Quit defending the Eagles! They’re simply terrible

Zip it, Chuck Klosterman! Rock critics want you to reexamine the much-hated band. Don't -- they're still loathsome

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/08/quit_defending_the_eagles_theyre_simply_terrible/

simply

from the same writer:

http://www.salon.com/2012/02/24/meet_the_greatest_working_american_songwriter/

in that last one i learned that Lambchop have 11 near-perfect albums. who knew?

"Are you with me so far?" The Hotel California Poll

near the end of this thread people share their experiences growing up being fascinated with the song hotel california. moving stuff. klosterman otm at least in regard to this one song, which is a total classic.

this is why i hide polls on ilx. wait, no, sorry, i'm sure it was moving. i like that song.

some of ILM's best threads are in its polls. take off the filter and be surprised.

you can't make me.

all the threads i have created so far have been polls.

true, but you are missing half of what ILM does...

xpost

half of ilm is polls??? that can't be true. i probably only really need to know about half of what ilm does anyway.

it bugs me for some reason that salon doesn't put a period after the word terrible.

you are missing out but whatever and yes Treeship has had some amazing threads!

:)

Geezus, this shit...

they chose instead to let “Take It Easy” guide their career. It’s the first song on the album, but it’s also the most generic, with none of the country-rock or pop-bluegrass flourishes that animate much of the album.

Yeah, that song with the good ol' boy lyrics and rather prominent banjo part. THE SAME.

And the AV Club piece they link to as part of the Eagles revisionism is pretty lame, basically the writer finding 14 deep cuts and finding similarities with BANDS YOU HAVE TO LIKE (Big Star, Black Sabbath, Neil Young etc.) in each.

i like how that guy barely acknowledges that in the real world the eagles are one of the biggest-selling bands ever and that for like 99.9999 percent of ppl who have ever heard an eagles song their legacy is not defined by a throwaway line in 'the big lebowski' and "a stinging dismissal" by robert christgau.

i mean, i'm pretty indifferent to the eagles most of the time, but for chrissake it's not 'knee-jerk contrariness' or 'revisionism' to say you like one of the most popular bands of all time!

Yeah, between this and that Sheffield piece about Rush, wtf @ pop music journalist insularity.

And, yeah, I always think of "Take It Easy" as a prototype for later country radio. (It actually became a new country hit in Travis Tritt's faithful cover.)

BBC In Concert film of them was on again last night, Frey/Leadon/Meisner/Henley line-up, opens with them doing a Gene Clark song, so that's fine! Bernie Leadon seemed to be having a few problems with his guitar (tuning possibly or maybe just fingers) but, what can I say, it's entertaining stuff.

This reminds me of when cult acts Hall & Oates and Fleetwood Mac suddenly became "cool" again.

it tends to be indie-rock dudes who slam the eagles. and this guy slammed journey in another article. lambchop fans, what are you gonna do? lambchop ever write a song as good as "take it to the limit" on one of their 11 near-perfect albums?

i'm sure 2001-era ilm doesn't have much good to say about eagles.

it tends to be indie-rock dudes who slam the eagles.

All boohooing because it's Glenn Frey up there making all that moolah and not Gram Parsons

http://glennfreyonline.com/images/GFreySSShirtless.jpg

One of the sliest and funniest jokes in the Coen brothers film “The Big Lebowski” is the constant conflict between Creedence Clearwater Revival fans and Eagles fans. The film is set in a Los Angeles whose population is clearly delineated by its rock ‘n’ roll allegiances.

Is that what was going on? As I remember it, Eagles and Creedence were both only mentioned once.

out of fairness i just tried to listen to lambchop on youtube and i immediately remembered that voice from countless nu-americana uncut magazine compilations that i would try and listen to and that were filled with old 97s and calexico and all that other fauxspectable dreariness. i can't take that voice for more than a minute.

lol

i can't take that voice for more than a minute.

You and me both

calling them lowest common denominator is so dumb too. you can call them lots of thing. horrible people. satanically catchy. even capitalist tools. but one of the things i've always loved is the sound of those records. they are REALLY well-made. like, anally so. and the songs are so well-crafted. i get the faceless perfectionism thing that people hate about them, and yes they were cynical douchebags, but they worked on that sound to no end. if you listen to the shiloh and longbranch pennywhistle albums - henley and frey pre-eagles - they ARE the eagles pretty much. just a little more byrds-y cuz its the late 60's. but they knew exactly how they wanted to sound that early on. which is kind of a long way to go if you are just a cynical cashgrabber. let's just say they worked for their cash. and even they could have no idea how huge their thing would get. how could anyone know that?

i also get people hating them just cuz they have been on the radio every minute of every day for the last 35 years or whatever. kinda hard for people to even hear the songs when they've heard them that many times.

I hate the Eagles with a passion but this writer still sounds douchey

It is really that many different songs though? It tends to be same few ones over and over. No worse than the Dan in that respect. I can deal with that.

The Eagles are better than every Uncut-sponsored Americana act put together

every track on their greatest hits album gets played on american fm radio somewhere every day. i'm guessing.

and hotel california stuff isn't even on their greatest hits album.

well, not on the first greatest hits album.

first greatest hits album here is just wow:

Australia (ARIA)[18] 8× Platinum 560,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[19] 2× Diamond 2,000,000^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[20] Platinum 15,000*[21]
United Kingdom (BPI)[22] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[23] 29× Platinum 29,000,000^

Elaine on Seinfeld singing "Witchy Woman" was a slyer takedown than Lebowski

The overexposure still keeps me from hearing them objectively. Those triads on the Hotel California solo feel like a worm actually burrowing into my ear. But even before I was overexposed, I couldn't get into my cousins Eagles 8-track the way I could Billy Squire or Styx or Triumph.

and after checking, 6 out of 10 songs on the 2nd greatest hits album are standard FM fare. so, that's 16 songs that are still in pretty heavy rotation at least here in the states.

dunno much about the eagles but don henley's solo stuff is music to my ears. currently spinning sunset grill on the reg!

What is "Desperado" doing on the Greatest Hits LP? It was never a hit and never released as a single. Its presence on the hits album made it a 70s-pop radio standard though.

out of fairness i just tried to listen to lambchop on youtube and i immediately remembered that voice from countless nu-americana uncut magazine compilations that i would try and listen to and that were filled with old 97s and calexico and all that other fauxspectable dreariness. i can't take that voice for more than a minute.

qft

I don't really know the eagles but I like boys of summer

that's bc it is one of the best songs of all time

ya and also because it was the name of an album which had gotta be worth points

also first song they wrote together iirc

Boys Of Summer is one of the greatest singles of all time

i honestly kind of can't listen to it around ppl

fun fact: Friedrich Engels' motto was "take it easy".

Bashing Calexico and Lambchop in a an Eagles thread? What is this dark place?

