Why in 1975?

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by David

Which means that one can't make grand Hegelian pronouncements such as "In 1974, they were just about to break before so-and-so joined" or "In 1974, they were on the verge of being megastars."

I actually agree with this. That's why I haven't been saying that they were going to break or were on the verge. I say that the momentum for that to happen was in their favor, and that the situation could not have been more ideal for them to make a quality album and work with the record company to make it a hit. The actual working conditions in 1975 were far different than they were in 1973, and would have been regardless of who was in the band. Technically, I think it COULD have happened without Stevie and Lindsey, but I think that everything Stevie and Lindsey brought to the band in conjunction with the assets the band already had inspired Mick to do everything humanly possible to make the album a hit.

Originally Posted by David

No one will also ever know exactly why they became the biggest band in the world. There are dozens of reasons that are all probably responsible in various degrees, but there's no way of quantifying any of them. It's akin to arguing over how many angels fit on the head of a Sennheiser microphone.

Again, that's true. But, we can compare the situations in an A-B fashion and see where there were certain advantages outside of personnel the band had in 1975. In other words, I think we can safely say that they didn't become a hit band just because two pretty Americans suddenly showed up, that there was a bit more to the story than just that.