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WHEN STEVIE NICKS ‘COMPLETELY’ RIPPED OFF THE POLICE
Ultimate Classic Rock ^ | March 18, 2023 | Martin Kielty

Posted on 03/18/2023 9:03:53 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Stevie Nicks was very clear on what she wanted to achieve when she turned her attention to recording “Edge of Seventeen.”

She later admitted that she’d never heard a dove’s call, even though the Fleetwood Mac icon represented it in her vocals. There was also a song by the Police that she wanted to imitate: “Bring on the Night,” from 1979’s Regatta de Blanc.

Guitarist Waddy Wachtel was lost. “I had never heard ‘Bring On the Night,’” the Bella Donna sideman told Musician in 1999, “and at that session they told me they were going to do this song based on this feel. I had heard something about the Police, but I didn’t know what they were talking about.”

In fact, he didn't completely appreciate the similarities between “Edge of Seventeen” and “Bring on the Night” for years. “I had the radio on, and on comes what sounds like ‘Edge of Seventeen’ – and all of a sudden, there’s Sting’s voice!” Wachtel said. “I thought, ‘We ripped them off completely!’ I called Stevie that night and said, ‘Listen to me: Don’t ever do that again!’”

She was more careful next time. “Stand Back,” from her very next solo album The Wild Heart, was directly inspired by Prince’s “Little Red Corvette.” This time, she spoke to Prince and actually got him involved in the recording.

Decades later, Wachtel admitted there was an upside to having borrowed the Police riff. “Onstage, the beginning of that song is like a break for Stevie,” he said. “I’d be standing there, playing that riff for around three minutes, before she’d even start singing! By the end of the tour, I was able to break walnuts with my right hand!”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: cocaine; music; plagiarism; stevienicks; thepolice
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Edge of Seventeen

Bring On The Night

If anyone was being ripped of it was probably Andy Summers, who probably came up with the riff. But I don't think either of them consider this a ripoff.


Edge of Seventeen later Sampled by Destiny's Child/Beyonce

1 posted on 03/18/2023 9:03:53 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Per wiki...

“According to Nicks, the title came from a conversation she had with Tom Petty’s first wife, Jane, about the couple’s first meeting. Jane said they met “at the age of seventeen”, but Jane’s strong Southern accent made it sound like “edge of seventeen” to Nicks. She liked the sound of the phrase so much that she told Jane she would write a song for it and give her credit for the inspiration.[3]”


2 posted on 03/18/2023 9:09:42 PM PDT by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: nickcarraway

nick bites the bag.

yoko ono too


3 posted on 03/18/2023 9:11:35 PM PDT by mylife (Big Donald J Trump socks psychology on the jaw...)
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To: moovova

I remember that.


4 posted on 03/18/2023 9:13:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: mylife

HUH?


5 posted on 03/18/2023 9:14:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

I do not like stevie nicks


6 posted on 03/18/2023 9:15:13 PM PDT by mylife (Big Donald J Trump socks psychology on the jaw...)
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To: nickcarraway

She sounds like Jerry Lewis singing to me. Never could stand her.


7 posted on 03/18/2023 9:20:12 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Difference between a cow and the US Capitol 1/6 "riot:" you can only milk a cow 3 times a day)
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To: mylife

Me neither.


8 posted on 03/18/2023 9:20:40 PM PDT by sauropod (“If they don’t believe our lies, well, that’s just conspiracy thmkeorist stuff, there.”)
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To: nickcarraway

Not even the same chord progression. ‘Edge’ is just a VI-VII-i. Don’t hear the rip off.


9 posted on 03/18/2023 9:20:53 PM PDT by Right Brother
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To: mylife

There was a guy in our circle that had a serious fan crush on her. Another guy would always refer to her as a gash in rags whenever he was within earshot.


10 posted on 03/18/2023 9:21:14 PM PDT by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: nickcarraway

Yeah, that was Andy’s work and Sting, the least talented member of the Police, who nailed the vocals on Bring on the Night.

The Police may have inspired her, but it is not ripped off from the Police.


11 posted on 03/18/2023 9:24:32 PM PDT by Round Earther
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To: nickcarraway

Musicians all rip each other off. Music lawsuits are stupid. Beethoven, Bach and several other classical composers if reincarnated could sue everybody.


12 posted on 03/18/2023 9:24:34 PM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: Seruzawa

Yeah, originality is seriously lacking these days.


13 posted on 03/18/2023 9:33:39 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as.)
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To: nickcarraway

I don’t really notice any similarities between the songs and just listened to the police song for the first time and hopefully the last


14 posted on 03/18/2023 10:27:38 PM PDT by NWFree (Somebody has to say it 🤪)
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To: NWFree

They sound like drunk Caribbean lounge singers


15 posted on 03/18/2023 10:37:07 PM PDT by NWFree (Somebody has to say it 🤪)
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To: nickcarraway

The two songs have nothing in common. The hype machine is working overtime.


16 posted on 03/18/2023 10:48:37 PM PDT by BEJ
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To: mylife

I don’t like her either.


17 posted on 03/18/2023 11:12:20 PM PDT by Allegra
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To: nickcarraway
Somebody is cracked. Those two songs are not even similar at all.   I had never heard the song "Bring On The Night" until just now

I am glad I was drawn to art instead of music.

By 1979, I was busy with our new born baby in our apartment overseas and working alternating shifts in the USAF.

18 posted on 03/18/2023 11:13:42 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: nickcarraway
Cool man. Thanks for posting.

I see many of FR's curmudgeons have found this thread to vent their disapproval.

That's OK. When I was a young teen, I had a mad, mad crush on Nicks (who didn't). She was a freakin' smokeshow!

Interesting bit of trivia. During the Bella Donna tour (1981) her father chaperoned her in a herculean effort to keep her away from drugs.

Here he introduces her on stage.

Gold Dust Woman ~ STEVIE NICKS White Wing Dove - 1981

Good job dad!

19 posted on 03/18/2023 11:19:21 PM PDT by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President 2024. The real conservative.)
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To: nickcarraway
So funny.   I've loved the Stevie Nicks song through the years but never knew the title and I think the Police song is a pain on the ears.

Just so you might think I have something against the Police, I like these a whole lot.

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

Roxanne

Every Breath You Take

Don't Stand So Close To Me

20 posted on 03/18/2023 11:34:10 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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