History Music / Tusk1979

Not to be confused with the [[Film/{{Tusk}} horror film of the same name]], although it does use the title track as its ending theme.

'''''Tusk''''' is the twelfth studio album recorded by British-American RockAndRoll band Music/FleetwoodMac. It was released through [[Creator/WarnerBrosRecords Warner Bros. Records]] on 12 October 1979.

It was the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the 1977 classic ''Music/{{Rumours}}'', the top-selling album of that year and one of the biggest hit albums of the decade, and one of the best-selling of all time. So the band, and especially singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, wanted to take some risks with ''Tusk''. Compared to ''Rumours'' which had an upbeat pop/rock sound, ''Tusk'' was for the most part a bizarre collection of music influenced by the PostPunk movement that became a major force in the UK and a cult force in the US since the release of ''Rumors''-- similarly to Music/TheBeatles' transition from the psychedelia of ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'' to the genre-shifting art rock of ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum''. In particular, Buckingham cited Music/TalkingHeads as a major influence on the style of music found throughout ''Tusk'' (which incidentally was released just months after Talking Heads' own ''Music/FearOfMusic'', and Talking Heads would release their similarly experimental NewSoundAlbum ''Music/RemainInLight'' just four days short of ''Tusk''[='s=] one-year anniversary).

[[caption-width-right:350:''It's not that funny, is it? No one to turn you on''\\
''All your hope is gone. It's not that funny, is it?'']]

-->--From '''Greil Marcus'''' favourable review of the album

* Lindsey Buckingham - lead vocals, guitar, piano, bass, harmonica, drums, percussion

* Christine [=McVie=] - lead vocals, keyboard, piano, accordion

* Music/StevieNicks - lead vocals, keyboard

* AuteurLicense: The success of ''Music/{{Rumours}}'' gave the band one, and Creator/WarnerBrosRecords revoked it after the album's relative failure. Consequently, ''Mirage'' after it was a self-consciously commercial soft rock effort.

Despite the anticipation and strong sales (topping the charts in the UK and New Zealand and peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard 200), the album failed to match the gargantuan success of ''Rumours'', and consequently was deemed a commercial failure. First, the album was the most expensive ever made at the time, having cost $1 million to make[[note]]partly because producer Lindsey Buckingham often put so much work into instrumentation and layering but ended up just having the percussion track be himself playing on a tissue box[[/note]]. The record has since been surpassed several times over in the following decades, with the $30 million ''Music/{{Invincible}}'' by Music/MichaelJackson being the current record-holder, but in 1979 ''Tusk''[='=]s recording costs were downright heart attack-inducing. Second, double albums were sold at higher prices than single albums because of both the higher content of music and the fact that labels had to manufacture twice as many discs as they would need to for a single album. The timing of the album's release during the Second Oil Crisis only made the album more expensive thanks to the inflated cost of petroleum needed to manufacture records. Finally and most crucially, the RKO radio network [[WhatAnIdiot broadcast the entire album ahead of time]], allowing for extensive home taping that invalidated the need for most listeners to actually buy the album (in hindsight, this was also a likely factor in the RIAA becoming more draconian about piracy from the 80's onward). Despite all of this, ''Tusk'' has sold four million copies during its time out in the open, and since has been remembered as [[VindicatedByHistory one of their best works]], possibly even their single best.

** Overlapping with TheBusCameBack, band founder and original guitarist Peter Green guests on "Brown Eyes".

* DigitalDestruction: The original CD release in 1987 both replaces the album version of "Sara" with the single edit and removes most of the inner artwork. The booklet did include lyrics and liner notes about the history of the band, elements that weren't part of the original LP release, in an apparent attempt to compensate. The 2004 reissue would rectify both matters; technically it was possible starting in the early 1990s, but the relative underperformance of the album meant that not much attention was given to it at the time.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The album has been compared favorably to ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum'' for its stylistic variation.

* DigitalDestruction: The original CD release in 1987 both replaces the album version of "Sara" with the single edit and removes most of the inner artwork. The booklet did include lyrics and liner notes about the history of the band, elements that weren't part of the original LP release, in an apparent attempt to compensate. The 2004 issue would rectify both matters; technically it was possible starting in the early 1990s, but the relative underperformance of the album meant that not much attention was given to it at the time.