Why Stevie Nicks called her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham “vampiric”
The relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham seems plucked straight from fantasy fairytales – if said fairytales were filled with as much bitterness, fallouts, and a hefty amount of cocaine as they were with love and mutual respect.
The will-they, won’t-they thread that runs across both musicians’ stories is often linked to the pair’s tumultuous relationship during the creation of Rumours, and while it seemingly frayed to the point of return of no return during these sessions, the seeds that later flourished into irreparable damage seemed present from day one.
After all, Nicks and Buckingham met young and immediately became kindred spirits, personally and professionally. While Buckingham would venture out to make ends meet, Nicks would stay home, writing many of the hits that later defined her career, both as a part of Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist.
Back then, Nicks longed for greatness. Buckingham did, too, but Nicks experienced the yearn more whimsically, more fantastically, wishing for a break in the same way she longed for love and respect from her partners. Although brilliant together, Nicks and Buckingham were entirely different creatives, a fact that came to the forefront in more brutal ways years later when they created their defining masterpiece.
In the past, Nicks has recounted numerous times the moments that she felt undermined in Buckingham’s presence, as well as all the ways she would challenge this dynamic, especially when she felt that his incessant nitpicking was more personal than constructive. In fact, it is precisely this back-and-forth that eventually led to them never setting foot in the same studio again, their differences too vast to overlook.
“Every once in a while, Lindsey will say, ‘You’re writing in the third person, and then all of a sudden you flip back into first person, and you can’t really do that,’” Nicks once said, continuing, “And I’m like, ‘Would you say that to Bob Dylan?’ I snap back at him. And that’s why Lindsey and I don’t write songs together. He’ll say, ‘No, well, I guess, no.’ So that ends that conversation right there.”
Recent years have changed their relationship somewhat, especially with the reissue of Buckingham Nicks, alongside which came the indication that the pair had mended whatever it was that they’d destroyed. Of course, no one can truly know whether they’re in each other’s good books again, but for a moment, it looked positive. Still, that’s the thing when it comes to this pair: no matter where they are with each other, you’d probably bet that if they needed each other, the other would show up.
These are all reasons why Nicks once described their relationship as “vampiric”, and while discussing her song, ‘Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)’, which she wrote after watching Twilight: New Moon, Nicks told Spinner that their love is one that will always run deep, no matter what, saying, “As much as we fight, if anything were to happen to either of us, I would be the first one there, and he would be the first one here. So it is a story about how love never dies.”
This eternal dedication comes through in the song. In fact, Nicks makes it clear just where they stand, explaining that, while their paths may never fully collide again, there will always be a strong thread between them. “He loves her, but he loves his life alone as well,” she sings. “But does he know the road or the reasons why / Well, if he leaves her / He’d be losing the chance to stay alive.”
