New Reader Q&A with Christine in Guardian UK - post your questions now...

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Not only that but it took over her life. She was a big star but did not care about the quality of the product she was putting out. Besides spending a million on coke (that was her quote from People 1998), she also wasted so much money renting recording studios that she never showed up in, paying people to wait all day when she would show up late at night, could not show up for recording a video, ditched her own tour rehearsals to party with Tom in Australia, etc. It controlled her life in a way that the only thing that mattered was getting high. Everything else including her career did not matter.
When she released that video package many years ago she commented on her videos and it was painful for her to watch because she saw herself high. She said something like "why could I not lay off the coke and tequila for a few days before shooting this video" IMHO the only video she looks high in is I Cant Wait but she knows the story behind each video. But the worst part of all this is during the 1980s when concert videos sold and her 1981 solo concert was a HBO smash and sold in stores, her Wild Heart show professionally shot was scrapped. She looked too high. Her RAL show she looked so bad she had to reshoot close ups. Most rock stars who had drug addictions did not let it affect their stage performances but Stevie could not. Didn't Tom Petty who eventually died of a drug overdose say that he was just waiting for the call that she was going to die on the road and it would not surprise him. In late 1985 when RAL was released, Stevie was hanging out with the Wilson sisters on Heart's tour in AZ and CA. One of the Wilson sisters wrote in a book that they too indulged in lots of coke in the mid 80s. Stevie took them to her AZ house and they partied. They were seasoned rockers and partiers but were in shock how much Stevie could partake.

Benmont Tench said something very similar... he said with the Hearbreakers he saw a lot of coke, but when he worked/toured with Stevie he was totally gobsmacked at just how much more coke was around than he'd ever seen before.

What has always irritated the crap out of me has been how much she didn't take care of her talent-- her voice, her writing skill, her creativity. You are so right that she didn't make quality a priority at all.

[David]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Benmont Tench said something very similar... he said with the Hearbreakers he saw a lot of coke, but when he worked/toured with Stevie he was totally gobsmacked at just how much more coke was around than he'd ever seen before.

I’ve always had the feeling — certainly with Fleetwood Mac and probably in her own solo career — that she just did not have enough to do. Other than the first year of her solo career and despite what she always said, I thought she was mostly idle. She was busiest on solo tours because she had to sing the entire show. But her solo albums didn’t require as much time from her as some people think. There’s a lot of down time for a vocalist in the studio. The time spent on instrumental tracks and mixing far outpaces the time spent on recording vocals. Whereas Ann and Nancy Wilson and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were more like the instrumentalists in Fleetwood Mac, needing to stay sober enough to play in the studio and onstage, Stevie could toot to her heart’s content and the album would be completed by the crew around her. Just a hypothesis of mine.

What has always irritated the crap out of me has been how much she didn't take care of her talent--her voice, her writing skill, her creativity. You are so right that she didn't make quality a priority at all.

She got quite careless with her talent. Who knows why? May have been her personality, pinpointed long ago by Mick Fleetwood when he said her strength was to emote in the moment, rather than to pace and measure out and plan long term. Stevie’s a free spirit. If anything, once she finally started being more careful with her singing to conserve it, her shows got a little boring to me. I used to go to her concerts and desperately wish for even a few moments of dangerous abandon.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by David

I’ve always had the feeling — certainly with Fleetwood Mac and probably in her own solo career — that she just did not have enough to do. Other than the first year of her solo career and despite what she always said, I thought she was mostly idle. She was busiest on solo tours because she had to sing the entire show. But her solo albums didn’t require as much time from her as some people think. There’s a lot of down time for a vocalist in the studio. The time spent on instrumental tracks and mixing far outpaces the time spent on recording vocals. Whereas Ann and Nancy Wilson and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were more like the instrumentalists in Fleetwood Mac, needing to stay sober enough to play in the studio and onstage, Stevie could toot to her heart’s content and the album would be completed by the crew around her. Just a hypothesis of mine.

She got quite careless with her talent. Who knows why? May have been her personality, pinpointed long ago by Mick Fleetwood when he said her strength was to emote in the moment, rather than to pace and measure out and plan long term. Stevie’s a free spirit. If anything, once she finally started being more careful with her singing to conserve it, her shows got a little boring to me. I used to go to her concerts and desperately wish for even a few moments of dangerous abandon.

Interesting theory about how busy she may or may not have been while making her solo albums. There’s no question she was “mostly idle” during the Mac records, but I suspect she was very present and aware of the importance of the sound for her first two albums. After that, who knows?

You and bombaysaffires make apt comments about her carelessness with her instrument. She WAS really careless, brazenly so. But I agree with you—that was when her shows were, to use a choice descriptor, bewitching. After that, she had heroic moments (“Silver Springs” on The Dance, “At Last”) but there was a sense of balance, and of caution, which, ironically, undermined what made her so special…

[bombaysaffires]

agree, though I think she got more careful with her voice after she blew it out doing stupid sh&t like smoking cigarettes, smoking pot, singing when she should have let it rest (between performances), doing coke, staying up for days on end, drinking too much, etc.

If she'd treated it more carefully THEN, she wouldn't have had to be so overly careful with it NOW.

But you know she said in the past that she sort of expected to burn out and die young... she had (at the time) this sort of romantic vision of people like Hendrix and Janis et al.... Doesn't seem like she *really* expected to be doing this at 70+, even though she'd say so in interviews from time to time over the years.

As for quality, she seemed to really strive for it in the early days (possibly encouraged in that by LB's perfectionism), but once she got famous, and especially once she made it solo (and got mixed in with the likes of Irving et al) she became far, far more concerned with "numbers" ie sales figures, chart positions, ticket sales, etc. and as long as those were good she seemed to care less and less about the quality of the content. Why grow artistically when you can sell out shows doing more of the same old, and partying along the way??

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Benmont Tench said something very similar... he said with the Hearbreakers he saw a lot of coke, but when he worked/toured with Stevie he was totally gobsmacked at just how much more coke was around than he'd ever seen before.

What has always irritated the crap out of me has been how much she didn't take care of her talent-- her voice, her writing skill, her creativity. You are so right that she didn't make quality a priority at all.

I have a quote from Christine (1984) in my signature line. Many rock stars had drug problems but they still were able to maintain some sort of normalcy in their career. Stevie developed her own fairy tale world which only enablers were allowed in. This just makes things so much worse because no one says NO. For Jimmy to walk out after about a year of dedication says a lot. I am not a fan of RAL but over the years I have come around to how the record company tried to salvage something after almost of 2 years of insanity. Someone on youtube created the "Mirror Mirror" album on youtube. They put the songs/demos all in order what was supposed to be on the album. Unlike RAL she wrote most or all of the songs. However all you hear is Stevie yelling and sounding incoherent. The songs are not arranged much and if that album was released it would have flopped. Nothing would have been a commercial success. The songs may have been lyrically better than on RAL but nothing memorable. The song Mirror Mirror is actually the best song. But that is what you get when recording music is just an excuse to party your brains out. I can understand the panic in trying to bring some song that actually may get played on the radio. Though he would never admit it, I am sure Jimmy had enough of not taking the process serious, showing up late and just sounding horrible. To quote Stevie herself, why could she not lay off coke and tequila just a few days. If you remember besides the Talk To Me video being delayed, there was no promotion for the album. Stevie phoned in a few interviews but in her state she was kept away from MTV or interviews. Even with re-shot close ups I am surprised Red Rocks was released. You get to see Stevie not wanting to take the stage and running around and Dennis had to grab her arm and almost tell her, you have to go on stage now and stop running around acting crazy.

[David]

Will someone ask Chris why she used — for the first and last time — a Roland EP-10 on the Rosebud film? She won’t remember why and probably won’t have any idea what you’re talking about. That’s why I hesitate to ask her. But if someone would ask her for me, I would much appreciate it!

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by David

I’ve always had the feeling — certainly with Fleetwood Mac and probably in her own solo career — that she just did not have enough to do. Other than the first year of her solo career and despite what she always said, I thought she was mostly idle. She was busiest on solo tours because she had to sing the entire show. But her solo albums didn’t require as much time from her as some people think. There’s a lot of down time for a vocalist in the studio. The time spent on instrumental tracks and mixing far outpaces the time spent on recording vocals. Whereas Ann and Nancy Wilson and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were more like the instrumentalists in Fleetwood Mac, needing to stay sober enough to play in the studio and onstage, Stevie could toot to her heart’s content and the album would be completed by the crew around her. Just a hypothesis of mine.

