Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
"Landslide" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written and performed by Stevie Nicks. The song was first featured on the band's self-titled album Fleetwood Mac (1975).
Stevie Nicks has said that she wrote "Landslide" while contemplating either going back to school or continuing on professionally with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. At the time, Nicks was financially supporting both herself and Buckingham by taking up jobs as both a waitress and a cleaning lady. Following the release of their debut album Buckingham Nicks, they had been dropped from their recording contract by Polydor Records before they could release a follow-up. Nicks 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."
On the studio recording of "Landslide", Buckingham played a Martin D-18 acoustic guitar using a Travis picking technique with the thumb alternating between bass notes. He described the part as a "three against four pattern that crosses the bar line and gives the chorus another level of lift." In 2007, Buckingham told The Austin Chronicle that the song addressed some of the interpersonal issues between him and Nicks. He thought that the song possessed a "nice" guitar solo and also maintained that "Landslide" was not a "signature guitar piece". In a different interview, Buckingham discussed how he bristled at the notion that "Landslide" was associated with country music.
" 'Landslide' is a great song, but I don't want anyone to get the funny idea about Fleetwood Mac and country. Somebody at our label was talking about how we should broaden our audience, and they started talking about putting us on Country Music Television. I had to say, 'Whoa! Stop right there.' There's a certain kind of profile you want to put out there. And that isn't it. "
— Lindsey Buckingham
"Landslide" is a song by the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, written and performed by Stevie Nicks. The song was first featured on the band's self-titled album Fleetwood Mac (1975).
Stevie Nicks has said that she wrote "Landslide" while contemplating either going back to school or continuing on professionally with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. At the time, Nicks was financially supporting both herself and Buckingham by taking up jobs as both a waitress and a cleaning lady. Following the release of their debut album Buckingham Nicks, they had been dropped from their recording contract by Polydor Records before they could release a follow-up. Nicks 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."
On the studio recording of "Landslide", Buckingham played a Martin D-18 acoustic guitar using a Travis picking technique with the thumb alternating between bass notes. He described the part as a "three against four pattern that crosses the bar line and gives the chorus another level of lift." In 2007, Buckingham told The Austin Chronicle that the song addressed some of the interpersonal issues between him and Nicks. He thought that the song possessed a "nice" guitar solo and also maintained that "Landslide" was not a "signature guitar piece". In a different interview, Buckingham discussed how he bristled at the notion that "Landslide" was associated with country music.
" 'Landslide' is a great song, but I don't want anyone to get the funny idea about Fleetwood Mac and country. Somebody at our label was talking about how we should broaden our audience, and they started talking about putting us on Country Music Television. I had to say, 'Whoa! Stop right there.' There's a certain kind of profile you want to put out there. And that isn't it. "
— Lindsey Buckingham