I have a troubled relationship with fretless bass, but it sounds SO GOOD in "Sunset Grill".

wow this article sucks. 50000 words of "i still hate my parents." and christgaus responsible for more artistic crimes than any eagle.

yeah i really don't have anything against any of those boring americana bands. they are so totally easy to ignore. just the fact that lambchop have 11 albums!! unreal to me. but it just seems really typical that someone who hates the eagles would be number one lambchop superfan. indie rockers are taught at birth to hate stuff like the eagles apparently. they are the enemy of dreary "honest" music. in a perfect world built to spill would be all over the airwaves, man. etc. etc. or something like that. its an old thing. going back to power poppers who thought big star were robbed even though the raspberries and badfinger made very good money doing the same thing just as well. even though abba made a billion dollars making the most awesome power pop known to man. they just like to be cranky. the clash changed their lives. its cool. but i did want to point out some of the obvious wrongness of the salon thing. its one thing to hate but back that shit up, homey.

Lighten up while you still can, don't even try to understand...that must have really endeared them to Christgau et al!

I hate the Eagles with a passion but this writer still sounds douchey

^^^

I resent the implication that I was taught to hate the Eagles, though. I also find Lambchop and Built to Spill incredibly tedious, and nobody taught me that.

same vibe i get when xgau defenders defend his pointless obtuseness

but one of the things i've always loved is the sound of those records. they are REALLY well-made. like, anally so. and the songs are so well-crafted. i get the faceless perfectionism thing that people hate about them, and yes they were cynical douchebags, but they worked on that sound to no end.

Cut, paste into every Steely Dan thread.

xp

Johnny Fever you're a unique snowflake

I guess this thread just pisses me off.

So much bullshit being slung around in here trying to figure out why someone might hate the Eagles, when someone might just hate them because they're terrible and not need to or want to defend the position.

two days ago I picked up Lambchop's latest album. I think it is great. I am however a Calexico superfan. I don't find them dreary at all. I never sat down and really listened to the Eagles myself. I always assumed they were one of the cheesiest of the era, but I wouldn't go and write an article because I know I don't have enough information to take any sides.

people should never be asked to interrogate their hatreds.

I didn't say that either.

At this current time, as a version of an "indie-rock" guy, I like the Eagles better than the latest Vampire Weekend. I don't know what that means, but I'm not expecting my anecdote to throw off any compiled data about indie-rock guyz you can cite.

I bought last year's Lambchop album based on reviews; couldn't get passed the guy's sensitive croak.

Basically, this. Waste your time listening to Eagles if you want to. There are about a zillion other things I can listen to that would make me happier. However, if the opportunity comes along to make a mention of how lame Eagles are, I'm not above taking it. I imagine that's probably the way most people who don't like them get along day to day.

I applaud Deusner's idea for the piece. I think he fell on his face trying to finish it, which is unfortunate.

i'm not asking anyone here to justify their eagles hate. i understand hate. i was just pointing out that the most vocal hate i hear from people usually comes from indie rock loving people. and in the 80's i heard it most from punk people. its a deny thy father kinda thing maybe. or it could very well be that people think they are terrible because they are so very terrible to people. i get that too.

i think for most vocal h8ers out there it's simpler than that. people assume they should share the opinions of "the dude" from the big lebowski.

going back to power poppers who thought big star were robbed even though the raspberries and badfinger made very good money doing the same thing just as well.

This this this x1000. I prefer Big Star to those bands -- love 'em, in fact -- but I never thought their lack of chart success/visibility in the 70s was down to anything beyond the logistics of shitty (or nonexistent) record distribution.

any band with joe walsh in it can't be terrible

He was in Drew Carey's tv show band.

i could listen to this song on repeat for three hours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of2ZVUW0DDU

all the same, I feel sorry for the 16-25 y/olds growing up without having Don Henley to hate. Whom have they replaced him with?

Dave Matthews?

pete wentz?

i'm trying to think of a 70's group i hate because i think they're terrible...

closest i can get to is Kiss. but i don't really HATE Kiss. the extra-musical smarm/cynicism/low com denom qualities of Kiss added to the bad songs/playing/sound make me think of them in relation to the eagles.

or in relation to how some people feel about the eagles. i should say.

Also, I just realized, with some horror, that for 18-25 yr olds, Dave Matthews might be anachronistic. Lucky them, I guess.

http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/300/555/300555665_640.jpg

Dave Matthews is still big among east coast college bros

man i really loved "heartache tonight" when that came out. i played that 45 a lot. i loved that beat so much.

If Christgau doesn't like the Eagles, then that should be the final word. In fact one should always quote Christgau when writing about an artist. Seriously, it's funny that people are still taking shots at them after all these years. When you run out of ideas for a column, always go with an Eagles tirade. No wonder I love 'em. Is Henley hated by more rock critics today than anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm-o7_VVAoU

Sometime between their formation in ’71 and their breakup in ’80, the Eagles became standard-bearers for rock excess; even as they launched solo careers and continued selling catalog titles, they represented everything that many people feel is wrong in rock music: egos as bloated as studio budgets, music influenced by drug intake more than emotional output, grown men playing cowboys.

this is some of the worst shit I have ever read

It's not the worst shit ever if you read in the voice of Rick Santorum.

seriously articles like these. I got asked to write a "song you hate" thing, seriously why the fuck, unless I was in high school. I'm not. Who gives a fucking shit why some fuckin dude someplace doesn't like the fucking Eagles

I always thought of the eagles as depressing energyless stuff that my parents would listen to on soft rock radio in the early '80s, but the idea that they were cynical, coked-to-the-gills fake hollywood cowboys is pretty appealing. I like that stuff.

there are def people who wear their hatred of the Eagles as a badge of honor, but I hate that trait in general. my hate of the Eagles isn't tattooed all over my body and bumper stickered all over my car tho.

seriously articles like these.

DeRogatis edited a whole book of this shitbaggery: http://jimdero.com/idols.htm

The Skynyrd essay is wrong on every level.

taking sides: hating the eagles vs. hating people who hate the eagles.

i don't hate the eagles so much as I hate don henley and his beady little eyes

god, that derogatis book looks like the worst fucking thing ever.

He genuinely thinks he's performing a public service, no doubt, using his punk ethos to tear the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored.

y'all woulda hated Guitar Magazine then

Similarly, it's hard to imagine a less cool topic for a rock song in the '60s or at any other time than professing your love for a cop. McCartney was no Ice-T or N.W.A, though, and he does exactly that in "Lovely Rita."

someone confiscate this man's keyboard, please

I became a moderate Eagles fan this year. Didn't think that'd ever happen but there it is. One of these Nights LP is fucking great. Read and really enjoyed don Felder's memoir of being skull fucked by Frey and Henley. 3/4 of The Long Run is amazing.

xxpost Mr. 6-4-7 on a mothafuckin' cop

Being in my forties is bringing abt all manner of surprises...

i was never a big country rock fan AT ALL and now i just kinda keep buying album after album by marginal country rock bands. can't stop won't stop. i don't think i ever actually owned an eagles album. i had that one 45.

I dunno, I don't hate the Eagles--grew up with the one Greatest Hits disc, but I certainly wouldn't be upset if I never heard one of their songs again. A condition of growing up after the fact, I guess: name the worst 70s shit you can think of, and I guarantee that I don't hate it nearly as much as I hate Dave Matthews or will.i.am. Bad stuff from before I was around just cannot help but feel a lot more benign to me.

