Can you name a band that succeeded after having a complete identity crisis? Probably not, because it’s not common. Usually, if a band switches genres and styles without a second thought, the outcome isn’t great.

One of the only and most famous bands to survive an identity crisis is Fleetwood Mac. When you hear their classic 70’s songs, your first thought probably isn’t “British blues band”, but that’s what they started out as.

The Genre Switch

The band started as another band – John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, in 1967. It wasn’t until three members of that band (Peter Green, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood) set out on their own that Fleetwood Mac was born.

After adding guitarist Jimmy Spencer, the band hand moderate success in the UK – but it seemed like they couldn’t keep the original band together. The first couple of years in the ’70s saw a revolving door of band members.

It wasn’t until 1974 that Fleetwood Mac was comprised of the people we think of it with today, namely, Stevie Nicks. She joined the band as the then-girlfriend of Lindsey Buckingham and together they never looked back. It was with Nicks that they released their 1975 album “Fleetwood Mac”, which topped charts for months. You’d know their first hits as “Rhiannon”, “Landslide” and “Say You Love Me”.

With those songs on the charts, the band enjoyed its first taste at American billboard chart success.

Drama, Drama, Drama

When a band is made up of couples, things go wrong – fast. And then when those band members write songs about their now ex’s, it makes them all the more mysterious.

You could spend hours reading about the relationship drama of Fleetwood Mac, but who has the time for that? What’s important to know is that all the drama never stopped them from making record-breaking, hall-of-fame music.