Being a classic rock fan means you have your favorites and you stick with them. But every once in a while, one moment transcends all barriers and even non-fans become obsessed with it. We saw this recently with a clip from 1997.
Fleetwood Mac, the band comprised of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood, is famous for, among many things, the most iconic of breakup albums, titled Rumours. While the band had a lot of issues, including a horrible breakup between Nicks and Buckingham, there is one moment that people cannot get over.
During the 1997 concert that resulted in the concert album, The Dance, the band reunited to sing some of their classics. Today marks 27 years since that performance, which means that the greatest Fleetwood Mac song is 47 years old. And that means for nearly 5 decades, we’ve had the best breakup song of all time.
That specific classic is “Silver Springs.” The song, written by Nicks, was on the deluxe version of Rumours, but Fleetwood and Buckingham chose to put “Go Your Own Way” by Buckingham on the album instead—you know, the song that is all positivity about his choice to go his own way and is a really big “F you” to Nicks.
“Silver Springs,” my favorite Fleetwood Mac song, is more of a story of loss and love and has one of the most brutal lines of all time in it. And the performance at The Dance really made it their most iconic of songs. Infamously, Nicks and Buckingham were singing the song together, and as they sang, “You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you,” Nicks stared daggers into Buckingham’s soul.
The full performance is just more of the same, with Nicks getting to live out everyone’s revenge fantasy, because this is the best performance of a song probably ever. I never want Nicks to stare into my soul in the way she is with Buckingham because that is pain.
“Silver Springs” has the most biting lyrics
As someone with a tattoo for the song, I will admit to being a little impartial. But it is universally recognized that this performance is intoxicating to watch. “Time cast a spell on you but you won’t forget me” is just an example of how Nicks uses her pain to make us realize just how much this relationship hurt her.
When you listen to “Silver Springs” and then “Go Your Own Way” back to back, it will give you a disdain for “Go Your Own Way”—or at least that’s how I feel about it, because “Silver Springs” deserved that spot. Instead, we got to see Nicks, 20 years later, sing it at Buckingham, and now, nearly three decades later, we’re all obsessed with it again.
So, I hope that Buckingham has to see us all praising this day in and day out and remember that he’s one of the reasons it isn’t on the album. And for that, I will always be mad at him in Nicks’ honor. That and I hope he watches Saturday Night Live and sees himself silenced on “What’s Up With That” like he silenced “Silver Springs.”
