Christine McVie’s Drugs Of Choice Were Cocaine & Champagne

Christine McVie says that despite Fleetwood Mac's legendary reputation for drug and booze consumption — she still remembers it all. McVie's upcoming solo set, Songbird (A Solo Collection), drops on June 24th, features guest appearances by Eric Clapton, Lindsey Buckingham, and Steve Winwood.

While chatting with The Guardian, McVie was asked if she had any blanks in her memory due to the rough and ready lifestyle the Mac lived, she said, “No. I have to say I’m not guilt-free in that department but Stevie (Nicks) and I were very careful. The boys used to get provided with cocaine in Heineken bottle tops onstage, but Stevie and I only did the tiny little spoons. I suppose sometimes we got a bit out-there, but we were quite restrained, really.”

McVie explained, “I always took fairly good care of myself. My drug of choice was cocaine and champagne. I didn’t use any other drugs at all. It’s easy for me to say, but I think it made me perform better. Maybe somebody could tell me different (laughs).”

It was during sessions for Rumours that Stevie Nicks and her Fleetwood Mac bandmates began a dangerous cycle of booze and drugs that tangled the group up in cross addiction, that was running full throttle throughout the Tusk sessions: “For us it was basically, y’know, brandy, cigarettes, pot, and coke — and that was just the wicked little circle — 'rat’s wheel,' I call it — that everybody was on. Y’know, you do some coke and you were nervous and then you’d smoke some pot to calm down, and you were too stoned and then you’d, y’know, do some more coke to wake up and then you’d have a drink, ‘cause you were too nervous. . . and it was just a nightmare.”