Would Fleetwood Mac have made it without Stevie?

[belladonnadream]

Do you think Fleetwood Mac would have made it as a huge band without Stevie?

[vivfox]

No I don't. Stevie and Lindsey made FM the superstars they are today. Christine's songs were made greater by the productions of LB.

[nailatixela]

Of course. They did well without her before. And of course they would do well as Mick/John/Lindsey/Christine. Christine's single started things off in 1975, not Stevie's. I'm not saying Stevie didn't help though.

[BellaDonna93]

No, no, no :)

[Black_Moon]

They were already "made" before Stevie and Lindsey joined the group. Would they have had the success of Rumours scales without the duo? I think it's doubtful. But, they were already fairly successful. Most of their albums were going gold or just under.

[David]

They were already "made" before Stevie and Lindsey joined the group. Would they have had the success of Rumours scales without the duo? I think it's doubtful. But, they were already fairly successful. Most of their albums were going gold or just under.
I kind of agree with this post. Fleetwood Mac made it big in Britain & elsewhere in Europe from 1967 to Peter's departure. They slid into a commercial decline in the first half of the 1970s, although I love their music from that time, especially "Sands of Time," "Prove Your Love," & "The Derelict."

They didn't rev up as a commercial powerhouse until the white FM album started selling like hotcakes, which was in 1976, not 1975. Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham were in the band throughout 1975, & the band was driving around in station wagons, playing college campuses & opening for other acts. They were not a superstar band in 1975.

Would the band have achieved commercial superstar success without Buckingham & Nicks? Some ledgies think so (they say that the band was poised to break quite big when the Clifford Davis fiasco **** hit the fan), but I don't & here's the reason: I don't think the band was heading in the direction of AM radio hit singles -- light, frothy, hooky -- in 1974 or 1975. That's what ultimately broke them with "Over My Head" & "Say You Love Me" -- AM radio & the Hit Parade phenomenon. People don't take an interest in band personnel until one of their songs is a hit.

Maybe Fleetwood Mac could have found big commercial success in 1977 or so on FM radio (as AOR stations became the dominant market factor), but the band would have had to hang on for several years until that happened, & the songwriters would have had to start writing more rock & less pop. That's another point: Fleetwood Mac was down to a threesome at the very end of 1974. They needed a guitarist, obviously, otherwise they wouldn't have had any chance in hell of becoming a commercial powerhouse. A lot of it would have depended on whom they hired as guitarist.

Edit: I just realized I misread the entire question. It wasn't asking about life without Buckingham & Nicks, but only without Nicks. Presumably, the what-if scenario includes Buckingham.

[markolas]

Without Buckingham? No. Without Stevie? Well I don't think the phenomenon that was Rumours would've happened without her, so I don't think they would've been *as* huge, but I do think they would've "broken through." Rumours and the '75 FM album would've both been pretty great (tho less interesting/compelling) even if SN hadn't been on them.

[HejiraNYC]

I do think FM would have been successful as a pop/rock outfit to the extent of others who were big around that time- Toto, Little River Band, Air Supply, Doobie Brothers, etc. Yes, they would have charted some hit singles and would have moved a couple million copies per album and toured arenas. But I think FM's ultimate fate would have gone one of two directions- either they faded quickly into an obscure oldies act by the 1990s like their aforementioned peers, or Lindsey's outsized power within the band would have taken them into a far left-of-center direction that could have alienated the fans. What Stevie brought to the band was a strong commercial sensibility and a conservative voice that helped to ground Lindsey's otherworldly musical aspirations. The commercial-vs-wacky tension that Stevie adds to the dynamic is what made the band what it is today. I don't think Christine or Lindsey would have had the audacity or emotional vulnerability to write songs like "Gold Dust Woman" or "Sara" and turned them into FM radio hits.