If you think Stevie was idle back then, despite releasing solo albums, doing solo tours, and recording FM albums and doing FM tours during that period, then Christine and Lindsey must look downright lazy to you during that same time period.

I don’t get the connection to Heart you mention, but I do remember my brother showing me a video many years ago of Ann and Nancy in a recording studio and some guy was yelling at them (I presume the producer) about how worthless they were and they were crying. It was disturbing to me, but my brother said they looked like they were high and that was probably why they were crying and why he was yelling. I didn’t like seeing anyone being yelled at that way, high or not; and it was hard for me to look at Heart the same way after seeing that. Now I see it as a moment in time, and not as their entire career trajectory. They clearly worked hard for their success, but they had a good deal of help as well.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by bwboy

I do remember my brother showing me a video many years ago of Ann and Nancy in a recording studio and some guy was yelling at them (I presume the producer) about how worthless they were and they were crying. It was disturbing to me, but my brother said they looked like they were high and that was probably why they were crying and why he was yelling.

I would love to see that video. I have never heard of this situation. Like Stevie, Ann will mention one negative thing someone said to her in 1977 and she will talk about it now as if the wound still hurts. I do recall Ann saying they did not like working with Glyn Johns and that he called Nancy a 'hippie." Now I cannot imagine how being called a hippie would ruin anyone's day. Glyn Johns was the first producer for Street Angel and Stevie hated working with him.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by vivfox

I would love to see that video. I have never heard of this situation. Like Stevie, Ann will mention one negative thing someone said to her in 1977 and she will talk about it now as if the wound still hurts. I do recall Ann saying they did not like working with Glyn Johns and that he called Nancy a 'hippie." Now I cannot imagine how being called a hippie would ruin anyone's day. Glyn Johns was the first producer for Street Angel and Stevie hated working with him.

He produced the Eagle's first two albums, and then they let him go.

It's Glyn's way or the highway, I guess. "No drinking in the studio, no drugs in the studio!"

[UnwindedDreams]

Originally Posted by bwboy

I don’t get the connection to Heart you mention, but I do remember my brother showing me a video many years ago of Ann and Nancy in a recording studio and some guy was yelling at them (I presume the producer) about how worthless they were and they were crying. It was disturbing to me, but my brother said they looked like they were high and that was probably why they were crying and why he was yelling. I didn’t like seeing anyone being yelled at that way, high or not; and it was hard for me to look at Heart the same way after seeing that. Now I see it as a moment in time, and not as their entire career trajectory. They clearly worked hard for their success, but they had a good deal of help as well.

So if you don't get the Heart connection, do you think Ann and Nancy aren't instrumentalists and that Tom Petty is an instrumentalist?

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by UnwindedDreams

So if you don't get the Heart connection, do you think Ann and Nancy aren't instrumentalists and that Tom Petty is an instrumentalist?

Well, Stevie does play tambourine, so I guess she’s as much an instrumentalist as Tom or Ann or Nancy. Not LOL. I’ve never heard the word instrumentalist before, but I assume it means someone who plays a musical instrument. I have no idea how sober one needs to be in a recording studio, from my understanding FM was doing cocaine daily while recording Rumours, so I don’t know how much of an impact that sort of thing has, good or bad. I just thought it was funny that the previous poster thought Stevie just came in and sang for a bit on her solo albums and left, while everyone else slaved to make the album for her. I do not believe that was how her albums were recorded, that’s all.

[DownOnRodeo]

Originally Posted by David

Will someone ask Chris why she used — for the first and last time — a Roland EP-10 on the Rosebud film? She won’t remember why and probably won’t have any idea what you’re talking about. That’s why I hesitate to ask her. But if someone would ask her for me, I would much appreciate it!

Alas, David--the Q&A has already closed and Christine's answers (to certain select questions) have been posted in an article.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...perform-better

What a tragedy that the enigma shall remain forever thus.
I foresee you whispering "Rosebud" in your final moments...

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by DownOnRodeo

Alas, David--the Q&A has already closed and Christine's answers (to certain select questions) have been posted in an article.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...perform-better

What a tragedy that the enigma shall remain forever thus.
I foresee you whispering "Rosebud" in your final moments...

Thank you so much for posting this. No real surprises, but it’s always nice hearing Christine’s thoughts on FM and her solo career.