Stevie Nicks reportedly clashed with Tom Petty after he suggested that Fleetwood Mac were soft rock rather than a genuine rock and roll band. The disagreement mattered because it exposed a rare point of tension in a close creative friendship between two musicians who collaborated extensively and otherwise respected each other’s work.

According to Stephen Davis’s biography Gold Dust Woman, the argument occurred while Nicks was touring Australia with Petty. Petty said he admired Fleetwood Mac and its members, but viewed its musical path differently from that of the Heartbreakers; Nicks responded, “How dare you say that to me?”