40 Year Itch : Fakewood Mac

The Real Fleetwood Mac

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           Every fan and record executive who thought Fleetwood Mac consisted of Bob Weston, Christine McVie, Bob Welch, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood must have been very surprised by the Fleetwood Mac touring the US at the start of 1974. Sure, they billed themselves as Fleetwood Mac, but not a single member of that band ever played in the real Mac.The source of the confusion: Mac manager Clifford Davis who told Rolling Stone he, not Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, owned the Fleetwood Mac name.
  
      "I want to get this out of the public's mind as far as the band being Mick Fleetwood's band. This is my band . This band has always been my band.". 

     Davis said he always chose who was in the band and who was out and when the current members refused to tour, he simply hired new musicians. The lawsuits that followed put the real Fleetwood Mac out of commission for most of the year. Eventually, in September, they released Heroes Are Hard to Find, the last album to feature Bob Welch.

As for the fakes, they were often greeted by hostile audiences who jeered the band playing old Mac blues tunes like "Showbiz Blues" and "The Green Manalishi". Fake Mac-er Dave "Elmer Gantry" Terry would later perform with Alan Parsons Project and Jon Lord. But first, as Stretch,  the band would record one of 1975's greatest singles, "Why Did You Do It?" Why indeed.