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1%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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3[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/45e8f8d71b04999435390d6c3bb4f37e.jpg]]
4[[caption-width-right:350:''It's not that funny, is it? No one to turn you on\
5All your hope is gone. It's not that funny, is it?'']]
6->''"Fleetwood Mac is subverting the music from the inside out, very much like one of Creator/JohnLeCarre’s moles - who, planted in the heart of the establishment, does not begin his secret campaign of sabotage and betrayal until everyone has gotten used to him, and takes him for granted."''
7-->-- From '''Greil Marcus'''' favourable review of the album
8
9''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.
10
11It 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 ''Rumours''-- 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).
12
13Despite 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 [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard 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.
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15The album was supported by four singles: the title track, "Sara", "Sisters of the Moon", and "Think About Me".
16
17Not to be confused with the [[Film/Tusk2014 horror film of the same name]], although it does use the TitleTrack as its ending theme.
18----
19!! Tracklist:
20!!! LP One
21[[AC: Side One]]
22# "Over And Over" (4:35)
23# "The Ledge" (2:02)
24# "Think About Me" (2:44)
25# "Save Me A Place" (2:40)
26# "Sara" (6:26)[[note]]4:39 on early CD releases[[/note]]
27
28[[AC: Side Two]]
29# "What Makes You Think You're The One" (3:28)
30# "Storms" (5:28)
31# "That's All For Everyone" (3:04)
32# "Not That Funny" (3:19)*
33# "Sisters Of The Moon" (4:36)
34
35!!!LP Two
36[[AC: Side Three]]
37# "Angel" (4:53)
38# "That's Enough For Me" (1:48)
39# "Brown Eyes" (4:27)
40# "Never Make Me Cry" (2:14)
41# "I Know I'm Not Wrong" (2:59)*
42
43[[AC: Side Four]]
44# "Honey Hi" (2:43)
45# "Beautiful Child" (5:19)
46# "Walk A Thin Line" (3:44)
47# "Tusk" (3:36)
48# "Never Forget" (3:40)
49
50[-CD releases are across a single disc-]\
51[-*CD releases use a different mix from the LP version-]
52----
53!!Principal Members:
54
55* Lindsey Buckingham - lead vocals on tracks 2-4, 6, 8-9, 12, 15, and 18-19, guitar, piano, bass, harmonica, drums, percussion
56* Mick Fleetwood - drums, percussion
57* Christine [=McVie=] - lead vocals on tracks 1, 3, 13-14, 16, and 19-20, keyboard, piano, accordion
58* John [=McVie=] - bass
59* Music/StevieNicks - lead vocals on tracks 5, 7, 10-11 and 17, keyboard
60
61----
62!! Save me a trope, I'll come runnin':
63* AlliterativeTitle: "'''H'''oney '''H'''i", "'''O'''ver & '''O'''ver"
64* ArcWords: "Don't blame me" appears both in "Not That Funny" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong." This stanza also appears in both songs, with the same melody:
65-->''Here comes the nighttime\
66Looking for a little more\
67Workin' on checkin' out\
68Somebody outside the door''
69* AuteurLicense: The success of ''Music/{{Rumours}}'' gave the band one, and Creator/WarnerBrosRecords revoked it after the album's relative failure. Consequently, ''Music/{{Mirage}}'' after it was a self-consciously commercial soft rock effort.
70* BoleroEffect: "Tusk" qualifies, since it opens with Fleetwood's repeated drum pattern and builds up from there.
71* CoverAlbum: Music/CamperVanBeethoven did a full-album cover of ''Tusk'' in 2003.
72* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The cover is a black and white snapshot of a biting attack dog, off-centre on an off-white background.
73* DigitalDestruction: The original CD release in 1987 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 the matter.
74* EpicRocking: "Sara", "Storms" and "Beautiful Child" are all over five minutes. Being the longest song on the album, "Sara" was initially trimmed by about two minutes on early CD versions; Due to the technology at the time, the album would otherwise be just a little too long to fit on a single disc.
75** Before the album's release, "Sara" was over ''14 minutes long''. Lindsey Buckingham, who produced the album, cut it by eight minutes to save time.
