Stevie in Q Magazine (March, 2017)
 

10 COMMANDMENTS: STEVIE NICKS - Q Magazine, March 2017
THE FLEETWOOD MAC SINGER DELIVERS HER GOLDEN RULES FOR LIVING.

1 MAKE LIKE A BOY OR GIRL SCOUT: BE PREPARED

I’m scared, that’s what I am. Before shows, some people – me, Mick [Fleetwood, [ drummer], we get panic attacks. I have always been terribly nervous before shows. So I am so rehearsed and ready that I could be dead and stand up there and still sing the right words and do the right thing. Cocaine almost killed me. It’s better to just not do it. Eventually you’ll have to stop so start saving your money for rehab now.

2 THE DRUGS DON’T WORK, THEY JUST MAKE IT WORSE

Touring with Fleetwood Mac in the ’70s, cocaine was almost part of the daily routine. But when I talk about it now, I would never want the kids of today to think that I’m saying it was something good. Cos it really wasn’t something good. It almost destroyed my life. It almost killed me, and almost killed a lot of people I know. So if anybody thinks it’s safe now – it’s not. It’s better to just not do it. Because you will eventually have to stop, so start saving your money for rehab now. It’s so expensive.

3 LYRICISTS! WATCH YOUR CUSS WORDS

I’ve been listening to The Weeknd’s records. I play them one after the other when I’m in my bathroom getting ready to go out, or just hanging out with myself. He’s brilliant. And his voice – he could have come straight out of 1975 – he could have been like Stevie Winwood. He’s over-talented. But if I were to meet him, I would probably say: “You say over and over again words that I would prefer you didn’t say. I think they’re unnecessary. However, even though I think a lot of your songs are super-dirty, I still really like ’em! So I’ve given you a pass on that!”

4 SINGERS! WATCH YOUR SYLLABLES

I saw Adele at the Grammys [Adele had to restart a performance of George Michael’s Fastlove], and that song was a very hard song to sing for George Michael. It’s all about the syllables. I have a song on my 24 Karat Gold album, Mabel Normand, that’s exactly the same. That’s the reason we’re not doing it onstage. Because if you take a breath, you get off the beat. You’re one word too late, you can never get back on, and you’re dead in the water.

5 YOU’RE A ROCK STAR – THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A SICKIE

Onstage is the one time you can’t bemoan how you feel. Even if you have pneumonia, you have to say: “I’m leaving that in the dressing room and I’m walking out and I’m gonna be great. And when I come offstage, then I can burst into tears.”

6 WRITING TIMELESS POP OR EPIC FANTASY – EACH IS AS HARD AS THE OTHER

I love Game Of Thrones. [Author Author] George RR Martin is my age [68 ] and it blows my mind that he’s able to create this vast, interlinked world. As a songwriter I write little movies, but I can’t imagine writing even one small book. But then, probably, somebody like him would say, “I couldn’t imagine writing Landslide.”

7 DON’T FEAR THE PRODUCER

In the 24 Karat Gold show, I’m singing songs that are new old songs – the ones that should have gone on [Fleetwood Mac’s] Tusk and Tango In The Night, and on [solo albums] Bella Donna, The Wild Heart and Rock A Little. And they didn’t: not because they weren’t good enough, but because I didn’t like how they were done at the time. I didn’t like the producers’ concept, whether it was Lindsey [Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac bandmate] or Jimmy Iovine. So I pulled them. So the way the songs are recorded on 24 Karat Gold is exactly how they were done as demos.

8 LEARN FROM THE GREATS. AND TAKE FROM THE GREATS

I give Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and [Jefferson Airplane singer] Grace Slick the three nods. From Grace I got her slinky-ness. Janis was just little with a big attitude and big hair and feathers, and a drop-dead amazing voice. And Jimi was completely and utterly humble. So from those three people I got slinky, attitude and humility – and that was my stage performance.

9 RESPECT OTHER ARTISTS, WHEREVER THEY ARE ON THE BILL

Chrissie Hynde and I have been touring America together. She’s just fantastic. A lot of the people in her group say they haven’t seen her that happy in 30 years. And I love that so much. Because I never wanted Chrissie to feel like she was opening for me. I wanted her to feel that it was a complete and utter double bill. But because the tour was my idea, I got to go on last, basically.

10 BE AN EASY WRITER, AND AN EASY ROCKER

I’ve always loved Tom Petty, from Refugee to Breakdown, all thosesongs. Tom’s an easy writer – very unlike Lindsey, more like myself. When Tom goes up there onstage, he might as well be in his studio or his living room with the stereo banging.

Stevie Nicks plays BST Hyde Park on 9 July. Tickets are available now.

Than that's why she doesn't do Mabel Normand...
I love how Stevie and Chrissie Hynde talk about each other.

:lol::rolleyes:

I love her so much, but COME ON!!! Truly humble people don't tell the world they are humble. They let other people come to that conclusion.

In my opinion, the "newfound popularity" she received after 1997's "The Dance" took away the last shred of humility she had about herself and her career. I miss that quiet, shy, insecure, soft spoken girl from "Bella Donna" even up to the "Street Angel" promotional interviews.

http://i.imgur.com/m0FF2RT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/P8q51we.png

Interesting, what is the "Q's guide to Fleetwood Mac" mentioned at the right bottom?

http://i.imgur.com/P9uW6ef.jpg

lol i just can't @ how she likes game of thrones. and twilight.

Thanks Danielle, you're a treasure.

Why not ? They're great fantasy stories, especially Game of Thrones. Twilight is very much like Beauty and the Beast, as far as the main storyline goes.

Jamie

I disagree with George Michael's Fastlove being like Mabel Normand though. I'm betting that Stevie is unfamiliar with George's version as it's pretty much a regular pop song. Adele just slowed it down dramatically when she did it as a tribute.

Jamie

I just don't like Game of Thrones in general, too much gratuitous sexual violence. I can get why she likes Twilight though, the whole mythical toxic relationship thing is right up her alley but it's like horrible writing lol.

Somehow I doubt George R.R. Martin is worried about not being able to write a Landslide. On the other hand, he's eternally frustrating to fans in that instead of finishing the last two books in the Song of Ice and Fire; he devotes so much time to blogging about politics and football, pushing the latest event at his art house theater and his gallery and attending every Con and awards ceremony that comes down the pipe, so it would be par for the course if he was distracting himself by trying desperately to write a song worthy of Stevie Nick's talents. :lol:

Personally I find Twilight much more disturbing and unhealthy than Game of Thrones.

Couldn't agree more, except that I no longer love her - I used to but not anymore. I don't even recognise the person she has become.

A friend who used to follow Stevie and the Mac back in their heyday recently came across some of her interviews and sincerely asked me "what happened to her?" They were genuinely shocked at her arrogance and opinionated ways.

I too am disenchanted by who she has become .