Song#: 2634
Date: 02/22/1986
Debut: 60
Peak: 16
Weeks: 13
Genre: Pop, Rock
Pop Bits: Nicks' third solo LP, Rock a Little, got off to a great start thanks to her #4 Pop/#1 Rock hit "Talk to Me." It would be the second biggest hit of her solo career. Hoping to break into the Top 10 again, this next single was issued out. The tune would do well at Rock getting to #6, but it fizzled on the Pop chart after getting inside the Top 20. It also made it to #26 at Dance. She needed something a bit stronger performing to boost interest in the album, which had oddly stalled at #12. It would eventually go platinum, but that was half of what her previous LP did and a quarter of what her #1 debut solo album Bella Donna sold.
ReduxReview: This is where Nicks went full-on 80s. The track had massive production and it was just loud. There are crashing guitars and explosive effects along with a bunch of synth riffs, odd spoken word background vocals, and reverb for days. The bonus was Nicks doing her best caterwauling to try and stay above all the noise. It was just bananas. Back in the day I thought it was awesome, especially when I cranked it up to 11. This certainly wasn't the witchy Fleetwood Mac-style Nicks. She was in full-on synth-rock MTV diva mode. Yet even then I knew this tune was way over the top and I figured it might have a little trouble on the chart. It actually did better than what I thought, but I knew it was not a Top 10'er. I also remember David Letterman making fun of the video for the song (see below), which was pretty bad. These days I still like the song and get a kick out of it. It's kind of fun to revel in how big and bonkers it was.
ReduxRating: 7/10
Trivia: When the video for this song came out on MTV, late night talk show host David Letterman took notice and began poking fun at the video, especially a part where Nicks breaks through a styrofoam wall and her dance moves during the song's break section after the guitar solo. For a couple of days he'd have a Stevie Nicks update and show the break part of the video and over the top would put a list fake TV appearance dates like "3/13 Circus of the Stars (spotting for Juice Newton on the rings)" or being a co-host on Sally Jesse Raphael. Nicks' management wasn't thrilled with what Letterman was doing and so Letterman started to make fun of them calling them "weasel management" and other things. It all seemed to stem from Letterman trying to get Nicks on the show to perform the song, which had just been released. Yet even her management was having issues getting Nicks to do promotion as she seemingly "disappeared." Apparently she was off in Australia hanging out with Tom Petty on his tour. For over a week, Letterman did a nightly spot talking about Nicks' management and showing the video clip. At one point, the management company sent over a couple of tour jackets to Letterman. In one of the last Nicks bits, Letterman asks for the video clip to run, but this time instead of Nicks, they had comic Chris Elliott mimicking Nicks and her dance moves. Eventually, Nicks did finally appear on the show.
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