10 Most Underrated Stevie Nicks Songs

Feature Photo: Ueli Frey, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Our “10 Most Underrated Stevie Nicks Songs” list showcases Stevie Nicks songs that have flown a little bit under the radar over the past few decades. With someone as beloved as Stevie Nicks, it’s not easy to find songs that most people have overlooked or forgotten. Hardcore Stevie Nicks fans devour all of her music, so this list is more meant for the casual fan who has just heard the hits or popular songs that have received a lot of radio airplay or were played on MTV back in the days when that channel played music. This list will purely focus on her solo career, which any Stevie Nicks fan knows is far more abundant with Stevie Nicks songs than her Fleetwood Mac years, in which she was usually only allowed two to three songs on each Fleetwood Mac album.

# 10 – She Still Loves Him – 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault

We open up our “10 Most Underrated Stevie Nicks Songs” list with the heartbreaking song “She Still Loves Him.” It’s a song about undying love, no matter how difficult it can be. The melody and phrasing by Stevie Nicks are so emotional that it is almost too difficult to listen to. The song was composed by Stevie Nicks and Mark Knopfler. It was released on the album 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault in 2014. Supposedly, this song is about her love for Lindsey Buckingham, but no one really knows for sure.

# 9 – Mirror Mirror – B-Side to Blue Denim

This is a pretty rare one that many Stevie Nicks fans have never even heard of. The song was never released on any of her albums; it’s just one of those wonderful B-sides that brings great joy to discover when you’re a fan. It was available as the B-side to the song Blue Denim. The song “Blue Denim” appeared on the album Street Angel. The song sounds a little like “Stand Back.”

# 8 – Candlebright – Trouble in Shangri-La

In the number eight spot on our “10 Most Underrated Stevie Nicks Songs” list, we present the exhilarating song entitled “Candlebright.” The song was released on the album Trouble in Shangri-La. Sheryl Crow was very much involved in the album. She played guitar and bass on this track and also sang backing vocals. This is an old Stevie Nicks song dating way back to the first time she recorded with her partner Lindsey Buckingham on the album called Buckingham Nicks, although it never was released on the album. The song had previously been titled “Nomad.” Sometimes, it just takes a long time before a song finally finds its place.

# 7 – Sister Honey – Rock a Little

This was such a good song released on the Rock a Little album. I never understood why this song was not released as a single. There were four songs released as singles from Rock a Little, including “Talk to Me,” “I Can’t Wait,” “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You,” and “Imperial Hotel.” I think “Sister Honey” was just as good as any of those, except for maybe “Talk to Me” and “I Can’t Wait,” which were standout tracks. “Sister Honey” was the third track on the record. Stevie Nicks and Led Dudek wrote the song. It’s always been one of my favorite Stevie Nicks songs. I always remember enjoying this one right away when I first bought the cassette back in 1985.

# 6 – Blue Lamp – Enchanted Box Set & Heavy Metal Soundtrack

The song “Blue Lamp” was originally released on the Heavy Metal soundtrack. This was a fantastic soundtrack that featured brand new songs by some of rock and roll’s most classic bands. Not all the songs were original and brand new, but there were just so many great ones from bands like Sammy Hagar, Grand Funk Railroad, Donald Fagen, Cheap Trick, Black Sabbath, and more. It was a smoking soundtrack where artists had to make sure they delivered something pretty good to get on it. Well, Stevie Nicks did just that with “Blue Lamp,” a fantastic song that would eventually also find its way to her Enchanted box set. This is a cool mid-tempo rocker that we definitely think has been overlooked, unless you are a big fan of that soundtrack, but that was a long, long time ago.

# 5 – Sometimes It’s A Bitch – Timespace: The Best Of Stevie Nicks

At the halfway point on our “10 Most Underrated Stevie Nicks Songs” list is a song that may sound a little like Bon Jovi to some fans. If you hear that, well, then you’re absolutely right because the song was written by Bon Jovi along with Billy Falcon who we are big fans of here at the site. They wrote the song along with Stevie for her Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks album. You may be surprised to find out that this greatest hits album was released 33 years ago in 1991. That just blew my mind because I remember buying this when it was first released for the new songs, and it just seems like it was a couple of years ago.

How time flies, man. Where did the years go? You know what I mean. For some people, I guess high school and college were a lifetime ago, and in many ways, it was, but when you start thinking about the music, when you start thinking about the albums and records that you bought, it doesn’t seem that far away. It is just the way it is with music, it’s just timeless.

