Do you consider Fleetwood Mac to be an English band?

I have about 3 hrs of material from the PG years that I have listened to quite a few times - and would have listened to more if it grabbed me. Apart from a few interesting tracks like Oh Well and Albatross they largely sound like just another British blues band without a real compelling singer that soloed for too long. An average Mayall spin off with a nicely grooving rhythm section.

Decent for what it was but not worth mentioning in the same breath as one of the best pop rock ensembles of the 70s if they didn't share a bassist and drummer.

 

This is for you Schnitz, If you haven't heard this song then
your Apple Music is failing you.

 

Or for that matter this one.

 

I love Bob Welch and what he brought to that English band that is named after English people, so that probably it is an English band, even though some Americans joined over time and made it more popular globally than just in England, and America too...

 

If I were overthinking it, I'd say they were a mix: British/American band.

But if someone came up to me on the street and asked me that question, demanding that I make a choice with the first thing that popped into my head, I'd blurt out "British." They started as a British band, then gradually added American members.

 

Whatever gets you through the night man.

 

Bob Brunning would be my answer.

 

Isn't he the one that shagged Mick Fleetwood's wife?







Ya, I know. Bad joke.

 

They are a Southern California band, just like the Beatles.



Q: What is the extreme opposite of a burning question?

A: This thread.

 

Of course I am, what a patently ludicrous scenario. Even if it were actually true it doesn't change established facts of the band's history

 

Peter was English

 

The California-era band performing a Peter Green song.Let peace reign over the land.

 

Nobody is actually FROM California.

 

I don't hear their Welch years being "folk" at all. Not even a little. They were, if anything, closer to West Coast/AOR then than they were with LB.

The LB years, on the other hand, have a lot of folk music influences on his songs. But much less so with Stevie Nicks or Christine McVie. I still hear them as being pretty West Coast but not in the Michael Omartian/Jay Graydon/David Paich sense. LB's production was almost a thing unto itself and not really like any other band, except a few copycats. He brought a uniqueness to them that they didn't even have with Peter Green.

 

Definitely influenced by Partner Green. Lindsay does great live versions of Oh Well and Green Monolishi on the deluxe version of the first B/N album

 

LB is from California (Palo Alto). His older brother was a swimmer on the '68 US Olympic team (odd fact, I know).

Stevie Nicks is from Arizona, which according to Bill Hicks, will one day BE California. (Arizona Bay)

 

When you only do streaming, you miss the liner notes and some of the nuance.

 

Probably they're folkiest song before B/N was Alone Together on Kiln House. Even that is an off shoot of Jeremy Spencer's 50's obsession.

 

Up until Bob Welch joined there were only English musicians in the band. And until the Burnette/Vito line up there have always been more English musicians than American musicians in the band. So yes.

 

So majority rules?

 

I consider them part of the British rock scene until they moved to the USA in 1974, then part of the American rock scene.

However, their line-up was never less than 50% British:

1967: 4 UK (100% British)
1968: 5 UK (100% British)
1970: 4 UK (100% British) then 5 UK (100% British)
1971: 4 UK, 1 USA (80% British)
1972: 5 UK, 1 USA (83% British)
1973: 4 UK, 1 USA (80% British) then 3 UK, 1 USA (75% British)
1975: 3 UK, 2 USA (60% British)
1987: 3 UK, 3 USA (50% British)
1991: 3 UK, 1 USA (75% British)
1993: 4 UK, 2 USA (67% British)
1997: 3 UK 2 USA (60% British)
1998: 2 UK, 2 USA (50% British)
2o15: 3 UK, 2 USA (60% British)
2018: 3 UK, 2 USA, 1 New Zealand (50% British)

 

Next up: Are The Pretenders a British band?

(Help me, Rhonda)

 

won a silver medal, died of a heart attack at age 45

 

John Lennon was an American
Bee Gees were American



My own opinion is they are an English band with American members. At best an English/American band from 1975 onward

 

No that's 1000 ignorant randoms