The Pop Corporation

You can find all manner of amazing and strange things when you keep watching lousy old documentaries. We’ll get onto that shortly though, because first, have you ever found yourself dancing along to ‘Why Did You Do It?’ by Stretch? It’s a favourite of the DJs, or you may have it on one of your playlists and you were tapping the steering wheel, singing along, and assuming it was another banger about a spurned lover.

Well, it isn’t about love gone bad – in fact, it’s much stranger than that. Let’s have a listen to it before we get going.

Most bands have pretty typical, inauspicious beginnings – usually kids at school wanting to be Elvis, an ad in Melody Maker, seeing someone down the clubs, that kind of thing.

Stretch, and indeed, Fleetwood Mac, aren’t any old bands.

While watching an old episode of Rock Family Trees online, it was semi-glossed over that Fleetwood Mac during one of their many break-ups and line-up changes (and this is before the ‘Rumours’ era classic line-up), there was a bogus Fleetwood Mac that were assembled by their management.

It was all done via top secret telegrams and the band were eventually sent to tour North American, but without a single original member of Fleetwood Mac involved. Now, we’ve seen it in pop with the Sugababes and in psychedelic rock with the Electric Prunes – it happens sometimes when someone not in the band thinks they have a legal right to the name and there’s a few quid to be made. It’s always messy. It’s always fascinating.

The story according to John McVie and Mick Fleetwood is that this band were simply assembled behind their back while they were trying to put another line-up together and on hiatus. The story on the management side is that Mick Fleetwood was on board, but bailed on the US tour at the last minute, throwing this hodge-podge band under the bus.

Legal action ensued and a whole load of bother, but eventually, it was all sorted out… but not before some blows were traded.

And so, to Stretch – the band who were briefly a faux Fleetwood Mac, and irritated by Mick Fleetwood bailing (allegedly) and send to angry audiences in the States.

Stretch were assembled in ’74 by Fleetwood Mac’s manager Clifford Davis and Mick Fleetwood himself, apparently. Fleetwood would later deny any knowledge of all of this, but of course, wherever Fleetwood goes, there tends to be a bit of mess and drama. Stretch’s bass player. -Paul Martinez – said: “Mick Fleetwood pulled out at the last minute claiming not to know who we were!”

The tour for this cobbled together Mac fell to pieces and on return to London, and noticing that they were a half-decent group, thought they may as well give the band thing a go. Fate had brought them together, so why not?

And so, frontman Elmer Gantry and guitarist Graham ‘Kirby’ Gregory formed Stretch, with the axeman sitting down and writing ‘Why Did You Do It?’ about the whole sorry situation.

So, previously, if you thought the line “the only one who knows the truth, man it’s me, him, and you” was about someone cheating on the protagonist, the back story gives a very different picture.

Stretch would record the ‘Elastique’ LP which is solid enough, but with one obvious stand-out track. It incorporated country, hard rock amongst other things, and perhaps the way in which they were brought together meant that it was never going to be a cohesive piece, but for that one track, the stars definitely aligned.

Kirby would eventually join Curved Air and Fleetwood Mac would go on to recruit Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, have a bunch of ill-advised affairs, air their dirty laundry, release ‘Rumours’ and ‘Tusk’ and then collapse, break up, get back together, and generally be the biggest mess in the whole world that people couldn’t resist.

Next, we’ll write about ‘How Long?’ by Ace isn’t about adultery, but rather, Paul Carrack (yep – him from Mike & The Mechanics) being annoyed that his bass player had been moonlighting in some other bands.

Funny ol’ world isn’t it?