Where does Fleetwood Mac rank among the greatest bands?

[chiliD]

Had Peter Green, Danny Kirwan & Jeremy Spencer stayed together & not had the illness, religious epiphanies, etc, Fleetwood Mac today would probably have the status we now reserve for Led Zeppelin. PG was 10x's the guitarist Jimmy Page had ever HOPED to be...as a band, Fleetwood Mac was tighter (even on their extended jams) than Zep ever was even on a GOOD night. But, that's all reserved for some parallel universe that only exists in the "what if" filing cabinet of our minds.

The thing is, once bands start shifting personnel (after a bout of huge fame), the mystique is damaged bit by bit.

The Beatles got their personnel changes out of the way before the "Mania" hit full on.

The Rolling Stones shift in personnel was for the better, Brian Jones was pretty much holding them back, then mysteriously left this astral plane, to be replaced by Mick Taylor (Peter Green's replacement in the Bluesbreakers)...the result of which was the Stones took a big leap in both songwriting, record production, etc, etc. and at the time, really DID deserve the "Greatest Rock & Roll Band In The World" moniker. Pretty much their ascent to that level was aided immensely by the Beatles calling it a day in 1970, as well. The combination of their already being #2, the addition of Mick Taylor, the move to their own label, when the #1's decided they didn't want to be a band anymore, the Stones were the obvious "next #1". They even are the exception to my "personnel changes" rule too. When Mick Taylor opted out of the Stones, the only REAL choice WAS Ronnie Wood, since Faces had pretty much been dropped by Rod Stewart and closed down their musical drinking establishment. The Stones popularity (and creativity) had another spike. The Stones rode that wave for another decade & a half.


The Who...pretty much were #3 behind Beatles & Stones in the 60's, and were leap-frogged by Led Zeppelin in the 70's, keeping them in the #3 spot, although they gave it a good fight with "Tommy", "Who's Next", "Quadrophenia" & "Who By Numbers"...they just couldn't really survive the death of Keith Moon, although they soldiered on with exactly the WORST choice of drummer to take Moon's place. Kenney Jones was great with Faces, but he was nowhere near Moon's level. And, because of Moon's death and the subsequent dip in quality songwriting (Townshend was obviously affected dramatically by Keith's demise), showed Zeppelin how to respond to the death of their drummer. Just not go on. (at least until the next generation was old enough and able enough to sit in for his father....which The Who followed that process by eventually getting Zak Starkey (Ringo's son, but who had been taught how to play the instrument by "Uncle" Keith Moon, being basically Keith's progeny moreso than Ringo's.)

Somewhere around the mid-70s, some weird little progressive rock band all of a sudden leapt onto the scene pretty much out of nowhere (except for a rabid UK following) and became one of the "Mt Rushmore" candidates of rock & roll...Pink Floyd. Today, they're definitely Top 5.

Fleetwood Mac, yep, they had their "reincarnation" of popularity with Rumours, but by their own hand, they've not shaken that whole Rumours hype/mystique/soap opera. Fleetwood Mac's fame was more non-musical than it was musical. To the point of being the butt of the Rumours joke for quite a while, and they still were trying to keep that whole Rumours thing going...and damned if they still aren't in a lot of ways. That's been a hinderance rather than a boon.


I'd say that these days, Fleetwood Mac would probably be in the Top 10 or 15 bands/artists of all-time, but not much higher than that.

How I'd rank them:

1) Beatles
2) Rolling Stones
3) Led Zeppelin
4) Pink Floyd
5) U2
6) Bob Dylan
7) Neil Young
8) Jimi Hendrix Experience
9) Eric Clapton
10) Eagles
11) The Grateful Dead
12) The Doors
13) Prince
14) The Who
15) Fleetwood Mac