What if Lindsey and Stevie never joined the Mac?
 

Please let me make something clear: I do not want to see any angry arguments or personal attacks. This is a discussion, not an argument over opinions

Anyways, now that I got that disclaimer out of the way, let me get this out: nerdy as it may sound, I love pondering about what would've happened to a particular artist or band if something did or didn't happen and how it would've affected their history (for example, what would've happened to The Who if Keith Moon had never died? Or maybe what would have happened to Van Halen if their planned 1996 reunion with David Lee Roth had gone through?).

Anyways, I couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if Lindsey and Stevie had never joined the Mac? Here, we should try and look at what would've became of Lindsey and Stevie and what would've became of the Mac in this situation.

EDIT: Depending on how well this goes over, I might create future threads asking other What If questions

I'm sure Mick would have spotted someone just as talented as Stevie and Lindsey, though they basically make Fleetwood Mac for me. I mean really, you have to say Mick has a good eye for talent in that case!

I wouldn't be a member of this board :)

But, in all seriousness, I really think that they would have eventually found a guitarist, tried out the whole US thing, fail. Then ultimately return to England where they would have been a somewhat sucessful English band. :D

Well I look at it from less of Lindsey and Stevie joining and more on what if Bob Welch hadn't left. If all the drama with Bob Weston having an affair with Mick's wife and the whole bogus Mac tour thing, Welch probably would have stayed longer. They might have added another member(singer and/or guitarist). Actually they should have done that already, but that's beside the point.

Mick heard I believe "Frozen Love" while checking out studios to record a new album when Welch was still in the band. If Mick hadn't stopped by that studio or if the guy would have played another song from someone else, Mick would not have "discovered" Lindsey.

Of course Lindsey said he and Stevie were a package deal (how sweet of him ;) ). So if he would have said no thank you to Mick...:shrug:

If Bob stayed, we probably would've gotten more cool music (cause I do like Bob and I do think he's awesome), but I hate to say it, but they would've probably never really taken off that much

EDIT: Of course, the biggie would be that most of you wouldn't have met me cause I probably would've never heard of the band and never went here in the first place (or met my friend Matt, who urged me to become a poster there)

In case it comes up, here's the link to wikipedia's FM discography.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood_Mac_discography

Notice the '73 album Mystery to Me hit number 67 in the US. A year later Heroes Are Hard to Find hits number 34. Having an album hit the Top 40 album charts is a fairly big deal, especially for a band that was probably still looked at as an "English blues" band.

I guess my thing is that Fleetwood Mac would have broke through(whatever that means) eventually with or without Lindsey and/or Stevie, albeit at a slower pace.

Yeah you're right. They probably would've gotten somewhere in the US, but like I said, they would probably not be as big as they would've been with Lindsey and Stevie.

To switch things over, what do you think would would've became of Lindsey and Stevie? Would BN 2 be a hit? Or would they be remembered as a very talented, but failed duo?

I think Stevie and Lindsey would have been successful in their own right. I think the songs used for the white album would have made up the second Buckingham Nicks record and they would have made it eventually. The real question is, if the above scenerio happened would Stevie have had a solo career?

With the second BN album, they probably would've learned from their mistakes, gotten a new label to market them better, one plus being that, by 1974, Swansong Records was created by Led Zeppelin and their label, Atlantic, to sign on bands who are getting started off and having trouble with bigger labels, so they could've easily been signed on and actually have gotten somewhere.

As for the music, what would it have been like?

Bob was going to leave the band anyway.
So Mick would have looked for another guitarist (not an additional female singer, that was incidental). How talent the new one would be? Who knows.

My guess... Fleetwood Mac would have lasted few more years, or maybe several but as successful as it was at that point. Or maybe WB would get tired of the usual 300 thousand albums sale and shut them down, who knows. they would probably never become millonaires.

John would still have drinking a lot. So he and Chris would divorce anyway.

Buckingham Nicks 2? Oh sure. How succesful? Who knows. I guess with Rhiannon and So Afraid they could have reached the top 100. Remember they were a hit in Alabama, according to Mick's book:

But Buckingham Nicks enjoyed one last gasp. Right after they joined us, someone in Birmingham, Alabama called up and asked them to headline a show. Twice in the previous year Buckingham Nicks had opened shows there; the local radio played their album, which enjoyed strong local sales. So they flew off to Alabama with three other players and discovered that Buckingham Nicks had sold out a six-thousand-seat hall! And the audience went nuts when they came out. Their minds were completely boggled. Unknown in L.A., unable even to get a cheap gig somewhere, they were heroes in Birmingham.

It's an interesting question, and the responses are imaginative, but it's kind of useless speculation. What if Peter Green never left? What if one of them died from a drug overdose? What if Lindsey never came back? What if Rumours was a flop? What if Stevie left after the success of Bella Donna? Fate plays itself out as it will.

Great answer!:nod:

Stevie & Lindsey would have split up--they were splitting up when they joined the band--& she would have moved back in with her mom & dad & probably gone back to school or gotten a teaching certificate (her folks would have required her to do so). She'd have spent her recreational time (& there's a lot of that when you are getting your teaching certificate) writing songs & singing, as she always had done. Maybe she'd have joined another band affiliated with the university.

Lindsey would have continued taking session jobs in the studio & on the road for various & sundry, & probably would have made his way into production or engineering (where his true interests lay).

Fleetwood Mac would have continued searching for a lead guitarist. Welch wanted to leave before Buckingham was introduced to Fleetwood. Either they would have found an American guitarist & recorded whatever style that guitarist was inclined to & best at, or they would have moved back to England (despite their intensely negative feelings toward the outrageously high tax situation) & dug up a Brit to play lead guitar.

There's have been no Grammys, no American Music Awards, no sold-out world tours, & no exuberant & influential pop rococo--although Buckingham might have found himself at some point producing along those lines, bringing a newfound modern sensibility to the legacy of Scotty Moore, Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, the Kingston Trio, & Brian Wilson--wherein the orchestral pieces such as the guitar parts all play subservient roles to the track as a whole, creating a panoply of musical color palettes & emotional moods.

If they hadn't joined...somehow, I would've found my way into the band....and talked Welch into coming back, too. :nod: