RAT Rock News

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 26: Honoree Lindsey Buckingham of music group Fleetwood Mac performs onstage during MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Fleetwood Mac at Radio City Music Hall on January 26, 2018 in New York City.

Lindsey Buckingham has been doing some press for his upcoming self-titled album, and has recently mentioned that he feels that Mick Fleetwood would love him to rejoin Fleetwood Mac. But a new interview with the L.A. Times, where he criticizes many of his bandmates and his ex-manager Irving Azoff, may squash any chance of him rejoining.

Buckingham postulated that the band and Azoff dismissed him in 2018 to appease Stevie Nicks, and that their decision was mostly financially motivated — they wanted Nicks to stay in the band, as they felt that they could no longer play arenas without Nicks. He said that Fleetwood has “never quite gotten to the point where he’s financially stable all the time. He’s been married and divorced many times. He’s just not smart with his money.”

He said the same about Christine McVie, with whom he recorded a duo album, Buckingham/McVie, in 2017. He said she sent him an email after his firing. “I’m really sorry that I didn’t stand up for you, but I just bought a house.”  The L.A. Times noted that both she and Fleetwood declined to comment. Buckingham didn’t mention John McVie in the interview.

For her part, Nicks denied that she had him fired at all. In a statement to the Times she said, “His version of events is factually inaccurate and while I’ve never spoken publicly on the matter, certainly it feels the time has come to shine a light on the truth. To be exceedingly clear, I did not have him fired, I did not ask for him to be fired, I did not demand he be fired. Frankly, I fired myself. I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my wellbeing. I was done. If the band went on without me, so be it.”

Of course, that’s not how it went down. The band dismissed Buckingham instead of Nicks and went on with Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers.

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