Stevie Nicks Reveals She Could Only Enjoy Acid While Listening to Joni Mitchell
Stevie Nicks has expressed her admiration for fellow singer Joni Mitchell many times over the years. The Fleetwood Mac star even said she could only enjoy acid while listening to the “Both Sides Now” singer. Here’s what Nicks shared about her past drug use and her love of Mitchell’s music.
Stevie Nicks has been candid about her history of drug abuse
Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks has spoken many times of her past experience with drug abuse. She went to rehab twice: once for an addiction to cocaine and again for the prescription drug Klonopin.
After a plastic surgeon discovered a hole the size of a coin burned through Nicks’ nose from her cocaine use, the singer checked herself into the Betty Ford Center to overcome her addiction.
She was prescribed Klonopin to help her wean off cocaine. Nicks became dependent on the drug that made her skin peel and her hair turn gray. She has also said the medication caused lethargy and irreversible weight gain. “If someone ever says to you, ‘I think you should take some Klonopin,’ you should get a gun and shoot yourself,” she told The Guardian. Nicks checked herself into the Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital to conquer her addiction to the prescription drug.
Since getting sober, the “Rhiannon” singer hasn’t consumed anything stronger than caffeine for decades.
Stevie Nicks said she could only enjoy acid while listening to Joni Mitchell
Although cocaine was Stevie Nicks’ first drug of choice, the Fleetwood Mac star also dabbled in other drugs. She tried acid a few times, but only enjoyed the experience while listening to a Joni Mitchell album.
“One time I did acid when Joni Mitchell’s record Court And Spark came out,” Nicks told Q Magazine. “I was with my producer at his house, with a set of speakers that were taller than the fireplace, and I was in a safe place and I sat there on the floor and listened to that record and that was a pretty dynamic experience but it didn’t erase the fact that the other two times were not. So I never did it again.”
The Fleetwood Mac star said she always listens to this Joni Mitchell song before going on stage
There’s one Joni Mitchell song Stevie Nicks said she listens to before every stage performance: “Blonde in the Bleachers.”
“This is about a girl who ‘tapes her regrets to the microphone stand, she says you can’t hold the hand of a rock ‘n roll man for very long,’” she explained to The Guardian. “I listen to that song to this day. It’s on the playlist I have for when I’m preparing to go on stage.”
But Nicks doesn’t relate to the girl – she sees herself as the rock star. “I was never gonna be the groupie. I was the star, I was sure of that,” she said.
How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
