Why Do You Think Stevie Peaked Commercially with Bella Donna? [Archive]

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TheSorcerer

02-21-2013, 06:20 AM

I’m not trying to start arguments or to diminish Stevie as a solo act but I’ve always wondered why her commercial success waned after Bella Donna. There’s no doubt that she continued to do well, scoring gold and platinum records (2xplatinum for The Wild Heart) but there’s also no denying her sales and chart positions dropped off as the 1980s rolled on. Was it the emergence of artists like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper? Was it simply a case of Bella Donna coming hot off the success of the 1970s and she could never top it commercially? I’ve read about fans being disappointed that her solo material wasn’t like her material with Fleetwood Mac or wasn’t as good. That’s not my opinion; it’s just something I’ve read quite often over the years. Her cocaine addiction affected her music; did this play a part in the public losing interest?

Her ticket sales for tours also seem to drop off as the decade rolled on, at least according to the data on fmlegacy.com. Was it that she was seen as somewhat unreliable in terms of what sort of performance she would put on after her drug problems? I guess her lack of success in the 1990s, at least around the time of Timespace and Street Angel, could be put down to her being seen as somewhat uncool at the time and not scoring big hits on the radio. What do you think? Obviously it doesn’t really matter in the broad scope of things since she’s still here today, I’m just interested in hearing what people have to say on the subject.

TheWILDheart

02-21-2013, 07:33 AM

WildHearted

02-21-2013, 08:02 AM

I don't know - personally, I think it's just something that happens with artists in general. I can think of very people have been able to maintain a consistent success rate throughout their career. Someone/something new always comes along.

I'd say she was pretty lucky to have the success that she did, especially in light of the glory she'd already found with Fleetwood Mac. Not many people have that luxury. She may not have had 30 #1's, but most of her albums sold well, her singles got played, and she was even recognized by the academy with Grammy noms. To have a top 20 hit 13 years after you initially became popular - I'd say you're doing pretty good.

TheSorcerer

02-21-2013, 08:33 AM

That's a really good question, but I don't know the answer. If anything, I think Stevie's post-Bella Donna hits ("Stand Back", "Talk To Me" and "Rooms on Fire" especially) were far more commercial than anything on Bella Donna. It seems that these songs were equally, if not more successful as singles and radio hits, but the albums didn't sell as well.

Funnilly enough, Stevie's solo career peaked in the UK and Europe with "The Otherside Of The Mirror", which is her biggest selling solo album here. "Street Angel" also charted significantly higher than both "The Wild Heart" and "Rock A Little".

I think the success of OSOTM in the UK and Europe is largely due to the massive success of "Tango In The Night" over here, which reached #1 3 times in 87 and 88. Same story with "Behind The Mask" - whilst only a moderate seller in the US, it spent 3 weeks at #1 in the UK and went platinum.

Here are Stevie's solo UK chart positions:

Bella Donna - 11
The Wild Heart - 28
Rock a Little - 30
The Other Side Of The Mirror - 3
Timespace - 15
Street Angel - 16
Trouble In Shangri La - 43
In Your Dreams - 14

All of Stevie's first 5 albums went Gold in the UK for sales of 100,000 copies.

I nearly noted in my original post that Stand Back, Talk to Me and Rooms on Fire were big hits for her, the latter being her biggest hit in the UK and several other countries. According to an old copy of Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums, The Wild Heart and Rock a Little both spent longer on the UK album chart than Bella Donna, The Other Side of the Mirror and Street Angel did despite those three peaking much higher and "Mirror" launching her only UK top 20 solo hit.

I do agree that the success of TOSOTM in the UK was probably more to do with it coming on the back of Tango in the Night. Rooms on Fire is a great, great song but the album isn't her best. Maybe her earlier singles didn't chart so well in the UK due to them being of a sound that was more popular in the US than the UK back in the day. I could be wrong.

I don't know - personally, I think it's just something that happens with artists in general. I can think of very people have been able to maintain a consistent success rate throughout their career. Someone/something new always comes along.

I'd say she was pretty lucky to have the success that she did, especially in light of the glory she'd already found with Fleetwood Mac. Not many people have that luxury. She may not have had 30 #1's, but most of her albums sold well, her singles got played, and she was even recognized by the academy with Grammy noms. To have a top 20 hit 13 years after you initially became popular - I'd say you're doing pretty good.

I agree. Like I said, it doesn't really matter in the broad scope of things. She's still here today releasing music and charted another US top 10 album in 2011. She's one of just a few female singers who fronted famous bands that managed to score a successful solo career, something that iconic singers like Debbie Harry and Grace Slick never really managed to do. It's definitely true that no artist is consistent in terms of success.

On Ice

02-21-2013, 09:08 AM

I think it is a combination of all of the factors mentioned, especially that an artists popularity does fluctuate or disappear altogether. Bella Donna did undoubtedly ride the wave of Fleetwood Mac's success and seems to have stood the test of time in terms of being considered a great album. The rest of her albums started to deteriorate in quality and those fans outside of the core of us started to take notice along with the public at large. That said I think In Your Dreams was an honest return to form within what she is capable of as an artist at this point in her life. I think the foundation cracked when the clunky lyric "ghost" and noticeable vocal chord damage started to damage Stevie's artistic merit. She was fortunate that strong charting singles could carry an album. Even as a long time devoted fan, I have to admit scratching my head at her being marketed as "legendary" (even though her work in the 70's is without question nothing short of phenomenal) it almost is like we're pretending the mid-80's to 97 didn't exist and that she still has the voice worthy of the status. At best, she would receive a life time achievement award but not be introduced at each tv appearance as legendary, it makes me cringe actually. (I'm not saying I don't like her mature voice, but I do admit that the pipes that made her famous is pretty much in the past and has been for decades).

Macfanforever

02-21-2013, 10:02 AM

HejiraNYC

02-21-2013, 11:21 AM

As far as I know Stevie got fked on the charts even with BD .Alot of her tunes should of done better.Even the same with FM.

Even back then the younger artists with the teenybopper tunes ruled the charts and ruin it for the established pop/rock artists.I put that as part of the blame.

I don't know how you could possibly say that. Around the time of BD's release, the Billboard album chart was ruled by so-called "classic rock" bands- Asia, Journey, The Police, Foreigner, Styx, REO Speedwagon, AC/DC, etc. I can't really think of anything that qualifies as "teenybopper" from that era... except maybe "Jesse's Girl?" :shrug: If anything, I think it was a bit of a golden era in terms of popular music. Rock and roll was the be all and end all. Stevie had three massive hits from BD, and I believe "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" continues to hold the Billboard chart record for most weeks at #3.

I think Stevie's success was largely an artifact or releasing the right album at the right time. She worked with the hottest producer and collaborators of the time and was already a major name in her own right. She was still also young enough to be relevant to kids, yet legendary enough to appeal to their parents. She had all of the advantages of being a hot new rising star as well as the advantages of being a veteran household name. The planets usually align like this only once for anybody. Twice if you're really, really lucky. She had her moment; two moments if you count the Rumours phenomenon.

