Editing Tusk (album) (section)

==Background==
Going into ''Tusk'', Lindsey Buckingham was adamant about creating an album that sounded nothing like ''Rumours'': "For me, being sort of the culprit behind that particular album, it was done in a way to undermine just sort of following the formula of doing ''Rumours 2'' and ''Rumours 3'', which is kind of the business model [[Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros.]] would have liked us to follow."<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Graff|first1=Gary|title=Lindsey Buckingham on Fleetwood Mac's Risk-Taking Classic Album 'Tusk': Exclusive Premiere|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6769970/fleetwood-mac-tusk-lindsey-buckingham-interview-alternate-song-premiere|magazine=Billboard|access-date=2 April 2016}}</ref> [[Mick Fleetwood]] decided early on that ''Tusk'' was to be a double album.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Evans|first1=Mike|title=Fleetwood Mac: The Definitive History|date=2011|publisher=Sterling|location=New York|isbn=978-1-4027-8630-3|page=165|chapter=Superstardom}}</ref> [[Beach Boys]] drummer [[Dennis Wilson]], who was dating [[Christine McVie]] at the time, offered to host the band at the Beach Boys' studio, which they were planning to renovate. While the band initially agreed to this idea, an attorney for the [[Beach Boys]] later told Fleetwood Mac that they would still have to pay for the facility even if they decided not to use it. Fleetwood Mac subsequently backed out of the deal and approached [[Geordie Hormel]], who offered to construct a custom studio for the band at [[The Village (studio)|The Village Recorder]] and presented them with an option to either purchase the studio or rent it. Fleetwood Mac producer [[Ken Caillat]] suggested that the band purchase the studio, reckoning that this would be the cheaper option. However, Fleetwood's attorney opted to rent the custom studio, which was named Studio D.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crane |first=Larry |date=2013 |title=Ken Caillat: Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Beyond |url=https://tapeop.com/tutorials/96/ken-caillat/ |access-date=16 February 2024 |website=tapeop.com |language=en}}</ref>

Production costs rose beyond a million dollars, far more than ''Rumours''. Regarding the album's production costs, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham stated: "During the making of ''Tusk'', we were in the studio for about 10 months and we got 20 songs out of it. ''Rumours'' took the same amount of time. It [''Rumours''] didn't cost so much because we were in a cheaper studio. There's no denying what it cost, but I think it's been taken out of context."<ref name="How Tusk Flopped">{{cite web |last1=Giles |first1=Jeff |title=How Fleetwood Mac Made A Masterpiece That Flopped |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/fleetwood-mac-tusk/ |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |date=12 October 2015 |access-date=24 March 2019}}</ref>

After the studio was built, Buckingham queried Fleetwood about recording some songs at his home studio. Fleetwood acquiesced, but told Buckingham that the other members of Fleetwood Mac would need to be integrated at some point. For certain songs, Buckingham played a [[Kleenex]] box as a snare drum and had Fleetwood [[overdub]] his own drums over Buckingham's demo.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fleetwood Mac Create Tusk, 1979|url=http://stevie-nicks.info/2015/11/fleetwood-mac-create-tusk-1979/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620074133/http://stevie-nicks.info/2015/11/fleetwood-mac-create-tusk-1979/|archive-date=20 June 2018|website=Stevie Nicks Info|access-date=10 August 2023}}</ref> Several of Buckingham's songs began as demos recorded at his home studio with him playing all of the instruments, including "[[The Ledge (song)|The Ledge]]", "[[Save Me a Place]]", and "[[That's Enough for Me]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=Lindsey Buckingham: Musician Magazine No.33|url=http://www.fleetwoodmac-uk.com/articles/FMart77.htm|website=Fleetwood Mac UK|access-date=18 September 2016}}</ref>

Caillat recalled that Buckingham's obsessive nature in the recording studio was the source of some tension: "He was a maniac. The first day, I set the studio up as usual. Then he said, 'Turn every knob 180 degrees from where it is now and see what happens.' He'd tape microphones to the studio floor and get into a sort of push-up position to sing. Early on, he came in and he'd freaked out in the shower and cut off all his hair with nail scissors. He was stressed."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Giles|first1=Jeff|title=How Fleetwood Mac Made a Masterpiece That Flopped|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/fleetwood-mac-tusk/|website=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=12 October 2015 |access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> Buckingham had expressed interest in starting a solo career during the making of ''Tusk'' so in an effort to appease him, the rest of the band acquiesced to Buckingham's desire to create a more experimental album.<ref name="Sabotage">{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Dylan |date=9 August 2020|title=Was Fleetwood Mac's Tusk the greatest self-sabotage in rock'n'roll history? |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/fleetwood-mac-tusk |access-date=10 February 2024 |website=British GQ |language=en-GB}}</ref>

{{quote box |quote=I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Warner Bros. put that on in their boardroom and listened to it for the first time.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Appleford|first1=Steve|title=Q&A: Fleetwood Mac on Reissuing 'Rumours' and Making New Music|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/q-a-fleetwood-mac-on-reissuing-rumours-and-making-new-music-20130128|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=28 January 2013 |access-date=February 7, 2017}}</ref> |source=—[[Lindsey Buckingham]] |width=20% |align=left |style=padding:10px; }}

Buckingham – infatuated with bands such as [[Talking Heads]] – was "desperate to make Mac relevant to a [[post-punk]] world", according to music journalist [[Bob Stanley (musician)|Bob Stanley]], who commented that, compared to ''Rumours'', ''Tusk'' was "unleavened weirdness, as close to its predecessor as [[the Beach Boys]]' lo-fi ''[[Smiley Smile]]'' had been to ''[[Pet Sounds]]''. Much of it sounded clattery, half-formed, with strange rhythmic leaps and offbeat tics."<ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite web|last1=Stanley|first1=Bob|title=How to lose 3 million fans in one easy step|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/mar/07/popandrock1|website=The Guardian|access-date=10 January 2017|date=7 March 2008}}</ref> Journalist Adam Webb described the ''Tusk'' recording sessions as a "cocaine blizzard" from which Christine McVie's then-boyfriend, Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson, "never really came out."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Webb|first1=Adam|title=A profile of Dennis Wilson: the lonely one|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/dec/14/popandrock|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=14 December 2003}}</ref> Music historian [[Domenic Priore]] claimed that, for research purposes during the album's recording, Buckingham accessed the master tapes for the Beach Boys' unreleased album ''[[Smile (The Beach Boys album)|Smile]]'', and that the tracks "[[That's All for Everyone]]" and "[[Beautiful Child (song)|Beautiful Child]]" most strongly exemplify its influence.<ref>{{cite book|last=Priore|first=Domenic|author-link=Domenic Priore|title=Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81YIAQAAMAAJ|year=2005|publisher=Sanctuary|isbn=1-86074-627-6|page=151}}</ref>

Bassist [[John McVie]] commented that the album "sounds like the work of three solo artists", while Fleetwood said it was his second favourite Fleetwood Mac studio album behind ''[[Then Play On]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleetwood |first1=Mick |last2=Bozza |first2=Anthony | author-link2 = Anthony Bozza|title=Play On |date=October 2014 |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company |location=New York|isbn=9780316403405 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4L9F_dtB7OYC&q=tusk+favourite+album |access-date=24 March 2019}}</ref> "You got that sweetness [from Nicks and McVie] and me as the complete nutcase," Buckingham observed. "That's what makes us Fleetwood Mac."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Paul|last=Elliott|title=Eye of the hurricane|magazine=[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]] #189|date=October 2013|page=58}}</ref>