"Monday Morning"

Fleetwood Mac was in shambles.  The band’s early days had been turbulent with frequent personnel changes.  But then in 1974, Bob Welch, the most dependable and stable frontman the group had ever had, decided he was too worn out to carry on…and resigned.

With the deadline for their next record looming, Mick Fleetwood invited an unproven guitarist and singer named Lindsey Buckingham to become part of the lineup.  And Lindsey insisted that he would only participate if they brought in his girlfriend Stevie Nicks, too.

Fans of Fleetwood Mac had seen the band weather many changes over the years.  But in the summer of 1975 when their 10th album came out, the group took a bold move and opened the record with a song that put one of their new recruits front and center.

That first track, “Monday Morning,” was originally intended for the second Buckingham Nicks album that Lindsey and Stevie were working on.  But they threw their lot in with their new teammates and repurposed several of their songs as a contributions to their new band just as Lindsey was obliged to discover which of his many talents would serve Fleetwood Mac best.

Looking back to his beginnings with the band, he told Billboard, “I wasn’t even sure what my role was gonna be at that point.  Obviously it was kind of a lesson in adaptation for me, and maybe giving up on certain things and concentrating on other things…for the good of the band.  Part of the exercise of joining Fleetwood Mac was adapting down to not only fit a sound, but I had to get off the guitar I was using and get on to a Les Paul.”  Lindsey recalled that guitar’s sweeter sound was a better fit alongside Christine McVie’s keyboards and John McVie’s bass.  “There was a lot of space [already] taken,” said Lindsey. “so you had to sort of take what was left and fit into it.”

As that Billboard article noted, “He clearly figured it out.”

That first album with Lindsey and Stevie became a Billboard #1 the following summer and went on to become the best selling album the band had ever had by that point.  But as you’re well aware, there was even more success to come.