Nobody has really been able to sustain mega-album sales throughout an entire career. Each of Michael Jackson's albums sold about half as much as its predecessor. Same with Janet Jackson. Same with Prince. And I'll bet Adele's next album (titled 25? 26?) will sell about half of 21. As for concert tickets, I suspect the decline in sales is largely due to the fact that she has pretty much toured every summer for the past 15 years (with a few exceptions) without releasing much in the way of new music. Audiences are a dynamic group- constantly dying off and renewing itself. By not releasing new music or repurposing her music for music/film/television, Stevie pretty much shut off her ability to recruit new fans. So as the old fans die off or become bored with the same setlist year after year, there are no fresh new a$$es to fill those seats. Indeed, by her last greatest hits (not a tour) tour in 2010, she was playing 2000-3000-seat venues at casinos. For IYD, she was back to playing 4000 - 10,000 seat venues.

moon

02-21-2013, 11:27 AM

First, I must repeat, that I don't believe on rankings, especially Billboard. Many artists have had a very successful career, and if they have not had a No. 1 in a particular ranking, just does not mean they were unsuccessful...

About Stevie, well, I always thought it was for the 70s legacy. You know, her relationship with Lindsey, the Rumours days, Dreams as a No. 1, the Tusk days... She had these things behind, and the responsability to keep the "glory" of these days. And I still believe that if she released her first solo work after Mirage, things could be different, you know why. Mirage was not like Tusk, or even Rumours.
By countries, for example, here in Argentina, Stevie is well known not for Bella Donna. After her FM songs (Dreams, Sara, Rhiannon, Landslide, Seven Wonders, and Gypsy), you can hear (still today, I suppose) songs like Stand Back, I can't wait, Talk to me, and Rooms on Fire. As you can see, songs from her next three studio albums.
So, I don't know the real reasons, but drugs played, unfortunately, a special role, as the comparison with her FM songs. As The Sorcerer, I don't think her solo work was worse.
Regards!

mitzo

02-21-2013, 11:31 AM

I don't know how you could possibly say that. Around the time of BD's release, the Billboard album chart was ruled by so-called "classic rock" bands- Asia, Journey, The Police, Foreigner, Styx, REO Speedwagon, AC/DC, etc. I can't really think of anything that qualifies as "teenybopper" from that era... except maybe "Jesse's Girl?" :shrug: If anything, I think it was a bit of a golden era in terms of popular music. Rock and roll was the be all and end all. Stevie had three massive hits from BD, and I believe "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" continues to hold the Billboard chart record for most weeks at #3.

I think Stevie's success was largely an artifact or releasing the right album at the right time. She worked with the hottest producer and collaborators of the time and was already a major name in her own right. She was still also young enough to be relevant to kids, yet legendary enough to appeal to their parents. She had all of the advantages of being a hot new rising star as well as the advantages of being a veteran household name. The planets usually align like this only once for anybody. Twice if you're really, really lucky. She had her moment; two moments if you count the Rumours phenomenon.

Nobody has really been able to sustain mega-album sales throughout an entire career. Each of Michael Jackson's albums sold about half as much as its predecessor. Same with Janet Jackson. Same with Prince. And I'll bet Adele's next album (titled 25? 26?) will sell about half of 21. As for concert tickets, I suspect the decline in sales is largely due to the fact that she has pretty much toured every summer for the past 15 years (with a few exceptions) without releasing much in the way of new music. Audiences are a dynamic group- constantly dying off and renewing itself. By not releasing new music or repurposing her music for music/film/television, Stevie pretty much shut off her ability to recruit new fans. So as the old fans die off or become bored with the same setlist year after year, there are no fresh new a$$es to fill those seats. Indeed, by her last greatest hits (not a tour) tour in 2010, she was playing 2000-3000-seat venues at casinos. For IYD, she was back to playing 4000 - 10,000 seat venues.

Absolutely the lack of new music for long long stretches has had a negative effect on her popularity since mid-late '80's. In an ironic way, Stevie is a case of wasted potential - she achieved huge success and then allowed it to peter out by not keeping up her output over the years, and by some questionable decisions in her solo career.

Macfanforever

02-21-2013, 11:37 AM

I don't know how you could possibly say that. Around the time of BD's release, the Billboard album chart was ruled by so-called "classic rock" bands- Asia, Journey, The Police, Foreigner, Styx, REO Speedwagon, AC/DC, etc. I can't really think of anything that qualifies as "teenybopper" from that era... except maybe "Jesse's Girl?" :shrug: If anything, I think it was a bit of a golden era in terms of popular music. Rock and roll was the be all and end all. Stevie had three massive hits from BD, and I believe "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" continues to hold the Billboard chart record for most weeks at #3.

I think Stevie's success was largely an artifact or releasing the right album at the right time. She worked with the hottest producer and collaborators of the time and was already a major name in her own right. She was still also young enough to be relevant to kids, yet legendary enough to appeal to their parents. She had all of the advantages of being a hot new rising star as well as the advantages of being a veteran household name. The planets usually align like this only once for anybody. Twice if you're really, really lucky. She had her moment; two moments if you count the Rumours phenomenon.

Nobody has really been able to sustain mega-album sales throughout an entire career. Each of Michael Jackson's albums sold about half as much as its predecessor. Same with Janet Jackson. Same with Prince. And I'll bet Adele's next album (titled 25? 26?) will sell about half of 21. As for concert tickets, I suspect the decline in sales is largely due to the fact that she has pretty much toured every summer for the past 15 years (with a few exceptions) without releasing much in the way of new music. Audiences are a dynamic group- constantly dying off and renewing itself. By not releasing new music or repurposing her music for music/film/television, Stevie pretty much shut off her ability to recruit new fans. So as the old fans die off or become bored with the same setlist year after year, there are no fresh new a$$es to fill those seats. Indeed, by her last greatest hits (not a tour) tour in 2010, she was playing 2000-3000-seat venues at casinos. For IYD, she was back to playing 4000 - 10,000 seat venues.

Yes I have to say you are right.She was lucky with Rumours and BD. Ed you have a point.

I'm just frustrated over it like many of us.

I'm probably just pissed because she could not do better then some of these other artists like Michael Jackson,Madonna and so forth.

Macfanforever

02-21-2013, 11:42 AM

Absolutely the lack of new music for long long stretches has had a negative effect on her popularity since mid-late '80's. In an ironic way, Stevie is a case of wasted potential - she achieved huge success and then allowed it to peter out by not keeping up her output over the years, and by some questionable decisions in her solo career.

I agree.Other artists release one to two albums a year Her and FM are years and years apart.:shrug:

This is way before the threat of internet pirates so they cannot use that for a excuse. :shrug:

What was the excuse then.:shrug:

RockawayBlind

02-21-2013, 12:07 PM

skuncles

02-21-2013, 12:39 PM

Bella Donna was a perfect storm in terms of timing.

