Tusk (song)

"Tusk" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac from the 1979 double LP of the same name. The song peaked at number eight in the United States for three weeks, reached number six in the United Kingdom (where it was certified Silver for sales of over 250,000 copies), number five in Canada, and number three in Australia. The song's lyrics deal with a frequent theme in Fleetwood Mac songs. The singer suspects his partner of being unfaithful, asking "Why don't you tell me what's going on? Why don't you tell me who's on the phone?" Lindsey Buckingham wrote the song and is the lead singer on the track.

"Tusk"
Single by Fleetwood Mac
from the album Tusk
B-side"Never Make Me Cry"
Released21 September 1979[1]
Recorded1978–1979
GenreAvant-pop
Length3:29
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Lindsey Buckingham
Producer(s)Fleetwood Mac, Richard Dashut, Ken Caillat
Fleetwood Mac singles chronology
"You Make Loving Fun"
(1977)		 "Tusk"
(1979)		 "Sara"
(1979)
Audio sample
Short sample of "Tusk" to demonstrate the percussion-driven production and integration of the USC Marching Band within the song
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The single was released with two different picture sleeves in many territories: the first featured the black and white picture of producer/engineer Ken Caillat's dog Scooter snapping at a trouser leg, the same as that used for the album cover, whilst the second featured a plain cover with the same font as the album cover but without the dog picture. A limited promotional 12-inch version, featuring mono and stereo versions, was also released to US radio stations.

A slightly different mix of the track appeared on the retrospective four-disc compilation 25 Years – The Chain in 1992.

History

Looking for a title track for the as yet unnamed album, Mick Fleetwood suggested that they take the rehearsal riff that Lindsey Buckingham used for sound-checks.[2] Fleetwood recalled that the band played the riff the same way every night with the intention of developing it further in the studio.[3] Producers Richard Dashut and Ken Caillat then created a drum-driven production. Buckingham stated that "We found a 15-second section we liked and made a circular loop of two-inch tape that went across the room. We let it run for ten minutes and put the song over it."[4] In addition to the standard drum kit, Fleetwood Mac also experimented with different found sounds on the song, including a Kleenex box and lamb chops.[5] Fleetwood originally tried to slap the side of his leg for a desired percussive effect, but he instead purchased a leg of lamb from the butcher and slapped the food with a spatula. This overdub was ultimately unused for the final recording.[6]

At the request of Mick Fleetwood, the band recruited the University of Southern California's Trojan Marching Band to play on the single. The idea of incorporating a brass band into "Tusk" came to Fleetwood while he was a on a vacation in Barfleur. During his time in Barfleur, Fleetwood was woken up by a local brass band playing outside.

I saw the entire village dancing in the streets. They were following the band...I grabbed the remainder of my bottle of Beaujolais from the night before and went down to join in...That joyous, irresistible cacophony is what I heard when I listened to that loop of the riff

— Mick Fleetwood.[3]

A mobile studio was installed in Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium to record the marching band.[7] The recording session took place on June 4, 1979.[8] Some recorded footage of the session made it into the song's music video.[9] John McVie was in Tahiti during the Dodger Stadium recording, but he is represented in the video by a cardboard cutout carried around by Mick Fleetwood and later positioned in the stands with the other band members.[10]

One hundred twelve members of the USC band were present on the recording.[11] During a game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 4, 1980, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, and Mick Fleetwood presented the Trojan Marching Band with a platinum disc for their contributions on "Tusk".[12]

Reception

Billboard described Tusk as "an eerie combination of vocals and a heavy percussion track." Billboard suggested that it was "not as accessible" as other Fleetwood Mac songs and that it was more difficult to "get a handle" on the hook.[13] Cash Box said it "may mystify some with its droning drum beat, the inclusion of the USC Marching Band and dissonant break" but it has a mesmerizing quality."[14] Record World called it "a unique departure" for the band and said that "The drum-led rhythm and chant-like vocals merge into a thick tribal dance."[15] Reviewing Tusk for Rolling Stone, Stephen Holden called the song Buckingham's "most intriguing" contribution to the album, deeming it "an aural collage that pits African tribal drums, the USC Trojan Marching Band and some incantatory group vocals against a backdrop of what sounds like thousands of wild dogs barking", and calling it Fleetwood Mac's equivalent to the Beatles' "Revolution 9" (1968).[16]

Retrospectively, Marcello Carlin of Uncut described it as a "collision between Sousa marching band and free jazz/tribal drumming workshop", and wrote that along with Public Image Ltd's "Death Disco", it was "the most avant-garde hit single of 1979."[17] In his piece for Melody Maker's Unknown Pleasures guide, Simon Reynolds called the single a "daft little ditty" that highlighted the "not-right" aura of the parent album, and wrote that its "mock tribal rhythms, peculiar 'found sounds' in the back of the mix that sound like a restive mob, and pompous, punctilious horns" are comparable to Faust's quirkier material, such as "The Sad Skinhead" (1973).[18] He added that it was a "'novelty' hit, and doubtless by dint only of the blind-loyalty of the fans."[18]

