dEFROG ON 45 #34: REAL SAVAGE LIKE

Fleetwood Mac were a pretty unavoidable phenomenon in the mid-70s – at least after Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined. They were staples on both the Top 40 and AOR formats, and embodied just about everything that was both right and wrong about 70s mainstream rock music. (Pro: solid songwriting and musicianship. Con: truckloads of cocaine and the decline of Rock as anything even remotely threatening to Decent Society.)

Which may be why I didn’t really buy any of their singles until “Tusk” came out.

Well, that and I arguably had more disposable income in 1979 than I did in 1977. And I’m not saying I was hip enough to dislike Rumours. It’s got a lot of good songs on it (including “The Chain”, possibly their greatest track, although not one that made it to 45rpm).

But the title track from Tusk was just too amazing to ignore – recorded live in an empty stadium, a simmering expression of jealousy set to a tribal beat.

And then the USC Trojan Marching Band kicks in.

It didn’t sound like anything on the radio, then or now.

Some people might write off the song and the album as FMac at their most indulgent – apart from the fact that Tusk was the most expensive album ever made up to that time, it also featured a lot of lo-fi experimentation at a time when everyone else was doing disco, stadium rock or New Wave.

But for me, it was the album that convinced me there was more to them than platinum hits and future campaign theme songs. Hell, even Camper Van Beethoven were impressed enough to cover the entire album.

Respect. So of course it was considered a failure because it sold “only” 4 million copies. Which kind of makes me like it even more.

Don’t say that you love me,

This is dF

YR NEW FAVORITE RECESSION (AGAIN)

I promised I wouldn't post anything else about the Debt Ceiling until the economy collapsed.

So. One half-assed debt bill and a credit rating downgrade later, here we are.

Granted, a bad day at the stock markets doesn’t mean a complete collapse. Indeed, if you ask some people, we still haven't recovered from the 2008 recession, so technically this is another symptom of the same problem.

Some people will even tell you that there’s no reason to take S&P seriously, seeing as how they’re hardly in a position to lecture the US govt on responsible money management and risk-free investments. On the other hand, it seems that stock markets are taking them seriously anyway.

Whatever. As I’ve said, I know dick about economics, so I couldn’t tell you how bad it’s going to get. Luckily, both the Debt Bill and the Standard & Poors downgrade were a lot more about politics than they were about economics. And I can sure blog about the politics.

( And how ... )

Anyway, the irony is that S&P’s concerns over politics will fall on deaf ears, what with both parties spending the rest of the election year blaming each other for whatever happens next. Obama has said we need to work together and put politics aside, but he always says that, and no one has listened to him yet. So in that sense, S&P might as well not have bothered and saved us all the extra grief.

Back to the drawing board,

This is dF