Tellingly, perhaps, the one Eagles song that I think is truly loathsome is "Get Over It," their '94 "comeback" single. Doesn't it routinely chart on one of those stupid lists that Maxim or whoever routinely do on the worst songs ever? It should.

a fav Eagles story:

On July 31, 1980, in Long Beach, California, tempers boiled over into what has been described as "Long Night at Wrong Beach."[29] Frey and Felder spent the entire show telling each other about the beating each planned to administer backstage. "Only three more songs until I kick your ass, pal," Frey recalls Felder telling him near the end of the band's set.[30] Felder recalls Frey making a similar threat to him during "Best of My Love."[29] "We're out there singing ‘Best of My Love,’ but inside both of us are thinking, 'As soon as this is over, I'm gonna kill him'", recalled Frey.[31] The animosity purportedly developed as a result of Felder's response of "You're welcome – I guess" to California Senator Alan Cranston as the senator was thanking the band for doing a benefit for his reelection.

reading that hotel california book by barney hoskyns was such a depressing experience. everyone was so miserable. the unholy trinity of horrible people in that book definitely stills, frey, henley. just no competition. they seemed scarily mean and miserable. the only real angels in that book were linda ronstadt and jackson browne. or at least barney couldn't find anyone who would say anything mean about them.

frey and henley standing outside a club in hollywood sneering at the glam rockers. that's the image i'll always remember.

bob seger wrote the chorus to heartache tonight. huh, i did not know that. and he sang backup on it.

that long beach story, which gets its due in the "history of the eagles" doc, reminds me of dinosaur jr.'s onstage UFC moment in naugatuck, conn., in 1988, as recounted in "our band could be your life":

"Lou is sitting on the drum riser, just making noise through every song -- this one note -- and just trying to goad us, taunting us, basically," says Mascis. "And I'm playing and I'm like, 'I think Murph's going to beat up Lou.' And it goes on a little bit more and I'm thinking, 'Yup, this is going to be bad, Murph's going to be beat up Lou.' And I keep playing and I keep thinking that, and finally, I think, 'Huh, I guess Murph's not going to beat up Lou. I guess I'll have to do it.'"

Mascis rushed across the stage and tried to hit Barlow with his guitar. Barlow raised his bass like a shield while Mascis bashed away at him repeatedly. ("It made a pretty good sound," Mascis recalls somewhat fondly.)

lmao

idk but when i'm driving and it's sunny and "the long run" starts playing on my ipod, i can't help but think life is nice

I became a moderate Eagles fan this year. Didn't think that'd ever happen but there it is. One of these Nights LP is fucking great. Read and really enjoyed don Felder's memoir of being skull fucked by Frey and Henley. 3/4 of The Long Run is amazing.

the thing is, once people stop thinking about whether they like the people who made the music or not, and whether they made uncool videos or suck as people or whatever, Eagles records are sort of classic California records: immaculately played, cannily written, songs that sound like they must have just existed already. JD Souther is really the only one who's reputed to be a decent dude but the Eagles are sort of...when people are hating on the Eagles, they're hating on "The Eagles." Feel like they're generally not listening to the records.

HENLEY: And me too! Don't get me wrong, I'm real proud of a lot of the stuff we did in the Eagles, and the way we did it was appropriate for the time. But times have changed now.

We were always accused of being very mellow, but we were a bunch of maniacs. It was simply the style of engineering and miking and stuff that our producer employed and he was excellent. He's a very talented man, Bill, and he's a wonderful guy. He's like sort of a father to all of us-he was a mediator, a psychiatrist, a counselor. And there's a careful quality about him. But then that's why we hired him in the first place, because we went from Glyn Johns to him. Johns' approach was the total opposite-two mikes on the drums and a lot of echo. But it wasn't powerful. Glyn had an image of us as a ballad group; he didn't want us to be rock'n' roll and he didn't think we could play rock 'n' roll, and he'd engineered the Stones on LPs like Exile On Main Street, so who the hell were we to be wanting to play rock 'n' roll? I mean he told us we couldn't play rock 'n' roll and to forget it. He was a complete tyrant. I'm still friends with him, but we were really young and green, and he just lorded over us, man. I mean he would give us three chances to do a track or a vocal and if that was the best we could do then that was it. The albums, Eagles and Desperado, were cheap but good. And he worked with all the heavies so we couldn't argue.

I remember Johns didn't like dope, so we'd have to sneak off to the bathroom to do dope. And in 1973 during one track (on the first, unreleased version of On The Border), I said, Glyn can't you make me sound like John Bonham? And he sorta looked down his nose at me and said, "You don't play like John Bonham." I said, "Aw, I know, but turn it up, you know." We'd record and do everything just like he wanted it. Glenn was always the first guy'to rebel, and so he'd been checking out American producers. He listened to some of Bill Szymczyk's stuff with J. Geils and "Frankenstein" by Edgar Winter and liked the way that stuff sounded. So he said, "I think we should go with this guy Szymczyk." So we hired him and he was like a soul mate. We got along really well; he'd get just as high and crazy as we were.

This thread made me dig out "Hotel California" again, and I don't know - I hear a pretty good album (still on side A, though and haven't listened in a long time). The guitar sound is relly great.

People generally otm re the production of these albums. They sound very nice.

MUSICIAN: Kootch, what was your feeling hearing Don and the Eagles' early stuff?

KORTCHMAR: I'll tell you exactly what my feeling was. When the Eagles first came out, I thought they were absolutely appalling. I couldn't stand them. Absolutely terrible. Especially things like "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and "Take It Easy."'Cause what they were saying was exactly the opposite of what I wanted to hear, what was going on in my life. Take Jackson's "Peaceful Easy Feeling": here's this song that says "walking down the road in Tucson, Arizona, seven women on my mind." (sic) And here I am trying to keep my marriage together, and this guy's got seven women on his mind! God, it sounded like they were having fun, but I sure wasn't (laughter).

The first time I really realized how great Don was was after "One Of These Nights." On that particular tune, it came out. Don is the kind of singer that has intense soul without using any soul licks. He doesn't go "yeah yeah". He doesn't use any of those licks and it still has bite and atmosphere; it sounds like it's coming from the bayou. If I could sing, I would want to sing exactly like him.

Mentioned this on another thread, but Joe Walsh told a story about how he and Felder were in the studio listening to the playback of the solos they'd just recorded on "Hotel California." Henley comes in, listens for a minute and says, "What is this? This sounds like shit! Do the solos over!" and leaves. Walsh and Felder smirk at each other. Henley comes back an hour later, high off his ass, listens again and says, "See, now that's much better! Thanks for doing it over, guys!" Walsh and Felder didn't re-record a note; Henley was hearing the same thing he'd heard earlier.

HAHA!

love that

i think The Doors may be even harder for people to actually hear. people have some sort of industrial strength Doors-guard that doesn't allow for any new thinking about the group. again, just staggering production and varied material and lots of interesting touches but it is like kryptonite for Doors-haters. or maybe they are the same level of UGH for people as The Eagles are.