# 4 – Cheaper Than Free – In Your Dreams

At the number four spot on our “10 Most Underrated Stevie Nicks Songs” list is a stunningly beautiful, poetic song that we just had to include. This one is not about the melody, although it’s very heartwarming. It’s not about the arrangement, although that’s brilliant as well. It’s about the words and the meaning behind the song. Everyone should take a break and listen to the words in this wonderful song written by Dave Stewart, a brilliant producer, and of course, Stevie Nicks.

The song was released on her most recent studio album, In Your Dreams, which is already 13 years old. It was the final song on the album, placed perfectly, and as of now, it stands as her last released studio album song. Hopefully, there’s more on the way.

# 3 – Two Kinds Of Love – The Other Side Of The Mirror

Over the years, Stevie Nicks has collaborated with some of the biggest rock artists in history. Of course, it would be safe to say that many of those rock artists were thrilled to collaborate with Stevie Nicks. Her most famous collaboration would always have to be with Tom Petty, as they released a couple of legendary songs together. However, one great artist she collaborated with that kind of flew under the radar is Bruce Hornsby. The two of them collaborated on her third solo album, The Other Side of the Mirror. The song “Two Kinds of Love” was written by Stevie Nicks, Rubert Hine, and Rick Nowels. Stevie and Bruce both shared vocals on this beautiful song.

This may also be Stevie Nicks’ most underrated album. She had a lot to live up to after The Wild Heart, which is hands down her finest work. It’s not easy to follow up an album like that; very few artists can do something in the way of following up their greatest album. However, some do—just think of Springsteen, who followed up Born to Run with Darkness on the Edge of Town, or Pink Floyd, who followed up The Dark Side of the Moon with Wish You Were Here. If you don’t have this album, I highly recommend you pick one up, but of course, if you’re a Stevie Nicks fan, you have everything.

# 2 – Kind Of Woman – Bella Donna

Throughout this “Stevie Nicks Underrated Songs” list, we purposely stayed away from her first two albums. The reason is simple: the albums were just so popular that almost every song on both of her first two records is a well-known track. However, it just didn’t seem right to ignore these first two albums entirely. So, we looked at the songs that weren’t released as singles and picked the best, or at least our favorite, from those.

On Stevie Nicks’ first album, her debut solo record, she released four singles: the first being “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” her phenomenal debut with Tom Petty, another collaboration with Don Henley on “Leather and Lace,” the rocker “Edge of Seventeen,” and the beautiful ballad “After the Glitter Fades.” Disqualifying those four songs for this list because they are not underrated, we had to pick from the rest, and that wasn’t easy either. Ultimately, we went with the song “Kind of Woman,” written by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboard player Benmont Tench.

This is a great one. You know it’s great because the record company placed it as the second song on the album, a spot usually reserved for excellent stuff. It was sandwiched between the title track, “Bella Donna,” and the first single, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” If you are a Stevie Nicks fan, you know this one. If not, you’re in for a treat.

# 1 – Sable On Blond – The Wild Heart

We close out our “10 Most Underrated Stevie Nicks Songs” list with a song from our favorite Stevie Nicks album, The Wild Heart. It’s fitting that we save this album for last. It also was the most difficult album from which to pick an underrated song. It’s definitely her most played album and arguably everyone’s favorite Stevie Nicks solo album. This one was mind-blowing when it was released in 1983. Bella Donna was a wonderful album, but she really took it to the next level with The Wild Heart.

Like Bella Donna, we found that we had to pick a song that was not released as a single. Surprisingly, only three singles were released from The Wild Heart: “Stand Back,” “If Anyone Falls,” which is maybe our favorite song on the album, and “Nightbird.” However, there are a few others on here that are really popular, like the title track “The Wild Heart,” the second duet with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “I Will Run to You,” and “Enchanted.” Just about every song is well-loved. Of course, we couldn’t pick “Beauty and the Beast,” the final song, because that is such a massively popular song among Stevie Nicks fans.

In the end, we went with the one that was kind of buried a little deep on the album as the next-to-last song: “Sable on Blonde.” This has always been one of our favorite songs on the album. It sounds funny saying that because we could pretty much say that about every song on this phenomenal Stevie Nicks record. This was a fun one to write.