Lindsey Buckingham’s best solo songs sound very different – and often extremely different – from his work with Fleetwood Mac. “I think the collective wheel of Fleetwood Mac tends to want to take fewer risks, certainly less than I would on my own,” Buckingham said in 2011. “That’s one of the nice things about having both Fleetwood Mac and a solo career. I guess you can look at Fleetwood Mac as the pirates of the Caribbean Films and my solo career as indie films.”
Lindsey Buckingham played a key role in the success of the 1977 mega hit. Rumors Album, but instead of following a formula, he experimented. The result was 1979 TuskThe Fleetwood Mac album was largely defined by Buckingham’s vision. It was nervous, broken, but also contained moments of serenity – for many it reflected the fragmented music landscape of the late 70s. Tusk have not sold anything like Rumors did so, and Buckingham has since linked the commercial reception of the piece with the beginnings of his solo ambitions.
“One day Mick (Fleetwood, drummer) came to me and said, ‘Lindsey, we’re not going to repeat this process again,'” Buckingham recalls. “It was at that moment that I realised: if I wanted to keep taking risks and try to define myself as an artist in the long term, I had to start making solo albums.” He did so, starting with the 1981 album “Lindsey”. law and orderand on to his seventh solo album, a self-titled record released in 2021. His first three albums as well as rarities were collected on the 2024 box set Lindsey of the 20th century.
Not surprisingly, Buckingham’s solo albums are varied; Buckingham’s mind is quick and restless. But perhaps the common thread that runs through Lindsey Buckingham’s best solo songs is their introspection. The albums he recorded under his own name, and mostly free of commercial pressures, take time to understand emotion and identity.
“Sometimes you need a safety valve,” Buckingham said in 1992 about his work away from Fleetwood Mac. “It was a way to let off steam, not just for me but for other members who were pursuing solo albums.”
Listen to the best of Lindsey Buckingham here, and check out our best Lindsey Buckingham solo songs below.
20: Shut Us Down (from “Under The Skin”, 2006)
There is an intense emotional openness to Under the skinLindsey Buckingham’s fourth album. “I’ve been focusing on something very narrow-minded for a long time, probably as a reaction to being part of such a big machine,” he said of the songs on the record. “With Fleetwood Mac, I walled up a lot of things. Part of the process is breaking down those walls to see if there’s anything left inside.” The guitar work on Shut Us Down is simply amazing, Buckingham’s fingerpicking sounds like he’s bringing out several conflicting emotions at once. And overall, the song’s fragile lyrics banish doubt to search for fortitude in a harsh world.
