Rock Hall and the proudest moment of Stevie Nicks’ entire career: “I broke a glass ceiling”
Across all 949 inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, only 80 are women. 27 Men have been inducted twice, and only one woman.
When Cheryl Crow was inducted in 2023, Stevie Nicks welcomed her to the “very elite club for women”. Perhaps it’s because she was the first to be inducted twice in 2019.
Nicks had already been inducted before, with Fleetwood Mac in 1998. At the time, her celebration was clouded by all the men who’d already been there, either solo or for a second time. There were already criticisms, since the beginning, about the Hall of Fame’s delay in honouring those with legacies, but with women, these gaps seem wider.
And if it already wasn’t bad enough, the entire operation being led for so long by Jann Wenner clearly didn’t help either. After all, he did claim, not even that long ago, that female musicians shouldn’t be considered masters of music because they’re not “intellectual” enough. His remarks got him removed from the board, but that decision didn’t undo the damage that had already been done.
And so, in 2019, when Nicks was inducted – for a second time – it really, truly felt like a big moment. Her induction was a major one, primed by her good friend Harry Styles as he captured everything great about her. From her humble beginnings and solid name in rock to why she’s such a shining star. Because she’s real, Styles said, and she “sees all the romance and the drama in the world and she celebrates it.”
The intensity of the moment wasn’t lost on Nicks, either. So much so that she once considered it her greatest achievement. Not generally being an excellent songwriter, someone so poetic that it inspired others to try to reach a fraction of her genius. Not being a part of one of the biggest rock groups of all time, or part of an album that no one can move on from. But her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, purely because of how it made her feel.
“I think [my greatest achievement was] probably being the first woman to go into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for my own work — going in as Stevie Nicks last year, after already being inducted with Fleetwood Mac in 1998,” she explained. “That was probably my proudest moment, because there were 22 men that were in twice for their solo work and for being in bands, and then there were no women.”
She went on, “So, now there’s one woman. And it is me. I feel like I broke a glass ceiling there and let it rain on all those guys who thought there’d never be a woman that would go in twice. That was one of the most fun nights of my whole life.”
It’s unlikely the Hall of Fame will change into one of the more progressive organisations in music for a long while. But at least with Nicks as the torchbearer for women in rock, and music generally, we can hold on to the hope that one day, recognition for women won’t just be celebrated, but the norm.