76* EverythingIsAnInstrument: For the title track, in addition to the standard drum kit, the band also experimented with different [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_sound found sounds]] on the song. Fleetwood and Buckingham respectively played lamb chops and a Kleenex box. [[SincerityMode Seriously]].
77* GenreRoulette: Due to the diverging interests of the three singer-songwriters. Christine [=McVie=]'s work became a little jazzier; Stevie Nicks mostly stayed true to folk and country rock; and Lindsey Buckingham's songs were a product of his reverence for Music/BrianWilson and his newfound interest in PunkRock and NewWaveMusic.
78* GreenEyedMonster: "Tusk" is pure, uncut simmering romantic jealousy set to music.
79* IfICantHaveYou: "The Ledge" certainly sounds it.
80-->''"Do you ever wonder''\
81''Do you ever hate''\
82''Six feet under''\
83''Someone who can wait''\
84''You can love me baby but you can't walk out''\
85''Someone oughta tell you''\
86''Oughta tell you what it's really all about."''
87* ImportantHaircut: Lindsey Buckingham shed the afro he had on ''Rumours''.
88* InTheStyleOf: "Not That Funny" is influenced by Music/TalkingHeads. Lindsey Buckingham even indulges in some Music/DavidByrne-style vocalizations.
89* {{Irony}}: In their attempt to invoke the do-it-yourself aesthetic of PunkRock, Buckingham and company spent ''a lot'' of money, booking tons of studio time [[EverythingIsAnInstrument only to end up recording percussion tracks on a desk chair in a bathroom.]]
90* LargeHam: The whole band gets a moment of this during the TitleTrack. All the instruments cut out except for a drumbeat and a guitar. Things are mellow for a moment. And then, everyone at once:
91--> '''''TUSK!'''''
92* MinisculeRocking: "That's Enough for Me" never hits the two-minute mark, while "The Ledge" and "Never Make Me Cry" just barely cross it.
93* MoodWhiplash: The contrast between the tense and brassy "Tusk" and the warm love song "Never Forget" is only slightly less jarring than the "Revolution #9"/"Good Night" split on ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum''.
94* TheNotRemix: The 1987 and 2004 CD releases substitute different mixes of "Not That Funny" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong", with the 2015 remaster restoring the original versions.
95%% * OneWomanSong: "Sara".
96* OneWordTitle: "Sara", "Storms", "Angel" and the TitleTrack.
97* QuestioningTitle: "What Makes You Think You're the One".
98* RealLifeWritesThePlot: "Sara", writen by Stevie Nicks, has very deep history behind it. She says it was inspired by friend Sara Recor, who would later marry bandmate Mick Fleetwood.
99* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "What Makes You Think You're the One".
100-->''What makes you think I'm the one''\
101''Who will love you forever?''\
102''Everything you do has been done''\
103''And this won't last forever''
104* ReCut: The first CD release in 1987 replaces the album version of "Sara" with the shorter single edit to keep the album from going over the 74-minute limit of a Redbook-compliant disc (the uncut album is just 25 seconds too long). 80-minute [=CDs=] would come along a few years later, but were saved for better-selling titles that needed them. The 2004 remaster would restore the full version of "Sara", and it's stuck ever since.
105* RepetitiveName: "Over And Over".
106* SequelSong: "Storms" has a one-syllable, plural title like "Dreams", which had the line "Thunder only happens when it's raining".
107* ShoutOut: Music/TheNewPornographers play a snippet of "I Know I'm Not Wrong" toward the end of their song, "To Wild Homes", as "proof that ''Tusk'' has haunted our music." They've also covered "Think About Me".
108* SpecialGuest:
109** Overlapping with TheBusCameBack, band founder and original guitarist Peter Green guests, uncredited, on "Brown Eyes".
110** The TitleTrack features the USC Trojan Marching Band, also known as the Spirit of Troy. It became an AscendedMeme, since it's now one of the USC band's signature songs during football games. [[http://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-usc-alabama-tusk-20160826-snap-story.html Other schools' bands have adopted it too]], much to USC's consternation.

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