Professor of Rock

Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/POR and use code POR and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! You’ve heard the Doublecross stories of rock and roll in the past, like the evil manager who stole everything from the band Badfinger, leaving them penniless, and led to two of the members taking their own lives, and how David Bowie fired his whole band mid-concert. Well, I’ve got 5 more backstabbing, relentless double-cross stories, including the Murry Wilson worst father in music history. He went behind his son Brian and his band’s back and sold their 200-song catalog that included 30 of the biggest hits in rock history for pennies on the dollar... compared to their half-a-billion-dollar value. Plus, Queensryche, who fired their lead singer’s wife as manager, which caused an in-concert meltdown where the singer spit on his bandmates and then beat ‘em up after that… the grudge match led to 2 different iterations of the band touring under the same name. But that’s nothing because one of the biggest bands ever, Fleetwood Mac, had a greedy manager who put a fake version of the band out on tour hoping that fans wouldn’t notice. That’ where our countdown starts. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Producer Brandon Fugal Honorary Producers Jaimee Hammack, Dan Tierney, Sarge, Byrdman, Duff Gordon ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Professor of Rock Podcast Apple: https://apple.co/445fVov Spotify: https://spoti.fi/42JpfvU Amazon: https://amzn.to/44b5D6m iHeartRadio: https://bit.ly/444h8MO ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patreon: http://bit.ly/ProfessorofRockVIPFan Merch Store: https://professor-of-rock-lsn-shop.fourthwall.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/Instagram_Professor_of_Rock #classicrock #70smusic #vinylstory #70srock Hey Music Junkies, let’s get into it. Coming in at #5 we have Fleetwood Mac and the struggle to keep their band name. Formed in London in 1967 as a hard-driving British blues band led by guitar virtuoso Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac underwent a series of profound stylistic and personal shifts during their early years. Following Green's sudden departure in 1970 due to drug-induced mental health struggles, the Mac navigated constant lineup turbulence… including the sudden departure of guitarist Jeremy Spencer to a religious cult and the firing of Danny Kirwan. Drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie became the anchors, maintaining stability while bringing in keyboardist Christine McVie and guitarist Bob Welch. This core ensemble shifted the group’s sound from pure blues toward melodic, West Coast rock. By 1973, through non-stop touring across North America and Western Europe, the band had built a dedicated international following and established themselves as a reliable commercial attraction despite the persistent chaos. In late 1973, Fleetwood Mac were touring North America behind their seventh studio album, Mystery to Me… when the whole thing came apart in the worst possible way. Guitarist Bob Weston had been having an affair with Mick Fleetwood's wife, Jenny Boyd. When Fleetwood found out, he cancelled the remaining twenty-six concert dates and temporarily disbanded the group. Concert promoters were furious. Tens of thousands of dollars in expected revenue just evaporated. And the band’s manager, Clifford Davis, wasn't going to stand for it. Rather than absorb the financial losses from the cancelled shows, Davis made a claim that he personally owned the trademark to the name "Fleetwood Mac." Not the band. He said that Fleetwood Mac was a corporate brand, and he owned it. So Davis went behind the real band's back and recruited an entirely different group of musicians… a band that was already performing under the name Legs. Davis gave them the gig, and dispatched them across America to play the remaining tour dates as “Fleetwood Mac.” Audiences showed up expecting the real band. But they got strangers playing unfamiliar arrangements under a famous name. Concert promoters were dumbfounded. The music press soon caught wind of what was happening. And when the actual members of Fleetwood Mac found out that impostors were performing under their identity, they filed legal injunctions to shut the fraudulent shows down. But instead of backing down, Davis doubled down publicly. He said, ”I want to get this out of the public's mind as far as the band being Mick Fleetwood's band. This band is my band. This band has always been my band.” The legal battle that followed was exhausting and expensive. The real Fleetwood Mac spent years in court fighting to win back the rights to their own name and identity, and eventually won. And then something remarkable happened.