Fleetwood Mac

Every musician knows it’s the rhythm section that holds a band together. But who knew we’d find as durable an application of that maxim as the one exemplified by the history of Fleetwood Mac? Over the last thirty years, Fleetwood Mac has comprised fifteen musicians shuffled through six major lineups, resulting in endless tinkerings with tone and genre. 

Yet the two members to survive it all rarely write tunes and never front the recordings. They’re the beat-keepers - drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. The fact that a rhythm section could sustain a band through thirty years seems all the more amazing considering the traumatic histories of the band’s shifting array of stage-front stars. Together, their personal lives have given rock one of its most elaborate and juicy plotlines.