The night Tom Petty offended Stevie Nicks
To many people, Fleetwood Mac is the most iconic rock band of all time. From the sprawling ‘The Chain’ to the sparkling ‘Everywhere’, they gifted the genre with some of its most well-loved hits, as well as some of its most well-known drama. They seemed to embody the phrase “Sex, drugs and rock and roll” with their 1977 magnum opus, Rumours. Still, one artist was unafraid to dispute their rockstar status, prompting an argument with Stevie Nicks.
Throughout the years, the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman had turned her admiration for Tom Petty into acquaintanceship. The two became long-lasting friends and collaborated on several duets – Nicks featured on Petty’s 1981 record, Hard Promises, while he penned ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ to feature on Bella Donna in the same year.
Though there was clearly a level of mutual respect for each other’s artistry, that didn’t stop Petty from insulting Nicks one night with the suggestion that Fleetwood Mac didn’t qualify for the rock and roll title. “She got really mad at me one night in Australia,” Petty explained in Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks.
The Fleetwood Mac frontwoman was touring with Petty when he implied that his band were rock and roll, while Fleetwood Mac were merely soft rock. Nicks provided the expectedly incredulous response, “How dare you say that to me?” and a lengthy argument between the two began.
As the pair discussed what it means to be a rock and roll band, Petty maintained his respect and love for her work with Fleetwood Mac, but refused to place them in the same genre as his own project. “I love that band,” he stated, “have the greatest respect for Lindsey [Buckingham] and Mick [Fleetwood], but I didn’t see them as a rock and roll band. I thought her journey was different than mine.”
“I didn’t always agree with her musical taste, and she didn’t always agree with mine,” he continued, “My frustration with her was, ‘You need somebody to remind you what you’re capable of. You get too easily distracted by bulls****ers that want to make a hit. I don’t know why you’re doing all this synthesiser rock.’”
Nicks ventured into the world of synths with her 1985 offering, Rock a Little, which certainly was a hit. The record enjoyed commercial success, but clearly, her changing style did not impress Petty. Still, it didn’t discount the contributions that Nicks and her bandmates had already made to rock.
While Fleetwood Mac may have preferred soft rock to Petty’s southern stylings, their position within the wider genre was no less important. Nicks paved the way for women in rock to thrive, Rumours still holds up over four decades on from its first release, and Fleetwood Mac remain one of the most influential rock bands of all time.
It’s no surprise that Petty evoked the wrath of Nicks with his dismissive words, but the pair would still remain fond friends until his death in 2017.
