Stevie, a UK One-Hit Wonder? (Blog Post)
 

From the Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas Wordpress Blog

http://barelyawakeinfrogpajamas.wordpress.com/

Stevie Who?*

Recently, the television provoked me into doing some research on one-hit wonders of the ’80s. As I live in the States, I noticed some of the striking differences between those with one Top 40 hit in the US and the UK.

Thomas Dolby and Tom Tom Club each only had one hit in the UK (as is the case here in the US).

However, in the UK, those lone hits were Hyperactive and Wordy Rappinghood, respectively – neither being the songs that were hits here.

(that would be She Blinded Me With Science and Genius Of Love).

But, perhaps the act that puzzled me most was Stevie Nicks.

Apparently, Stevie Nicks is a one-hit wonder in the UK during the decade of the ’80s.

Such a thing seems unfathomable. There were few female artists in the early ‘80s who had more music on the radio here in the States. Nicks’ first two solo albums, Bella Donna and The Wild Heart were massive.

One of the rock stations I listened to at the time would even play the hell out of something like Violet And Blue, a song from the Against All Odds soundtrack, simply because it was by Nicks.

And it’s not like Fleetwood Mac was a footnote act and for many fans – especially those who wouldn’t know Peter Green if he was taking potshots at them with an air rifle – Stevie was the soul of the band.

Apparently, few of those fans reside in the UK.

In the UK, her only ’80s Top 40 hit was in 1989 with Rooms On Fire, not a bad song, but it came well after her solo career had peaked in the US.

(she did hit #40 a couple years later with Sometimes It’s A Bitch, a collaboration with Jon Bon Jovi from her greatest hits compilation Timespace)

Why had the UK proven to be impervious to the charms of Ms. Nicks?

Was it all the twirling?

Was it the shawls and lace?

Was it that she sang a song glorifying a Welsh witch?

Here are four songs by Stevie Nicks…

Stevie Nicks – After the Glitter Fades
from Bella Donna (1981)

Bella Donna was inescapable when it came out in ’81 with its hits Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, Leather And Lace, and Edge Of Seventeen constantly on the radio.

Though I wanted nothing to do with it at the time – it was perilously close to country music – I now prefer the twangy, fourth single After The Glitter Fades which was more low-key and intimate than Bella Donna’s other hits.

Stevie Nicks – If Anyone Falls
from The Wild Heart (1983)

Leading off with the song Stand Back, Nicks’ follow-up to Bella Donna, The Wild Heart, picked up where the former left off in 1983. Despite my relative indifference to Bella Donna, I purchased a copy of The Wild Heart and, start to finish, I still think it’s her best solo album.

(though, I’ve only heard a handful of songs from her more recent releases).

And the clamorous If Anyone Falls would likely be my favorite track by Nicks as a solo artist.

(with Fleetwood Mac, it would undoubtedly be Sara).

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers with Stevie Nicks – Needles And Pins
from Pack Up The Plantation: Live! (1986)

Nicks’ first solo hit, Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, found her accompanied by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and The Wild Heart included a similar union with the song I Will Run To You.

However, I prefer their cover of a hit by The Searchers’ Needles And Pins - co-written by Sonny Bono – which appeared on Petty’s album Pack Up The Plantation: Live!

Stevie Nicks – Rooms On Fire
from The Other Side Of The Mirror (1989)

Rock A Little, Nicks’ third solo effort, was the last studio album of hers which I owned (though I did snag a promo copy of her Enchanted box set from a label rep). I thought it really suffered from the slick, glossy production which was the norm in the mid-‘80s.

There would be a four-year gap until Nicks’ next solo release in 1989 with The Other Side Of The Mirror (apparently it was inspired by Alice In Wonderland) which gave Stevie her only UK hit of the ’80s with Rooms On Fire.

I think it is also interesting that Stevie never had a real hit single in the UK within Fleetwood Mac either ..Dreams was her biggest there at an anemic 29 on top of the pops whereas Lindsey had 3 top tens .Tusk ,Big Love and Oh Diane.Christine had 2 top 5 hits with Little Lies and Everywhere,not to mention the pre FM I'd Rather Go Blind.It wasn't until the Corrs covered Dreams that she had a song in the UK top 10.

I think Stevie's deal with the UK is that she's just so quintessentially American that she'd never really be a huge star in the UK, I mean she has a cult following, but her name over here has none of the power or recognition it does in America.

That makes absolutely no sense to me. Based on the rapturous reception she received from UK audiences on the Unleashed tour, she is clearly much, much more than merely a cult figure over there. Chiffonhead syndrome is not a purely American phenomenon.

I think there is something to this as I always thought of Kate Bush as the inverse Stevie Nicks.Kate was huge in England with a cult following in the US and musically Kate is as British as Stevie is American.

