Why Grace Slick could never watch Fleetwood Mac perform live
The counterculture hippie movement of the 1960s brought widespread attention to many wonderful things, from the joys of psychedelic substances to the importance of political activism and left-wing beliefs. One of the greatest things that the hippie scene brought, however, was music. Within the vibrant musical scene of the counter-cultural revolution, the stunning performance of Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane formed some of the most extraordinary moments.
After Slick joined the Airplane in 1966, she immediately established herself as one of rock music’s leading vocalists. Few of her contemporaries, with the possible exception of Big Brother and the Holding Company singer Janis Joplin, could come close to replicating Slick’s stunning vocals. Not only that, but the singer also proved an incredible songwriting ability, penning the band’s defining track ‘White Rabbit’.
A leading figure within the 1960s rock scene and one of the few female artists to infiltrate the boys club that was the hippie rock movement, Slick was hugely influential on the next generation of musicians. In fact, the Jefferson Airplane singer was a particular inspiration for Stevie Nicks. Finding fame after joining the ranks of Fleetwood Mac along with Lindsey Buckingham in the mid-1970s, Nicks soon became an icon in her own right.
Speaking on her early influences within rock music, Nicks once revealed the three musicians she regularly draws from. Slick, of course, was featured within that roster, “Flamboyance and attitude from Janis [Joplin], humbleness and grace from [Jimi] Hendrix, and a little bit of slinky from Grace Slick,” she said in a Q&A for SXSW Music. “Those were the three people who I emulated when I was on stage.”
Despite Nicks’ idolisation of Jefferson Airplane’s vocalist, the respect is not entirely returned. During an interview with Society of Rock, Slick paid the Fleetwood Mac singer a slightly back-handed compliment, saying, “Stevie Nicks has written some of the best rock songs. I don’t know her that well, but I like that strange little person that she’s decided to be.”
Slick has gone on to say that she cannot bear to watch Fleetwood Mac perform, though it is not due to a lack of respect for the music itself. “There’s something about old people singing rock ’n’ roll lyrics that bothers me – it just doesn’t match,” Slick told WENN. “I saw a film of Fleetwood Mac doing something, and I was okay as long as I didn’t look at them. I couldn’t look at them. They sounded great, and if I looked away and imagined young people singing I was okay with it.”
The acid queen herself retired from music at the age of 50, devoting herself predominantly to painting and creating visual art. She does note that she should have retired ten years sooner, which would have prevented her from creating the horrendous Starship track ‘We Built This City’. In contrast, Stevie Nicks remains active well into her seventh decade.
