WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.560 You know, when you picture the life of a rock 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:07.080 and roll legend, there's usually a very specific, 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:09.740 gritty trajectory that comes to mind for most 00:00:09.740 --> 00:00:12.480 of us. Right, the classic rock star cliche. Exactly. 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:17.079 It's that straight line of raw ambition. youthful 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:20.699 rebellion, cheap motels, and maybe a long trail 00:00:20.699 --> 00:00:23.320 of smashed guitars. Yeah, the standard gritty 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:26.699 documentary feel. Right. But, well, what happens 00:00:26.699 --> 00:00:28.739 when the architect of a rock and roll empire 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:31.339 isn't raised on street corner rebellion, but 00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:34.619 on literal fairy tales? It changes everything. 00:00:34.759 --> 00:00:36.640 You end up with a story that looks less like 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:39.479 a documentary and, well, more like an enchanted 00:00:39.479 --> 00:00:42.399 forest, really. And today, we're taking you right 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:44.039 into the heart of that forest. We're looking 00:00:44.039 --> 00:00:46.840 at one of the most resilient architects in music 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:49.619 history, Stevie Nicks. It's a brilliant way to 00:00:49.619 --> 00:00:52.619 frame her life, honestly, because from the outside, 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:55.079 that forest looks totally magical. It's glowing, 00:00:55.619 --> 00:00:57.320 completely ethereal. Oh, for sure. The shawls, 00:00:57.380 --> 00:00:59.479 the spinning, the tambourines. Right. But once 00:00:59.479 --> 00:01:02.000 you actually step inside that mythology, you 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:04.480 realize that the thorns in that forest are razor 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:07.569 sharp. Yeah, they really are. The paths are incredibly 00:01:07.569 --> 00:01:09.349 treacherous. I mean, she had to fight for her 00:01:09.349 --> 00:01:12.650 life psychologically, chemically, and creatively 00:01:12.650 --> 00:01:15.090 just to make it through to the other side. And 00:01:15.090 --> 00:01:16.709 that survival is exactly what we're going to 00:01:16.709 --> 00:01:19.250 be talking about today. So welcome to today's 00:01:19.250 --> 00:01:21.290 deep dive into the source material. Glad to be 00:01:21.290 --> 00:01:25.849 here. We have this massive comprehensive. biographical 00:01:25.849 --> 00:01:28.170 and discographical archives sitting right in 00:01:28.170 --> 00:01:31.390 front of us, and our mission today is to extract 00:01:31.390 --> 00:01:34.790 the ultimate aha moments from Nyx's journey. 00:01:35.090 --> 00:01:36.849 Because we aren't just looking at her greatest 00:01:36.849 --> 00:01:39.670 hits. Right, or just charting her path to becoming 00:01:39.670 --> 00:01:41.870 the first woman ever inducted into the Rock and 00:01:41.870 --> 00:01:44.530 Roll Hall of Fame twice. Which is a huge deal 00:01:44.530 --> 00:01:47.329 on its own, but yeah. Exactly. We are going to 00:01:47.329 --> 00:01:51.010 uncover the deeply surprising, super practical 00:01:51.010 --> 00:01:53.810 origins of her iconic wardrobe, the shocking 00:01:53.810 --> 00:01:56.489 story behind her missing eight years. And wait 00:01:56.489 --> 00:01:59.430 for it. We've got breaking 2026 news about a 00:01:59.430 --> 00:02:01.890 raw upcoming album. Which just proves she's still 00:02:01.890 --> 00:02:05.280 actively writing her own myth. Totally. So to 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:08.180 really understand how she survived the pressure 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:10.080 cooker that her life would eventually become, 00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:12.460 I mean, you really have to look at the bizarre 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:14.960 psychological armor she built as a child. Yeah, 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.419 the foundation of her entire worldview is built 00:02:18.419 --> 00:02:23.319 on this very potent mix of pure fantasy and. 00:02:24.539 --> 00:02:27.120 just stubborn, relentless loyalty. Okay, let's 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.240 unpack this, because the origin story here is 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:31.280 honestly fascinating. Her real name is actually 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:34.240 Stephanie. Right. Stevie just came from her toddler 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.120 self trying to pronounce Stephanie in it, like 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:38.520 coming out as TD. Which is adorable. Right. But 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:41.379 she was plunged into music and myth almost immediately. 