Blues Boom to Pop Rock

Today in Music History: January 28

From blues to pop is not unusual. Transitions include shuffling of band members and experimentation with styles until sound emerges 'just right'. Despite multiple changes, the core is solid with some things remaining constant. The band in today's spotlight encountered three definitive lineups: the blues-oriented music of the late 60s, ethereal pop masterpieces of the mid-70s and a solid rhythm section from mid- to late 70s.

Welcome into the Spotlight...

Fleetwood Mac: a British blues band formed in '67 that became a California-based pop group in the mid-Seventies

Most bands endure numerous changes over the course of their careers but few groups do so with as much radical stylistic changes as Fleetwood Mac. In the 60s, the band was conceived as a hard-edged British blues combo. Gradually over the course of a decade, Fleetwood Mac evolved into a polished pop/rock act. 

The many lineup changes eventually narrowed down to only two consistent members, drummer MickFleetwood and bassist John McVie -- the rhythm section that provided the band with its name. In 1975, a newly forged band with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks quickly recorded an eponymous collection that went straight to No. 1 and sold 3 million copies.

"Rumours," the number three most successful album of all time, to date, has sold over 15 million copies. It won the "Album of the Year" at the 20th annual Grammy Awards in 1978. It is considered to be one of the "100 Greatest Albums in the Universe" (Q Magazine," 1998), one of the "Top 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Moments" in history ("ET Weekly," 1999), and put Fleetwood Mac on top of the charts as one of the greatest rock n' roll bands in the millennium. [Source: Rumours Album Interpretation]

1978 The Fleetwood Mac album 'Rumours' went to No.1 on the UK album chart, also a No.1 in the US. The album went on to sell over 15 million copies world- wide and spent over 440 weeks on the UK chart.

"Rumours," the number three most successful album of all time, to date, has sold over 15 million copies. It won the "Album of the Year" at the 20th annual Grammy Awards in 1978. It is considered to be one of the "100 Greatest Albums in the Universe" (Q Magazine," 1998), one of the "Top 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Moments" in history ("ET Weekly," 1999), and put Fleetwood Mac on top of the charts as one of the greatest rock n' roll bands in the millennium. [Source: Rumours Album Interpretation]

No. 1 Singles on this Day...

• 
  

  1955 Joan Weber - 'Let Me Go Lover'

• 1968 Lemon Pipers - 'Green Tambourine'

• 
  

  1974 Barbra Streisand - 'The Way We Were'

• 1982 Hall and Oates - 'I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)'

• 1995 TLC started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Creep' the group's first US No.1, it made No.6 in the UK the following year. 

• 2001 Shaggy feat Ricardo Rikrok started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'It Wasn't Me'. Also a No.1 in the UK.

No. 1 Albums on this Day...

1988 Eleven years after it was released, The Sex Pistols album 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols' went Gold in the US with sales over 500,000. 

1990 Paula Abdul started a 10-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Forever Your Girl'. Abdul spent sixty-four consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 before hitting number one, making it the longest time for an album to reach the number one spot.

2007 Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture was at No.1 on the US album chart. The musical based on the history of Diana Ross and the Supremes featured Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson.  

1984 Backstage after a Motley Crue show in Buffalo, New York, Tommy Lee found out that his girlfriend has posed for the current issue of Penthouse magazine without his knowledge, after a fan passed comment on the pictures. Tommy punched the fan unconscious with one hit, Motleys manager Doug Thaler later convinced the fan not to press any charges.

And the music goes on beating to the rhythm of the changing times...