“We Had to Adapt”: Nancy Wilson Recalls What It Took to Help Heart Survive the 80s

The 1970s informed the 1980s much in the same way a parent’s style and taste informs their teenage children who wish to avoid the sheer “uncoolness” of their elders. Rock ‘n’ roll needed all the years prior to the 1980s to become what it did, but in that same breath, this particular decade seemed to turn the genre on its hairsprayed head in more ways than one. Digital instruments became more prominent. Cutting-edge recording technology created universal sounds that would forever become associated with the 80s.

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And on a human level, musicians had to adapt to the changing times. Not every band that excelled in the mellow, folk-influenced rock of the 1970s had that same success in the more aggressive, harsher sound of the 80s. These unlucky bands had to make the difficult call between sticking with their original sound or trying something new. Among this group was Heart, a band that had already scored major hits in tracks like “Barracuda” and “Crazy On You”. 

In a 2025 interview with Guitar World, Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson recalled what it was like trying to survive as a band into the 1980s. “We’d reached the end of the average lifespan for most rock bands by that point,” Wilson said. “We decided that if we wanted to survive, we probably needed to find a new manager and a new record company and have some kind of major reset.” 

For Heart, that reset came in the form of signing with Capitol in 1985. From there, the band’s sound changed drastically.

How Heart Made the Move From 1970s Rock to 1980s Glam

The Heart we hear on their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, is a far cry from the power balladeers behind hits like “These Dreams”, “Alone”, and “What About Love”. With snares awash in reverb and wailing guitar solos, these songs fit the sonic landscape of the 1980s, residing somewhere between sentimental pop and heavy rock. This transition saw the deprioritization of acoustic instruments, which guitarist Nancy Wilson admitted felt a bit forced. “My first love was always acoustic guitar,” she told Guitar World. “That was the element that I brought when I joined Ann [Wilson]’s band, the idea of embracing electric and acoustic sounds, much like Led Zeppelin.”

Still, songs like “Alone” and “Never” were enough to soothe Nancy’s concerns. “They were great songs—timeless, really—and, of course, they brought us huge success. ‘Alone’ is a particularly strong song that could have been recorded at any time over the decades. I guess we were a little jealous, though, because we didn’t write them ourselves.”

For as tedious and unfamiliar as the new soundscape of 1980s rock ‘n’ roll could feel at times, Heart managed to find their footing without completely forgoing their previous selves. Ann’s powerhouse vocals and Nancy’s shredding guitar were still front and center, which is what makes Heart so great in the first place. And ultimately, Nancy told Guitar World she has no regrets about the creative direction the band took in the new decade.

“It revitalized the band and gave us a new lease of life,” Nancy said. “It also took us up to a whole other level of global success. So, there’s nothing I regret about what we did or where we compromised.”

(Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)