Fleetwood Mac Trivia
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50 free Fleetwood Mac trivia questions with answers. Thunder only happens when it's raining. This quiz covers the whole of Fleetwood Mac's history, from Peter Green naming a blues band after his rhythm section in 1967 through Albatross, the LSD-scarred exits of Green, Spencer and Kirwan, Bob Welch's American years, the fake Fleetwood Mac tour of 1974, the arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, Rumours and its four broken relationships, Tusk, Mirage, Tango in the Night, the Clinton inauguration reunion, The Dance and the skateboarding cranberry-juice video that sent Dreams back up the charts in 2020. Fifty questions cover the band's members, albums, singles, chart records and feuds. The easy questions ask which album won the 1978 Grammy for Album of the Year and which song is the band's only US No. 1; the hard ones want the Beatles song built on Albatross, the studio where Rumours was recorded, the marching band on Tusk, the guitarist who fell out with Fleetwood over Silver Springs and who replaced Buckingham in 2018. It suits fans of every era, from Green Manalishi to Everywhere. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the band, its members, albums and songs, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Fleetwood Mac was formed in London in 1967 by which guitarist, fresh from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers?
Peter Green
Peter Green, who had replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1966, left Mayall in 1967 to form the new band, which played its first gig that August at the Windsor festival.
Q 02The band's name combines the surnames of which two members?
Mick Fleetwood and John McVie
Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass lent their surnames; the founder had already titled an instrumental 'Fleetwood Mac' after them, then named the band partly to lure McVie away from Mayall.
Q 03Which 1968 instrumental gave Fleetwood Mac their only UK No. 1 single?
Albatross
Albatross, a dreamy instrumental released in November 1968, topped the UK chart in January 1969 and returned to No. 2 on reissue in 1973.
Q 04Which Beatles song did George Harrison say was built on the band's 1968 instrumental hit?
Sun King
George Harrison said the Beatles wrote Sun King, on 1969's Abbey Road, by trying to imitate the reverb-drenched guitar sound of Fleetwood Mac's 1968 instrumental hit.
Q 05Which early Fleetwood Mac song became a much bigger hit when Santana covered it?
Black Magic Woman
Black Magic Woman, a 1968 Fleetwood Mac single that reached No. 37 in Britain, became a US No. 4 hit for Santana in 1970; its writer played it with Santana at the 1998 Hall of Fame induction.
Q 06The founding guitarist's decline is usually traced to a 1970 LSD trip in which city?
Munich
The acid trip at a Munich commune in March 1970 is usually blamed for his mental decline; within weeks he wanted the band to give away its money, and he quit in May 1970.
Q 07What did Jeremy Spencer say he was going out to do in 1971 before vanishing to join the Children of God?
Get a magazine
In Los Angeles in February 1971 Spencer said he was popping out to get a magazine, then vanished; he was found days later with the Children of God, and the band's founder was brought back to finish the tour.
Q 08Christine McVie sang in which British blues band before joining Fleetwood Mac?
Chicken Shack
With Chicken Shack she sang and played piano on their 1969 UK hit I'd Rather Go Blind, winning Melody Maker's female vocalist award in 1969 and 1970 before joining Fleetwood Mac in 1970.
Q 09What was Christine McVie's maiden name?
Perfect
Born Christine Perfect in 1943, she took the McVie name on marrying the band's bassist in 1968; her father Cyril Perfect was a concert violinist and music lecturer in Birmingham.
Q 10Which American guitarist joined Fleetwood Mac in 1971 and later had a solo hit re-recording 'Sentimental Lady'?
Bob Welch
He was hired on the strength of a tape of his songs without ever playing with the band.
Q 11Guitarist Bob Weston was fired in 1973 after an affair with whose wife?
Mick Fleetwood's
Weston's affair with Mick Fleetwood's wife Jenny Boyd, sister of George Harrison's wife Pattie, got him sacked in October 1973, and the band abandoned its US tour in Nebraska.
Q 12In early 1974, manager Clifford Davis sent a completely different lineup on tour under what name?
The New Fleetwood Mac
Davis claimed he owned the name and sent out 'The New Fleetwood Mac' in January 1974 with none of the real members; audiences rebelled, and the ensuing lawsuit kept the genuine band idle until it moved to California.
Q 13Mick Fleetwood discovered his future guitarist after hearing the track Frozen Love from which 1973 album?
Q 21Which Rumours track is the only Fleetwood Mac song credited to all five members?
The Chain
The Chain is the one Rumours song with a writing credit for all five band members; it was assembled from separate fragments, including the bass-riff outro the band had jammed on.
Q 22Which sport's British TV coverage made a Rumours track its famous theme?
Formula One
Formula One: the BBC opened its Grand Prix coverage with the song's bass-led finale for nearly two decades from the late 1970s, and brought it back when the races returned to the BBC in 2009.
Q 23Which Stevie Nicks song was recorded for Rumours but relegated to the B-side of Go Your Own Way?
Silver Springs
Buckingham Nicks
Fleetwood heard Frozen Love from the duo's 1973 album Buckingham Nicks while touring Sound City studios in Van Nuys; Buckingham agreed to join only if Stevie Nicks came too.
Q 14On what date did the two Californians officially join Fleetwood Mac?
New Year's Eve 1974
Buckingham and Nicks formally joined on New Year's Eve 1974, weeks after the guitarist they replaced had quit for a solo career; the new five-piece was recording by February 1975.
Q 15Fans call the 1975 self-titled record by what nickname?
The White Album
Fans call the 1975 album The White Album for its plain cover; it reached No. 1 in the US only in September 1976, more than a year after release, lifted by Rhiannon and Say You Love Me.
Q 16Which Stevie Nicks song from Fleetwood Mac's 1975 album became a hit 20 years later on The Dance?
Landslide
Rhiannon and Say You Love Me both stalled at No. 11.
Q 17Rumours won the Grammy for Album of the Year in which year?
1978
Rumours took Album of the Year at the 20th Grammy Awards in February 1978, beating Hotel California and Aja; by then it had spent most of 1977 at No. 1.
Q 18Rumours was recorded in early 1976 at the Record Plant in which Californian town?
Sausalito
The band spent February and March 1976 at the Record Plant in Sausalito, across the bay from San Francisco; the working title was Yesterday's Gone, and the sessions ran on sleepless nights and cocaine.
Q 19Which Rumours single is Fleetwood Mac's only US No. 1?
Dreams
Dreams, written by Nicks in a single afternoon, reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in June 1977 and topped the Canadian chart; it was certified gold for a million US sales.
Q 20Go Your Own Way was written by which member, about his break-up with a bandmate?
Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham wrote Go Your Own Way about his split from Nicks, who objected to its line about packing up and shacking up; it was released as Rumours' lead single in December 1976.
Silver Springs was dropped from Rumours for length and issued as the flip side of the album's first single; the fight over its use on a 1992 box set helped push Nicks out of the band in 1991.
Q 24Which college ensemble plays on the title track of Fleetwood Mac's 1979 double album Tusk?
The USC Trojan Marching Band
The USC Trojan Marching Band recorded its brass and drum parts in an empty Dodger Stadium in 1979; the single reached No. 8 in the US and the band was later presented with a platinum disc.
Q 25Tusk cost about $1.4 million to make, earning it what distinction at the time?
Most expensive rock album ever recorded
At roughly $1.4 million, Tusk was called the most expensive rock album ever recorded when it appeared in October 1979; Warner Bros. saw its four million sales as a letdown beside Rumours.
Q 26Mick Fleetwood blamed Tusk's weaker sales on what?
A radio chain airing the whole album early
He argued the RKO broadcast let everyone tape it at home.
Q 27The 1982 album Mirage was recorded at a château in which country?
France
France: the band spent spring 1981 at the Château d'Hérouville north of Paris, the studio Elton John had used for Honky Château, and came back with a more conventional pop record after Tusk.
Q 28Fleetwood Mac headlined the first US Festival in September 1982 for what fee?
$500,000
The Mirage tour itself was just 18 American cities.
Q 29Which 1987 album, begun as a Buckingham solo project, gave the band Little Lies, Everywhere and Big Love?
Tango in the Night
Tango in the Night grew out of sessions for a Buckingham solo record; released in April 1987, it became the band's second-best seller after Rumours and topped the UK chart in 1988.
Q 30Christine McVie co-wrote Little Lies with whom?
Her new husband Eddy Quintela
Seven Wonders was written by Sandy Stewart with Nicks.