The 76-year-old British-born artist and bandleader Mick Fleetwood formed his namesake band, Fleetwood Mac, in 1967. About a decade later, the group welcomed in singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. That’s when things exploded, professionally and personally.
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These days, Fleetwood Mac is remembered as one of the iconic and influential bands of the mid-20th century. With albums like Rumors and songs like “Dreams” and “Go Your Own Way,” their music remains timeless.
But with so much musical experience and so much history behind him, one might wonder what Fleetwood has to say about his band, former bandmates, craft, life, and love. What are his thoughts on the world around him?
Here are the 17 best Mick Fleetwood Quotes.
1. “Fleetwood Mac were really accessible musically, but lyrically and emotionally, we weren’t so easy. And it was our music that helped us survive. But all of us were in pieces personally.”
2. “The value of friends has always been a natural thing. I prefer too many to too few.”
3. “If you were to ask me, ‘What the hell does a musician have in common with a restaurant?’ I would say a huge amount. It’s show time every day, it’s a team of people, like, running a circus, which is running a rock-and-roll band.”
4. “We’re all looking for those moments—a relief. That’s why people go out and treat themselves.”
5. “To me, the blues is an infection. I don’t think it’s necessarily a melancholy thing; the blues can be really positive and I think I think anyone and everyone can have a place for the blues. It need not be always a woeful, sorrowful thing. It’s more reflective; it reminds you to feel.”
6. “No matter what—rehearsed, under-rehearsed, over-rehearsed, doubts about rehearsing—the first gig is always the first gig, and you put on your little praying hat, batten down the hatch, and do what you do.”
7. “I have a lot of respect for these rock photographers. You realize that some of them were really led into the inner circles of some of these artists and bands. And you see how those photographs really capture the artist, the moment.”
8. “I keep fit, I work out, I eat pretty damn well, I don’t drink like a fish, and all of those things are tempered with a holistic mindset that you need to damn well respect the vehicle that you’re walking around in.”
9. “Fleetwood Mac has been pretty truthful. Open about what we do. We’ve always done it from the inside out. Versus being pressured from the outside and changing the inside. And that’s our story.”
10. “Life is a glass of wine and having your feet washed—it’s a biblical event, might I add. This is part of mankind’s story. You are always looking for a moment to take a break.”
11. “My template for most songs is ‘Is this inspiring?’ and with the blues it so often is.”
12. “John Lee Hooker became a friend of mine and I love all of his work. He was truly an icon. He lived the life. I miss him.”
13. “I love wearing a lot of color, and I am majorly into scarves. I’m the Beau Brummell of Fleetwood Mac, no doubt.”
14. “All of us… anyone that’s been in Fleetwood Mac, as far as I’ve been aware, has been seemingly pretty well brought up by their parents: not goody-two-shoes—God knows we weren’t—but there was a level of civility that the lads in the band were aware of, what is over the brink of decency.”
15. “Kudos to Lindsey, for sure, for us not doing a replica of Rumours.”
16. “I think it’s part of how people relate to Fleetwood Mac. In many ways, we’ve been too open and too truthful about stuff that is really none of anyone’s business. I think we were quite naive in the way we related a lot of that truth to people other than ourselves.”
17. “I think we were damned lucky that our music never went down the drain because we went down the drain, and I think, in truth, there are moments where you could have said we got pretty close, you know.”
Photo by Amanda Demme / Shore Fire Media
