WCSX Classic Cuts : Tusk
WCSX Classic Cuts
Fleetwood Mac: “Tusk”
The Hook: The band thought Mick Fleetwood had gone off the deep end when he wanted to record a marching band at Dodger Stadium.
Album: Tusk
Year: 1979
Writer: Lindsey Buckingham
Stats: Peaked at number-eight on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Background: “Tusk” was a Lindsey Buckingham track that had been put aside during the sessions for the album of the same name. That is until drummer Mick Fleetwood visited his mother in France during a break in the recording. There he encountered the local town brass band, which aroused him from his bed one night, but also made him think about the sense of community it inspired. Fleetwood picks up the story.
Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood on how the brass band on “Tusk” came about after he’d visited his mother in France and been awakened by the sound of the town’s brass band. OC:…Fleetwood Mac. :29
“I thought no more about it until one day I went into the studio and said, ‘What about putting a brass band on it?’ And we got the USC Marching Band and everybody thought I was ‘round the twist. And I said, ‘Well, we’ve got to record it at Dodger Stadium.’ And they said, ‘Mick, you’re definitely around the twist, it’ll cost a fortune,’ which it didn’t. They gave us, very graciously, the use of Dodger Stadium and we did indeed record the brass band at Dodger Stadium. And it made its way not only onto the album, but it became a pretty off-the-wall track for Fleetwood Mac.”
