Whoever named Fleetwood Mac was either lucky or prescient. The only thing about the group that hasn't changed since it formed in 1967 is the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Through the '70s, the band's personnel and style shifted with nearly every recording as Fleetwood Mac metamorphosed from a traditionalist British blues band to the maker of one of the best-selling pop albums ever, Rumours. From that album's release in 1977 into the present, Fleetwood Mac has survived additional, theoretically key, personnel changes and remained through the mid-'90s a dominant commercial force.

Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac was formed by ex–John Mayall's Bluesbreakers Green, McVie, and Fleetwood along with Elmore James enthusiast Jeremy Spencer. McVie had been a charter member of the Bluesbreakers in 1963, Fleetwood had joined in 1965, and Green had replaced Eric Clapton in 1966. With its repertoire of blues classics and Green's blues-style originals, the group's debut at the British Jazz and Blues Festival in August 1967 netted it a record contract. Fleetwood Mac was popular in Britain immediately, and its debut album stayed near the top of the British chart for 13 months. The quartet had hits in the U.K. through 1970, including "Black Magic Woman" and the instrumental "Albatross" (which was Number One in 1968 and reached Number Four when rereleased in 1973). America, however, largely ignored Fleetwood Mac; its ...

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