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:44.219 By the time she was four years old, her grandfather, 00:02:44.419 --> 00:02:47.000 AJ, was already teaching her to sing duets with 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:50.139 him. And we really have to pause on that detail, 00:02:50.300 --> 00:02:52.960 because learning harmony at age four... Well, 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:56.000 it fundamentally wires a musician's brain differently. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:58.120 How so? Well, you aren't just learning to project 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:00.080 your own voice, you know. You are learning to 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.099 listen to someone else's voice and weave your 00:03:02.099 --> 00:03:05.080 melody around theirs. It breeds this deep collaborative 00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:07.960 instinct. Oh, that makes total sense. But simultaneously, 00:03:08.300 --> 00:03:11.159 her mother was highly protective. She kept her 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:13.960 at home more than most kids, and specifically 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:17.430 fostered this deep... deep love of fairy tales. 00:03:17.729 --> 00:03:19.650 So wait, she's getting the mechanics of Harmony 00:03:19.650 --> 00:03:22.090 from her grandfather, but the narrative structure 00:03:22.090 --> 00:03:25.150 of life from her mother. Precisely. And fairy 00:03:25.150 --> 00:03:27.430 tales aren't just like cute bedtime stories. 00:03:27.830 --> 00:03:30.090 They teach you that struggle has a narrative 00:03:30.090 --> 00:03:31.949 purpose. Right. There's always a point to the 00:03:31.949 --> 00:03:34.909 dark woods. Exactly. There are dark woods, there 00:03:34.909 --> 00:03:37.509 are villains, and there are grand resolutions. 00:03:37.650 --> 00:03:40.169 It creates a worldview where everything is epic 00:03:40.169 --> 00:03:42.750 and everything has grand meaning. So when she 00:03:42.750 --> 00:03:45.069 starts writing songs later, she isn't just writing 00:03:45.069 --> 00:03:47.629 about a simple breakup. No, she's writing a tragedy. 00:03:47.750 --> 00:03:50.729 Wow. Which perfectly sets the stage for high 00:03:50.729 --> 00:03:52.830 school in California, where she meets Lindsay 00:03:52.830 --> 00:03:55.569 Buckingham. Right. The fateful meeting. Yeah. 00:03:55.870 --> 00:03:57.969 They're at a young life club. He's playing California 00:03:57.969 --> 00:04:00.490 Dreamin' on the guitar. And she just walks right 00:04:00.490 --> 00:04:03.490 up and joins him in perfect, instinctive harmony. 00:04:03.729 --> 00:04:06.129 Because her grandfather wired her to do exactly 00:04:06.129 --> 00:04:09.500 that. Exactly. So they eventually go to San Jose 00:04:09.500 --> 00:04:12.099 State University together. She's majoring in 00:04:12.099 --> 00:04:14.159 speech communication, planning to be an English 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:17.100 teacher. A very sensible plan. Right. But with 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.720 her dad's blessing, she drops out to pursue music 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:23.490 with Lindsay. And, uh... This is where the fairy 00:04:23.490 --> 00:04:26.170 tale hits the absolute brick wall of reality. 00:04:26.870 --> 00:04:29.209 Oh, a massive brick wall. Yeah. They secure a 00:04:29.209 --> 00:04:31.470 deal, they release the album Buckingham Nicks 00:04:31.470 --> 00:04:34.990 in 1973, and it completely floors. That just 00:04:34.990 --> 00:04:37.029 stinks. The label drops them almost immediately. 00:04:37.209 --> 00:04:40.230 It's a total disaster. And to make matters worse... 00:04:40.269 --> 00:04:44.850 Lindsay contracts mononucleosis. Oh, right. Mono. 00:04:45.170 --> 00:04:47.230 Now, for anyone listening who hasn't had mono, 00:04:47.569 --> 00:04:50.389 it is a brutal viral infection. It completely 00:04:50.389 --> 00:04:52.389 wipes out your physical stamina. You can barely 00:04:52.389 --> 00:04:54.670 get out of bed. Let alone perform or hustle for 00:04:54.670 --> 00:04:56.810 record deals. So Stevie is left to keep them 00:04:56.810 --> 00:04:58.629 afloat. And I mean literally afloat. She's waiting 00:04:58.629 --> 00:05:00.730 tables. She's cleaning houses. Including the 00:05:00.730 --> 00:05:03.290 house of their producer, Keith Olson. Yes. She's 00:05:03.290 --> 00:05:06.189 scraping by to pay the rent. But here is where 00:05:06.189 --> 00:05:08.689 that collaborative loyalty she learned as a child 00:05:08.689 --> 00:05:12.550 really kicks in. So Mick Fleetwood is at a studio 00:05:12.550 --> 00:05:14.490 in California looking for a place to record. 