She was the darling of Fleetwood Mac
Her first single was with Tom Petty who at the the time was himself riding a wave
MTV hadn't yet changed the radio landscape or Top 40 radio
The album, like Rumours, is not a victim of the musical trends of its era

Everything Stevie did after BD would be affected by the influences of MTV, her status as really being a hold over from the 70's, and just the normal lifespan of an artist. Elton John once said every artist, no matter who they are, gets about five years where they are at their peak, after that they may still have hits, but nothing like those five years. For Stevie those five years are 1977-1981.
It's also interesting to note that Bella Donna didn't really earn #1 status. It got it as a favor, Pat Benatar actually sold more albums that week and Stevie should have been #2 but a deal was worked out to let Stevie get the #1 spot for one week. This story comes from the head of her record label, Danny Goldberg.

michelej1

02-21-2013, 01:45 PM

And I'll bet Adele's next album (titled 25? 26?) will sell about half of 21.

This is interesting. It's something I'm going to watch. Although the reaction to Skyfall has been unjustifiably giddy and if she can start with a single people really like, I think that will buoy the album. I don't know Taylor Swift's album sales, but I don't think they're halving.

I don't know about Stevie, but for me Wild Heart was a much better album than BD and I was crazed over it at the time. Back then, I had no idea it wasn't as successful. I mean, we were getting into videos more and I think that really should have given her album an edge over its predecessor.

Michele

peer_gynt10

02-21-2013, 01:54 PM

Bella Donna was a perfect storm in terms of timing.

It's also interesting to note that Bella Donna didn't really earn #1 status. It got it as a favor, Pat Benatar actually sold more albums that week and Stevie should have been #2 but a deal was worked out to let Stevie get the #1 spot for one week. This story comes from the head of her record label, Danny Goldberg.

What????????????????????? When and where did he say that? And what did Pat B. gain from that? Do you know of any other similar 'deals'? I am shocked.

HejiraNYC

02-21-2013, 02:08 PM

This is interesting. It's something I'm going to watch. Although the reaction to Skyfall has been unjustifiably giddy and if she can start with a single people really like, I think that will buoy the album. I don't know Taylor Swift's album sales, but I don't think they're halving.

I don't know about Stevie, but for me Wild Heart was a much better album than BD and I was crazed over it at the time. Back then, I had no idea it wasn't as successful. I mean, we were getting into videos more and I think that really should have given her album an edge over its predecessor.

Michele

Taylor Swift, whether she realizes it or not, is doing exactly what she has to do while her career is white-hot: pump out an album every year and hire good publicists. Also, it remains debateable whether her latest album would have been so successful if she had cranked out another country pop album. She did a very smart thing by ditching country and jumping on the Rhianna-Katy Perry bandwagon at this point in time. It remains to be seen if she can sustain this level of success without changing genres again for her next project. My guess is that the bloom will be off her rose within two years. She will still be successful, but she won't be anywhere close to the phenomenon she is today.

Adele is taking a big gamble by taking the complete opposite approach- staying out of the spotlight and taking years between releasing albums. The longer she takes, the greater the possibility of diminishing returns.

skuncles

02-21-2013, 02:28 PM

In his book, "Bumping Into Geniuses" Danny Goldberg talks about his working with Stevie, how Modern Records was started just for her, how they began working on the solo deal back in 1976, and how everyone put everything they had into Bella Donna, the promotion, the production, everything. They started the label because of some loophole with the Warner Bros group contract, Stevie's solo deal was very different from Lindsey and Christine's. This is in part why there was some jealousy about her solo album.
As for the #1 status, this was back when the charts were based on whatever record stores said they sold, there was no concrete evidence to prove what sold what. So because a favor was owed, Stevie was given the #1 slot for one week only. I might have the artist wrong, Foreignor had the #1 spot for several weeks and Pat Benatar had it for a week, then Stevie got it for a week.
If you search the archives here on The Ledge I believe the chapter from Danny's book is posted here.

Jondalar

02-21-2013, 04:35 PM

Bandon

02-21-2013, 05:07 PM

Her commercial fame did not diminish after Bella Donna. In 1983, Billboard Magazine name her the top selling female artist that year. Micheal Jackson was the top selling male artist. :nod:

michelej1

02-21-2013, 05:34 PM

Adele is taking a big gamble by taking the complete opposite approach- staying out of the spotlight and taking years between releasing albums. The longer she takes, the greater the possibility of diminishing returns.

He may be cute Adele, but that baby is ruining your career. Get back to work, while you still have the hot hand -- or larynx.

Michele

WildHearted

02-21-2013, 05:45 PM

Even as a long time devoted fan, I have to admit scratching my head at her being marketed as "legendary" (even though her work in the 70's is without question nothing short of phenomenal) it almost is like we're pretending the mid-80's to 97 didn't exist and that she still has the voice worthy of the status. At best, she would receive a life time achievement award but not be introduced at each tv appearance as legendary, it makes me cringe actually. (I'm not saying I don't like her mature voice, but I do admit that the pipes that made her famous is pretty much in the past and has been for decades).

The use of 'lengendary' has nothing to do with a person's current ability, at all. The word literally is entirely referring to what has been done in the past... a legend in the most basic literal sense is a story handed on from generation to generation, told so many times that it's truthfulness can't be verified. Similarly, but not quite the same, in this usage, a legend = someone whose achievements have ensured enduring fame and renown, someone who is inspiring of such stories, etc, etc, etc.

It's her work in the 70s/early 80s that has made her legendary... (and of course, The Dance allowed for that status to be possible). People call Britney Spears a 'living legend' too, not because of her mental/emotional breakdown and zombie-like dance moves in the current day and age.. but because of how wildly popular and successful she was in the late 90's/early '00s and how iconic she has become in the music world. Same principal with Stevie.

vivfox

02-21-2013, 05:50 PM

What????????????????????? Do you know of any other similar 'deals'? I am shocked.

It was actually Jimmy Iovine that garnished that deal to bring BD to #1 on Billboard.. He's still doing such things today with his Interscope artists.

Jondalar

02-21-2013, 05:54 PM

It was actually Jimmy Iovine that garnished that deal to bring BD to #1 on Billboard.. He's still doing such things today with his Interscope artists.

