Formed as a British blues band in 1967, Fleetwood Mac gained success by becoming number one in the UK with the song entitled ‘Albatross.’ Following hits were ‘Oh Well’ and ‘Man of the World.’ After Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie joined the band, their self-titled album became number one in the United States. ‘Rumours,’ released in 1977, became a hit and gained the band a Grammy Award for the Album of the Year in 1978.
Besides their international success, the friendship between Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie was impactful even after they weren’t bandmates anymore. Nicks mentioned McVie as her mentor, sister, and best friend, while McVie talked about Nicks’ unbelievable talent on stage. They both had a good effect on the band with their contributions and supporting each other as females in the male-dominated rock music industry.
Stevie Nicks And Christine McVie Are Powerful Female Rockers
Although the rock music scene is considered male-dominated, female rockers have been present for many years. Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s music affected the future of rock and roll as she was recording gospels in the 1930s and 1940s. These gospels were considered the origins of the rock and roll genre with their lyrics and electric guitar. As she influenced early rock stars like Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, she was entitled ‘The Godmother of Rock and Roll.’
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, many new rock variations such as psychedelia, folk, and blues emerged. As a result, many female musicians began to have more place in the rock music scene. They showed their musical talents by writing, playing, and leading.
These singers unified all women in the world by writing about their beliefs, lives, and emotions. Some of the significant rockers in that era were Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Janis Joplin, and Christine McVie. When punk and the new wave started to emerge, names like Debbie Harry and Patti Smith made a point of self-expression and individuality of women in their songs.
Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie showed the strength the women had in the rock music scene in the late 1960s. Besides proving it with their works and supporting each other, they had also mentioned how they made an oath together when they first became Fleetwood Mac members.
What Was The Oath Between Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie?
Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie made an essential impact on to rock music scene. Nicks was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. The first one was in 1998, being a part of Fleetwood Mac, and the second was in 2019 as a solo singer.
Nicks and McVie have always expressed their admiration for each other, even after leaving the band. They mentioned that they were never competing. Instead, they were supporting each other in the face of difficulties. They became important females in the rock music scene by encouraging each other and showing women’s success in rock music. Nicks and McVie promised each other to have always the strength within them to create their work.
During a past interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Stevie Nicks mentioned an oath between Christine McVie and her. As Nicks said, they promised each other that they would never let people treat them as the less important singers because they are females. Nicks stated that they would gain the same respect as men did.
According to what Nicks conveyed, she and McVie said that they have always been aware that they are equal with men in everything. They promised to support all women in the world and later achieved what they wanted. Nicks and McVie created good works equal, if not better, to men around them as they believed in initially, as Nicks mentioned in the interview.
Stevie Nicks said in her words in the interview:
“Christine and I made a pact the day I joined Fleetwood Mac. She and I said, ‘We will never be treated like second-class citizens. We will never be not allowed to hang out in a room full of intelligent, crazy rock and roll stars because we’re just as crazy and just as intelligent as they are.’ We just made that promise to each other that we would do everything we could do for women, that we would fight for everything that we wanted and get it. That our songs and our music would be equally as good as all the men surrounding us. And it was.”
Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks are two women who proved females’ success in rock music. Women have continued their presence with the successful works they have created for years. As these two rockers mentioned in their oath, women can create the music they want and make a massive impact on the history of rock music.