00:05:14.550 --> 00:05:17.329 Right. And he hears a track with Lindsay's guitar 00:05:17.329 --> 00:05:20.269 work. He's blown away. He wants Lindsay to join 00:05:20.269 --> 00:05:23.089 Fleetwood Mac. So Mick offers Lindsay the gig. 00:05:23.470 --> 00:05:26.209 And this is the crazy part. Yeah. Lindsay gives 00:05:26.209 --> 00:05:28.730 him an ultimatum. He says, I won't join without 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:31.529 Stevie. We are a package deal. OK, let's unpack 00:05:31.529 --> 00:05:34.050 this. Because I look at that moment, and in the 00:05:34.050 --> 00:05:37.949 music industry of the 1970s, that is wild. It's 00:05:37.949 --> 00:05:39.850 incredibly risky. Think about it like a modern 00:05:39.850 --> 00:05:42.910 tech startup, right? Imagine a founder being 00:05:42.910 --> 00:05:45.569 offered a massive multimillion dollar buyout 00:05:45.569 --> 00:05:49.029 by some giant corporation. OK, yeah. But they 00:05:49.029 --> 00:05:51.610 refuse to sign the paperwork unless their overlooked, 00:05:52.009 --> 00:05:54.870 undervalued co -founder is given completely equal 00:05:54.870 --> 00:05:57.569 equity. That just doesn't happen. No. Lindsay 00:05:57.569 --> 00:06:00.290 had the golden ticket in his hand, and he risked 00:06:00.290 --> 00:06:02.889 losing it all just to bring Stevie with him. 00:06:03.149 --> 00:06:04.569 What's fascinating here is the psychological 00:06:04.569 --> 00:06:07.050 pattern it establishes. If you look at Stevie's 00:06:07.050 --> 00:06:09.589 early life, she was a sponge. Totally absorbing 00:06:09.589 --> 00:06:11.949 everything. Yeah, she's absorbing fairy tales, 00:06:12.509 --> 00:06:14.709 country singles from her grandfather, and later 00:06:14.709 --> 00:06:17.550 the intense stage presence of Jim Hendrix and 00:06:17.550 --> 00:06:19.870 Janis Joplin. Wait, her early band opened for 00:06:19.870 --> 00:06:21.910 Hendrix and Joplin? They did. So she's taking 00:06:21.910 --> 00:06:25.519 all this in, but... Despite all that dreamy absorbent 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.800 energy, it was this fierce, non -negotiable loyalty, 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:32.259 this package deal ultimatum that actually forced 00:06:32.259 --> 00:06:35.060 the door open. But unfortunately, that door led 00:06:35.060 --> 00:06:37.899 directly into a psychological meat grinder. Oh, 00:06:37.899 --> 00:06:40.300 absolutely. Because that package deal loyalty 00:06:40.300 --> 00:06:43.459 got them in. But the astronomical success that 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:46.360 immediately followed turned Fleetwood Mac into 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:49.100 a pressure cooker. And it shattered those exact 00:06:49.100 --> 00:06:51.480 relationships. The shift is immediate and violent. 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:54.740 In 1974, they released the album Fleetwood Mac, 00:06:54.860 --> 00:06:58.639 and it just explodes globally. And Nyx contributes 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:01.480 Rhiannon. Yes, a song she wrote after seeing 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:04.199 the name in a novel, which perfectly tracks with 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:06.680 her literary fairy tale upbringing. Definitely. 00:07:07.060 --> 00:07:08.939 But she didn't just sing it, she embodied it. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:11.740 Oh, she became Rhiannon on stage. Right. The 00:07:11.740 --> 00:07:14.759 live performances of Rhiannon were so physically 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:17.480 and vocally demanding that Mick Fleetwood literally 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:20.860 called them an exorcism. An exorcism. Wow. Yeah, 00:07:20.860 --> 00:07:22.759 she was taking all that pent -up energy from 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:25.480 cleaning houses and struggling and purging it 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:28.160 on stage every single night. And that intense 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:31.500 energy leads them right into recording rumors, 00:07:31.939 --> 00:07:36.139 which goes on to sell over 45 million copies 00:07:36.139 --> 00:07:39.000 worldwide. Massive. Yeah. Just unprecedented 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.360 success. During this era, Steady writes Dreams, 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:45.620 which becomes the band's only US number one hit. 00:07:45.740 --> 00:07:48.300 But it's also during this time that her relationship 00:07:48.300 --> 00:07:51.160 with Lindsay Buckingham completely disintegrates. 00:07:51.420 --> 00:07:53.259 Right. And this creates one of the most brutal 00:07:53.259 --> 00:07:56.519 artistic conflicts imaginable, the story of the 00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:59.139 song Silver Springs. Right. Silver Springs is 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:01.420 widely considered a masterpiece today. Oh, it's 00:08:01.420 --> 00:08:03.800 incredible. It's this devastating, sprawling 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:06.220 song that Stevie wrote specifically about her 00:08:06.220 --> 00:08:08.339 crumbling, tumultuous relationship with Lindsay. 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:11.100 Yeah. But when it came time to finalize the track 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:13.980 list for Rumors... The band cut it. They cut 00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:16.139 our masterpiece. They argued the early versions 00:08:16.139 --> 00:08:18.740 ran too long and they didn't want too many slow 00:08:18.740 --> 00:08:21.819 tempos on the record. Which had to be incredibly 00:08:21.819 --> 00:08:24.370 alienating. I mean, even the studio engineer 00:08:24.370 --> 00:08:26.649 admitted it carried some of the band's absolute 00:08:26.649 --> 00:08:29.129 best guitar work. It really did. But just think 00:08:29.129 --> 00:08:31.209 about the human element here, the psychological 00:08:31.209 --> 00:08:34.470 torture of that studio environment. How do you 00:08:34.470 --> 00:08:37.649 write a devastating, highly personal song about 00:08:37.649 --> 00:08:40.970 your ex, watch it get discarded from the biggest 00:08:40.970 --> 00:08:43.789 album of your career, and then night after night 00:08:43.789 --> 00:08:46.889 have to stand on stage and sing backup vocals 00:08:46.889 --> 00:08:49.870 on their hit song about you? Because Lindsay 00:08:49.870 --> 00:08:52.600 wrote... Go your own way directly at Stevie. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:55.379 Yes. And she had to harmonize on it. It's like 00:08:55.379 --> 00:08:57.799 being trapped in a tiny office cubicle with your 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:00.899 toxic ex. But millions of people are paying to 00:09:00.899 --> 00:09:02.759 watch you work together. That's a great way to 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:04.399 put it. Yeah. And if we connect this to the bigger 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:06.399 picture, you see exactly what Fleetwood Mac had 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:09.419 become. The band prioritized the product over 00:09:09.419 --> 00:09:11.340 personal comfort. Yeah, the machine came first. 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:13.779 Always. They commodified their own heartbreak, 00:09:14.059 --> 00:09:17.549 turning raw, unedited emotional trauma into universal 00:09:17.549 --> 00:09:20.250 art, and the alienation Nix felt from having 00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:23.610 her own voice sidelined while singing her ex's 00:09:23.610 --> 00:09:27.110 grievances. Well, it likely contributed to her 00:09:27.110 --> 00:09:29.049 seeking control or comfort wherever she could 00:09:29.049 --> 00:09:33.149 find it. In 1977, she actually had a secret affair 00:09:33.149 --> 00:09:35.590 with Mick Fleetwood, who was married at the time. 00:09:35.750 --> 00:09:38.129 Which is just such a massive crossing of boundaries 00:09:38.129 --> 00:09:40.970 within an already fragile ecosystem. It was. 00:09:41.049 --> 00:09:44.370 But she ended it abruptly. because as she stated 00:09:44.370 --> 00:09:46.929 later, she knew it would destroy the band. Wow. 00:09:47.370 --> 00:09:49.389 Even in the midst of her own emotional chaos, 00:09:49.789 --> 00:09:51.649 she was protecting the machinery of Fleetwood 00:09:51.649 --> 00:09:54.320 Mac. She was protecting the narrative. But protecting 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:57.039 that machinery took a massive emotional toll, 00:09:57.120 --> 00:09:59.039 and it meant she desperately needed an outlet 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:00.840 of her own. Right, because in Fleetwood Mac, 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:02.740 you have to split the album three ways with the 00:10:02.740 --> 00:10:05.340 other writers. Exactly. And Stevie had been writing 00:10:05.340 --> 00:10:07.879 constantly. She had this massive backlog of songs. 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:10.840 So she launches her solo career. Which was huge. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:15.019 But this isolation opens the door to intense 00:10:15.019 --> 00:10:18.000 personal tragedies and a really dark descent 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.059 into addiction. Yeah, the transition was rough. 00:10:21.700 --> 00:10:24.700 In 1981, she releases her solo debut, Bella Donna, 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:27.379 and it hits number one on the Billboard 200. 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:30.559 A staggering triumph. She finally has her own 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:33.960 platform. But the tragedy that strikes is almost 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:37.580 unfathomable. The exact day she learns the album 00:10:37.580 --> 00:10:40.279 hit number one, she also learns that her best 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:43.789 friend, Robin, is dying of leukemia. Oh, that's 00:10:43.789 --> 00:10:46.230 just heartbreaking. And what makes Robin's diagnosis 00:10:46.230 --> 00:10:48.509 so devastating is that she was pregnant at the 00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:50.809 time and was given only three months to live. 00:10:50.850 --> 00:10:53.470 Yeah. She gives birth, makes Stevie the godmother, 00:10:53.570 --> 00:10:56.919 and then passes away. And Stevie is so consumed 00:10:56.919 --> 00:10:59.259 by this grief that she actually marries Robin's 00:10:59.259 --> 00:11:01.840 widower, Kim Anderson. From a psychological standpoint, 00:11:02.019 --> 00:11:03.899 you can see the desperate logic there. Really? 