Stevie Nicks Recalls Writing Iconic Fleetwood Mac Song

More than 50 years after the release of “Landslide,” Stevie Nicks opens up about writing the iconic Fleetwood Mac track. 

At the City of Hope 2026 Music, Film, and Entertainment (MFEI) Spirit of Life Gala, Nicks discussed the origin of “Landslide,” including the struggles she faced as she tried to figure out her future with her then-partner, Lindsey Buckingham. The couple started dating in 1972 before joining Fleetwood Mac.

“I wrote this song in Aspen, Colorado, when I was deciding whether or not Lindsey [Buckingham] and I should continue,” she explained. “Well, it was a long time ago, and 930,000 years later, we still continued.”

The Fleetwood Mac frontlady also said that the song came together as she was “looking out over the snow-covered hills in this beautiful house” in the mountains. While those who were with her were having dinner, Nicks said she decided to start writing.

“I’m like, okay, because I’m so poor that just sitting in this house when you’re looking out at this view is so fantastic, I’m going to write a fantastic song,” she shared. “I just happened to bring my Goya [guitar], which I could hardly play, but I thought it looked good, so I wrote this song.”

While recording Fleetwood Mac’s 1976 album Rumours, Nicks and Buckingham officially ended their romantic relationship. “Landslide” was one of the songs on the album.

Buckingham spoke about Nicks while attending Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood event in August of this year. Although he and Nicks have had their ups and downs over the years, Buckingham said they are “talking all the time now.”

Nicks also said while appearing on the Songs Exploder podcast with Buckingham in 2025, “Our relationship was up and down and up and down and up and down and difficult, but at the same time, fantastic. And what we were doing was so fantastic, that it was worth putting up with the trials and tribulations of a relationship that’s difficult.”