OMG they all do things with Billboard

bluecalmsea

02-22-2013, 09:15 AM

I was just reading this, seems slightly relevant... maybe? :o

Seems like she mentions discipline with regards to the album a lot~ maybe with things getting more wild from this point on, there wasn't the same work ethic / focus happening in later albums? Is that related to why Jimmy stopped working with her? (I just can't recall right now)

Interesting though- related to another current thread/artist/making music for herself:

I’m not kidding. It’s real serious. And I didn’t have to beg to do these songs. In Fleetwood Mac I have to talk them into it. I get it as soon as I write the song. I know what it’s going to be. If I don’t, nobody ever hears it. I don’t ever go with it to anyone. It was very important to me to let people know that this is something that I wanted to do for them, the public. I don’t need to make any more money. I’m fine, I’m comfortable. I’ve got all my wonderful little stage clothes that I can wear forever and my boots, and I’ve got enough jewelry and I’m fine. I don’t need to do this to make money. I need to do this to fulfill myself as a writer. I mean, it says, "come in out of the darkness." That’s saying, save yourself and come back. And it’s a serious thing. I had to do that to do the LP. I had to stop being crazy, or it wasn’t going to be done.

http://i.imgur.com/nmp96H1.jpg

High Times Magazine
March 1982

Interview by Liz Derringer

"Look, enough with these heavy interviews," the guys upstairs told us. "Szasz, Anton Wilson, Leary, Turner, Bukowski. Give ‘em a break, give ‘em some gossamer. Mind candy. Set ‘em up for the heavy DEA informant rap next month."

Okay, we say. We think music. We think lace and vaseline-soft images. Doll-houses and rainy-day dreams. Good witches. We think Stevie Nicks.

So we sent Liz Derringer, first lady of rock journalism and a specialist at corralling big names for us (Mick Jagger, June ’80; Pat Benatar, Jan. ’82). She tracked Stevie down to her penthouse suite at the Plaza Hotel and found the ethereal songstress just dying to talk about her solo career and her number-one album, Bella Donna. They sipped coffee and wine and spoke of many things: of shoes and discs and Fleetwood Macs and cabbages and kings.

HIGH TIMES: What I’ve gotten out of your album so far is your special way of combining vulnerability with strength—qualities that are hard to put together.

STEVIE NICKS: That's what "Bella Donna" is about. I mean, the song "Bella Donna," which says "come in out of the darkness," was, as you said, what rock ‘n’ roll is. You live with somebody—well, it doesn't make for a terrifically strong and independent women. It doesn’t allow you to be that very much. I think the music industry is very male oriented. Although there are a lot of wonderful girl singers around, still I think it’s their world. I fought through six years to make this LP. In Fleetwood Mac, they would have done it. I wouldn’t have. And I would’ve let them make me as dependent as I have always been on them, because when somebody is dependent, they’re under your thumb. And they knew that I had to go and do this by myself because I had to prove to myself that I could exist on my own.

HIGH TIMES: That’s the process of growing up.

STEVIE NICKS: And what are you gonna do without them if they’re not there anymore some day? (Record producer) Jimmy (Iovine) expected a lot from me from the very beginning. Well, he did bring me back to some reality. My life had to change in order to do an LP with him. I had to change. I couldn’t be Stevie Nicks with Fleetwood Mac. I had to be much stronger and much more in control of myself, because he would not waste his time working with an out-of-control, flaky girl singer with Fleetwood Mac. He had no reason to be in the studio with that person and it was made very clear to me from the very beginning that if I was gonna do this, I was no longer the coddled, dependent baby of Fleetwood Mac.

It was like he said, if you’re gonna come into my studio and there’s going to be ten of the best musicians in the world waiting for you, then you’d better damn well come in ready to work, and not two hours late and not fluffing in and expecting everyone to just forgive you, and too bad that you’re late, and it cost eight million dollars because you didn’t bother to show up, and they did two sessions and they made it over to the studio at seven o’clock. And I just realized right away that I wanted more than anything in the world to put these songs down and play them for all those wonderful people who seemed, for whatever their reasons, to love my songs. And I love my songs. That’s what I do—I write songs. I’m a tune writer. And I wanted this LP to be really wonderful. And without somebody like Jimmy, I could not have done it. Because I wouldn’t have been disciplined enough.

HIGH TIMES: Did he put together the duets?

STEVIE NICKS: He put it all together. But Don Henley (of the Eagles) and I did "The Highwayman" and "Leather and Lace" in 1975. Those duets were put together because they were done five years ago. And we have really wonderful demos of them.

HIGH TIMES: Didn’t you write "Leather and Lace" for Waylon Jennings and (his wife) Jesse Colter?

STEVIE NICKS: I wrote it for them and I wanted them to do it. Waylon Jennings asked me to write a song called "Leather and Lace." That’s his title. So I did and I spent a lot of time on the psychology of the man and the woman in the music business both being stars in their own right and trying to live with each other and work and give Waylon a break and let him be a little weaker for a minute and let Jesse be a little stronger for a minute. This is a long time ago. This is what I was searching for even then. I mean, I was writing about Waylon Jennings and Jesse Colter, but I was writing about me and Lindsey (Buckingham, of Fleetwood Mac). And I was, at that point, going out with Don Henley and I was writing about Don and me. I was writing about the few couples that I knew and what they went through to try and work it out. And I guess Jesse and Waylon sort of broke up around then. And I felt in my heart that either I had to do this song with Don, or Waylon had to do it with Jesse, or Waylon and I had to do it. Those were the only three possibilities for that song to be done. It was the most disciplined song I had ever written and I had to finish it.

HIGH TIMES: With your success you must feel stronger now.

STEVIE NICKS: See, that’s so amazing to me because I - This is the first interview I’ve done as just Stevie. It’s nerve-wracking for me too, because for the first time, I’m not forced to sit here and tell all the old stories. Even though I still tell them, and people want to know, for the first time, I’m free to talk about the particular songs that were - one-half of them were fully available to Fleetwood Mac. And for some reason, they weren’t done. I was very lucky, because these are really the perfect songs for this LP. I think that’s why this album seems to be very dear to people already, at least to my friends. They’ve lived it. This is my life. Every single thing that is written in this LP happened to me.

I’m not kidding. It’s real serious. And I didn’t have to beg to do these songs. In Fleetwood Mac I have to talk them into it. I get it as soon as I write the song. I know what it’s going to be. If I don’t, nobody ever hears it. I don’t ever go with it to anyone. It was very important to me to let people know that this is something that I wanted to do for them, the public. I don’t need to make any more money. I’m fine, I’m comfortable. I’ve got all my wonderful little stage clothes that I can wear forever and my boots, and I’ve got enough jewelry and I’m fine. I don’t need to do this to make money. I need to do this to fulfill myself as a writer. I mean, it says, "come in out of the darkness." That’s saying, save yourself and come back. And it’s a serious thing. I had to do that to do the LP. I had to stop being crazy, or it wasn’t going to be done.

HIGH TIMES: But they’d still do it if you came two hours late.

STEVIE NICKS: But it wouldn’t have been the same. See, my reception from these men that played on my LP - they were only wonderful to me because I went in there strong. Otherwise they would’ve said, "This is some flaky chick from Fleetwood Mac, which is what we don’t need to work with." And you can’t pay those guys enough to hang around.

HIGH TIMES: I don’t relate to you being flaky.

STEVIE NICKS: These guys, they’d really rather sit in a room with a bunch of guys and play. But because I made an incredible effort to be there for them when they needed me, to be there for them when they needed to talk to me, to try to understand, to try to explain. To explain to Waddy (Wachtel) that "Bella Donna" was serious – I was not talking about a beautiful woman. I was talking about a beautiful woman becoming old and not beautiful. And skinny and too tired, the woman disappears.

