(Credits: Far Out / Steve Proctor)
Mon 19 January 2026 20:00, UK
The art of making a great rock and roll record is something that Lindsey Buckingham studied all his life.
There are a million ways for people to write a great song, but after listening to what everyone from The Beach Boys to The Beatles had done back in the day, Buckingham had developed a keen ear for when he reached a certain level of perfection whenever he walked out of the studio. And while he had the pleasure of having the greatest band members anyone could have asked for, there were plenty of musicians whose band couldn’t really back them up in the way they were supposed to.
But that’s just the nature of being in a rock and roll outfit. Not everyone is cut out to do the heavy lifting all the time, and while some of the greatest bands usually have a united front whenever they play, there are always going to be one or two people pulling the strings behind them. I mean think about it. The Beatles wouldn’t have happened without Lennon and McCartney, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry rocketed Aerosmith to stardom, and even James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich are the cornerstones of what made Metallica great.
In Fleetwood Mac’s case, though, it was a bit different. The band operated almost like a committee of songwriters half the time, and while no one was going to argue when Mick Fleetwood put his foot down regarding a certain song, Buckingham was the one pushing them forward, whether that was fine tuning the songs Stevie Nicks worked on or adding the perfect guitar flourish to one of Christine McVie’s tunes.
When you saw them live, though, most people didn’t realise how much Buckingham was holding back. He could have been one of the greatest guitarists that the world had ever seen, but even though he could sound like three different musicians all at the same time, he knew it was better to serve the song rather than get caught up in whatever scale exercise that he threw into his routine.
Which is what normally separates him from the shredders of the world. It’s not the worst idea for someone to start working in something more sophisticated into their songs whenever they get the chance, but whereas Jimmy Page was a song craftsman whenever he played guitar, Buckingham felt that Eddie Van Halen didn’t have the right band that could do justice to what he could play.
He was a guitar god among men from the minute ‘Eruption’ came on, and yet Buckingham couldn’t help but think Eddie had the wrong guys working with him, saying, “I’ll tell you I am certainly a fan of Eddie Van Halen. He’s extraordinary, there’s just no doubt about it. What I think he had a bit of a problem with was making what he did work in the context of the band he was in. I think in a way what he did might have worked even better in a slightly more sophisticated format. Maybe a fusion thing like John McLaughlin or Larry Coryell.”
And it’s not like that was an unfounded look at his playing. Even Eddie had said that he loved what was happening in the fusion scene when he was listening to people like Allan Holdsworth, so there was a chance for him to put his licks into a context where it made sense. But Eddie’s goal wasn’t to be the next version of Larry Carlton, Pat Metheny, or the dozens of other players that he loved.
He was a rock and roll fan before anything else, and even if his skills overpowered the genre he was in, that was hardly a knock against him. If anything, it helped show a bunch of prospective guitar players that it was alright to fly off the handle sometimes, and no matter how many times he took one of his wild solos, he still had the same sense of taste that all great musicians need to have.
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