• Writers: Fleetwood Mac
• Producers: Fleetwood Mac, Richard Dashut, and Ken Caillat
• Recorded: Late summer/fall 1976 at studios in Los Angeles, North Hollywood, and Miami
• Released: Spring 1977
• Players:
  Christine McVie — vocals, keyboards
  Lindsey Buckingham — guitar, vocals
  Stevie Nicks — vocals
  John McVie — bass
  Mick Fleetwood — drums
• Album: Rumours (Warner Bros., 1977)
• Also On:
  25 Years — The Chain (Warner Bros., 1992)
  The Dance (Warner Bros., 1997)
  The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac (Reprise, 2002)
  Live In Boston (Reprise, 2004)
• “The Chain” was the only group-written song on Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours album. The other 10 tracks were all penned individually either by Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, or Christine McVie.
• Though it was not released as a single, “The Chain” is nevertheless one of Fleetwood Mac’s most popular songs, receiving substantial airplay and opening many of their concerts.
• Buckingham told Rolling Stone that the song got its name because it was edited down from many different pieces of tape.
• Though it appears in the middle of the album — the first song on side two of the original vinyl issue — it outlines the album’s theme of romantic loss, relationship turmoil, and the resilience of bonds strong enough to withstand such tribulations.
• Rumours was marked by the splintering of the couples within the group. In addition to the Nicks-Buckingham split-up, Christine and John McVie also broke up, and Mick Fleetwood‘s marriage went sour.
• Rumours was Fleetwood Mac’s commercial peak, spending 31 weeks at Number One on the Billboard 200 and launching five hit singles — an accomplishment unheard of in the mid- and late-’70s.
• With more than 19 million copies sold, it’s one of the top-selling album of all-original material ever released by a group.
• Rumours won a Grammy for Album Of The Year and was named Favorite Album at the American Music Awards. The group also won the AMA for Favorite Pop/Rock Duo Or Group.

FAST FORWARD:

• Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac in 1987. Nicks remained until 1992.
• Fleetwood published his memoirs in 1990 and angered some members of the band with his frank accounts of the group’s behind-the-scenes life, including an affair with Nicks.
• The group reunited for a one-off performance of “Don’t Stop” at Bill Clinton‘s first inaugural celebration on January 19th, 1993, after Clinton used it as the theme song of his presidential campaign.
• The group got back together in 1997 for the live album The Dance and a reunion tour.
• Christine McVie has since retired from the band on good terms.
• Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
• The lineup of Fleetwood, Buckingham, Nicks, and John McVie released a new studio album called Say You Will in 2003, which they followed with a lengthy world tour.
• Buckingham released a solo album in 2006 called Under The Skin.
• Fleetwood now lives at least part of the year in Hawaii, and he recently announced the formation of a group called Mick Fleetwood’s Island Rumours Band.

Sheryl Crow recently announced she will be touring as part of Fleetwood Mac in the future, probably next year.