Emily St. James of The A.V. Club called it Fleetwood Mac's "weirdest hit" as well as one of their best, describing it as "a work of strange savagery, overlaid with jungle sounds and a thudding, endlessly repetitive drum riff that drives everything that happens in the song." She added: "It's a song at odds with itself, the various voices all tugging at the tune in different directions until everything unites when the vocalists scream the song’s title, an enigmatic moment that means… what, exactly?"[19] Rolling Stone writer Ryan Reed agreed it was "an odd choice for a lead single", describing it as "a nervous, jittery Buckingham sing-along with a mysterious title, an out-of-nowhere drum freakout, and only a handful of lyrics, with the bone-dry tom-toms mixed louder than the whispered vocals. Then there are the interjections of the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band".[20]

Live performances

For the Tusk Tour, the band used an Oberheim 4-voice synthesizer played by keyboard tech Jeffery Sova to cover the horn parts. An OB-X with a cassette interface was kept backstage if the 4-voice broke down. Christine McVie, who expected to play a percussion part for live renditions of "Tusk", instead opted to play the accordion. "I never planned on learning the accordion...It was just laying around the stage one day. I wasn't sure what I was going to play on 'Tusk'. I thought I might wind up playing some kind of percussion, but I just picked it up and started doing the riff."[21]

Fleetwood's original idea was to recreate the song on tour every night with a local marching band, but this idea was not used aside from a performance at the L.A. Forum, where the Trojan Marching Band joined Fleetwood Mac onstage. "It was complete lunacy, with baton twirlers making their way through the audience and these gorgeous horses galloping in full stride".[3] The song was also performed with the Trojan Band during the recording of Fleetwood Mac's 1997 live album, The Dance.[22]

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[45] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[46] Silver 250,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "BPI certifications for Fleetwood Mac".
  2. "Lindsey Buckingham breaks down 10 of his best guitar riffs". www.msn.com. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  3. Fleetwood, Mick; Bozza, Anthony (October 2014). Play On: Now Then & Fleetwood Mac. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 236–238, 242. ISBN 978-0-316-40342-9.
  4. Irvin, Jim (2016). Tusk (2015 Remastered Deluxe Edition) (Liner Notes). Fleetwood Mac. Los Angeles: Warner Bros. Records Inc. p. 17. Publisher Warner Bros #2HS-3350.
  5. Bosso, Joe. "Mick Fleetwood: My 11 Greatest Recordings of All Time - Tusk (1979)". MusicRadar.com. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  6. "Modern Drummer: Hot Products! Great Gear For '03" (PDF). Modern Drummer: 120. June 2023.
  7. Evans, Mike (2011). Fleetwood Mac: The Definitive History. New York: Sterling. p. 167. ISBN 978-1-4027-8630-3.
  8. Kreps, Daniel (30 October 2015). "Fleetwood Mac Prep Massive 'Tusk' Reissue". Rolling Stone.
  9. Kielty, Martin (10 April 2020). "How a Trip to France Saved Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  10. "Burnish.net". Archived from the original on 7 October 2006. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  11. Reed, Ryan (11 October 2019). "Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk': 10 Things You Didn't Know". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  12. Rees, Dafydd; Luke Crampton (1991). Rock Movers & Shakers. Billboard Books.
  13. "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. 29 September 1979. p. 71. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  14. "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 29 September 1979. p. 18. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  15. "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. 29 September 1979. p. 1. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  16. Holden, Stephen (13 December 1979). "Tusk by Stephen Holden". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  17. Carlin, Marcello (1 April 2004). "Cocaine Heights". Uncut. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  18. Reynolds, Simon (4 March 1995). Jones, Allan (ed.). "Fleetwood Mac". Melody Maker (Unknown Pleasures). IPC Magazines: 86–90.
  19. James, Emily St. (30 January 2013). "Fleetwood Mac's strangely savage "Tusk" was the band's weirdest hit". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  20. Reed, Ryan. "Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk': 10 Things You Didn't Know". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  21. "From the Archive: Christine McVie - KeyboardMag". www.keyboardmag.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  22. Rado, Alicia Di (29 August 2016). "Hit Play: Albums from the Trojan Marching Band". USC News. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  23. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  24. "Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  25. "Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  26. "RPM 100 Singles". Library and Archives Canada. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  27. The Irish Charts (9 November 2009). "The Irish Charts - All there is to know : Search by Artist (Fleetwood Mac)". Irish Charts / IRMA - Irish Recorded Music Association. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
  28. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 44, 1979" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  29. "Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  30. "Fleetwood Mac – Tusk". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  31. "Fleetwood Mac: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  32. "Fleetwood Mac Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  33. "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, November 10, 1979". Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  34. "Offiziellecharts.de – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  35. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1979". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  36. "Kent Music Report No 288 – 31 December 1979 > National Top 100 Singles for 1979". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Imgur.com.
  37. "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  38. "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1979". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  39. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1979". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  40. "Top 100 Singles of 1979" (PDF). Record Mirror. London: Spotlight Publications. 5 January 1980. p. 30. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  41. Cash Box Year-End Charts: 1979/Top 100 Pop Singles, December 29, 1979 Archived 2014-07-13 at the Wayback Machine
  42. "National Top 100 Singles for 1980". Kent Music Report. 5 January 1981. Retrieved 17 January 2022 – via Imgur.
  43. "Talent in Action" Billboard December 20, 1980: TIA-10
  44. "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  45. "International Certifications" (PDF). Cash Box. 21 June 1980. p. 40. Retrieved 3 December 2021 – via World Radio History.
  46. "British single certifications – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
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