HIGH TIMES: Is that what you consider some of the pitfalls that you said were written in "Bella Donna"?

STEVIE NICKS: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. There’s a decision you make at a certain point whether you can go right on staying up all night and being very spoiled and very into your own world. Because the world that you live in has really made you do that. It’s very easy to become dependent in rock ‘n’ roll. My world was a phone call to tell me to get up, to get in the car, to get into the airplane, and a phone call to tell me that I had fifteen minutes before the concert.

HIGH TIMES: Isn’t it easy to fall into that again?

STEVIE NICKS: Very easy. But I won’t ‘cause I won’t come out of it again.

HIGH TIMES: That’s where age and experience help.

STEVIE NICKS: Yeah, if I want to do this again, which I do, then I have to be strong enough to deal with my life in Fleetwood Mac and deal with my life alone. Because when I’m alone, I’m alone.

HIGH TIMES: You’ve said that in middle age, you’d like to be on top of a mountain with a piano and typewriter.

STEVIE NICKS: I would, I look forward to that. I love my performing and I’ll do that for another five or six years, but there will be a point in my life when what I’ll really want to do is go away and write. And I’ll write about all of this. I’ve already written thousands of pages. The story’s written already. I’ll want to add to it and I want to put it together and it’ll be an incredible book. It’ll be full of poetry and all of the songs that you’ve heard. All the real happy parts and all the sad parts. And the real difficult parts are there. And that’s what I want to do eventually. I’ll want to go and really put that together. But now I’ll work toward being able to tell as much of my personal life in my songs – that’s as much as I have to give right now.

HIGH TIMES: Do you find it hard to maintain relationships in this business?

STEVIE NICKS: I find it nearly impossible. Anyone that you meet is going to be in some way in the business. I don’t meet people who aren’t in the business. I don’t go anywhere to meet them. What am I going to do, sit in a bar? And at some point or another, my job gets to them. It’s easy to understand. "No, I can’t have dinner, I have interviews." "But we were in New York all week and we didn’t get to have dinner once." "I’m sorry, what do you want me to do, call everybody and cancel?"

It’s incredible. That’s why you wish for some time that you won’t be so busy. You end up really hurting people because you get angry. You have fifteen things scheduled and you would love to sit here and watch a movie with someone, but you can’t because you have to get ready. You have to do your hair and your makeup and take a shower and do all that, and that takes a long time. Then you have to get everything ready. And then when it’s over, you are so tired. You have been under so much pressure because you have been talking all day. Or you’ve been traveling all day, you’ve been to the sound check, you’re getting home and you thank God you have fifteen minutes to lay down on your bed before you have to start the whole thing over – the shower, the hair, do the makeup and get down there. So you’re down there an hour before the concert so you don’t feel like a jerk walking into the concert and you’re not vibed out at all, you just feel like you dropped by.

So you’ve got to make time, and what happens is you make the time for rock ‘n’ roll. You make the time for Fleetwood Mac, you make the time for the interviews, you make the time to go to the record company, you make the time to go stop by a radio station, but you don’t make the time for your boyfriend. And slowly that creeps into their head, that you are not making the time for them, but you make the time for everyone else. Because you can’t say no to everyone else.

HIGH TIMES: What about someone like Don Henley, who knows that? He’s in the same position.

STEVIE NICKS: When I was going out with Don, it was five years ago and I was much less busy; Fleetwood Mac was much less popular, we were just beginning. When I was with Lindsey, we lived together and were famous. It was the opposite extreme. I’ll never forget the day I was up at Don’s house having dinner with him and his manager, Irving Azoff, who is now my manager five years later, and Glenn Frey of the Eagles walked in and looked at me and said, "Spoiled yet." Like no mention of Fleetwood Mac. I was not even in the league of a singer. I was nothing more than a girl. My claws went out and I wanted to get out of there.

HIGH TIMES: I don’t know him well, but that sounds typical of Glenn Frey.

STEVIE NICKS: He’s witchy! And I love Glenn, and that was a long time ago. That was my first taste of what it was like to be a happening girl rock ‘n’ roll singer. Going out with a very famous man rock ‘n’ roll singer and have people not relate to me like I even had a job. I went out with John David Souther for a while, who is very, very, very male chauvinistic and very sweet and cute and wonderful but very Texas, and I found when I was with him, I didn’t mention Fleetwood Mac ever. It didn’t help my status with the man to bring up anything I did, so I didn’t. And then you start saying, "But I work too. I’m happening. I write songs, but you aren’t giving me a break."

HIGH TIMES: I think that what keeps couples together is an understanding, you live your life and I live my life.

STEVIE NICKS: That’s all it is, if somebody just knows and understands. My mother said, "Stevie, you were born guilty. You never lied, you never did anything bad, and you always looked guilty. But you were willing to take on the guilt of everyone else immediately." And I am that way. If I ever think that someone thinks that I did anything wrong, it’s a neon sign across my face that blinks guilty guilty guilty.

HIGH TIMES: You feel the weight of the world sitting on your shoulders.

STEVIE NICKS: And you didn’t even do anything, but you wake up sick to your stomach the next day, thinking that you did. For whatever reasons—which aren’t important—my relationship with Paul (Fishkin, cofounder of Modern Records) stopped, he is the one man in my life that was truly good. Truly understood. I was in an emotional trauma all through that fifteen months. And he stood by and watched it, and was as much help as he could be. While the rest of the world questioned me constantly, including my very close friends. About everything.

HIGH TIMES: I guess being a superstar, people want to get involved in your life and tell you what to do.

STEVIE NICKS: They want you to be dependent. I always know what’s right, and when I get pushed into something—which I do a lot—that I knew wasn’t right from the beginning, I’m the hardest on myself and punish myself severely. I just lay in bed and think about it over and over until I can’t think about it anymore. I start to go crazy. Just now, I’m calming down with this album because this was the freest thing I’ve ever done—though I had a disciplinarian behind me with a little stick going nananananana. And not being treated as a child—being treated as a grown-up.

HIGH TIMES: You become more together with age.

STEVIE NICKS: I absolutely love being thirty-three years old. I think it’s wonderful. You can see things clearer. You don’t have to get so crazy. You start making your own decisions. You’re a woman, not a child. You’re grown up and have to fend for yourself. You’re the only one who’s here and no one is going to save you. And nobody can tell you that, because my mom has been telling me that for years. And I call her sometimes and she’ll say to me, "I wish you’d let somebody take some of this pressure off your little bitty shoulders for a moment, Stevie." And that’s what I did. I gave it to Jimmy. I said, "Here it is, here’s the pressure, here’s my weird life, here’s how crazy it is. Now figure out how to make this album."

HIGH TIMES: Where does your fascination with witches come from? Did you dream about things like that when you were a little girl?

