The Stevie (Re)surgence

Thanks to the TV show Daisy Jones & The Six, Fleetwood Mac is having a moment. But Stevie Nick's solo career deserves many more moments of its own.

If you’re on TikTok, or really any form of social media, you’ve probably been served one of the most devastating and electric videos that has ever existed in the history of music. I’m talking about Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 performance of Silver Springs, when ex-lovers Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham sing a song Nicks wrote about their breakup 20-years prior. 

This video is most likely being presented to you because of Daisy Jones & The Six, a television series based on the book about the rise and fall of a fictional band in the 1970s. Taylor Jenkins Reid, the author of the book and a producer on the show, based the story on Fleetwood Mac. The show even recreates the Silver Springs performance shot-for-shot.

Daisy Jones has sent many people down a Fleetwood Mac rabbit hole. Even though Fleetwood has the No. 12 best-selling album of all time and everyone loves them, the series brought the band back into the immediate zeitgeist (which seems to happen every few years — remember the Cranberry juice Dreams guy?). The performance above particularly tickled the antennas of the algorithms, and now the YouTube video has over 14 million views. 

It’s not surprising that Silver Springs has blown up. It’s mesmerizing. Nicks is staring into Buckingham’s soul — or maybe his void, given how helpless and dead his eyes look — as she sings “I will follow you down ‘til the sound of my voice will haunt you.” Her searing gaze makes it clear that she knows she has succeeded.

If the Good Witch decides to curse you, you better believe she will follow through. 

But I’m using the popularity of this video as an excuse to encourage you to watch a different one. I want the algorithms to get their sticky little fingers on this moment that shows Nicks alone, singing her solo song Wild Heart. It highlights her innate talent and her undeniable, powerful presence as an artist unrelated to a man.

This video — which has under 1 million views to Silver Springs’ 14 mil — was allegedly filmed backstage at a Rolling Stone photoshoot. Nicks starts singing while someone is trying to do her makeup. Eventually, Nicks gets so into the song that the makeup stops happening at all.

I first saw this impromptu performance in 2011. I wasn’t very familiar with Nicks outside of Fleetwood Mac, and the video moved me (I even wrote about it on the original version of my blog at the time). I always get choked up when Nicks really starts to sing. Her joy in the moment is so singular and unbridled. It’s like she has no choice but to release her husky, deep voice, a voice that has sandpaper around the edges and yearning at its core. 

Nicks and her solo work have stayed with me since. And, look, I know that she has legions of fans. I’m not telling you that I discovered her, or that no one else appreciates her. She’s one of the most famous musicians in the world. For 33 years, there’s been a Night of a Thousand Stevies, for crying out loud.

I just really want everyone who hasn’t seen that video to watch it and dive into her catalog beyond the ubiquitous The Edge of Seventeen (I’ve included some of my favorite albums at the bottom of this post). Her music feels like it was made for whoever is listening to it. I put Nicks on when I’m sad for no reason and when I’m happy for no reason. I listen to her when I don’t know how to quiet my mind. She meets you where you are and comforts you with true rock and roll.

That Wild Heart video was filmed when she was already a superstar, after Fleetwood Mac released Rumors. Nicks and Buckingham were a couple and a singing duo before they joined Fleetwood (Buckingham apparently forced Nicks to pose topless for their solo album, which was something she didn’t want to do). They wrote the album Rumours as their relationship fully fell apart.

Fleetwood Mac’s whole interpersonal situation was a mess. If you’re not already obsessed with it, here’s an oversimplified rundown: Keyboardist Christine McVie was married to bassist John McVie, and she had her first (!) affair with Fleetwood’s sound engineer. After dating Buckingham, Nicks had an affair with Mick Fleetwood while she was dating the Eagles’ Don Henley. Nicks also had a severe cocaine addiction which eventually left her with a hole in her nose.

Besides putting out Rumours, one of the best albums ever, a lot of the band’s enduring popularity and mythology has hinged on the intrigue surrounding its members. Namely Nicks.

Nicks and Buckingham stayed in the band for about forty more years until Nicks finally got fed up. Buckingham left the band in 2018, and claims that Nicks had him kicked out. In response, she released this statement: