My Top 1000 Songs #541: Second Hand News

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I'm never sure if this one goes into the Guilty Pleasures file. Even as a mere ten-year-old when Rumours became a monster hit in 1977, I recognized the album as way too mainstream-friendly for my nascent taste; and once I got into punk and indie as a teenager, listening to Fleetwood Mac was greatly frowned upon among the cool kids. But once I hit middle age, I was ready to give them another chance, and I'm willing to admit liking some of their tastefully curated pop wonders from their commercial peak era.

Still, my preference from this period is largely the Lindsey Buckingham stuff (with the Nicks & McVie tracks more as tolerable background music). And setting aside my love his experimental Tusk cuts, "Second Hand News" is peak Buckingham, a ridiculously catchy track whose pop glory helps you forget the still-wanna-bang-Stevie-in-a-gross-way lyrics ("let me do my stuff" will always be a little cringe). Though I think the real magic of the song lies in that ingratiating rhythm section, an unbelievable master class in deceptively propulsive groove.

Live:

Yet another fantastic cover from those Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs collaborations (with Buckingham on guitar) (I think at this point I've got at least a half-dozen songs they've covered together on this list):

A pretty Americana version from Smooth Hound Smith: