Buckingham Recalls Quitting Fleetwood Mac

Lindsey Buckingham talked openly about his 1987 split from Fleetwood Mac. Following the release of the band's comeback album, Tango In The Night, Buckingham backed out of touring with the band, and officially stayed away from Fleetwood Mac until their 1997 The Dance reunion special and CD.

Buckingham explained to Rolling Stone that it took until his one-off appearance with Fleetwood Mac at President Clinton's inaugural bash for him to see a way back into the band: "We did Clinton's inauguration in '93, and that was sort of the catalyst and had a delayed reaction. I think by the time you cut to '96, when we contemplated doing The Dance, there had been enough time where we all settled down as people. The craziness that existed in '87 and '88 was gone. We were -- for all intents and purposes -- adults. I think the time apart helped us appreciate each other. The group has always been a group of people you can say maybe didn't belong in the same band together, but it's the synergy that makes it so magical. We were able to see that more clearly."

Although Buckingham now saves songs from his solo sessions for prospective Fleetwood Mac tracks, he recalled that back in the day, it was literally the opposite way around for him and the band: "The Tango In The Night album has tracks on it that were the beginnings of my third solo record. And I started that, and the group sort of moved in and said, 'Hey, we gotta do this.' So the song 'Big Love' switched gears and got into the group thing. There was more than one time when I was tempted to sort of go out and leave the group -- but its like anything else; you have to check your own impulses and make sure that you're really doing the right thing and you're ready for it."

Buckingham told us that splitting Fleetwood Mac before the band's 1988 tour behind Tango In The Night was purely for his own creative survival: "I had left in '87, things had just gotten too crazy and I was just trying to, y'know, get my own act back together and reclaim my sanity and creativity."

Fleetwood Mac will kick off its 48-date North American tour on April 4th at Columbus, Ohio's Nationwide Arena