In all art, one of the most common tropes is that of the tortured and tormented artist. It is a trope that applies to both fiction and non-fiction, as the character has been used in both settings. Well, regarding non-fiction, there have been many a man and woman to live this life, and die by this way of life. It is tragic, arguably cliché, and generally over-romanticized to a fault, and one person who followed the bandwagon and lived as a tortured and tormented artist was Stevie Nicks.
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It is not new news that drugs and alcohol almost destroyed Stevie Nicks’ career and life. She has been very open about her past struggles with c— and other pharmaceutical drugs. Though, around 1994, Nicks got sober, but early on in her career, she sought out a way of life and ending that mimicked the famous 27 Club members, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.
Stevie Nicks Wanted “To Go Down” With Joplin and Hendrix
Joplin and Hendrix died at 27 due to drugs and left behind a tragically romantic legacy. Stevie Nicks seemingly found a lot of relatability and mystique in their death, and as a result, a side of her wanted to die like the legends. Specifically, she stated in the interview for her album, Other Side Of The Mirror, “Through the looking glass I saw them and how they went down. And so there was a part of me that said, ‘I want to go down with them also.’”
An awfully morbid wish, though, seemingly one that many artists have had, as death, at times, bolsters one’s legacy by buying into the myth. Contrary to this notion, Nicks also thought the opposite, as she added, “Another part of me that said, ‘Isn’t it too bad that Jimi Hendrix isn’t still here? What would he be doing now? Isn’t it really very sad that Janis Joplin is not still here?’”
Per these comments, Stevie Nicks seemingly had two roads to go down when she was in the grips of her addiction. Luckily, she chose the latter of the two, and she herself couldn’t be more grateful for that decision. “That’s what really turned me around to say, well, maybe we’d better be in a little more control here. Because I would be very sad if some 25-year-old lady rock ‘n’ roll singer in 10 years said, ‘I wish Stevie Nicks had just thought about it a little more carefully and been around to maybe do another Complete Works of Stevie Nicks so that I would have it,’” said Stevie Nicks.
Photo by Ian Dickson/Shutterstock
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