Topics in Recorded Music: Fleetwood Mac's Rumors & the Art of the Timeless Album

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Why is some music truly timeless, while other music is more of a moment in time? Why does one album survive and even thrive when others, even those that felt more influential at their peak, inevitably become dated? Fleetwood Mac's 1977 blockbuster Rumours offers a unique and unprecedented example of the enduring legacy and extended afterlife that a record can have. Almost fifty years after its release, Rumours is somehow still one of the most popular albums in the world—and the single classic-rock album that continues to attract a young audience. But does that allure revolve around the sound, the emotion, the mythology, or some combination of all its elements? In this 7-week, 2-credit course, students will explore the mercurial history of Fleetwood Mac (from its roots as a blues band to the impulsive addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to the line-up), the intensely fraught recording sessions to create Rumours, the ongoing reassessment of the album's place in history and many appearances in popular media, and its surging popularity in the TikTok era. Through the lens of this one exceptional album, we will also look at other illustrations of music with multigenerational popularity and legacy (including the Beatles, the song "Hallelujah," and the Grateful Dead) and investigate the musical and extra-musical reasons that these examples continue to resonate so deeply with the children and grandchildren of those who first experienced them, as well as the ways in which context shifts in the larger culture can benefit some records over others. Ultimately, we will attempt to comprehend what it is that made Rumours one of the biggest albums in history, and the wide range of factors—from gender balance to pure sonics—that still allow this album to go its own way.