“One of the most funnest things I’ve done”: the cover Stevie Nicks called the most fun to perform
For any artist who has been around the block, there comes a point where playing rock and roll can get a bit boring. Even though the roaring guitars and pummelling drums sound great at the moment, there needs to be some point where everyone can switch things up and go well outside their comfort zone. And for Stevie Nicks, finding the perfect way to escape her shell after years of darkness was very important.
Granted, it’s not like Nicks was sitting off to the side playing Led Zeppelin-like riffs in her solo career. Many of her greatest solo songs weren’t all that different from Fleetwood Mac, but considering the massive amount of problems she was having with Lindsey Buckingham at the end of the 1980s, the last thing she wanted to do was step into a studio with him and see what happened.
Though Buckingham was let go from the band following Tango in the Night, Behind the Mask wasn’t nearly the return to form that Nicks needed. Even when she broke free from the rest of the group, Street Angel marked the true low point for her career, being addicted to pills and hardly having any good judgment when working next to some of the biggest producers in the world.
That said, Nicks didn’t suddenly forget how to make good music. She was still in the clouds at this point, but in the background, legions of soft-rock acts had been coming up in her wake to make some noise, whether that was Counting Crows bringing their signature touch to the radio or hearing Sheryl Crow practically do an updated version of Nicks’s sound with a little more grit in her delivery.
Of all the soft-rock bands around this time, though, no one divided the room quite like Dave Matthews Band. Despite selling boatloads of records and being able to pack venues until the sun burns out of the sky, Matthews has developed a sound that is angelic for some and ear-piercing to others, with most people tuning out the minute they hear ‘Crash Into Me’ and never return.
Nicks was always warm to the group, and when working on different sons to put into her set, she ended up having a blast covering his signature tune, saying, “I spent about 30 hours listening to the song. I called up Waddy Wachtel and told him, and he called up the band, and everybody got the Dave Matthews’ song, and we tried to remain exactly loyal to Dave’s version. It was truly one of the most funnest things I have done in 30 years. I loved it.”
And as much as the song can be the musical encapsulation of that guy with too much cologne with an acoustic guitar at a party, Nicks does manage to elevate the song a lot more. Since the entire tune is a goofy song about sex told from the perspective of every college bro, having the whole thing gender-flipped actually sounds a lot better coming from Nicks, especially with her smoky voice offsetting Matthews’s nasal chirp.
Considering she was able to work her magic here, though, there doesn’t seem to be a true limit to what Nicks can accomplish. Hell, throw her a tune that’s nothing but bagpipes and panflutes, and chances are she can still turn it into one of the most devastating love songs anyone has ever touched.
