They've gone on to far greater success in the years since releasing their first few albums, but for some Fleetwood Mac fans, there's really never been any substitute for the band's original lineup — and drummer Mick Fleetwood understands why.

Fleetwood and the rest of the band sat for individual interviews in the new issue of Mojo, and when confronted with the subject of co-founder and original guitarist Peter Green — who left the lineup in 1970 and entered a long period of illness and seclusion — Fleetwood was unequivocal in his belief that the first version of the group had unfinished business when Green departed.

"I think it would have been really profound," he mused when asked what might have been if Green had been able to stick around. "I have no doubt what was missed. I think we would have had a place sort of like Led Zeppelin in America. The creativity was on a par with where they took themselves. That’s what I think would have happened. I think we would have had a really, really elastic musical trip. Experimenting with sounds and styles and orchestras."

That being said, the current Fleetwood Mac lineup has had a pretty incredible trip of its own, and as far as Fleetwood's concerned, it'll be the last version of the band. "This is it, to me," he stated emphatically. "Emotionally, if you think of the enormity of what has happened, the surprise of what has happened, the doors that have opened to be walked through … If you were writing a book, you’d go, ‘Isn’t it a shame I can’t end it like this?’ We’ve had the chance to end it like that and I wouldn’t dream of it any other way."

 

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