Stevie Nicks’ favourite song by Chicago is a forgotten 1984 classic
When Stevie Nicks and her then-partner Lindsey Buckingham joined the ranks of Fleetwood Mac in 1975, the pair managed to redefine the transatlantic blues outfit as pop-rock titans.
The Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac is undoubtedly their defining period, producing seminal works such as Rumours and Tusk, which remain among some of the greatest-selling records of all time. Throughout her career, Nicks has stayed a fan of some of Mac’s contemporaries, notably the soft rock outfit Chicago.
Like Fleetwood Mac, Chicago evolved dramatically over the course of their career. What began as an adventurous, brass-heavy rock band slowly transformed into one of the defining soft rock acts of the late 1970s and 1980s, trading experimentation for broader commercial appeal.
Formed amid the backdrop of 1967’s hippie ‘Summer of Love’, Chicago were a sort of amalgamation of various groups from the area. Starting out as a cover band, the group led by Terry Kath soon began to write and record their own original material. Bordering on psychedelic rock in the early years, Chicago found fame opening for utterly iconic acts like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Reportedly, they were also due to play the legendary Woodstock Festival before pulling out due to scheduling conflicts.
In a fairly similar vein to Fleetwood Mac, Chicago soon transcended their rebellious roots to become something distinctly more middle-of-the-road. Adopting a style of music far closer to soft rock than anything that could be held within the same category as Joplin, Hendrix or Woodstock, Chicago found mainstream success during the 1970s, as did Fleetwood Mac.
Mac’s newfound commercial success was largely down to the influence of Stevie Nicks, who penned popular tracks like ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘Landslide’. That’s not a bad set of contributions for a singer that Mick Fleetwood reluctantly took in as a sort of package deal with Lindsey Buckingham.
Nowadays, Nicks has the kind of legendary aura that lends itself only to pop stars of a certain calibre. As such, she often gets asked about her own musical opinions. Back in 2011, the songwriter was asked to take part in BBC Radio Two’s Tracks of My Years. A kind of modernised version of Desert Island Discs, the programme sees a guest discuss their favourite records.
Among Nicks’ picks were some fairly off-the-wall choices, such as Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me A River’, but the Fleetwood Mac star also name-dropped Chicago, listing their 1984 song ‘Hard Habit to Break’ as one of her all-time favourites.
Her selections reflected the eclectic nature of her musical tastes. Although Nicks is often associated with classic rock and folk influences, she has long embraced mainstream pop songwriting when it captures the right emotional atmosphere.
Even among the outlandish picks of Stevie Nicks, ‘Hard Habit to Break’ is a fairly odd choice as an all-time favourite track. The discography of Chicago is awash with forgettable, inoffensive soft rock tracks, but ‘Hard Habit to Break’ is particularly dreary and banal even in comparison to the rest of their material. The track comes from 1984, the period following the accidental death of Terry Kath.
The post-Kath period of the 1980s saw the band adopt a sound more akin to power ballads and largely forgettable classic rock-sounding tracks. This lacklustre period of the group is not particularly enjoyable, even for hardcore Chicago fans, which makes it all the more strange that Stevie Nicks would select ‘Hard Habit to Break’ as one of her favourite songs of all time.
Personal favourites rarely align neatly with critical consensus. Nicks’ admiration for ‘Hard Habit to Break’ serves as a reminder that musicians often respond to songs emotionally rather than analytically, regardless of how the wider music world views them.
