One thing you have to remember about the Destiny Rules documentary, it was, as we would all hate to admit, just a marketing device (at least as far as the record execs are concerned). It was used to redevelop the history of Fleetwood Mac, and show viewers that that story is still there. Stevie and Lindsey STILL exhibit this kind of romantic tension and creative differences that often lead to arguments. Lindsey is STILL "the trouble maker" (and it's not ME calling him a trouble maker...I think that's how he's perceived at some level), arguing with the band over, again, creative differences. There is STILL tension in the band. Lindsey might up and quit the project, and Stevie might cut the tour short. The purpose was to reinvigorate its target audience with not just the music, but the band's soap opera-like story in general. I actually did a paper about this for my Media Crit class, showing how "authenticity" and "narrative" is used for marketing rock and roll music, because "the heart" of rock and roll is authenticity. I got an A!
And as far as Gypsy goes, yeah, it did begin as a story about Stevie going back to San Francisco, but as someone said, the verse after the bridge was never there until it appeared on Mirage (she is dancing away from you now...). In the demoes, she went back to the first verse. So I suppose that's why the song really IS about BOTH things.
And now to the original topic. It just seems that Fleetwood Mac could never do as well, commercially, without one of the members. Lindsey left, and Behind the Mask failed to sell as well as the Rumours era albums. Stevie left, and Time was just a bust. Now Christine left, and Say You Will fails to have as much commercial success as the Rumours era (although some of that can be attributed to the way the music industry is today). So, if Stevie left in 1980, I really don't think FM would have had the commercial success it had, even if Stevie's contributions seemed not up to par with her older songs. But remember, Stevie wasn't really the one who said, "these songs will go on the album." Smile at You SHOULD have been on Mirage, but the band picked three other songs instead (and thank God Gypsy was one of them). There were also other songs they could have chosen for TITN, and I still don't see what is so terrible about Welcome to the Room...Sara. ALSO, Stevie always had only three songs on the albums. I've always thought that it was sort of part of the agreement to her joining. She can join, but she gets THIS many cuts out of THIS many songs, you know? As for Stevie's solo career, I kind of wonder if she would have continued through the years if she was purely solo. But really that's all the speculation I have. I think most of it would have gone the way it did, except there may have been another album pushed in there somewhere. Ok, I'm tired now, time to go.