STEVIE NICKS: I dreamed only about giving a little fairy tale to people. That’s what the outfit is on my album cover, that’s what that bird is. (Reaches for the album jacket.) That bird belongs to my brother, that’s the only reason I could work with a wild animal. That’s Max on the front. With my clothes and the things that I wear, I have so much fun with them. I was talking to a lady today and were talking about dress-up and about how much fun dress-up used to be. And if there was a trunk in the attic, I was in it looking. And I would rather wear that drape than anything you could sell me from Bloomingdale’s. I don’t like all that stuff. I love the Muppets. Miss Piggy on the front of the TV Guide kills me with her portable TV, and Kermie in the back sitting, and with her little shoes. I just adore Miss Piggy to death. I collect marionettes and dolls so I have an incredible collection and I carry these things all over the world. They’re so real. See, that’s a fantasy. The Muppets are no different from my fantasy. My fantasy is giving a little bit of the fairy princess to all the people out there that maybe don’t have the Hans Christian Andersen books, and the Grimm’s fairy tales. If that’s the only thing I can do for them, well, that’s fine.

HIGH TIMES: I couldn’t imagine you as a type that sits around and puts black spells on people.

STEVIE NICKS: I don’t do that. That’s silly and stupid, and anyone that does that is making up their own character and has nothing to do with me. I love good witches. I like the good witch of the north, Glinda. Glinda is my friend, not the other one. And I don’t want them around. My love of that fantasy fairy-tale thing is the good part, and I’m a coward and I get very scared. I don’t go see any of those scary movies. I just watch old movies and good sad movies, but I don’t want to be scared and frightened.

HIGH TIMES: Any particular movies you like?

STEVIE NICKS: My favorite old movie is Beauty and the Beast, the 1946 one, and I love Mary, Queen of Scots. I love those kinds of movies. I can watch these movies over and over again. I love anything that is wonderful, and it can have some sadness. I don’t mind that, but like evil, bad things, I don’t like them in my life.

HIGH TIMES: Books, too? The same?

STEVIE NICKS: I read a lot of Taylor Caldwell books. I get a lot of ideas for things that I’m writing. I just read anything that comes in my way that’s interesting. I pick up bunches of little old poetry books. I love serenity since I don’t have much of it in my life. The outfit I wear on the cover of Bella Donna is the same as the one I wore on Rumors, except it’s opposite, it’s white. It’s a strange turn-around that I’ve come from black to white.

HIGH TIMES: Who designed it? You?

STEVIE NICKS: It was my idea, six years ago. Margi Kent designed it. She just keeps making it longer. She makes everything, and these are my boots that my little Jewish cobbler who’s seventy years old makes. A five-foot one-inch-tall person needs six inches. Onstage especially. Standing next to Mick Fleetwood is ridiculous. Anybody standing next to Mick is ridiculous, so imagine a five-footer. You blend into his drums, which he loves because then he’s the star. So I say, "Wait a minute, Mick, I’m going to get tall." I get far on these boots. They are very out of style and I don’t care. I love them. They are beautiful suede and they are soft. I tried to get this boot a long time ago, and it was going out then. We searched London, and I found one pair that was like a size five, and I wear a five and a half or six, but I bought them anyway. I stuffed my little feet into them.

HIGH TIMES: You mention in "After the Glitter Fades" that the one-night stand is hard to take. What are you talking about?

STEVIE NICKS: That was written in 1972 and Lindsey and I had never been on the road at all. We had certainly never had a one-night stand because we had been together and there were no one-night stands between Lindsey and me. That was a real premonition. I just had some idea about Fleetwood Mac. I wasn’t talking about one-night stands with a man. I was talking about your one-night stands in a concert where you run in, played, and left.

HIGH TIMES: After a concert is over, do you feel sad?

STEVIE NICKS: Yes. When you come back to your hotel, and you’ve been in front of fifteen thousand people...I would like to sit down in the audience and talk to them about what’s happened. Bring like a podium up and ask questions and have everybody tell me what they think. It’s very hard to just walk away from them. You certainly don’t go to sleep; you can’t. It’s like falling in love with somebody and having yourself turn into a pumpkin and you’re back mopping the floor. That’s the hardest thing—all that energy around you and walking away from it. You have much less than they do because you come back to a motel, they go home. If I could go home after every concert and have my puppies and my cats and my friends, whoever, it wouldn’t be so difficult. To go back by myself to a hotel room is a real downer.

HIGH TIMES: On Bella Donna you seem to be saying how strong and confident you can be. Do you think you are a dominating person?

STEVIE NICKS: It’s very easy for me to be dominated because I’m used to being part of a rock ‘n’ roll band that dominates your life.

HIGH TIMES: Is the Fleetwood Mac album finished?

STEVIE NICKS: The tracks are done and we worked for five days last week on one of Chris’s songs and it is fantastic, positive, wonderful.

HIGH TIMES: You must have a great relationship with Christine McVie. You dedicated "Think About It" to her.

STEVIE NICKS: Yeah, when I really love something that she does, I really get in there and help her with it. She can do it alone, she really doesn’t need anyone, but when she writes something that I really take to heart, then I go for it. I stay up all night with her and we work on it. I really work on it and I drag Lindsey and her in there and make them sing, because that’s what they forget—they forget that there’s three of us and how good we sing. I irritate them to death, it’s like a little bug. I keep saying, "Lindsey, you and I should sing this part. It’s important that we sing this part, it would sound terrific." And they eventually do it. Especially because I am not going to stand by and watch no singing go on this album.

HIGH TIMES: It sounds like there has been some dissatisfaction on your part in the past.

STEVIE NICKS: That’s because they’re players, they get really wrapped up in the playing of it, and I don’t get to play. I don’t have anything to do. I sit around and watch them play—it’s boring. The thing I do real well is vocal production. I can really get them happening on singing, but if it wasn’t for me, there wouldn’t be nearly half the vocals.

HIGH TIMES: You did a duet with Kenny Loggins, "Whenever I Call You Friend."

STEVIE NICKS: That was a discipline thing. I call him Slave-Driver Loggins. He cracked the whip on me for two days to get that particular performance. And I was downright angry at points where I was going, "I’m not going to do this." He said, "Yes, you are." He’s a real good producer, Kenny, he got exactly what he wanted. When it was done and I left, I was knocked out. I really had to keep my mouth shut and do what I was told. And it worked. He wasn’t interested in a dull vocal.

HIGH TIMES: How does he get the performance out of you? Does he have to create a mood?

STEVIE NICKS: Yeah, that’s exactly what I do, I light a little incense. Jimmy did it for me too. If I get mad enough, he’ll say, "This is really uncool" over the talkback. We have the most hysterical video of him giving us a lecture telling us we were doing something wrong. We don’t answer him, we just talk to each other. He says it’s like tuning in on my mother’s poker game. He walks out carrying my little bottle of brandy that I use when I sing, which he hates because he doesn’t drink. I asked him for some and he’s swinging it at us as he’s talking. He said, "Okay, you want a little drink?" He goes into this incredible thing about us being magpies. And we’re totally ignoring him. We would turn to each other and forget what he said completely. He’d say, "Wait one second everybody, stop talking and listen to me." Then someone would make some sly comment about little girls who have been caught doing something wrong, and then we’d get back on the track. That was basically what Kenny did too. He let me kind of tangent off to a point and then he’d say, "That’s it, now we have to start doing this for real."

