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Originally Posted by bombaysaffires
And Bob had just left.
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And Christine was still there. You know, the person with most of the bands hits...
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They weren't ever going to get above their typical sales of 100k or so albums without someone to replace him. Would they even have sustained those numbers otherwise? Doubtful
Apples to oranges where each was at in their respective careers. Fleetwood Mac had the history of huge fame from the Peter Green days to fall back on. There was a built in fan base from the better part of the previous decade. And multiple albums and hit singles. But most of those were in the rear-view mirror.
BuckNicks was new. They had ONE album to their credit at that point. However, they were slowly building a groundswell, and they had a collection of songs with great potential (that went on to push the FM white album). So in that respect Lindsey is right in his thought that the potential for those BN songs was high. Would they have fulfilled that potential? Given that those songs in the versions we all know and love were produced by Keith Olsen, who was already working with them, again the likelihood of fulfilling that potential seems high. Stevie and Lindsey were the charismatic front people that they became for FM. I love Chris, but she was never going to be the charismatic front person a band needs (nor did she want to be).
So sure, FM at that moment in time had a back catalogue and a dedicated fan base, but on their own as the 3 they weren't going to get any bigger unless/until they found new players. BN as a self-contained unit was on the precipice of breaking through.
Saying BN propelled FM to success they wouldn't otherwise have had makes someone a "shipper" is pretty laughable. Especially for those of us who get ripped by actual shippers. One can find Stevie's behavior lately reprehensible, and still see the value she and Lindsey brought to the mix. 
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I’m not a shipper. The only “ship” I care about is the Fleetwood-McVie-Perfect/McVie groove that’s been the defining part of the Fleetwood Mac sound since “Mr. Wonderful.” Those three together have something unique.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers didn’t get dropped after their first album, the one they made prior to Clapton.
Chicken Shack didn’t get dropped.
Christine Perfect didn’t get dropped.
Fleetwood Mac didn’t get dropped.
Paris didn’t get dropped.
Buckingham Nicks got dropped. There was no demand for them outside of a few towns in the Deep South. They didn’t have a label that liked them, believed in them, or was willing to stand by them. Certainly not a label that was willing to advance them $250k.
I half suspect Keith Olsen specifically played a couple of Buckingham Nicks songs to Mick because he knew enough about Fleetwood Mac’s history to see a potential opportunity to recoup some money off the freeloaders (Stevie and Lindsey). Making great music is all well and good, but it doesn’t pay the bills unless someone buys it. Keith could have just as easily recommended Waddy, who may have been a more appropriate replacement for Bob Welch (weird looking, wears glasses, plays a Les Paul).
You imply that the band wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without Peter, Bob, or Stevie and Lindsey. I don’t disagree about Peter, but where were Bob or Buckingham Nicks before Fleetwood Mac? Christine had ten of the band’s eighteen Top-40 hit singles and Fleetwood Mac always had Top-40 albums when Mick was managing the band, including “Rumours.” At some point, aren’t they also responsible for the band’s success?