^ It's true...Kate's biggest hit in the States is 1985's "Running Up That Hill" which peaked at number 30. But in the UK, she's released over 25 singles and made many trips into the top ten.

I don't know why Stevie hasn't made more UK inroads, even with Fleetwood Mac. Her voice is notably American, but maybe it's more because the sound was so American too -- big band, glossy production. In the 80s the Brits were more fond of innovation and electronics (Eurythmics!). If you read the British Rock Yearbooks from the time (and I do), American acts were regularly critically snubbed there for their heavy, commercial "let's rawk" sound. Maybe Stevie (though she was no Poison) was a bit guilty of that with "Talk To Me," "If Anyone Falls In Love," "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" "Eo17" and certainly with "I Can't Wait." And country music (which influenced many of her softer singles) is nowhere to be found in the UK.

Maybe there was a bit of "Dinosaur Rock" stigma for Stevie at the time, since the music was not heavily synthesized and followed the classic rock formula. Going back to Kate Bush, she was seen as more of a female Peter Gabriel and the engineer of her own off-kilter sound...which is probably why US radio avoided her almost completely.

She definitely received a warm welcome when she was here last summer. Did she even promote her early solo stuff in Europe? I'm sure there was a question in an interview about her career in Europe when she was over here in June. I'm sure she addressed the fact that when Bella Donna came out she was so focussed on its release at home that she didn't really promote it in Europe :shrug:

It's a shame because she does have quite a following here, which I think surprised even her. The crowd at the signing was huge and I met lots of hardcore Stevie fans at HRC the day before.

There's lots of Stevie love in Europe. Now if only Stevie would return the love and come back over here again :thumbsup:

The same thing was with Pat Benatar, Heart and Linda Ronstadt. Maybe UK listeners don't like "women in Rock"? I mean, even in times of Lauper/Madonna dychotomy the overtly more Rockish Lauper was less popular in UK than Poppy "Boy Toy Queen". When Lauper left her post-Punk material in order to explore Pop side (on her "A Night To Remember" album) she immediatly scored er first UK Top 10 album.

Or what is something more probable-maybe record labels didn't have a clue on how to promote these women behind the US' borders...The priority for record label was just to maintain a popularity in US which was the biggest and most profitable market. There was no need to "risk" when they achieved what they wanted in homeland.

Or maybe the blame can be put on artists themselves who refused to do UK tours or something like that, being concentrated on conquering highly-profitable US market? Maybe it stems from the laziness of artists who just depreciated the scope of potential that lies in international markets. Why take a plane and tour the Europe when you can take a bus and tour the US?

there is a reason why she doesn't tour over there, she always thought they didn't like her.

Sadly this is true. Only really one hit single in the UK. She really put no effort into her career outside of the US at all and, unlike other territories such as Australia where she got away with it, it backfired badly in the UK and Europe. Now she just doesn't bother. Shame on Stevie since she does have an incredibly loyal fanbase here who have had to work hard to keep up their fandom when we see nothing of her at all. Before anyone yells at me and reminds me of Hyde Park last year... one show in 22 years isn't exactly a great average.

The European love is a more recent phenomenon--the Internet Age, roughly.

Fleetwood Mac has grown in popularity in Europe, too. In 1976, when they were the coolest "new" rock band on the U.S. concert circuit, with hits on the radio, they were doing nothing in Europe. Remember how they went to the UK in fall 1976 not to perform but only to do a week's worth of press? The public over there was still residually interested in the Peter Green lineup (already considered a classic) but not in the new lineup.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, outside the U.S., Fleetwood Mac was most popular in Australia and Japan. They didn't make any splash in Europe until Lindsey had already split and they were touring for Tango.

I think Stevie's 1989 hit came in on the coattails of that touring in 1988. And the band's 1990 album was apparently a big hit in Europe and/or the UK. I always thought it reflected badly on the European fans that they didn't embrace the Mac back when the band was creative and hip--but only when it was artistically rather desperate.

Some of this I agree with OSOTM certainly benefited by Tango's coattails.But how do you explain both Rumours and Tusk going to number one in the UK in 1978 and 1979?In fact both the Tusk album and single charted higher in the UK than the
US.

Why should she put effort over there? I'm sure she believes that she and Lindsey get some of the blame for Fleetwood Mac not being as bluesy. It would take a lot of work over there for probably very little gain.

Well UK and Europe is not the same.
I think she would do great in UK, but Europe in general would be quite difficult.
I'm also positive that we are about 10 Stevie Nicks fans in France :). She's like No-Hit Wonder here...and i think that goes for many countries, so why bother coming here?
I also wondered why FM never did South America, though i have no idea if anybody listen to their music over there, nor how the "concert business" works there

Thank you.


Yes, good point.