Jim Morrison is a huge roadblock.

yeah, The Doors poll this year was kinda cathartic for letting go of a lot of that. maybe when one of the Eagles dies we can shake off some baggage and have a good poll for them. xp

the Doors I fuckin love tho

In scott's world, poll threads don't exist.

I've learned to let go of my Eagles hate because I like a few of Henley's solo singles and because as aero mentioned the immaculate craftsmanship of those Eagles records impresses me. They're even on Spotify now -- at last.

But fuck the Doors.

Totally hearing a Doors cover of "Hotel California" in my head right now:

"You can check-out any time you like,
BUT!
YOU!
CAN!
NEV-
AR!
LLLLEEEEAAAVVVVEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

<WILD ORGAN SOLO>

I'd go see that band.

I'd pay for VIP tickets, Stones style.

This thread is seriously making me want to buy the Eagles Studio Albums 1972-79 box. $29.99 at Amazon!

I just reserved that Hoskyns book at the library. Thanks, thread!

I never knew until about 4 months ago that the fucking theme to the BBC hitchhiker's guide series was a fucking eagles deep cut. In a weird way that started me thinking about the eagles and warming to them finally.

"Well, I'm running down the road
tryin' to loosen my load
I've got seven women on my mind
One of them's my mom
And pops I wanna kill ya
And mother I'd looooooooooove to aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh"

I got that box. Not much for packaging, but it's still a good deal. At least 3 albums worth of good to great songs there.

xp

"journey of the sorcerer" is so awesome

cant stand the eagles but dont know anything about the band members.
The Doors have a couple of good albums I really like.

Neanderthal irl lol.

Really dumb article, and I hate pretty much 70% of Eagles music I've heard. (Desperado's pretty good, two Joe Walsh albums are OK, most of the rest does nothing for me.) And so what if Don Henley's a huge asshole? I was still happy to pay a buck for a garage-sale purchase of Building The Perfect Beat last month.

i can't feel my lips or gums and can report that boys of summer is still amazing

still have zero opinion on the eagles

i bring up the jerkiness of frey and henley cuz its a RENOWNED jerkiness. like, all-time hall of fame unpleasant. you know, up there with lou reed and paul simon and billy joel. i don't care if they're jerks.

in that interview i quoted from above henley kinda apologizes sorta for early behavior and earlier mean songs by saying they were young and dumb and angry. and fucked up on drugs. like the sex pistols.

so "End of the Innocence" was his request for a hug then I s'pose

the songs stand on their own. i think that's the biggest thing in their favor. those songs can be done by folk people, country people, bluegrass people, pop people, rock people. they are infinitely learnable and playable and singable and they probably always will be. kinda like a lot of grateful dead songs! another band hated for what are often extra-musical reasons.

never forget...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9hf92iOhqk

Is it wrong to hate a band for extra-musical reasons, though? I don't reactively vomit when I'm unfortunate enough to hear Desperado in passing, but I ENJOY HATING THEM.

no, you can hate for any reason. hate is like that.

hate will keep us alive

take it easy, take it easy, don't let the sound of etc.

Hated the Eagles before I knew I was supposed to, wrote a review in 1975 or 1976 comparing them unfavorably with the Amazing Rhythm Aces, eventually made my peace with them. But...have they made their peace with me?

i wanna see that review now.

finally let go of my doors hate a few years back when i realized i actually enjoy almost all of their songs and that morrison is actually most entertaining when he's being most embarrassing. the recent greil marcus book -- which is almost all about their music, and mostly their live performances -- is a great palate-cleanser for starting to enjoy them once you get past the 'lizard king' shit.

about to listen to some eagles to see whether a similar revelation is on the horizon.

rolling stone always a big friend to eagles. the rs site just has album guide reviews. was hoping i could find some actual contemporary reviews on there.

the thing is, once people stop thinking about whether they like the people who made the music or not, and whether they made uncool videos or suck as people or whatever, Eagles records are sort of classic California records: immaculately played, cannily written, songs that sound like they must have just existed already. JD Souther is really the only one who's reputed to be a decent dude but the Eagles are sort of...when people are hating on the Eagles, they're hating on "The Eagles." Feel like they're generally not listening to the records.

QFT. aero is so OTM in this thread he's achieved some kind of nabisco satori. So is scott.

what a lot of people might not know about Doors because they hate them so much they can't listen to them is that the majority of their catalog is made up of these cool little nuggets that are often less than 3 minutes long and RARELY make it to 4 minutes. mostly in the 2 1/2 to 3 minute range. i feel like people have this idea of some horribly bloated rock opera/prog/poetry thing with them and its really not true at all. just a really good garage rock band with amazing people in the studio making their stuff sound incredible.

i probably shouldn't have brought up doors. sorry.

just confusing things.

rolling stone always a big friend to eagles. the rs site just has album guide reviews. was hoping i could find some actual contemporary reviews on there.

― scott seward, Saturday, August 10, 2013 5:48 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I just did a cursory search on the RS DVD, and most of the reviews are lukewarm. They only made the cover twice, once in 1975, and again in 1979.

rolling stone always a big friend to eagles. the rs site just has album guide reviews. was hoping i could find some actual contemporary reviews on there.

― scott seward, Saturday, August 10, 2013 5:48 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But they had some kind of feud running there for awhile, which was settled with a softball game (Eagles wearing actual CLEATS to show they mean business, and they wound up winning by a big margin)

E! A! G! L! E! S! IGGLES!!!!

the town that andy reid broke...

i have a nice 45 by a band called the eagles from the 60's. on warner brothers, i think. white label promo. i should put it on youtube.

i bring up the jerkiness of frey and henley cuz its a RENOWNED jerkiness. like, all-time hall of fame unpleasant.

i've dealt with henley personally once in my life, in a small way, but in just enough of a way that i can report he is just as much of a dick as advertised. just a completely unpleasant human being. if frey is even half as much of an asshole, that would be an accomplishment. this does not affect my appreciation for their music, which sometimes bores me from years of oversaturation but which is often great in exactly the way aero describes above. it's at least a little bit possible they couldn't have pulled any of it off if they weren't dicks.

just listened to a bunch of eagles songs in a row, and i can definitely hear the qualities aero is talking about -- they're beautifully produced, well-crafted pop songs. 'one of these nights' is especially nice. all the same, there's this kind of unctuous feeling to them that keeps me from loving them. maybe i'll keep trying, though.

a family friend once waited on the eagles in the 70s. for a tip they left fake money with their faces on the bills.

they are just that classy.

and on top of the bills was a handwritten note that said "sry, that's just life in the fast lane - Love, the Eags"

life's been goood to me so faaaaaaar

I just finished (voluntarily!) watching the Showtime documentary and the only part that disgusted me was when Glenn and Don were talking about how they'd only go through with the 94-present reunion if they got paid more than everyone else. I can understand saying "pay me this amount or else I won't do it", but saying "pay THEM that amount or else I won't do it" is some ALL TIME ASSHOLE shit.

morrissey 40% marr 40% rourke 10% joyce 10%

i've honestly never understood what might be so distinctly loathesome about the eagles, why they're so frequently held up as pop's ultimate "WE ALL HATE THIS, RIGHT?!?" nadir. they wrote catchy tunes, played well and polished everything to a million dollar 70s shine. i've never heard an eagles album, but i like several of their radio hits. "hotel california" the obvious standout, but i'm okay with "take it easy", "victim of love", "already gone", hell even "desperado". langley schools version, anyway. they're often kind of vapid, sometimes simpering, but it's not like i flee screaming from the sound. shmaltzy pop, big deal.

the thing I hate is the Big Chill-level whining WAAAAAAH WE DID TOOOO MUCH COOOOOOKE IT'S SO HAAARD I HAVE SO MAAANY ISSUES *snooooooorrrt*

i think The Doors may be even harder for people to actually hear. people have some sort of industrial strength Doors-guard that doesn't allow for any new thinking about the group. again, just staggering production and varied material and lots of interesting touches but it is like kryptonite for Doors-haters. or maybe they are the same level of UGH for people as The Eagles are.

