Would Stevie have become the success she is without Lindsey
 

Of course, Stevie is an amazing performer, but would she have been as successful if she had never worked with Lindsey??

Nobody's defining "success" in these polls. Everyone assumes we are talking only about commercial success.

I think it's very possible Nicks could have been commercially successful without her compadres in Fleetwood Mac, including Lindsey Buckingham. But I don't think she'd have been artistically successful (which is something subjective & not a "macroview" event).

She simply didn't have the talent to create wonderful records on her own. People say that she'd have signed up with label people: producers, session players, engineers, etc. But that sort of impersonality & corporate decision-making doesn't often make for wonderful, memorable music. The annals of pop, especially in 1973, 1974, 1975, & 1976, are filled with crappy records made under just those conditions -- records essentially pulled together by lawyers. Those records are in the dustbin of history or faux novelty now.

I guess I really should have said it as "Would Stevie Nicks have been a worldwide commercial success if she had never met Lindsey Buckingham?"

I agree to the extent that without Lindsey, FM would not have been so successful and therefore Stevie would not have had the visibility and/or credibility to make t0p notch solo albums. However, that being said, I don't think Lindsey had any kind of influence whatsoever over her solo work. If anything, Tom Petty and Don Henley were much larger influences on her solo sound than Lindsey. And Lindsey did not teach Stevie how to write poetry and he did not inspire her interest in ghosts, witches and haunting heroines. Stevie is/was always her own person with a truly unique persona and point of view. So, at the end of the day, Lindsey may have helped her success indirectly by making FM a commercial success. But the success of Stevie's solo career has everything to do with Stevie and her other collaborators/boyfriends.

I'm not sure how to answer this, so I picked 'unsure.'

I think they were both extremely lucky that Lindsey was tapped to get into Fleetwood Mac. That was one of those things that "stories are told, rumours" were literally written about. ;) They were just picking up some interest in Birmingham, AL when Buckingham Nicks came out, but they were dropped by their label Polydor-- as are most talented singer/song writers. Achieving success isn't just about talent--it's about luck. There's a lot of talented musicians on the planet--there's a few even on this board. Stevie and Lindsey were lucky musicially to find each other. They happened to meet at a young people's group one evening.

Stevie was lucky when she got the tap to get into "The Fritz Rabyne Memorial Band." They were both lucky to get some exposure and get picked by "powers" to leave the group. They were fortunate to have the wherewithall to pursue BN. Then they were incredibly lucky to have their music heard by Mick who happened to be scoping out a potential need for a guitarist.

Would Stevie have become the success she is without Lindsey? Probably not. And Lindsey might not have achieved his own success without Stevie. There were a lot of stars aligning up for this whole "thing" to happen. It's not all about talent. It's not just about Lindsey. It's not just about Stevie. There's a LOT of luck involved. If they had no talent, nothing would have happened. Stevie and Lindsey both had a full measure of talent.

Very well said!!

She may have been successful to some degree, but I think Stevie would have been a very two-dimensional artist. Imagine if we only ever heard her solo albums.... now imagine that you couldn't hear a drop of Lindsey's influence on any of those tracks. You simply can't picture it. NOW, take out every song about Lindsey....

Yeah, not happening. I mean I could still see her being fairly successful but would she be THE Stevie Nicks? I don't think so.

You make me think of Jack Finney. What if I went back in time to that youth group meeting and waylaid Stevie before she entered the room and saw Lindsey playing? I'd detain her until the strains of California Dreaming faded away and ensure they never met, changing history.

Michele

I don't know if anybody would have been patient enough to work with Stevie's raw talent besides Lindsey. I think it would take somebody who was in a relationship with her, who was a musician, and had industry ties. I tend to think the stars aligned when she met Lindsey... and again when Mick heard Frozen Love. I just can't see her getting those one in a bazillion chances again...

You make me think of "It's A Wonderful Life." There'd be no Crystal, Go Your Own Way, Never Going Back Again, Not That Funny, I Know I'm Not Wrong, on one hand, and on the other hand, there would be no Rhiannon, Landslide, Gold Dust Woman, Dreams . . . would there be a Rumours?

http://static.open.salon.com/files/j...1231343406.jpg

;)

There'd be no money, no excesses, no laying on the floor smoking hash, developing his guitar techniques . . . Lindsey might have ended up forever playing bass for Javier and Fritz. His song would truly be I'm So Afraid. Perhaps he might have finished his education and worked in the family business.

Stevie was almost done her degree-- what was it? Speech Communication and an ability to take shorthand and dictation?

http://www.house8.com/weblog/The%2BWABAC%2BMachine.jpg
The "Danger" sign on the "way back machine" is there for a purpose.

:laugh:

That's the omnipresent theme in all the master-reel audio I've heard: Whenever all those musicians aren't tracking an actual take of one of Stevie's songs, they're off on their own thing. To them, her music was a drag -- a job -- & they spend every spare moment playing other music (& they generally sound a lot spunkier doing the latter, too). That's the real revelation in the master reels.

I know others hear "masterpiece" when they listen to "Bella Donna," but I hear "We wish we were playing James Brown instead of After the Friggin Glitter Fades."

No. Stevie's solo success is DIRECTLY a result of her gaining fame with Fleetwood Mac. No Lindsey, No Fleetwood Mac, No Fleetwood Mac, No Fame. Simple as that.

I agree.

I agree.

I don't think anybody taught Stevie how to write poetry. That's the problem.

Her stardom in 1981 played a pretty big role in her solo success, I would think.

Well in the early years Lindsey was her backbone and she was his in many ways bringing in the dough....so as much as I love her to death...I voted no....they broke in to the business together and they learned and grew together in the beginning..so I don't think that either one would have had the experience under their belts to just have become strong solo artists..they fed off eachother musically and emotionally.

There are some very good points stated here.
I voted unsure ..... I really think Stevie would have broke out into country music even if it took her until she was 40 to be noticed. Stevie was destined to be a musical story teller.