Mick Fleetwood released his memoir ‘Fleetwood: My Life And Adventures With Fleetwood Mac’ back in 1990. The book entaled so many events that took place including moments with his bandmates. One event that Mick recounted in his memoir was the summer of 87 when Lindsey Buckingham had decided to quit the tour.
Fleetwood wrote that Lindsey and Stevie Nicks got into an argument where the rocker said some harsh words to his ex-girlfriend. The exchanges between the couple got even more heated where Mick even said in his book that Lindsey slapped Stevie and their managers had to get involved and separate them.
Five years later, during an interview with Q Magazine, Buckingham shared his side of the story. When asked about the incident the rocker replied:
“That [the fight] never happened! Three months after the book was out they were on the road, and I sat in for the last two West Coast shows on ‘Go Your Own Way.’ I hadn’t seen Stevie [Nicks] for a long time and she came up to me and apologized to me for Mick [Fleetwood] having written that.”
Lindsey shared that after the book came out he didn’t feel a desire to defend himself by adding:
“I didn’t address it at the time, I didn’t think there was a need to dignify anything in the book – I haven’t read it, but I did skim it. I had a difficult time with what I saw. Although there were some nice things, Mick’s slant on some of what happened was pretty tough.”
The rocker pointed out that as a band they were surprised to see some things within the book that never actually happened. He continued:
“If you were to ask any of the members in the band, I think you’d find they were all a little hurt by things like that that never happened, a lot of inaccuracies, and the general trashy level. What I saw of it, anyway.”
Although Buckingham was portrayed in a bad light within the pages of the book, he still shared that he gave Mick the benefit of the doubt. The guitarist expressed:
“I think you’ve got to realize that Mick was a little bit bitter about me leaving anyway. But if Mick and I see each other, there’s nothing wrong. The chemistry is there – that’s what the band was all about in the first place.”
He added that Mick might have given free rein during the editing process of his memoir to his publishers. He said:
“In Mick’s defense, part of it might be him not taking enough responsibility for the editing. Probably the general way that Mick told the story to the writer was a lot of late-night free-associating.”
You can read Lindsey Buckingham’s 1992 interview with Q Magazine here.
