Recorded 1975 Length 3:19 | ||
Producer(s) Fleetwood MacKeith Olsen | ||
"Landslide" is a song written by Stevie Nicks and performed by British-American music group Fleetwood Mac. It was first featured on the band's 1975 eponymous album Fleetwood Mac. Along with "Rhiannon", it would be Nicks' first original contribution to the band upon joining. A live version was released as a single 23 years later from the live reunion album The Dance. This version reached number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart. "Landslide" was certified Gold in October 2009 for sales of over 500,000 copies in the US. According to Nielsen Soundscan, "Landslide" has sold 1,315,950 copies in the US as of February 2013.
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Song creation
Nicks has said that she wrote this song while she was contemplating going back to school or continuing on professionally with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. Their album Buckingham Nicks had been dropped by Polydor Records and she and Buckingham were not getting along. She wrote the song while visiting Aspen, Colorado, sitting in someone's living room "looking out at the Rocky Mountains pondering the avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us ... at that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways".
Stevie Nicks versions
There are currently 7 different versions commercially available featuring Nicks on vocals:
The song is one of Fleetwood Mac's most frequently performed songs on tour. Nicks has performed it on every Fleetwood Mac tour since joining the band, with the exception of the Shake the Cage tour, as well as all of her own solo tours from 2005 onwards. Nicks also regularly performs it along with "Stand Back" during television guest appearances.
Personnel
The Smashing Pumpkins
Alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins made an acoustic cover of the song that was featured as the B-side to their 1994 single "Disarm" and later on their B-side collection Pisces Iscariot. The cover went on to be one of the rock band's most-beloved tracks and even had the approval of Nicks herself. As she told fans during a 1998 online chat with SonicNet, "There's nothing more pleasing to a songwriter than [someone else] doing one of their songs. ['Landslide'] also led me to being friends with Billy [Corgan] and the possibility that we'll work together," she said of the Smashing Pumpkins frontman. "Over this song, there's been this incredible connection ... he reached out ... I believe that my poetry is really meant for everyone, no matter what age." The cover was a hit, making it to the top three on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US that year and number 30 on the US Airplay charts. The song was also featured on the US version of their greatest hits album Rotten Apples.
Dixie Chicks
The country group Dixie Chicks then covered "Landslide" on their 2002 album Home. It was released September 2, 2002 as the album's second single. This rendition, featuring the group's trademark two- and three-part harmonies reached the Top 10 of both the Billboard Hot 100 (number 7) and Hot Country Songs charts (number 2) as well as several other charts. It became the Dixie Chicks' only number 1 single (to date) on the adult contemporary chart. Lead singer Natalie Maines said she was attracted, in part, to the song because she was then the same age that Nicks was when she initially performed it. Their rendition has been certified Gold by both the RIAA and ARIA, matching the commercial success of the original.
"Landslide" debuted at number 32 on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for the week of September 7, 2002.
Stacey Kent
Jazz vocalist Stacey Kent made an acoustic cover of the song that was featured on her 2007 album Breakfast on the Morning Tram.
Glee version
The cast of Fox Broadcasting Company's musical television program, Glee, covered the song in Season 2, Episode 15, "Sexy". Gwyneth Paltrow, Naya Rivera, and Heather Morris are featured on vocals for this version. Stevie Nicks attended the filming of the song and stated that it was a "beautiful mix" of the original and Dixie Chicks version. The Glee version reached the top 40 on the singles charts of Australia (No. 38), Canada (No. 35), Ireland (No. 36), and the United States (No. 23). In addition to reaching number 52 on the UK Singles Chart, the cover also prompted renewed interest in the Fleetwood Mac and Dixie Chicks versions, leading to those artists' renditions re-entering the chart at numbers 178 and 196, respectively.