If you’re new to the magic of Stevie Nicks, most would recommend just listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours from 1977 in its entirety. That’s solid advice. However, I think there are three specific songs written and performed by Stevie Nicks that every newbie to her work should check out first. Let’s dive in!
“Silver Springs” (1977)
If you have an old pressing of Rumours, you won’t find this brilliant track. That’s because it was cut from the album, despite being released as the B-side of “Go Your Own Way”. While the song was eventually released as a single in the 1990s and on a remastered edition of Rumours in the 2000s, the lack of love the song got early on is one of the greatest travesties of 1970s rock. This is an absolutely incredible song, one that I go back to again and again. Personally, I think it’s the greatest breakup song ever written. Check out the above performance of Nicks basically confronting Lindsey Buckingham on stage to get some serious chills.
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“Rhiannon” (1975)
“Rhiannon” was written by Stevie Nicks for Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled 1975 album, which preceded the smash hit Rumours. It’s a great introduction to what she was able to do within the band shortly after joining. A stunning rock tune inspired by “an old Welsh witch,” “Rhiannon” was quite a fast hit, peaking at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also reached the Top 40 across Canada, Australia, Belgium, and the Netherlands. That melody will get you moving, but the song overall has a haunting feel to it. Only Nicks could write a song that both unnerves and gets people up to dance.
“Landslide” (1975)
Another pre-Rumours track by Stevie Nicks, “Landslide” might just be one of the most existential songs of the 1970s. And I mean that in a good way. “Landslide” has healed a lot of people, and it’s wild to think that Nicks wrote such a mature song when she was barely an adult at the time. Nicks wrote this song about considering ending her musical partnership with Lindsey Buckingham and going back to school so she could stop working tough jobs to support both herself and Buckingham. It ended up becoming the kind of song that so many people could relate to for various reasons. Make sure you’re in a good headspace before giving this one a spin.
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