Stevie Nicks Said Fleetwood Mac Reminds Her of the Show ‘Big Brother’
After joining Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks became part of a rock soap opera. The band produced hit albums, but they also endured turbulent affairs, breakups, and screaming matches. Looking back on her time with the group, Nicks said it was a bit like the reality competition show Big Brother. She explained that if her experience in the band was a bit more like the show, she likely would have had a better time.
Stevie Nicks and the other members of Fleetwood Mac went through dramatic breakups
When Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, she was dating her musical partner Lindsey Buckingham. The pair had been living together for several years at that point. They joined married couple John and Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood, who was married with children. By the time they began recording and performing Rumours, Nicks’ second album with the group, every couple had split up.
The fraught situation led to many fights, sometimes even on stage. While it resulted in some of the group’s best music, it made working together difficult.
She once said making a documentary with the band felt like the show ‘Big Brother’
Though many members of Fleetwood Mac, including Nicks, left at some point or another. They reunited in 2007. By 2002, they were working on a new album. Nicks explained that there was still bickering during this period, but they were generally getting along.
“You know, we have a lot of the same problems that we’ve always had, which is our egos,” she told Rolling Stone in 2002. “And we’ve had a lot of fights. But we spend hours talking – we’re like a bunch of girls sometimes. We’ll be putting a guitar part on, and all of a sudden we’ll be talking about something that happened on the Tusk tour, and two hours later we’re still talking about it.”
Still, the fights sometimes reached levels that drove Nicks to leave the room.
“We’re filming a documentary at the studio, so there’s a crew with us at all times,” she explained. “There were a couple of times where I’ve gotten just furious and walked out of the room, yelling, and I’ve nearly run over the sound guy.”
The experience reminded her of the TV series Big Brother, where a group of people lives together in a home outfitted with multiple cameras. She did joke that she would have liked one essential part of Big Brother to be included in her studio sessions.
“It’s like the TV show Big Brother. If we could vote each other out, we’d all be fine!” she said. “My vote would come up ‘Lindsey.’ Lindsey’s would say ‘Stevie.'”
Stevie Nicks said there’s still a lot of love between the Fleetwood Mac bandmates
Despite the endless drama, Nicks is grateful to be a part of the group.
“Sometimes I think that not even the bubbliest, wildest soap opera could compare with being in Fleetwood Mac,” she told Record Mirror in 1989, per The Nicks Fix. “We’ve done a lot of laughing and a lot of bleeding in the band and I don’t think there are another group of people I could work with. There’s such a chemistry and a feeling of love and respect between us.”
