3 Times Stevie Nicks Wrote About the Experience of Addiction Perfectly

Stevie Nicks has always been honest and open about her addiction struggles, both in and out of Fleetwood Mac. And being the vulnerable songwriter she is, she even penned a few songs about the touchy subject. All of them are honestly fantastic pieces of music, too. Let’s look at just three examples, shall we?

“Mabel Normand” by Stevie Nicks from ‘24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault’ (2014)

This lovely song was recorded at some point between 1969 and 1987, as were the rest of the tracks on 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault. “Mabel Normand” touches on its real-life namesake, an actress from the silent film era who was linked to everything from gun violence to c*caine addiction. Outside of the song, Nicks spoke about the movie icon fondly and even related to her addiction struggles.

“Mabel was an amazing actress and comedian from the ‘20s, and she was a terrible c*caine addict,” said Nicks in a Billboard interview. “She eventually died of tuberculosis, but it was really her drug addiction that killed her. She was in love with a famous director, who tried to get her off coke, and he was murdered. Rumor has it, drug dealers killed him. I saw a documentary of her in 1985, when I was at my lowest point with the blow. I was watching TV one night, the movie came on, and I really felt a connection with her. That’s when I wrote the song. Less than a year later, I went to rehab at Betty Ford.”

“Gold Dust Woman” by Fleetwood Mac from ‘Rumours’ (1977)

“Gold Dust Woman” isn’t exclusively about drug addiction, but it does touch on the feeling of being “that girl” who does drugs while dealing with a failing relationship and growing fame as an artist. Nicks herself said that the title was a direct reference to c*caine, and noted that “everybody was doing a little bit” back when Fleetwood Mac started to get big.

“’Gold Dust Woman’ was my kind of symbolic look at somebody going through a bad relationship, doing a lot of drugs, and trying to make it,” said Nicks. “Trying to live. Trying to get through it.”

“Kick It” by Stevie Nicks from ‘Street Angel’ (1994)

How about a full-blown metaphorical ode to sobriety? Stevie Nicks dropped this rock tune about overcoming addiction on her 1994 record Street Angel. The song was a co-written effort with Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell, and the result is a catchy tune that compares addiction to being in love with someone who might not be good news.

Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns