Rob Trucks - Tusk

TUSK

Praise for the series:

It was only a matter of time before a clever publisher realized that there is an audience for whom Exile on Main Street or Electric Ladyland are as significant and worthy of study as The Catcher in the Rye or Middlemarch. The series is freewheeling and eclectic, ranging from minute rock-geek analysis to idiosyncratic personal celebration The New York Times Book Review

Ideal for the rock geek who thinks liner notes just arent enough Rolling Stone

One of the coolest publishing imprints on the planet Bookslut

These are for the insane collectors out there who appreciate fantastic design, well-executed thinking, and things that make your house look cool. Each volume in this series takes a seminal album and breaks it down in startling minutiae. We love these. We are huge nerds Vice

A brilliant series each one a work of real love NME (UK)

Passionate, obsessive, and smart Nylon

Religious tracts for the rock n roll faithful Boldtype

[A] consistently excellent series Uncut (UK)

We arent naive enough to think that were your only source for reading about music (but if we had our way watch out). For those of you who really like to know everything there is to know about an album, youd do well to check out Continuums 33 1/3 series of books Pitchfork

For reviews of individual titles in the series, please visit our website at www.continuumbooks.com and 33third.blogspot.com

For a complete list of books in this series, see the back of this book.

Rob Trucks

2011

The Continuum International Publishing Group
80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX

www.continuumbooks.com

Copyright 2011 by Rob Trucks

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Trucks, Rob, 1961
Tusk / Rob Trucks.
p. cm. (33 1/3)
eISBN-13: 978-1-4411-8363-7
1. Fleetwood Mac
(Musical group) Tusk. I. Title. II. Series.

ML421.F57T78 2010
782.421660922 dc22 2010024418

Typeset by Pindar NZ, Auckland, New Zealand
Printed in the United States of America by Thomson-Shore, Inc.

Jonathan Segel of Camper Van Beethoven

Walter Egan

Kaki King

A.C. Newman of the New Pornographers

Gretchen Heffler of the USC Spirit of Troy marching band

Dan Boeckner and Hadji Bakara of Wolf Parade

Dave Portner, aka Avey Tare, of Animal Collective

Michael G of Tusk, a Fleetwood Mac tribute band

Olaf (upon what were once knees)
does almost ceaselessly repeat
there is some shit I will not eat

e. e. cummings

This book, and everything else, is for Karan.

Thanks to friends and family in Alabama, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and purveyors of pulled pork in the aforementioned states, except New Jersey.

Special thanks to Will Blythe and Rob Harvilla.

Bite-sized portions of this book have previously appeared, albeit in an almost radically different form, in LA Weekly and the Village Voice.

Unless otherwise noted, all Lindsey Buckingham quotes derive from discussions with the guy whose name is on the front of the book.

Theres a good chance you wont like this book.

In fact, theres a really, really good chance that you wont like this book.

Prior to diving headfirst (without checking the depth of the water, I might add) into this particular endeavor (that is, writing a book on Fleetwood Macs Tusk) I had interviewed several 33 1/3 authors as well as David Barker, the creator, publisher, and editor of the 33 1/3 series. And I had read more than my share of 33 1/3 offerings (so yeah, maybe I shouldve had a better idea of what I was getting into). I am, therefore, keenly aware that previous 33 1/3s that show even a hint of personal voice on the part of the author are regarded by critics, both professional and self-appointed, with less favor than, say, a carton of milk a week past its expiration date.

I could not be more aware of this fact if you tattooed it on my forehead so that I could view it every time I shaved (though admittedly I do not shave every day, or even every other day if I can help it).

And yet about a sixth of this book revolves around a guy named Rob who was never in Fleetwood Mac, never slept with anyone in Fleetwood Mac (so that he might be privy to pillow-talk tales told out of school), or worked for anyone in Fleetwood Mac. You know, basically a guy with no particular insight into the inner workings of either the band or the album in question.

And yet this guy Rob is all over (if you consider about a sixth of this book all over) this book.

Again, its not really the whole book (maybe its closer to a fifth of the book; and thats not a liquor reference), but enough of the book that critics, both latent and active, professional and self-appointed, will likely be stirred to render comments, published and/or unpublished, akin to I could do better than that. Because, really, so many, many readers partake of this particular series with a specific idea, a measuring stick if you will, of how they wouldve approached the work (the album) in question.

And let me assure you that the approach within, the approach that begins just a few pages hence (can you feel the excitement?), is not the approach that most (if not all) readers would have taken.

Fair enough.

Its not the approach I intended either.

I intended, and was promised before accepting this assignment, more time with Lindsey Buckingham (because Tusk is Lindseys album, after all).

I intended to sit in a room, most likely a hotel room, with Lindsey Buckingham and ask him all manner of questions while we listened to Tusk (I did this once with Liz Phair with Exile in Guyville, and truthfully it couldve gone better, but they say that practice makes perfect), but that didnt happen.

Oh, I interviewed Lindsey, both in person and over the phone, several times, but each discussion was in service of some piece advancing Lindseys upcoming tour or album (specifically Under the Skin and Gift of Screws). Further interviews for which Tusk would serve as topic were not merely suggested but specifically promised by Lindsey, his publicist, and his management.

Despite countless phone calls, e-mails, and other, more creative, attempts at contact for well over two years, those previously agreed upon, pledged talks never happened. Basically, I got screwed.

Initially I attempted to incorporate these aforementioned circumstances within this book, but the prose ended up whiny and bitter and not very entertaining at all. But the process, that seemingly never-ending process of being manipulated and lied to, did allow Tusk to fester, stew, age, and mature, and the result, this book, is what we, you, are left with.