This week in 1983 December 1983
 

Nightbird hit the charts at #63 after being released November 30, 1983. It would soon be promoted on Saturday Night Live at the end of December and then on Solid Gold early February 1984. It peaked at #33 and was leapfrogged by Christine's Got A Hold On Me when it entered the top 40.

Bringing the album The Wild Heart to a crashing end :sorry:

Holy cow. Those were the days! And when she'd wear the SB like a poncho with her shoulder showing!

I wonder why Stevie never played Nightbird in concert after SNL.

I guess that synth wouldn't really capture the audience but Nightbird's one of her masterpieces.

Also, it gave Lori solo time (live, on the album it's sung with SS).

Nowadays, she could have Marilyn Martin sing it with her.

Here is the Solid Gold performance that was recorded in December or January 1983 and debuted on Solid Gold February 4, 1984.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb2ty18YFBQ

On a similar note, “If Anyone Falls” was released as a single on September 3, 1983 and Madonna’s breakthrough single “Holiday” was released on September 7, 1983. Kind of a changing of the guard moment.

"If Anyone Falls" is much better than "Nightbird" IMO.

The rationale for her solo career ("I'm too prolific a writer") disappeared after her first two solo albums (also IMO).

And Stevie's hated her since:laugh:

I remember being angry that Nightbird was released because even at age 13 I knew it would not chart well. I was hoping for Enchanted, I Will Run To You, or Nothing Ever Changes.
Rock stations were still playing more from Bella Donna than Wild Heart. As disappointed I was for Nightbird, I was thrilled Christine's solo album was shortly to be released.

In that 1985 interview she laughed and inferred she influenced a few "people" with her fashion sense i.e. talking about Madonna. The comic irony that Stevie sat for that interview with lace gloves on. Who was influencing who?
It was Stevie chasing Madonna with neon gloves in 1985. Hardly an influencer anymore, she was chasing trends which was nothing short of cheezy. And she was so high that you notice all the dancing scenes in Talk To Me are shot far, were away not to see her face.

It was kind of the downfall of her career for over a decade. Between being high as a kite and then tranqued out of her mind, she lost sight of who Stevie Nicks was. It was really sad.

And Stevie shaded and shamed Madonna for years after that. Told her to kiss people her own age. Told her, Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilera to wear more clothes. She said Madonna has no singular sound.
She wouldn't say that to Harry Styles who runs around stage shirtless.

For all the miles she had on her, she sure was prudish while judging others.

After his bad experience with "SDMHA" quashing his single "Woman In Love" (which would have been a hit had the two not come out concurrently), I suspect Petty conditioned giving her "I Will Run To You" on her not releasing it as a single.

I Will Run is a good song, but not half as good as SDMHA.

By late 1983 that was water under the bridge. In 1981 and 1982 yes Tom was upset but soon realized and joked about it how he was not happy but the song's success bought him a new house.
By late 1983, Long After Dark was old news being released the previous year with mild success. Tom would have loved to have had his song released the following year.
SDMHA was released about the same time as Hard Promises in 1981.
Stevie went on tour with Tom that summer and the dates she showed up at packed the house. I can see how he was frustrated. His song was given away and the people were coming to see Stevie while his album was not nearly as successful.
I think I will run to you is a good song. But its pretty lame both in the lyrics department and music department. That does not mean it would not have been a good single. But in 1983 I think both Stevie and Tom were trying not to milk each other for success. Stevie's record company should have planned in advance in the peak days of MTV to shoot 3 videos before the Wild Heat tour started.

I loved it when Stevie ripped Brittany and Madonna for French kissing on stage. The 24 hour media sensation was at full tilt. It was done simply for shock value just like the Janet Jackson Super Bowl stunt. When you resort to that kind of shock value stunts on stage, the music probably is not very good.
I applaud Stevie when she threw her thunder and shade at them. I also loved it when she said she wanted to strangle Nicki Minaj on American Idol.
You go Stevie!
I can totally see why someone from Stevie's era does not like Madonna. Stevie got famous for her writing and singing. The style just came along but was not what made her famous. There were no videos and you heard her on the radio. Madonna is a packaged commercial. Someone writes songs for her and she creates controversy to sell her image.

And you say HomerMcvie's the Mike Pence fan?:laugh:

Y'all are crazy. As I've stated before, speaking as a fairly NON POLITICAL person, I've only been to two political rallies in my life. BOTH of those were anti Pence rallies, when he was the Governor of Indiana.

Stop whacking to your Pence porn. You're a fixin' to go blind.

Great. Now I’m envisioning the “extremely erotic” Pence porn as only being Mike Pence blowing kisses to his wife while wearing the pink bunny pajamas from A Christmas Story.

Having been a fanatic at that time the end of the Wild Heart era was kind of the last gasp of the old Stevie.

Sure was. I've long said she was the better writer 1972-82, and Lindsey was the better writer thereafter.

And as I say above, the entire rationale for her solo career (too many good original songs) disappeared after this album.

