I hate Fleetwood Mac with a passion—they were an easy enemy for young punks of the 1970s, what with a hit soft-rock that not only ruled the Billboard charts for a nauseating amount of months but changed a once-decent band from rowdy Brit R&B to L.A. lollygagging. But even with bands I despise I can usually find one song I admire. In Fleetwood Mac’s case that song is “Tusk,” which I’ve been known to play on the ukulele and which used a marching band as cleverly as Steam used cheerleading chants.
So The Afghan Whigs ingenious reworking of “Tusk” into their own song “I Am Fire,” live on the Jimmy Kimmel show March 9, was a certain kind of statement. Greg Dulli is a mature, sensitive popsmith with some punk roots and an appreciation for early Beatles that earned him a place in the Backbeat soundrtrack band alongside Dave Pirner, Thurston Moore, Don Fleming, Mike Mills and Dave Grohl. Nobody from that era, or those interests, references Fleetwood Mac indiscriminately.