"This time, there were no drugs involved. The hours were completely normal daytime hours. I think we were able to appreciate the interplay, where before we had taken it for granted"
About this Quote
Sobriety here isn’t a moral flex; it’s a production note with a confession baked in. Buckingham’s almost comically blunt opener (“no drugs involved”) does two things at once: it punctures the romantic myth of rock chaos while admitting how thoroughly that chaos once governed the band’s working language. The specificity of “completely normal daytime hours” lands like deadpan comedy, the kind that only works because it’s true. In a culture that treats the all-night, chemically assisted session as proof of authenticity, he’s framing normalcy as the radical choice.
The real payload is in “interplay.” Buckingham isn’t talking about abstract chemistry; he’s talking about the microscopic push-pull that makes a great band sound like one organism. Fleetwood Mac’s legend often spotlights the melodrama - breakups, betrayals, tabloid-level emotional weather - but he’s redirecting attention to craft: listening, responding, leaving space, taking risks you can only take when you’re present.
“Taken it for granted” is the quiet indictment. It suggests that talent can become invisible to the people closest to it, especially when adrenaline, routine, or self-medication dull the senses. The subtext is a kind of belated awe: not just “we played well,” but “we forgot how rare this is.” He’s describing a reclaimed baseline - the ability to hear each other clearly - and implying that what fans call magic was, at least sometimes, obscured by the very lifestyle that supposedly produced it.
The real payload is in “interplay.” Buckingham isn’t talking about abstract chemistry; he’s talking about the microscopic push-pull that makes a great band sound like one organism. Fleetwood Mac’s legend often spotlights the melodrama - breakups, betrayals, tabloid-level emotional weather - but he’s redirecting attention to craft: listening, responding, leaving space, taking risks you can only take when you’re present.
“Taken it for granted” is the quiet indictment. It suggests that talent can become invisible to the people closest to it, especially when adrenaline, routine, or self-medication dull the senses. The subtext is a kind of belated awe: not just “we played well,” but “we forgot how rare this is.” He’s describing a reclaimed baseline - the ability to hear each other clearly - and implying that what fans call magic was, at least sometimes, obscured by the very lifestyle that supposedly produced it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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