HIGH TIMES: When you were sixteen and received your first guitar, were you into singing?

STEVIE NICKS: I was into singing but not into being trained. I never studied music. I took a few guitar lessons.

HIGH TIMES: You never played guitar onstage?

STEVIE NICKS: I’m not good enough. There’s no reason. If I was terrific, then maybe they’d find a part for me, but I’m not, so it would be for the look of it, and I’d be too nervous. I’d be so nervous, it wouldn’t look or sound good and then everybody would be mad at me, and Lindsey would be screaming at me that it was out of tune. And I don’t need that for sure.

HIGH TIMES: How do you muster up the discipline it takes to do what you do?

STEVIE NICKS: If I have any discipline at all, it’s come slowly over the years. I was never trained. Nobody ever sat down and taught me how to play the guitar or write a song or play the piano. I love to do it to this day, it’s the greatest love of my life. That doesn’t take any discipline for me, that’s what I like to do. Where other people would rather go out and party, I would rather stay at home with my grand piano and candles and incense and a glass of wine and an idea.

HIGH TIMES: Does that come from upbringing?

STEVIE NICKS: I was always singing and they never told me not to sing. My granddad sang with me. We had a thing going always. By the time I got to be old enough for them to care, I was so heavily into music that they gave up. I mean, they knew I was on my way to something. The only thing my dad ever said to me was—because my dad was very successful and very ambitious—he said, "If you’re going to do this, you better be the very best." That was the only thing he ever said to me. "I don’t want to see you being second." And that was a pretty heavy thing to say to me. When I write my different songs and take them home, I’ll play them for him and he’ll say, "Well, that comes a little closer to what your potential as a songwriter is." And then he’ll give me a big hug. My mother says he’s very cool, he’s like Jimmy. He strives to get the best out of me, and you don’t get the best out of me by hugging and kissing me and telling me how wonderful I am. That doesn’t work. The best thing to do is really be serious with me and I’ll work hard.

bluefox4000

02-22-2013, 09:40 AM

I don't know why she peaked....but I will tell you that I think it's the most charged I've ever heard her on record. I do think that's what's missing from a large majority of her solo work. The fact that She does not seem as into it and, IMO it shows. With BD she was firing on all cylinders:nod:

Mick

drzubritsky

02-22-2013, 09:57 AM

PolishStevieFan

02-22-2013, 10:06 AM

It happens with many artists. Cyndi Lauper also couldn't top her first album "She's So Unusual". After "Precious Time" Benatar's career started losing its commercial fire as well. But having said that, still Stevie is one of the very few female rockers who can still score Top 10 album in US. If my memory serves me well, Benatar's last album was the Billboard's bottom feeder. And where's Linda Ronstadt who once was called the most successful female rock artist in US? Maybe Stevie doesn't sell anymore like in times of "Bella Donna" yet she's considered as Icon and that's the status that not so many female performers can touch.

Macfanforever

02-22-2013, 11:19 AM

Lets think about come backs Like Cher and Tina Turner just name a couple.They had great comebacks.

WildHearted

02-22-2013, 11:21 AM

Lets think about come backs Like Cher and Tina Turner just name a couple.They had great comebacks.

Yes, and Stevie had a great comeback with The Dance.

Macfanforever

02-22-2013, 11:40 AM

Yes, and Stevie had a great comeback with The Dance.

I agree .Along with FM.

Macfanforever

02-22-2013, 02:41 PM

I have to add one more thing.this is what I love about Stevie .Stevie continues to tour like she has been non stop every year for along time.She does not want to sit home and collect pennies from her royalties and get board plus turn into a old lady like some other artists and actors have.

She works off her a$$ to pay the rent.

Jondalar

02-22-2013, 11:24 PM

I did not know she dated John David Souther, but I guess it shouldn't be a surprise.

vivfox

02-22-2013, 11:24 PM

She works off her a$$ to pay the rent.

Is she a woman of the evening?

Jondalar

02-22-2013, 11:25 PM

Yes, and Stevie had a great comeback with The Dance.

I could not believe with the world behind her, she did not record a hit song for Trouble In Shangri La. Ruined opportunity.

johnnystorms

02-23-2013, 12:08 AM

I could not believe with the world behind her, she did not record a hit song for Trouble In Shangri La. Ruined opportunity.

She waited to long. That was 4 years after the dance which is a long time! should have done it instead of Enchanted release and tour! not to mention the Adult Comtemporary "Everyday" as the first single.

skuncles

02-23-2013, 12:09 AM

I could not believe with the world behind her, she did not record a hit song for Trouble In Shangri La. Ruined opportunity.

It has nothing to do with her not recording a ht, three singles were released from that album. Modern radio has no interest in artists over a certain age. She wil get AirPlay on the AC charts, but Top 40 radio then, and even moreso now, is nothing like it was in the 80's.

Jondalar

02-23-2013, 12:15 AM

She waited to long. That was 4 years after the dance which is a long time! should have done it instead of Enchanted release and tour! not to mention the Adult Comtemporary "Everyday" as the first single.

She didn't wait too long. She didn't secure a great song. That was a real opportunity. Enchanted did better then what they thought it would - Gold.The Dance caused Street Angel to go gold, TOSOTM and her greatest hits to go platinum.

Everyday was the most marketable out of the songs, but I couldn't believe that with the music industry behind her, she couldn't do better. Sure writers would of loved to be on that album. That was another in a long line of wasted opportunities.

The Dance was her true comeback, but it could of been more.

skuncles

02-23-2013, 08:04 AM

The Dance was her true comeback, but it could of been more.

Except The Dance wasn't HER comeback it was Fleetwood Mac's. Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks are two different entities. Has extremely difficult as it it is for many to understand, there are Fleetwood Mac fans who don't care for Stevie as a solo artist. Just as there are Mac fans who aren't fans of Lindsey solo. Years ago Rolling Stone, in an article about the upcoming Tango album said that individually each singer, Stevie, Christine and Lindsey, is a somewhat acquired taste, but put them together and you've got magic.
I know people who will go see Fleetwood Mac, but won't go see Stevie, I know people who are unaware that Stevie ever put out a solo album after 1983.

WildHearted

02-23-2013, 09:56 AM

Except The Dance wasn't HER comeback it was Fleetwood Mac's. Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks are two different entities. Has extremely difficult as it it is for many to understand, there are Fleetwood Mac fans who don't care for Stevie as a solo artist. Just as there are Mac fans who aren't fans of Lindsey solo. Years ago Rolling Stone, in an article about the upcoming Tango album said that individually each singer, Stevie, Christine and Lindsey, is a somewhat acquired taste, but put them together and you've got magic.
I know people who will go see Fleetwood Mac, but won't go see Stevie, I know people who are unaware that Stevie ever put out a solo album after 1983.