― scott seward, Saturday, August 10, 2013 1:13 PM (6 hours ago)

another band i know only by their hits. i've never hated the doors, either, but i don't really get them. i mean i ought to love the goth garage vibe, but they've never piqued my interest, and i have no idea why. they wrote a bunch of brilliant songs, were equally good with tough little rockers ("love me two times", "hello i love you") and the lowdown creepy crawl ("riders on the storm", "people are strange"). lots of variety, colorful frontman, but no. they've got a teflon skin. my brain just can't grab hold.

Regarding that Eagles Doc- the first half is really good. Last hour falls apart when it gets caught up in all the reunion business.

Yeah, they've been "reunited" for nearly 20 years at this point and they have one album and a few other songs to show for it and basically nothing else except the occasional tour. It's like making a doc on the post-Kokomo Beach Boys.

I just did a cursory search on the RS DVD, and most of the reviews are lukewarm. They only made the cover twice, once in 1975, and again in 1979.

On one of those, Don Felder has no legs.

New York Minute is my jam, my bro played that Don Henley record to death.

Thanks to watching that doc, I've got "Life in the Fast Lane" inescapably stuck in my head because they played clips of it about 15 different times.

A bit off-topic, but I've been totally enjoying the new Klosterman book (the Eagles section is kind of a highlight).

Lost your mind, surely

xpost

They are good on the first Warren Zevon LP.

a) I love Lambchop, sorry some of their defenders are idiots

b) yay the Eagles

c) Quit defending the Beatles! They're simply terrible

any band with joe walsh in it can't be terrible

Or Bernie Leadon

tbf Joe Wash wasn't in the band for the majority of the music people know by them

any band with joe walsh in it can't be terrible

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oldwave.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/87/Oldwave.jpg/220px-Oldwave.jpg

They are good on the first Warren Zevon LP.

they were also good on bad luck streak in dancing school.

Man I can't put Hoskyns' book down. The depiction of Laurel and Topanga Canyons is excellent. Unfortunately, every time I say, "Man, that Brown record sounds terrific!" I remember I heard it years ago and forgot it.

small comfort (and perhaps an example of retrospective geniality) but I thought it cool that the macho blowhard JD Souther and Neil Doheny got off on thinking they were hot boys for Geffen.

(just learned Doheny cowrote Chaka Khan's great "What Cha Gonna Do For Me," so he gets a pass that the other jockstraps don't).

that book is a page-turner but man it really ended up bumming me out psychically. i can only imagine what being involved with those people was like. being a family member or spouse or whatever. such a weird life.

you have to tell me when you get to the part where he describes hoyt axton as the devil. was he really the devil? or maybe he quotes someone who says hoyt was evil. its a weird throwaway thing.

I had no idea Ringo was an asshole!

Fogerty never stood for anything as exciting as yachts, cocaine and underage prostitutes even if his deep south chic does have a magic of it's own. different strokes. Parsons dug the cocaine part and got some cryptic songs out of it. answers? more like dull hippie questions. cosmic american music? thanks for Wilco, asshole!

not fun? well yeah, they are about PAIN. pain only yachts, cocaine and underage prostitutes can bring. Bolan is about ponies, acid and fairies. choose for yourself

code of honor? Pancho and Lefty? for real? can anyone figure out anything that's going on in that song? Van Zandt can't!

I am supposed to love Sabbath, Big Star and Neil Young? what is that? 1995?

fuck it, New Kid In Town is brilliant and One Of These Nights moves like a motherfucker. bring on the revisionism!

I finished it an hour ago. Hoskyns floats the suspicion -- which I've read elsewhere but not confirmed -- that Henley forced Stevie Nicks to abort their child, but it's a culminating moment, after the "punk sucks" dismissals, the Bowie/Dolls fag bashing, the sixteen-year-old girl found dead in Henley's house.

what sucks most about the book is reminding me that for all the talk about free love and liberal causes these guys still called their girlfriends "old ladies."

I don't know anything about Eagles gossip or even that they were jerks, but I love their records and the Laurel and Topanga Canyon scenes. I've even started liking Jimmy Buffet. What's this book you guys are talking about?

http://www.amazon.com/Hotel-California-True-Life-Adventures-Mitchell/dp/0470127775

Thanks! I haven't read a good music book in awhile.

In the other laurel canyon book which I finished recently (I don't have the hoskyns) ray manzarek came off particularly poorly in the sexist hippie sweepstakes.

sixteen-year-old girl found dead in Henley's house

waaaat

Paramedics were called to Henley's home on November 21, 1980, where a 16-year-old girl was found naked and claiming she had overdosed on quaaludes and cocaine. She was arrested for prostitution, whilst a 15-year-old girl found in the house was arrested for being under the influence of drugs.[16][17][18] After pleading no contest, he was fined $2,500 and put on two years' probation.[19]

16 year old girl died of an overdose, and a 15 year old was way fucked up. Henley paid a fine or something. Which is completely o_O to me.

Oh, I guess there wasn't a death after all.

one of those nights

He's a very famous white rock star! You think they'd stick'em in jail? Of course not!

yeah i figured i would have remembered something like that

blechh regardless

haha @Alfred

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WczItlE0kLg

a 16-year-old girl was found naked and claiming she had overdosed on quaaludes and cocaine. She was arrested for prostitution, whilst a 15-year-old girl found in the house was arrested for being under the influence of drugs.

way more fucking infuriating than whatever did or didn't happen to some dipshit popstar

He's a very famous white rock star! You think they'd stick'em in jail? Of course not!

Some they did! John Phillips got busted (and later convicted) in the same sweep, a brief period when the county declared war on celebrity users. Robert Evans was busted but did no time. Henley got probation and paid a fine he could easily afford.

Huh, I didn't know any of this. I actually didn't know anything about them as people; I'm not sure that's what people who hate them hate about them.

otm

(Contenderizer also v OTM.)

According to the Marc Eliot Eagles bio (which Henley famously waged a quiet press campaign against, despite being interviewed at length for it), Henley also survived a plane crash that year. 1980 really wanted him (already) gone.

lawd how many books about the eagles are there?

Surprisingly not many for a group of their fame. Only Felder has written a memoir. For an "Unauthorized" tome, the Eliot (Take It To The Limit) is pretty authoritative, with extensive input from Henley, Randy Meisner, Irving Azoff, and David Geffen. OTOH, perhaps due to the access he was given, punches are pulled (no discussion of the Henley/underage girls od thing, some of the wackier drug tales go untold).

