#The edge of seventeen cracked#

Night of 1,000 Stevies, an annual drag event in New York celebrating the singer's impact, has chosen the song for its finale every year since it launched 30 years ago. She's responsible for more running mascara, including my own, than all the bad dates in history combined.'Įdge of Seventeen is also deeply revered within Nicks' devoted fanbase. When he inducted her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, he said appreciatively: 'Her songs made you ache, feel on top of the world, make you want to dance, and usually all three at the same time. Styles, incidentally, is another contemporary artist who hails Nicks as a major influence. Nicks later gave Cyrus another blessing by singing on Edge of Midnight, a mashup of Midnight Sky and Edge of Seventeen that made Cyrus' nod to the Nicks song more obvious.Įdge of Seventeen has also been covered by artists as varied as actress-turned-singer Lindsay Lohan, who recorded it for her 2005 album A Little More Personal (Raw), and cult dark-pop band Muna, who performed it while supporting Harry Styles on tour in 2017. 'I actually had this song blessed by Stevie Nicks, because there is a kind of a nod to Edge of Seventeen in this song,' Cyrus said on the Zach Sang Show shortly after Midnight Sky's release. Nearly two decades later, Miley Cyrus trailed her 2020 album Plastic Hearts with Midnight Sky, a shimmering pop-rock stomper that subtly interpolated Edge of Seventeen. As band members Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams come into view at the start, Nicks can also be seen strumming a guitar. Nicks endorsed the sample by making an elegant appearance in the music video. Is it disco? Is it rock? Does it even matter?' Edge of Seventeen's genre-spanning appeal was underlined in 2001 when R&B girl-group Destiny's Child repurposed its riff for their single Bootylicious, which became a US number one hit. 'It never sounds dated, always fresh and exciting. 'This song is 40 years old and yet generation after generation refer back to it,' says music journalist Leonie Cooper. Its distinctive 16th-note guitar riff – played by Waddy Wachtel, a legendary session musician who also worked with Cher and The Rolling Stones – remains electrifying every time you hear it. It's a song that operates on several levels – at once an instant hit of rock drama and a heady meditation on death – and seems to yield something new every time you play it.

But more than any other Stevie Nicks solo moment, Edge of Seventeen has entranced subsequent generations and helped to define the singer's standing as a rock icon: not just as member of Fleetwood Mac, but as an artist in her own right.

#The edge of seventeen cracked#

It was preceded by Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, a melodramatic collaboration with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Leather and Lace, a more delicate duet with the Eagles' Don Henley, both of which cracked the US top ten. – A dance anthem that defines the 21st CenturyĮdge of Seventeen wasn't the first or highest-charting single from Nicks' debut record Bella Donna. – The world's most misunderstood love song? She didn't just make a chart-topping album, Bella Donna, but came up with a stunning anthem that only seems to grow more popular with age. When she went solo in earnest 40 years ago, the woman who had been integral to Fleetwood Mac's transformation into the world's biggest band carved out an identity as a star in her own right.

But one musical legend who had no trouble asserting her independence is Stevie Nicks. For even the greatest rock and pop stars, striking out from the band that made their name can be a major challenge – just witness Mick Jagger's solo career.