Not sure what Mike Pence has to do with it. Madonna was panicked aging pop star who was eclipsed by a teeny bopper grown up. She wants to join her on stage and share the limelight. "Let's see, what can we do to create controversy and make us more famous. I know I will stick my tongue in your mouth and kiss you"

Lame

On another note, my guess is that the Solid Gold performance preceded the Saturday Night Live performance. SNL was always recorded or played the same day. Her hair seemed shorter on SNL than the Solid Gold performance. But who knows.

OMFG. YOU you YOU are the one who always brings up Mike Pence. So don't play dumb on this one.

Indeed.

Excuse you?
I bring up Mike Pence with you because you guys were born and raised in same corn field and not something specifically Fleetwood Mac/Stevie related.
I am not sure what Mike Pence had to do with Madonna or Stevie. My Mike Pence comments are directed at you specifically. Even if you don't need her, tell her you need her. She needs you brother.
Something about the Children of the Corn creeps me out. What are the chances we get 2 vice presidents from Indiana in the last quarter century and were both idiots.
I wonder if Mike likes Oh Daddy.
Can we still be friends? The answer is always yes.

I was really annoyed by that back then. Still am today, I guess. But there was a twinkle of hope I remember right around this time when word got out that Stevie was mounting a small second leg in early 1984 with Julian Lennon opening. There was going to be a big show at Anaheim Stadium with Bowie headlining and Nicks doing a solo set before him as a precursor to her own planned tour. I guess she decided to start recording Mirror Mirror instead. That was my biggest disappointment at that time. All I got in 1984 was a Chris McVie concert and a Rickie Lee Jones concert, and all Stevie wound up doing was the Starck Club in Dallas at nearly midnight (which nobody knew about until after it happened, unless you happened to be a Hollywood celebrity).

The Wild Heart may have been the last moments of Stevie's nearly decade-long reign as the magical witch of rock, but it was a great flame out. The album has many great moments and her live performances during this time -- coke-fueled though they were -- really caught fire. It's better to burn than to rust--isn't that what Neil Young sang?

Rock a Little and TOSOTM are disappointing, even embarrassing, by comparison, but the two new (and admittedly cheesy) covers on Time Space are sung with real conviction. "Sometimes It's a Bitch" packs a punch and is no less squirmy to classic rock fans than Heart's songs from Bad Animals. Steve fared well once she stopped coke.

Yes, she lost spirit on Klonopin, but her vocal on "Blue Denim" was a cause for celebration. I thought: she doesn't sing like she used to but she sings well in a new way. Gone was that insanely intense vibrato, but in its place she gained a lot of power and control. She became a belter.

So, she's a strange one to assess in terms of career highs and lows. She's been up and down a few times on fortune's wheel.

I was excited in early 1984 too but for a different reason. My local rock station introduced something "new" from Stevie Nicks and played Violet and Blue. At that time I was not aware it was on the Against All Odds soundtrack and thought it was coming off another new album. I was in shock. I was all excited for a new album. Violet and Blue got heavy airplay on several stations. I will never forget hearing Violet and Blue and One In A Million BACK TO BACK. How cool was that?
Once I learned it was a movie soundtrack song, I was still excited because in just 3 months Rolling Stone had a tiny article that Stevie was putting the "finishing touches" on her new album. It would be released 1.5 years later :lol:
Mid 1984 was enough to celebrate though. We got a Christine solo tour and a Lindsey solo album each of their solo albums had 2 videos and 2 singles.

I brought up Pence because it sounds like something he'd say that Madonna shouldn't have kissed women on television. Or she shouldn't be showing her body.

Stevie wasn't always buttoned up in jackets and floor length dresses either.

Would you say Cher and Janet Jackson are packaged commercials and that people write songs for them?

Nightbird was a great tv moment and she looked wonderful and it was so nice to see her and Lori share the vocals at the same mic. Stevie has always raved about Sharon and Lori but that is the only time Lori has ever stood out. I don't think it would have worked well in a concert venue though because it's too soft of a song. But it is surprising she would choose a song as a single and then not perform it in concert.

I felt the same way at the time. I was always rooting for the release of Nothing Ever Changes because a good rock song is always an enjoyable concert staple. She already has an abundance of ballads. Of those 3 songs you listed, for me NEC is the only one that has stood the test of time. I almost forgot to tell you that her and Tom Petty performed I Will Run To You live at Radio City in Sept 1983 and while it was good to hear and see it in person, I never really cared much for that song. But that's just my opinion. The audience really loved it. Tom was a surprise guest. He was not advertised on the bill.

You might want to rewatch that interview. She was talking about influencing the way Prince dressed and him wearing high heeled boots along with all of his lace. Even though she said she might have influenced the clothes of a few people, it certainly wasn't Madge she was referring to.

Stevie was concerned about her image and wanted to remain the thin woman in public that we were used to even though by 1985 she had packed on a lot of pounds. So for the making of that video they hired a look a like teenager from Atlanta to "play" Stevie and all the closeup face shots were the actual Stevie. You knew that, right?

Stevie trash talked Madonna and Pat Benatar for many years throughout the 1980's & 90's. I remember one interview in, I think 1994, when she told a reporter that she could have been more famous if she had dressed in raunchy clothes like those 2 women did.:]
She wouldn't say that to Harry Styles & she wouldn't say that to Bob Dylan either.

No one knew Stevie was going to be at any of those shows because she was not advertised on the billing. She was a surprise guest who simply walked out onstage to sing maybe 2 songs with Tom and that was it. Tom had always done great touring numbers. He never needed her to sell tickets. It was also very frustrating waiting for Stevie to come to my part of the country on her solo tour and then finding out there would only be 12 Bella Donna shows and they'd all take place no farther east than Colorado. And didn't find out until they were over.

I'll never see the point in comparing Stevie to other artists. They are all different and all have their own unique styles. The industry is always pitting female musicians against each other and Viv does not appreciate it. I despised Nikki Manaj for the longest time because to me she is filthy trash. I became a Cardi b fan but it didn't take me long to figure out she's just as trashy as Nikki. Now I like them equally but I won't watch their interviews anymore because they are both talented gutter trash talkers. Madonna on the other hand has more talent in her little finger than Stevie and any other female singer out there. From the beginning of her career(1983) until about 2 years ago Madonna's dance routines were always amazing. I wish I worshipped Madonna more than Stevie but Madonna doesn't make it easy to like her as a person. But as an entertainer I wish Stevie would be as brave in concert as Madonna is. When she tours, Madonna only really cares about her current record and is not afraid to perform songs from it. She'd throw so much of herself into each performance that even if you never heard the song before, she'd make you want to go out and buy it. Madonna would take all her past hits and give them a completely new musical arrangement on every one of her tours and NEVER repeated the same performance twice or the same show twice. And one more thing while I'm on the subject of how great Madonna is to me, she wrote a huge amount of her own hits.

But the Madonna we have now in 2022 is a complete and total whackjob and an embarrassment to herself and her fans. And the dancing she did on her last tour was horrible. I honestly don't know what in the hell happened to her. Aliens!! She must have been abducted by Aliens. Yes, that must be it!!

I always enjoy a good sense of humor post:laugh:

Macfan is a loony toon.

That.Is.All.

Interesting. Tom had the power to play several nights in a row at the LA Forum in 1981?
He and his band were not a sold out arena band back then and were mostly playing to half full arenas. By the time SDMHA was a huge hit she was on the tour. Since she was at other shows, I find it hard to believe people did not expect her there. Tom never played SDMHA in his set until the song was a hit.
Stevie spent the entire summer with Tom. No one knew how big Bella Donna was going to be so I think everyone was gun shy. Too bad she did not do a summer tour promoting Bella Donna. When she got off tour with Tom in October there was not much time.

You lost me when you said Madonna has more talent :eek:

That's right. I remember your story about the 1983 NYC show with Tom. Wow thats pretty rare. Only a handful of people on this earth have seen I Will Run To You live and you are one of them.
Like you I too was rooting for Nothing Ever Changes. It already had some decent rock play. Even if the song did not chart well like Nightbird, go out with a bang and a rocker.

I did not know this. Wow. Sad. I remember her eyes in that video (on the closeups) and thinking she didn’t look well.

In terms of her thinness, I thought she’d stayed thin until around late 1987. This pic from early 87 shows her looking pretty slender. Maybe it’s just an illusion or a decent angle?

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/80/47/fa/8...etwood-mac.jpg

Stevie was very bitter in 1994 and lashing out at everyone. Everyone was fair game. She even said Bill Clinton was too young to be president on David Letterman after performing at his ball 2 years earlier. Even during a radio interview when they were fawning over her #1 song Dreams, she took aim at Chris saying she had all the hits.

BTW, you are saying a teenage girl is in the Talk To Me video as Stevie? That's the most underreported story of the century? I can only possibly see it at 3:18 in the background?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQl62w71Ets

BTW, I went back and listened to the 1985 interview.

Question: You have a very strong image the way you dress with the laces. I think that may have contributed to people like Prince and Madonna. The current look that is so popular. I do.

Stevie: (grins and smiles) Madonna gets out of this easy Prince does that. Yes I definitely think I have definitely influenced the clothes of a few people


Stevie is sitting there with lace gloves that were a trademark of Madonna in 1985. IMHO Stevie is agreeing with the interviewer that she has both influenced Prince and Madonna. I guess its up to interpretation what she means Madonna getting out of this easy. I take that to mean because she is female its not as noticeable. But Stevie with her neon gloves in Talk To Me was a blatant Madonna inspiration. When Prince started wearing lace gloves, he was copying Madonna too IMHO. Madonna was a huge trend setter. I was in Jr High in 1984-1985 and almost every girl tried to look like her.