I've avoided that Hoskyns books up to now (partially, uh, cos I hate the Eagles and co) but definitely gonna pick it up now. Loved his earlier overview of the LA scene

http://images.angusrobertson.com.au/images/ar/97807475/9780747561804/0/0/plain/waiting-for-the-sun-strange-days-weird-scenes-and-the-sound-of-los-angeles.jpg

He's a very famous white rock star! You think they'd stick'em in jail? Of course not!

http://www.amoeba.com/dynamic-images/blog/Sarah/crosbyslammer.jpg

Admittedly Arthur Lee got 12 years, and though I'm not exactly sure what nefarious activities Arthur had been up to before the incident that led to that sentence, I'm fairly sure that, for example, Paul Kantner wouldn't have got 12 years.

in the hotel california book there is a not so subtle shift early on from man, we love the byrds we wanna go back to the roots...holy shit james taylor sold HOW many records i gotta get me some of that...!

kinda funny.

they were also good on bad luck streak in dancing school.

True dat.

in the hotel california book there is a not so subtle shift early on from man, we love the byrds we wanna go back to the roots...holy shit james taylor sold HOW many records i gotta get me some of that...!

kinda funny.

Just read that and loved it. All the subtle negative vibes about Neil somehow dissolved when I saw him live the other day though.

Getting dressed this morning and picking out those shoes, started wondering about something and can't come up with an answer.

Would Don Henley have been MORE of an asshole had he been one of the three guitarists or LESS?

Drummers outside of Buddy Rich are known typically for their happy-go-lucky attitudes toward playing music, just happy to be here. Even a drummer like Neil Peart who's encased in the band's hierarchy a bit more than say, Steve Brookins, can be quite the goofball.

But Henley has never come off this way. Instead, he's known as one of the biggest assholes in rock. So did he possess any of that lighthearted drummer soul inside him, which would have evaporated had he been a guitarist? Or would he have chilled out more, not having to look at Randy Meisner's ass for three hours every night.

heard a story last week from a man who used to work at a bank in Beverley Hills in the 70s. One afternoon the Eagles showed up together and said "We want to take out $100,000 in cash. No questions." When this clerk told them they didn't actually have the money in the bank -- that they never have that much on hand -- the Eagles repeated that they had money in this bank and they were entitled to it. Other banks were called and the money was eventually pulled together so they could leave with the money.

― Cunga, Friday, May 17, 2013 2:33 AM (

He plays guitar/keyboards too iirc...maybe he became drummer by default? And was forever resentful? xpost

I like to imagine if he HAD played guitar/bass, that he'd be stalking Glenn and Don onstage in that 1980 concert, all three of 'em threatening the other two with asskickings

When I saw them in '03, Henley played electric rhythm for a few songs. Frey is the utility guy: he'll often play the keyboards/synths.

Drummers outside of Buddy Rich are known typically for their happy-go-lucky attitudes toward playing music, just happy to be here.

HI DERE

http://50.97.158.82/reviewpics/lars_photo.jpg

Still no way Lars would've stood there and told Jamez and Kirk to do their solos over again.

He may have wanted to....

Henley co-writing most of the songs though.

Drummers outside of Buddy Rich are known typically for their happy-go-lucky attitudes toward playing music, just happy to be here.

HAÏ DËRË

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqpqurR4iD1qgu29yo1_500.jpg

Haha was gonna say "David Johansen was a drummer?"

Did you just post the guy from Magma in an Eagles thread?

Just what this thread needed imo

Eagles were zeuhl as fuck imo

hai mom!

http://www.drummerworld.com/pics/drum2/Jim_Gordon_Rolling_Stone.jpg

oof

Moon/Bonham were pretty dark mofos

and buddy rich was hardly the only moody jazz drummer. but all in all i get along good with drummers. mostly nice people who really really like to drum on things.

buddy rich was even nice to me once!

Must've been before you had a beard, then.

i am embarrassed to admit that I didn't even know henley was a drummer :/

neither did Henley.

I would like to report that I have woken up with the opening guitar riff to 'Long Run' playing on a loop in my head for two days running. By lunchtime it morphs into FAFAFA FIND OUT FAFAFA FIND OUT over and over again

and I blame all of you

because now I have to listen to it to get it out of my head

When I was watching the Showtime doc, it occurred to me that Henley has a pretty distinctive style on the drums. Like, when they showed footage of them as Ronstadt's backing band, it sounded like him drumming. Of course, my perception was probably colored by the fact I knew it was him playing, but maybe not.

He's a good servant to the songs.

I would like to report that I have woken up with the opening guitar riff to 'Long Run' playing on a loop in my head for two days running. By lunchtime it morphs into FAFAFA FIND OUT FAFAFA FIND OUT over and over again

IT'S A STRONG ONE

;_;

okay

Eagles greatest hits is happening now. I can't say I hate it because I could sing along to this shit in my sleep...but I still feel like I should be sitting in a motel bathtub with a sixpack.

in a motel bathtub with a sixpack

If ever there was a band which deserved that kind of setting for proper appreciation, it's the Eagles.

a motel with a six-pack, underage boy, or dead girl.

and a middle-aged hooker nodding off on the twin bed.

omg you guys

WITCH AY WOMAN

peaceful easy feeling is such a fucking dirge, it makes me want to shoot myself *skip*

Just fast forward to the guitar solo, it's beautiful.

nope I went straight to Desperado

I dig Desperado a lot. Actually, with the exception of Peaceful Easy Feeling I do like a lot of the slow slick countryfied ones, like Lyin Eyes and Tequila Sunrise, etc

If I had to pick one I never had to hear again, it would be Desperado.

tbh I'd probably miss Take It to the Limit and Hotel California if they weren't around.

When I lived in San Diego, about every two months or so one or the other of the local papers would casually drop the fact that Peaceful Easy Feeling was written at the Wienerschnitzel on Washington Street. This is like, the Most Important Local Music Fact.

Is a "sixpack" some type of electric toaster I've never heard of? Because that'd be the only other thing I'd want in the tub with me and my Eagles.

you have to tell me when you get to the part where he describes hoyt axton as the devil. was he really the devil? or maybe he quotes someone who says hoyt was evil. its a weird throwaway thing.

haha that bit threw me for a bit of a loop when i read it. kinda been puzzling over it ever since, as he doesn't really elaborate on it

Rock stars in general were misbehaving in the Los Angeles of 1974. The city was teeming with drunks and cokeheads. The really sordid people-- the ghouls and vampires-- were the likes of Hoyt Axton," says Nick Kent. "Ringo Starr was always there being unpleasant-- 'I'm a Beatle and you're not.' They'd stand around bars and just be insulting to everybody else. 'We're the kings of this territory and if we wanna grab your girlfriend's breast then we're gonna do it.'"

