"Tusk" is a song by British-American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

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 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 ''25 Years – The Chain'' is a box set by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac originally released on 24 November 1992. The set contains four CDs, covering the history of the band from its formation in 1967 to 1992. The set features sev ...

'' in 1992.

History

Looking for a title track for the as yet unnamed album,

Mick Fleetwood Michael John Kells Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British musician, songwriter and occasional actor. He is best known as the drummer, co-founder, and leader of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood, whose surname was merged with that of th ...

suggested that they take the rehearsal

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...

that

Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician and record producer, best known as the lead guitarist and male lead vocalist of the band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with Fl ...

used for sound-checks. Producers Richard Dashut and

Ken Caillat Kenneth Douglas Caillat ( ) is an American record producer. He is best known for engineering the Fleetwood Mac albums '' Rumours'', ''Tusk'', ''Mirage'', ''Live'', and '' The Chain Box Set''. Life and career Caillat was the president of 5.1 Ent ...

then created a drum-driven production. In addition to the standard drum kit, Fleetwood Mac also experimented with different

found sound Found objects are sometimes used in music, often to add unusual percussive elements to a work. Their use in such contexts is as old as music itself, as the original invention of musical instruments almost certainly developed from the sounds of nat ...

s on the song. Fleetwood and Buckingham played

lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

chops CHOPS is the stage name of Scott Jung, also known as Scott Chops Jung, an Asian American hip hop producer, rapper and former member of the Asian American Hip-Hop group, the Mountain Brothers. Jung grew up in Philadelphia and has Chinese ancestry ...

and a Kleenex box on the track respectively. At the request of Mick Fleetwood, the band recruited the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

Trojan Marching Band The USC Trojan Marching Band, also known as the Spirit of Troy, represents the University of Southern California (USC) at various collegiate sports, broadcast, popular music recording, and national public appearance functions. The Spirit of ...

to play on the single. A mobile studio was installed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ( ...

to record the marching band. The recording session took place on June 4, 1979. Some recorded footage of the session made it into the song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

John McVie John Graham McVie (born 26 November 1945) is a British bass guitarist. He is best known as a member of the rock bands John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers from 1964 to 1967 and Fleetwood Mac since 1967. His surname, combined with that of Mick Fle ...

was in

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

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. The Trojan Marching Band's contributions set a record for the highest number of musicians performing on a single. At the time, the marching band had 112 members. During a game at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

on October 4, 1980, Lindsey Buckingham,

Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasi ...

, and Mick Fleetwood presented the Trojan Band with a platinum disc for their contributions on "Tusk". The song was also performed with the Trojan Band during Fleetwood Mac's 1997 concert for the recording of the live album '' The Dance''. For the

Tusk Tour The Tusk Tour was a world concert tour by the rock group, Fleetwood Mac. The tour began on October 26, 1979, in Pocatello, Idaho and ended on September 1, 1980, in Hollywood, California. The Live album contained many of the live recordings of ...

, the band used an Oberheim four-voice

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

played by keyboard tech Jeffery Sova to cover the horn parts. An OB-X with a cassette interface was kept backstage if the Four-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." In 2014, it was featured on the soundtrack of

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

's movie of the same name.

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 A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' 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."

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s, Kleenex box,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Christine McVie Christine Anne McVie (; née Perfect; 12 July 1943 – 30 November 2022) was an English musician and songwriter. She was best known as keyboardist and one of the vocalists of the band Fleetwood Mac. McVie was a member of several bands, nota ...

– electric piano,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

– backing vocals *

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, lamb chops Additional personnel * USC Trojan Marching Band –

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control Fleetwood Mac songs 1979 singles Songs written by Lindsey Buckingham Songs about dancing Song recordings produced by Ken Caillat Song recordings produced by Richard Dashut Warner Records singles 1979 songs