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:06.559 Yeah. She was looking for a way to fix an unfixable 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:08.820 situation. She thought Robin would want her to 00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:10.740 step in and care for the baby to keep the family 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:13.620 intact. She admits later it was a terrible, terrible 00:11:13.620 --> 00:11:16.019 mistake. And they divorced just three months 00:11:16.019 --> 00:11:17.679 later. I mean, they married out of shared trauma, 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:21.009 not love. Exactly. And unfortunately, that search 00:11:21.009 --> 00:11:24.110 for a way to numb the pain extended to her struggles 00:11:24.110 --> 00:11:27.070 with substance abuse. Right. During the Buckingham 00:11:27.070 --> 00:11:29.730 Knicks days, she had started using cocaine, having 00:11:29.730 --> 00:11:32.269 been told by people in the industry that it was 00:11:32.269 --> 00:11:35.409 merely recreational. That was no big deal. Right. 00:11:36.129 --> 00:11:39.990 But by 1986, it had escalated to a terrifying 00:11:39.990 --> 00:11:43.370 point. A plastic surgeon actually warned her 00:11:43.370 --> 00:11:46.110 that her next hit could literally kill her. It 00:11:46.110 --> 00:11:48.950 was threatening her life. Oh my god. So she checks 00:11:48.950 --> 00:11:51.330 herself into the Betty Ford Center for 30 days 00:11:51.330 --> 00:11:54.509 and kicks the physical habit. Which is an incredible 00:11:54.509 --> 00:11:57.450 display of willpower. It is. But then she takes 00:11:57.450 --> 00:11:59.429 the advice of concerned friends who are worried 00:11:59.429 --> 00:12:01.309 she might relapse under the stress of touring 00:12:01.309 --> 00:12:03.750 and she visits a psychiatrist. And this is where 00:12:03.750 --> 00:12:06.269 things get really bad. Yeah. This doctor prescribes 00:12:06.269 --> 00:12:08.909 her a sedative called Clonopin to help her manage 00:12:08.909 --> 00:12:11.629 her anxiety and stay off cocaine. And this begins 00:12:11.629 --> 00:12:14.149 the absolute darkest period of her life. Without 00:12:14.149 --> 00:12:16.559 a doubt. She has stated on the record that the 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.340 Klonopin was, quote, worse than the cocaine. 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:22.360 She lost eight years of her life to this prescribed 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:25.539 drug. Eight whole years. She gained weight, she 00:12:25.539 --> 00:12:28.059 stopped writing music entirely, and she essentially 00:12:28.059 --> 00:12:30.840 became a ghost in her own life. It took a terrifying 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:33.600 accident. literally tripping over a box during 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.419 a baby shower and cutting her forehead near a 00:12:36.419 --> 00:12:39.559 fireplace to realize she needed help. A literal 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:42.940 wake -up call. Exactly. She went through a grueling 00:12:42.940 --> 00:12:46.259 47 -day hospital detox to finally get clean. 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:49.299 So what does this all mean? I mean, it strikes 00:12:49.299 --> 00:12:51.879 me that the medically prescribed cure was actually 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:55.039 a far... more effective villain than this treat 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:58.399 drug. It's a huge paradox. Why is it that Klonopin 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:00.799 stole almost a decade of her creative life while 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:03.700 she beat the illicit, highly dangerous cocaine 00:13:03.700 --> 00:13:06.000 relatively quickly? Well, because Klonopin is 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:09.279 a powerful benzodiazepine. It is a central nervous 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.639 system depressant designed to slow down brain 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:14.480 activity to prevent panic. Cocaine was a physical 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.259 addiction that threatened her cardiovascular 00:13:16.259 --> 00:13:18.320 system, sure, but it didn't stop her from writing. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.620 She was still creative on cocaine. Right. Klonopin, 00:13:21.620 --> 00:13:23.740 on the other hand, was an emotional anesthetic. 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:26.340 It didn't solve the grief of losing her best 00:13:26.340 --> 00:13:29.419 friend or the relentless, exhausting pressure 00:13:29.419 --> 00:13:32.259 of global fame. It just chemically numbed her 00:13:32.259 --> 00:13:34.919 to everything. If your brain is your instrument 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:37.240 and you chemically depress it, you silence your 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:39.700 art. That's why the songwriting's tough. It's 00:13:39.700 --> 00:13:43.059 a profound cautionary tale about replacing one 00:13:43.059 --> 00:13:45.340 coping mechanism with another without actually 00:13:45.340 --> 00:13:47.500 addressing the underlying trauma. Absolutely. 