I have a weird love of Desperado because one of my friends used to sing it 'sotto-voce' whenever she saw some desperate pickup action at a bar, like a drunk girl mooning over a guy who didn't care or vice versa

it made that song so much funnier to me

also I love the Linda Ronstadt version

pplains that's exactly what I was talking about

http://img.archiexpo.com/images_ae/photo-g/commercial-combi-toaster-9827-2218633.jpg

I assumed you meant a DVD of

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/cajunradio.com/files/2011/12/Six-Pack.jpg

http://books.littleoak.com.au/scouts_annuals/sixer/sixer_1979.jpg

okay wtf is this James Dean shit

uggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhh this song is horrible

rly don't like the eagles but they fall into my 'disco caveat' category where i hate everything except their one 4/4 jam ("one of these nights")

other ex: steve miller, "abracadabra"

otm re abracadabra -- pretty much everything else of Miller's can diaf

what are you talking about, this was the get lucky of 1976

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkrLmeeCrhY

http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/1321804155522.gif

*throws toaster into thread*

Don't get me started on Steve Miller, that non-playing motherfucker with only two sorry-ass albums out.

i love steve miller to death.

i love his voice and at least 5 or 6 albums of his. the hippie albums are my faves but i never get tired of hearing the hits.

i don't think of bathtubs when i think of the eagles. i think of being in the car or outside in the summer. so many people working on houses in the summer blasting stuff like eagles.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Letyourhairdown.jpg

i don't think of bathtubs when i think of the eagles.

Yeah, the Doors make me think of bathtubs - but for all the wrong reasons

'James dean' may well be the worst song they recorded. It doesn't help thinking abt little asshole Frey focusing totemically on jd on his way up the LAdder.

About henleys drumming, felder says its his way of dragging slightly behind the beat that makes it so distinctive.

Wish I could've been there when the art guy abruptly stopped writing in his notebook and slowly looked back up at Steve Miller, pivoting atop a swivel barstool in his workshop.

bet you wanted bill simmons' take

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9562051/the-eagles-greatest-hit

great fun to read...until:

(Don't sleep on Frey interrupting Henley there, then Henley getting pissed for about 0.273 seconds before remembering cameras were rolling. But here's another reason I retroactively enjoy these guys: Even in the moment, the Eagles were painfully aware of their own creative mortality,12 that their success brought with it an accompanying shelf life of sorts. Like so many other writers, I worry about my own mortality all the time. What happens when I'm staring at an empty Microsoft Word doc someday and nothing comes out of my fingers, and that's it? Tony Kornheiser told me once that, when he turned 43, suddenly he couldn't write the same way anymore. He went to the well and nothing came up. From that point on, he never wanted to write anything. "It's going to happen to you, too, Simmons — someday," he told me. I hate that he told me this. Anyway, I identified with this part.)

I mostly love this, except for ^^ what alfred posted there, and normal Simmons aspie shit like the footnote about Stevie Nicks being better than Linda Ronstadt because she's 'the Jenny Gump of the 70's' argggghghghghgh stop it

but i always get kinda sucked in by his enthusiasm even if he has an innate knack for ruining so many things that I dig by taking his metaphors and bracketology way too far

"If you weren't there, you don't get it. I cannot emphasize enough how much Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s was like the cast of Cheers at max strength, except if Shelley Long stuck around long enough to compete for attention with Kirstie Alley. Lindsey = Sam, Fleetwood and McVie as Cliff and Norm. Bob Welch = Woody. Peter Green as Coach. I am not wrong on this."

*loads shotgun*

What's the over/under on how many lines Frey did just prior to this picture?

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2013/0812/eagles_facial_b_g_mp_576.jpg

fyi the Ari Emanuel/Azoff email exchange linked in that Simmons piece is a bizarre little treat

The Greatest hits interview Crowe did with Henley/Frey that Simmons linked is kinda interesting too

re: Hotel California this struck me as kinda O_o

“They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the beast” was a little Post-It back to Steely Dan. Apparently, Walter Becker’s girlfriend loved the Eagles, and she played them all the time. I think it drove him nuts. So, the story goes that they were having a fight one day, and that was the genesis of the line, “turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening” in “Everything You Did,” from Steely Dan’sThe Royal Scam album. During the writing of “Hotel California,” we decided to volley. We just wanted to allude to Steely Dan rather than mentioning them outright, so “Dan” got changed to “knives,” which is still, you know, a penile metaphor. Stabbing, thrusting, etc.

there's actually documentary footage of both songs being recorded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOrLP-TBXgI

oh shit I just re-discovered that I kind of like Heartache Tonight :(

Its an endearingly clunky thing, yes.

Yeah I had that moment a few weeks ago myself. The song rules, what are ya gonna do.

I think when we polled the second Greatest Hits volume not long ago, it was not only the track I voted for, but it was also the only thing on that record that I actually still liked.

I didn't get much time to spend in the Dazed & Confused era, but I do remember going to Pizza Towne where the jukebox played the hits like "Heartache Tonight" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love".

One night, my mom's boyfriend had to shoo all the teenagers away who were leaning up against our Toyota station wagon.

"Heartache Tonight" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"

I checked Dave Zimmer's CSN book out of the library today. Hoo boy. Check out what boomer anxiety looked like in 1982, at the height of the Daylight Again tour:

"I got a letter from a nineteen-year-old girl on the East Coast and she said something to the effect of, 'Oh damn it, you know, I missed all the good music. There's no good music for me now. The only good thing I've seen is Crosby, Sills & Nash.' Then she said, 'I hear you're goign out on the road. Way to go. Way to go.' So I think there are a lot of kids out there who are not ready to dye their hair orange or mutilate their bodies. There are a lot of kids who don't want to identify with the more radical cultural breakouts of the new wave. So there still seems to be a strong place for the music of CSN and me."

I bow before David Crosby's talent for not mutilating his body.

"I got a letter from a nineteen-year-old girl on the East Coast and she said something to the effect of, 'Oh damn it, you know, I missed all the good music. There's no good music for me now. The only good thing I've seen is Crosby, Sills & Nash.'

kind of wonder whether this girl actually existed but if so: damn, that poor girl.

There needs to be a book compilation of quotes from Boomers (and older gens) on (then-) emerging genres. File this one alongside Gregg(?) Allman's "Rap, short for crap."

1982 was such a music-starved year. Nothing going on on either side of the pond.

that quote is by Joni Mitchell btw

The rap one?!

a) Wow.
b) I did hear Allman say it on one of the History of Rock N Roll docs that aired in the mid 90s.

Scorching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_ozbTZYDgc

the thing I have realized going back and willfully listening to the eagles greatest hits today is that I want to hate them but i kind of like a lot of this stuff. like, I could happily never hear Hotel California again but the irony is OKAY FINE THE HOTEL CALIFORNIA GUITAR SOLOS ARE KIND OF AWESOME

maybe it's them being played on every radio and garage and diner everywhere for 30 years that they've somehow achieved some kind of subconscious guerilla terrorism over my brain without my knowing it where I know and enjoy these songs despite my best inclinations to hate them.

wtf.

this is going to be a difficult time for me, I'd appreciate your support

"Its an endearingly clunky thing, yes."

that beat isn't clunky at all! it's super dope. wish there was an instrumental version.

re:the beat on "Heartache Tonight"--Henley has said that a key component of the rhythm track is him hitting this huge bass drum with a mallet as he laid on his back.

hit this underage girl with a mallet as he lay her on her back.

