ON FRIDAY, DR. Arthur C. Bartner, the 85-year-old retired band director at USC, stood at the 50-yard line of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before the Trojans’ game against Northwestern, looking for an old friend.
Suddenly, Mick Fleetwood, the legendary drummer from Fleetwood Mac, showed up. He saw Bartner, and his face lit up. The 79-year-old drummer embraced his old friend in a huge hug.
“The look on his face was priceless,” Bartner said. “I mean, there was a genuine appreciation and love for our relationship through the years.”
In 1979, the two men joined forces to make American music history, when Fleetwood convinced Bartner to lend him the Trojan Marching Band for the recording of “Tusk,” the title track of a Fleetwood Mac album at the height of the band’s powers. It would go on to earn both bands two platinum albums and create an iconic marching band song.
Michael Barash, the founder of College Marching, which covers bands across the country, said nobody else has what USC has in “Tusk.” He cited the popularity of “Dixieland Delight” at Alabama, “Country Roads” at West Virginia and “Rocky Top” at Tennessee as comparable examples. But there’s one big difference. “None of those bands can say they recorded the original track with the artist,” Barash said.
That’s why Bartner became something of a star and his group became known as “Hollywood’s Band.” On Friday, he felt the need to remind Fleetwood of what the collaboration did for him.
“You made my career,” Bartner said he told Fleetwood. “You made me famous, Mick.”
Soon after, Fleetwood joined the Trojan Marching Band to play their creation together once again. For Bartner, it was a “joyous occasion.” Not only did he get to surprise Fleetwood, but he got to see Fleetwood play “Tusk” in person once again, 46 years after the first performance.
“At 85 years old, how lucky, how blessed am I to have an evening like this?” Bartner said. “There’s not many people that can live such a moment in your life and get to do it twice.”
FLEETWOOD MAC GOT whatever it wanted in 1979.
“Rumors,” released in 1977, was one of the biggest albums in history, leading to packed stadium shows around the world and putting the group on par with Led Zeppelin and The Eagles. Led by classics such as “Dreams,” “Go Your Own Way” and “Don’t Stop,” the record spent 31 weeks at No. 1 and has sold more than 40 million records.
Afterward, the band set out on an adventure in record making, exploring new sonic techniques and hoping to rebel against their record label. They were given a massive budget of $1 million, making the album, at that point, the most expensive of all time. L.A.’s legendary Village Recorders studio built the band a new studio for them to record it in, including a custom booth at Stevie Nicks’ request that was decorated to evoke a sunset in Tahiti.