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:50.879 But the fact that she survived a 47 -day hospital 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:53.639 detox. Which is incredibly long. Yeah, which 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:56.559 is an extraordinarily painful, physically grueling 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:00.080 withdrawal process for benzodiazepines. It just 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:02.720 proves her profound underlying resilience. She 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:04.500 fought her way back to reality. She demanded 00:14:04.500 --> 00:14:07.700 her life back. And to survive all of these brutal 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:10.059 battles, the intense interpersonal conflicts 00:14:10.059 --> 00:14:13.159 in the band, the grief, the chemical dependencies 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:15.799 Nyx had to construct armor. Literal and figurative 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:18.299 armor. Yes. And that armor resulted in one of 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:20.740 the most iconic aesthetic personas in the history 00:14:20.740 --> 00:14:23.080 of music. The style, the mythology, the rumors 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:26.289 of witchcraft. The Stevie Nyx look. is legendary 00:14:26.289 --> 00:14:29.870 and feels so heavily curated and mystical. Right. 00:14:30.149 --> 00:14:32.889 But what is so surprising is how shockingly practical 00:14:32.889 --> 00:14:35.789 the origins of that look really were. So practical. 00:14:35.889 --> 00:14:37.990 Take the iconic platform boots, for example. 00:14:38.049 --> 00:14:39.990 Yeah, let's talk about the boots. Imagine being 00:14:39.990 --> 00:14:42.470 five foot one and having to command a massive 00:14:42.470 --> 00:14:45.330 arena stage next to a drummer, Mick Fleetwood, 00:14:45.629 --> 00:14:48.190 who is six foot six. That's a massive height 00:14:48.190 --> 00:14:50.690 difference. She stated she felt ridiculous standing 00:14:50.690 --> 00:14:53.669 next to them. So she adopted six inch platform 00:14:53.669 --> 00:14:57.230 boots. purely to close the height gap. It's purely 00:14:57.230 --> 00:15:00.389 pragmatic. Yep. And the flowing skirts and the 00:15:00.389 --> 00:15:03.710 diaphanous shawls. She actually saw a fan wearing 00:15:03.710 --> 00:15:06.549 dripping chiffon and big boots at a Janis Joplin 00:15:06.549 --> 00:15:08.750 concert and thought, I want something exactly 00:15:08.750 --> 00:15:11.570 like that. She got her look from a fan. She literally 00:15:11.570 --> 00:15:13.809 just took the look of a fan in the crowd and 00:15:13.809 --> 00:15:16.870 made it her own daily uniform. That is amazing. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:19.919 But because of those shawls and her lyrics about 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:22.720 crystals, the moon, and Welsh witches like Rhiannon, 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.340 the public ran with it. Oh, they definitely did. 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:28.100 By the late 70s and early 80s, people started 00:15:28.100 --> 00:15:30.399 spreading rumors that she was heavily involved 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:32.840 in witchcraft. And it wasn't just like a fun 00:15:32.840 --> 00:15:36.019 pop culture rumor. She started getting threatening 00:15:36.019 --> 00:15:39.159 mail. It escalated to a point where it genuinely 00:15:39.159 --> 00:15:42.590 terrified her. She was so scared by the accusations 00:15:42.590 --> 00:15:45.470 and the letters that she completely stopped wearing 00:15:45.470 --> 00:15:48.210 black clothing for a period of about four years 00:15:48.210 --> 00:15:53.190 from 1978 to 1982 Wow Yeah, she tried wearing 00:15:53.190 --> 00:15:55.950 colors like apricot and seafoam green instead 00:15:55.950 --> 00:15:58.149 just to get people to back off Which is just 00:15:58.149 --> 00:16:00.289 so hard to picture like imagine Stevie Nicks 00:16:00.289 --> 00:16:03.830 singing edge of 17 in a seafoam green dress It 00:16:03.830 --> 00:16:05.990 just doesn't compute not at all, but eventually 00:16:05.990 --> 00:16:08.029 she goes back to black and the reason why is 00:16:08.029 --> 00:16:10.460 so relatable. Oh, yeah She said she felt ugly 00:16:10.460 --> 00:16:12.399 in the other colors, and she just liked black 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:14.779 because it made her look thinner. That is incredible. 00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:17.240 Right. I look at her wardrobe like a superhero 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:19.879 cape. For decades, the public thought it was 00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:23.039 this mystical, carefully calculated, esoteric 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:25.860 witchcraft. But in reality, it was just a short 00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:27.840 woman wanting to look a little taller next to 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:29.840 her drummer and preferring a slimming color. 00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:33.419 But she owned it. She took these mundane practicalities, 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:35.279 wanting to look taller, wanting a flattering 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:37.759 silhouette, and she elevated them into a lasting 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:40.100 mythology. Absolutely. She controlled her own 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:43.200 narrative and her own image so effectively that 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:45.919 her legacy has influenced everyone from Beyonce 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:48.700 and Florence Welch to Taylor Swift and the Dixie 00:16:48.700 --> 00:16:51.679 Chicks. Oh, the Dixie Chicks cover. Right. In 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:54.340 fact, the Dixie Chicks cover of her song, Landslide, 00:16:55.019 --> 00:16:58.759 won NYX a BMI Songwriters Award. She built an 00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:00.679 armor that not only protected her during her 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:04.000 most vulnerable years, but became a literal blueprint 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:06.980 for generations of female artists. And that ability 00:17:06.980 --> 00:17:09.599 to continually control her narrative and protect 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:12.460 her artistic spirit is exactly why, as we sit 00:17:12.460 --> 00:17:15.599 here looking at the updates from 2026, she isn't 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:17.980 just a legacy act playing the greatest hits on 00:17:17.980 --> 00:17:20.339 a casino circuit. Not at all. No, she is still 00:17:20.339 --> 00:17:22.779 acting. actively writing her story, actively 00:17:22.779 --> 00:17:25.619 influencing the culture, and healing old wounds. 00:17:25.819 --> 00:17:28.220 Her evolution in her later years extends far 00:17:28.220 --> 00:17:31.160 beyond music, too. She has done extensive philanthropy, 00:17:31.619 --> 00:17:33.420 specifically her work with the Band of Soldiers 00:17:33.420 --> 00:17:35.420 Foundation. Yeah, tell us about that. Starting 00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:39.220 around 2004, she began visiting wounded military 00:17:39.220 --> 00:17:41.619 personnel at medical centers in Washington, DC. 00:17:41.930 --> 00:17:45.589 She bought hundreds of iPod Nanos. iPod Nanos? 00:17:45.750 --> 00:17:48.750 Yes. And filled them with her own personal recovery 00:17:48.750 --> 00:17:51.589 playlists, like the specific music she listened 00:17:51.589 --> 00:17:53.930 to when she was sick or deeply depressed. She 00:17:53.930 --> 00:17:56.269 autographed them and hand delivered them to soldiers. 00:17:56.569 --> 00:17:59.029 It's such a specific, deeply personal way to 00:17:59.029 --> 00:18:02.049 give back. She understands that music is a mechanism 00:18:02.049 --> 00:18:04.470 for recovery. She really does. And on a personal 00:18:04.470 --> 00:18:06.690 level, she made the conscious choice not to have 00:18:06.690 --> 00:18:09.799 children, saying her mission was instead... to 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:12.079 write songs to help moms and wives feel better, 00:18:12.259 --> 00:18:14.799 to give them a voice. Right. She embraced being 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:18.180 the crazy auntie to her extended family, her 00:18:18.180 --> 00:18:20.420 godchildren, and even her former stepson from 00:18:20.420 --> 00:18:23.000 that brief marriage to Kim Anderson. And she 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:25.039 haven't shied away from using her platform for 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:27.950 broader causes either. No, not at all. like releasing 00:18:27.950 --> 00:18:31.410 the song The Lighthouse in 2024. The source material 00:18:31.410 --> 00:18:33.250 notes she released this to promote her views 00:18:33.250 --> 00:18:35.750 on women's rights. And regardless of where anyone 00:18:35.750 --> 00:18:38.230 stands on that issue politically, it just shows 00:18:38.230 --> 00:18:41.130 she's still using her platform to speak out on 00:18:41.130 --> 00:18:42.890 what she cares about. Now, here's where it gets 00:18:42.890 --> 00:18:46.250 really interesting, because the breaking 2026 00:18:46.250 --> 00:18:49.269 news we have today is that Stevie Nicks is releasing 00:18:49.269 --> 00:18:52.230 a brand new album called The Ghost Record in 00:18:52.230 --> 00:18:55.890 May 2026. That is so exciting. Right. She is 00:18:55.890 --> 00:18:59.150 in her late 70s. She just had a Barbie doll released 00:18:59.150 --> 00:19:02.190 in her honor that sold out in 24 hours. She could 00:19:02.190 --> 00:19:04.730 easily just rest on her laurels and collect royalties. 00:19:04.789 --> 00:19:07.009 She really good. Instead, she is dropping what 00:19:07.009 --> 00:19:10.289 she calls a dark, suggestive, highly autobiographical 00:19:10.289 --> 00:19:13.220 album. inspired by the Pasadena wildfires. It 00:19:13.220 --> 00:19:15.740 features stories about lovers, a gold chain she 00:19:15.740 --> 00:19:18.480 got from Prince. Wow. Yeah. She has explicitly 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.940 said that she is back and not pulling punches. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:23.440 And perhaps the most astonishing update of all 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:25.339 is her relationship with Lindsay Buckingham. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:28.759 Oh, this blew my mind. After half a century of 00:19:28.759 --> 00:19:32.500 one of rock's most famously toxic feuds, a feud 00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:34.400 that produced some of the greatest music of the 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:37.619 20th century, mind you, The two of them have 00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:39.799 finally truly forgiven each other. They're almost 00:19:39.799 --> 00:19:42.319 hard to believe. They've found closure. They 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:44.460 follow each other on social media. They're communicating 00:19:44.460 --> 00:19:47.759 again. And she has even hinted that a final Fleetwood 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:50.960 Mac reunion could be in the works for 2027 or 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:53.400 2028. That would be historic. It really would. 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:55.920 This raises an important question about the power 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:58.519 of time and the capacity for human forgiveness. 00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:02.079 Her ability to mend a deeply entrenched feud 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:05.519 that defined rock history proves that her personal 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:08.299 evolution is just as impressive as her musical 00:20:08.299 --> 00:20:10.859 one. It really is. Which brings us back to you 00:20:10.859 --> 00:20:13.180 listening right now. When you look at the sheer 00:20:13.180 --> 00:20:16.049 scope of Stevie Nicks' life... How do you apply 00:20:16.049 --> 00:20:18.170 that journey to your own? Yeah, what's the takeaway? 00:20:18.509 --> 00:20:20.690 Maybe it's finding the courage to demand your 00:20:20.690 --> 00:20:23.230 worth and insist on a package deal when no one 00:20:23.230 --> 00:20:25.329 else sees your value, just like Lindsay did for 00:20:25.329 --> 00:20:27.769 her. That's a great point. Or maybe it's having 00:20:27.769 --> 00:20:30.970 the deep self -awareness to know when a situation 00:20:30.970 --> 00:20:34.269 is toxic and walking away, even if it looks incredibly 00:20:34.269 --> 00:20:36.130 glamorous from the outside. Right, like ending 00:20:36.130 --> 00:20:38.849 the affair with Mick to save the band. Exactly. 00:20:39.029 --> 00:20:42.109 Or maybe it's finding the strength to survive 00:20:42.109 --> 00:20:46.349 your own version of a 47 -day detox, whatever 00:20:46.349 --> 00:20:48.970 that looks like for you in your life, and reinventing 00:20:48.970 --> 00:20:51.470 yourself after hitting absolute rock bottom. 00:20:52.210 --> 00:20:54.130 Stevie Nicks proves that you don't have to wait 00:20:54.130 --> 00:20:56.160 around for the fairy tale ending to be handed 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:58.839 to you, you are the author of your own story. 00:20:59.079 --> 00:21:01.140 And she is quite literally the author of her 00:21:01.140 --> 00:21:03.660 own history. We know she had that massive backlog 00:21:03.660 --> 00:21:06.640 of songs early on, but she also built a massive 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:09.579 backlog of memories. Yes, she did. Nix has kept 00:21:09.579 --> 00:21:11.599 a daily journal since she joined Fleetwood Mac 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:14.579 back in 1975. She tells her goddaughters that 00:21:14.579 --> 00:21:16.619 after she's gone, they can sit on the floor. 00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:18.859 read through those journals, walk through her 00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:22.599 entire life and smell the gardenia perfume on 00:21:22.599 --> 00:21:24.759 the pages. Think about that for a second. We've 00:21:24.759 --> 00:21:26.619 talked about the enchanted forest of her life, 00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:29.259 the magic, the razor sharp thorns, the survival 00:21:29.259 --> 00:21:33.299 and the armor. But what untold, unvarnished histories 00:21:33.299 --> 00:21:36.599 of the last 50 years of rock and roll are locked 00:21:36.599 --> 00:21:40.339 inside those daily perfume scented diaries just 00:21:40.339 --> 00:21:42.680 waiting to be discovered. It makes you wonder 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:44.680 what really happened deep inside the woods that 00:21:44.680 --> 00:21:46.819 we haven't even heard yet. Absolutely. Well, 00:21:47.019 --> 00:21:48.640 thank you so much for joining us on this deep 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:51.079 dive into the source material. Keep learning 00:21:51.079 --> 00:21:52.599 and stay insanely curious.