Yes, but as a member of Fleetwood Mac, Stevie had a reflexive comeback due to the success of The Dance. As others have pointed out, after The Dance, her albums had a boost in sales - Street Angel went Gold, OSOTM went Platinum, her Greatest Hits CD went Platinum. It brought to the attention of the public that Stevie Nicks had returned to form - wasn't the same doped-up overweight chick who played the inauguration in 1993. Heck, it just brought her back to the attention of the public in general.

Just because some people don't like Stevie's solo music doesn't negate the fact that The Dance helped her solo career as well as Fleetwood Mac. It was a strategic move for ALL of them. Lindsey wanted to to do The Dance so that he would have more name recognition and could do more solo work. Stevie needed to show that she was out of her funk. Of course, it became something greater than that (I'd like to think, at least), but those motives shouldn't be glossed over just because it's "the group." It's a group made up of 5 people and they were all affected by the success.

skuncles

02-23-2013, 12:26 PM

True, but if Stevie or Lindsey just released a solo album in 1997, I highly doubt they would have registered with the public. Te Dance had the full support of the media ( MTV, VH1, Rolling Stone etc) because it was Fleetwood Mac. Yes, they were able to carry over the success of The Dance to their solo things, just as the tour this summer have the same effect on whatever they do next year.

WildHearted

02-23-2013, 12:45 PM

True, but if Stevie or Lindsey just released a solo album in 1997, I highly doubt they would have registered with the public.

Exactly. Which is why the did The Dance instead. And which is why Stevie's 2001 album DID register with the public - to a degree, at least. :shrug: The collective Fleetwood Mac reunion facilitated a comeback for the individual members, although none of them really took advantage of it (even Stevie waited a little too long between The Dance and TISL to fully capitalize that success).

KarmaContestant

02-23-2013, 04:38 PM

Exactly. Which is why the did The Dance instead. And which is why Stevie's 2001 album DID register with the public - to a degree, at least. :shrug: The collective Fleetwood Mac reunion facilitated a comeback for the individual members, although none of them really took advantage of it (even Stevie waited a little too long between The Dance and TISL to fully capitalize that success).

Isn't it crazy that it took Stevie so long to get an album out? And Fleetwood Mac as well? 7 years after the Dance and we had one from each- and a Christine McVie album. It just seems like so much wasted potential. In the 7 years between 1980 and 1987, we got three Stevie solo albums, two from Lindsey, one from Christine, three studio albums from Fleetwood Mac and one live album.

I don't follow Lindsey solo, but did he have an album in that time 97-04 time period?

WildHearted

02-23-2013, 04:54 PM

Isn't it crazy that it took Stevie so long to get an album out? And Fleetwood Mac as well? 7 years after the Dance and we had one from each- and a Christine McVie album. It just seems like so much wasted potential. In the 7 years between 1980 and 1987, we got three Stevie solo albums, two from Lindsey, one from Christine, three studio albums from Fleetwood Mac and one live album.

I don't follow Lindsey solo, but did he have an album in that time 97-04 time period?

No, he didn't put anything out until Under The Skin in 2006.

Macfanforever

02-23-2013, 08:03 PM

Is she a woman of the evening?

Hehehehehehe.In my dreams.No pun intended.LOL

tabruns

02-27-2013, 05:42 PM

I think Bella Donna partially did so well, apart from being just a really good album, because it sounded more like Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac than Tusk had. People that really didn't "get" Tusk may have somewhat flocked to Bella Donna because it had more of the classic Mac sound.

Wild Heart sold less than Bella Donna because it wasn't quite as good an album, and even so double platinum is nothing to sneeze at. Career momentum took Rock A Little to platinum status, but I think that album's sales stalled after that due to Nicks' increasingly poor cocaine-fueled behavior.

By the time Other Side Of The Mirror came out Nicks was getting into that "oh her again" phase with the public, so sales were slower than before. She was no longer being treated as the IT star because she'd now been around awhile. Even so, both OSOTM and Timespace did eventually go platinum, because even though the sales were slower, she was still a rock star.

Street Angel was hampered by being a poor quality album. You can't release a weak album after years out of the spotlight and assume it will do well. The music industry hadn't yet collapsed though, so SA was still able to get a Gold certification.

Trouble In Shangri-La came out like gangbusters and went Gold in just a little over a month. It was selling hotter than her last couple of albums but then it slowed significantly. Nicks has said she blames 9/11 for "making everything stop". I think it's more likely that TISL sold really well initially because the VH-1 promotion hit just the right people (middle agers who still buy music), it sold right off the bat to that crowd, and then it stalled after that because of a couple reasons: First, there was no Top 40 single for Nicks anymore, which impacts album awareness. Second, the crowd that could have kept the album selling, teens and 20s, were already starting to do lots of internet downloading.

In Your Dreams is the first Nicks album to not reach Gold and yet, *for its time*, it should still be considered a hit. It still made the top 10, it sold probably somewhere around 150,000 to 200,000 copies, and that's more than other "legacy" artists like Aretha Franklin, Heart, and others. If IYD had been a true "flop" like some have claimed, it wouldn't have made the top 10 or outsold other legacy acts. Its just a fact of the times that hardly anyone anymore gets certified Gold.

tabruns

02-27-2013, 05:46 PM

Angel69

03-05-2013, 07:20 PM

It has nothing to do with her not recording a ht, three singles were released from that album. Modern radio has no interest in artists over a certain age. She wil get AirPlay on the AC charts, but Top 40 radio then, and even moreso now, is nothing like it was in the 80's.

While I agree with this I also have to say that the lead off single should have been Love Changes. It had a hipper sound than Everyday....more urban contemporary so to speak. I also think that whole "it wasn't that I didn't love you... etc... etc" vibe would have resonated with lots of young girls coupled with the feel and sound of the track, who knows what could have been.

Jondalar

03-05-2013, 07:30 PM

it was by far her best album

cliffdweller

03-05-2013, 08:32 PM

Bella Donna is Stevie's best album. There was all this pent-up energy and creativity just waiting to be released. She had a pile of great songs that had not been used with FM. She also was the darling of Fleetwood Mac, and as such, really the biggest draw to the band. And she looked great. Going solo at that particular moment was perfect timing.

She also had the best producer she has worked with, aside from Lindsey.

Yep, totally. All the stars were perfectly aligned for Stevie at this moment and nothing could really top it after that. Also, imo, her voice was at its peak at the time of Belladonna. It slowly started to deteriorate after that and by the time of RAL, it was on the road to ruin with all the cocaine use. She has learned how to use it as it's aged, re-working songs and writing new ones in her huskier, deeper register, but I think we can all agree, it's just not what it used to be. That said, it's still pretty damn cool ;). I really enjoyed hearing her on the Sound City doc sing "You Can't Fix This" and when Butch Vig said, "this girl can sing!" he was right. She can still belt it out.