Bella Donna - one of the best albums of the 1980's

[Macfan4life]

In 2011 Rolling Stone released their "Best 100 albums of the 1980's" Neither Mac album (Mirage or Tango) made the list which I sort of expected. However, I was surprised that Stevie's Bella Donna did not make the top 100. A short time after the list was released, there was outrage where another 10 albums were promoted as deserving to be on the list. Again, Bella Donna was not one of them.
1981 was an amazing year for rock music. The Eagles "The Long Run" was still on the charts. The Rolling Stone's Tattoo You, Styx's Paradise Theater. REO's Hi-Fidelity, Rush's Moving Pictures, The Pretenders Extended Play, Val Halen Fair Warning, Pat Benator Precious Time, Motley Crue's Too Fast for Love, Ozzy's Diary of a Madman....JUST TO NAME A FEW.
Bella Donna had incredible competition and it still holds up today. Without a doubt its one of the top 100 albums of the 1980's

[SisterNightroad]

True but at the time Stevie's solo career wasn't "in", it's been dusted off in recent years.
However at least she was among Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-singers-of-all-time-19691231/stevie-nicks-20101202

[Macfan4life]

Stevie was at her peak in 1981 vocally, creatively, and lyrically.
They name her in the top 100 singers of all time but neglect to put her best and only #1 album in the top 100 albums of the 1980's makes no sense at all.

[SisterNightroad]

Absolutely true, but the lists were made by other artists and producers, and that generation wasn't enough appreciative of both Stevie and the Mac, in the same list there were originally only Then Play On and Rumours by FM, and when the list got revised only Rumours remained and the Peter Green era album had been substituted by Rihanna if I remember well...
Now both Stevie's albums and Tusk have been reevaluated and this new generation of musicians seems to understand much better the value of both, so I believe another poll would give very different results.

[dreamsunwind]

I think Fleetwood Mac is more appreciated today than they were like 5-10 years ago. Nowadays they're a really good name to drop. It's pretty impressive to people if you listen to Fleetwood Mac or are a Stevie Nicks fan or things like that. But at least with casual listeners in my experience, Stevie's FM songs are much more popular than her solo songs. I hear Dreams, Rhiannon, Landslide, Gypsy all the time but I have never hear like Stand Back or even Edge of Seventeen. I think it's because 80s pop isn't as popular these days as 70s rock.
In fact, today they were playing Landslide at my school's swim team practice!
But I'm surprised Bella Donna and Tango weren't on that list, weren't they both supposedly huge at the time? Particularly with Tango, I know was a big hit, my dad remembers hearing the songs on the radio all the time and he never even listened to that type of music. It was also apparently really huge in the UK.
I think if they were to do all those old lists over again today, Fleetwood Mac related stuff would probably be higher, Stevie solo (or at least Bella Donna) as well. Rolling Stone can be kind of generic and go with the most cliched choices at times but NME is another great music magazine and they did their own list of the greatest albums of all time I think 2 years ago and they put Rumours on it of course but also Tusk which was great to see.

[nicolasjz]

Rolling Stone has usually been quite dismissive of Stevie's solo career, so that's not very surprising.

[24karatstevie]

Completely agree. Bella Donna gets more magical every time I hear it! It's definitely one of my favorite albums of all time. Actually I would probably put it second only to Rumours. The merits of Stevie's solo career have definitely been overshadowed by her Fleetwood Mac success over the years. However, I truly think that this tour is rejuvenating it to an extent. I'm glad to see all the positive reviews she's getting. Her solo music is some of the most beautiful gems in the world and I think Stevie's finally getting the recognition she deserves as a songwriter.

[Newzchspy]

Stevie was at her peak in 1981 vocally, creatively, and lyrically.
They name her in the top 100 singers of all time but neglect to put her best and only #1 album in the top 100 albums of the 1980's makes no sense at all.

I agree with all you said, BUT albums are a matter of opinion and sheer guess. You say roof, I say roof!! Look at who's judging these as well. Is it a well known critic or some guy who just got out of journalism school. Reader beware as much of these, like anything else in this world are a matter of opinion.