatest songs of the 1980s. Their critic Brad Nelson called Everywhere quote incandescent and the best song on Tango in the Night. More than most Christine McVie hits, everywhere is an integral part of her pop legacy.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

I want to be with you Everywhere.

[Kevin Bendis]

Christine even contributed the Tango album's biggest non single, the rock radio hit Isn't It Midnight? Co written by McVie with Buckingham and Quintella. Isn't It Midnight? Reached number 14 on Billboard's album rock chart without being issued as a US single. In short, despite its heavy Lindsey Buckingham pedigree, Tango in the Night was dominated by hits from Christine McVie. Toward the end of 1987, Buckingham stunned his fellow bandmates when just weeks before the launch of a tour to support Tango, he announced he was leaving Fleetwood Mac, the result of his burnout after carrying their latest LP, the famed Five Person Mack lineup. Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks that had generated more than a dozen years of hits would never record a full studio album together again. But the story of Fleetwood Mac dating to the 1960s and its founding by Peter Green was one of perseverance. Mick Fleetwood wouldn't let the band die. He found a pair of new guitarists, Billy Burnett and Rick Vito, to replace Lindsey Buckingham, and the band completed the tour. Really more to the point, Christine McVie wouldn't let Fleetwood Mac die. For the next few years, the hits largely came from her. In 1988, Fleetwood Mac issued a greatest hits album focused on their post 1975 multi platinum incarnation. The compilation included a couple of new songs, one of which the Christine penned. As Long as yous Follow hit multiple charts, including the album Rock chart where it reached number 15 and the adult contemporary chart, where it reached number one. The greatest hits album went platinum instantly. It has since been certified octuple platinum. The next challenge would be recording a new album without Buckingham. Stevie Nicks continued to divide her time between Fleetwood Mac and her solo quote career, which was still thriving and generating hits like the 1989 top 10 hit rooms on Fire. That largely left Christine McVie, along with new Fleetwood Mac members Burnett and Vito, to generate radio flag friendly material for the new album. Though 1990s behind the Mask earned middling reviews and poor sales, its commercial saving grace was Save me. Written by McVie with husband Eddie Quintella, it became Fleetwood Mac's last new Top 40 hit, peaking at number 33 in May 1990.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

Come on Baby and Save Me I'm gonna.

[Kevin Bendis]

A few months later, another McVie composition from the album Sky's the Limit cracked the top 10 on the adult Contemporary chart. Christine Christine McVie turned down touring for behind the Mask, even retiring temporarily from the road, but she continued to influence Fleetwood Mac even as the band entered another commercial wilderness phase. The classic lineup did reunite for one gig in the early 90s, essentially by presidential decree. 1992 US presidential candidate Bill Clinton had used McVie's song Don't Stop as his campaign theme. The new Commander in Chief requested that they reform for one night at his January 1993 inaugural to perform the song. Even Lindsey Buckingham agreed to appear. The Bill Clinton command performance generated press attention but did little to improve Fleetwood Mac's commercial fortunes, at least for new music. Their 1995 album Time failed to chart entirely, although McVie Co wrote and sang the album's lead single I Do and.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

You show me the light and I do, I do.

[Kevin Bendis]

However, in May of 1997, when the group was persuaded to revisit old glories for an MTV broadcast special called the Dance.

[Stevie Nicks (singing parts)]

Well, I've been afraid of changing Cause I build my life around you.

[Kevin Bendis]

The resulting live album was a blockbuster. The Dance topped the Billboard album chart and went quintuple platinum. Christine McVie even used the performance to debut a new song called Temporary One that was a minor hit in Europe.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

The river goes on and on and the sea that divides us is a temporary one.

[Kevin Bendis]

In 1998, when Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, they performed an acoustic set that was led off not by any of the Big Rumors hits, but rather Christine's classic 1976 hit say youy Love Me. Five years later, in 2003, 4/5 of the classic Fleetwood Mac lineup actually reformed in the studio to record what remains the last Fleetwood Mac studio album, say you will. The one holdout was Christine McVie, who declined to rejoin the band for say you Will, but she did contribute backing vocals to a few tracks, such as Lindsey Buckingham's Bleed to Love Her. On her own, McVie recorded just one more solo album in in her lifetime, 2004's Independently released in the meantime when.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

The Sun Goes Down.

[Kevin Bendis]

However, in 2017, she and old friend Buckingham recorded a one off album as a duo titled simply Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie. Unlike Lindsay and Stevie Nicks, the lack of a romantic history between McVie and Buckingham gave them an easy chemistry and no baggage. The album earned strong reviews and even cracked the top 20 on the Billboard album chart. As for live performance during the 21st century, Fleetwood Mac has toured off and on very lucratively. But McVie stayed off stage for all of the 2000s. It was only in 2013 that she was finally persuaded to return on stage for a much touted single appearance at London's O2 Arena. Finally, Christine McVie was at the center of the Fleetwood Mac hype.

[Announcer/Host introducing Christine McVie]

Well, this precious lady whose songs echo through this band's history, England's own Our Songbird with no more ado. Give it up London. Welcome, Christine Mac.

[Chris Melanfi]

That live appearance proved to be a breakthrough for McVie.

[Kevin Bendis]

She returned to the fold and in the final decade of her life, toured extensively with Fleetwood Mac. The band last toured in 2019, the year before the COVID 19 pandemic. Christine's last show was in late November 2019, almost exactly three years before her passing in late November 2022 after a brief illness. On that final 2019 tour, by the way, Lindsey Buckingham was once again out of the band. Fleetwood Mac is, as ever, suffused with drama. Christine McVie could usually be found behind her keyboards, singing slightly apart from the front of the stage.

[Chris Melanfi (closing remarks)]

But her songs.

[Kevin Bendis]

Were all over the set list, a reminder of how she had quietly anchored Fleetwood Mac for nearly 50 years. Her stage presence was, as ever, unflashy, friendly, familiar and reliable. Her music, however, was and will continue to be every day a little louder.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

I'll even shout, you know that I'm proud and I can't get the words out.

[Chris Melanfi (closing remarks)]

I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi.

[Kevin Bendis]

That's me.

[Chris Melanfi (closing remarks)]

My producer is is Kevin Bendis. Kevin also produced the latest installment of our monthly hit parade, the Bridge shows, which are available exclusively to Slate plus members. In our latest Bridge episode, I talk to critic Alfred Soto about the specific combination of skills that made Christine McVie Fleetwood Mac's biggest hitmaker. To sign up for Slate plus and hear not only the Bridge but all our shows the day they drop, visit slate.com hitparadeplus Derek John is executive producer of Narrative Podcasts and Alicia Montgomery is VP of Audio for Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of [e-mail] podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward.

[Chris Melanfi]

To leading the Hit Parade back your way.

[Chris Melanfi (closing remarks)]

Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanie.

[Christine McVie (singing parts)]

I want to be with you everywhere. I. Wanna be with you.