When Fleetwood Mac is mentioned, many immediately think of the contributions of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. However, Christine McVie is responsible for writing some of the band’s best songs.
That’s something Mick Fleetwood recognized in a sweet tribute to McVie in honor of what would have been her 81st birthday. He wrote, “For Christine McVie… First, you are missed by me and your band, Fleetwood Mac. This being your birthday serves as a reminder for SO many … that our blessing is your music lives on!! You are our forever ‘Song Bird!’ Happy Birthday, Christine.”
In honor of her birthday on July 12, here are just five classic Fleetwood Mac songs that McVie wrote/co-wrote.
But First, Watch Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks Effortlessly Handle a Sexist Question in a Video From 1977
Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks undoubtedly dealt with a lot of sexism in the ’70s, as evident by this interview clip from 1977. However, they had no problem shutting down a journalist’s incredibly sexist question.
In the clip below, an off-screen reporter asks Lindsey Buckingham, “It must have been one of the first bands to incorporate ladies and use them as such. Any problems as far as credibility of ladies in rock ’n’ roll when the band first hit the road with the girls?”
Buckingham responded awkwardly, “I don’t think so,” while looking over at McVie and Nicks. McVie drolly says, while Nicks giggles, “Well, I’d already been in the band for a good while, as a lady, and as a musician. I’d been primarily a musician rather than a backup singer, in any case. And then, when Stevie joined the band, she was also a frontline singer and writer.”
McVie continued, “And I think in that way, I guess, we were the innovators of that kind of thing because it was more or less to my knowledge prior to us girls would be in rock bands, but would be backup singers and…”
“Pretty faces,” interjects the journalist.
This then caused Nicks to jump in and say, “I think it comes down to the fact that Fleetwood Mac would not go on without Chris and me, if we were sick or something. Whereas in most bands with a girl in it, [they] could go ahead and would go on and play. But they’d have trouble without us.”
The exchange is rather cringe, but it’s amazing watching McVie and Nicks put this reporter in his place.