In 1982, Don Henley found a way to go "New Wave" without dyeing his hair orange OR mutilating his body (on the outside anyway, cause ya know...Cocaine):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYEm76840Yo

the worst part: I can see Henley being the smug asshole teacher he plays in that video.

am I the only person who hears the Victim of Love chorus as sung by Eddie Murphy's buckwheat?

"Bictim pa nuuuub"

"Johnny Can't Read" part II (with some Go-Go's in tow?):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VOJDr-WiZs

^^^^ now see I LOVE this song

1982 was such a music-starved year. Nothing going on on either side of the pond.

― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, August 13, 2013

wow this is so amazingly wrong, but hey us post-punk fans will just keep enjoying all those great albums

oh, I forgot, only things that charted seem to count in Alfred's world. If you look at 1982 through that sad, sad filter, I guess you could delude yourself into thinking that.

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1982 , 14 of those top 20 are all-time

you should read his follow up post

haha OK, I take it all back

why u braek heart Joni

I just got home from a rough day at work, sorry Al!

OKAY FINE THE HOTEL CALIFORNIA GUITAR SOLOS ARE KIND OF AWESOME

Hearing those first four notes soar into the beginning of the solos is like one of the top ten greatest moments in rock and roll history tbrr.

When I was in 8th grade, my friends and I would play the "Heartache Tonight" 45 over and over and over and over.

Been lurking this thread. Longtime kneejerk Eagles hater. Spent the last few days inspired by the goings on here absorbing the entire catalog and coming to love most of it. Fuck.

BANDS

ok i generally scoff when someone posts a rateyrmusic link cuz seriously what a poll of losers but now i'm gonna listen to that conan the barbarian ost as soon as i'm done listening to this awesome joe walsh album so this one time i can't complain. i enjoy bill simmons a great deal but can't fathom remotely why someone not into sports would ever read him and can't fathom why anyone (including myself) would read him on pop culture when it's not just some tortured idea for a column. am curious to see that eagles doc (i'll eventually watch that bbc doc and maybe even read hotel california which a ton of ppl have told me i should read) and when he went on about 30 for 30 i got why he was so bowled over by this doc (he's been going on about it a few different times on the podcast). i think weirdly the only time i enjoy him really offering his thoughts or opinions on pop culture are when he has klosterman on and will say something that just reveals how hilariously out of his depth he is and klosterman will have to awkwardly humour it (it's by far the most i ever enjoy klosterman, cuz he has to get out of his populist contrarian pose and actually explain and defend some critical cw which can lead to actual thinking and occasionally insight)(there was one podcast where simmons sincerely asked if there were any good books about rock bands, if klosterman could name like four, and the pause and then the tone in klosterman's voice when he responds 'um, yeah, there's like alot of books about rock bands' was fantastic).

veg if it helps w/ 'heartache tonight' (which i heard the other day and kinda liked and remembered was my favorite song when i was five or six or whenever it was a contemporary hit which means it was possibly my first favorite song not sung by julie andrews or dick van dyke, depending on when juice newton's 'queen of hearts' came out) just tell yrself it's really a bob seger song.

I checked Dave Zimmer's CSN book out of the library today. Hoo boy. Check out what boomer anxiety looked like in 1982, at the height of the Daylight Again tour:

"I got a letter from a nineteen-year-old girl on the East Coast and she said something to the effect of, 'Oh damn it, you know, I missed all the good music. There's no good music for me now. The only good thing I've seen is Crosby, Sills & Nash.' Then she said, 'I hear you're goign out on the road. Way to go. Way to go.' So I think there are a lot of kids out there who are not ready to dye their hair orange or mutilate their bodies. There are a lot of kids who don't want to identify with the more radical cultural breakouts of the new wave. So there still seems to be a strong place for the music of CSN and me."

I bow before David Crosby's talent for not mutilating his body.

― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 7:26 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"I got a letter from a nineteen-year-old girl on the East Coast and she said something to the effect of, 'Oh damn it, you know, I missed all the good music. There's no good music for me now. The only good thing I've seen is Crosby, Sills & Nash.'

kind of wonder whether this girl actually existed but if so: damn, that poor girl.

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 7:29 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There needs to be a book compilation of quotes from Boomers (and older gens) on (then-) emerging genres. File this one alongside Gregg(?) Allman's "Rap, short for crap."

― the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 7:29 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

1982 was such a music-starved year. Nothing going on on either side of the pond.

― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 7:30 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that quote is by Joni Mitchell btw

― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 7:30 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The rap one?!

a) Wow.
b) I did hear Allman say it on one of the History of Rock N Roll docs that aired in the mid 90s.

― the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 7:32 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just in case anyone else is thick enough to misread this sequence as I did, Alfred was referring to the CSN quote as being Joni's, not the rap one (something I only figured out after reading his review of the CSN book just now). My apologies. I was just having an insane little convo with myself right there.

http://31.media.tumblr.com/7385ecd99ee21f44d4084aa2513569c6/tumblr_mi2q4w05HK1rdnvweo1_500.gif

"Been lurking this thread. Longtime kneejerk Eagles hater. Spent the last few days inspired by the goings on here absorbing the entire catalog and coming to love most of it. Fuck."

happy to help ruin yet another life. don "satan" henley actually compelled me to start this thread.

Everything written about them, good or bad, just makes them more intriguing. I can't wait to watch that doc tbh. Someone please kill me.

oh haha i assumed that quote was from david crosby! i love joni but she does talk some crazy shit now and then.

joni is kinda demented about a lot of things. no offense to joni lovers.

veg if it helps w/ 'heartache tonight' (which i heard the other day and kinda liked and remembered was my favorite song when i was five or six or whenever it was a contemporary hit which means it was possibly my first favorite song not sung by julie andrews or dick van dyke, depending on when juice newton's 'queen of hearts' came out) just tell yrself it's really a bob seger song.

omg balls <3

I laughed out loud at this!! A+

As her albums worsened, the tirades got more fascinating.

"When I was in 8th grade, my friends and I would play the "Heartache Tonight" 45 over and over and over and over."

this was me. as i mentioned upthread. my fave chart hits around this time were "heartache tonight", "its still rock and roll to me", "any way you want it", and "you shook me all night long". played all those 45s a ton. then on october 1, 1980 i bought Kings of the Wild Frontier and it was all over for me.

i listened to three eagles records today and got the hoskyns book from the lib thanks to this thread.

i discovered that i really dig "try and love again" but was unmoved by everything else.

i envy u

I tried to explain my predicament to Mr Veg and I was about to launch into the story of how Frey came up with 'Life in the Fast Lane' he stood up, patted me on the shoulder and said quietly, 'I'm sorry you've been infected'

;_;

In The Book of Rock Lists, the last chapter lists the best singles of each year from 1955-1980 (presumably ranked by editors Dave Marsh and Kevin Stein). "Fast Lane" comes in at the mid-30s for 1977, but with an asterisk:

"*docked ten spots for rancid ideology."

lol

I'm a connoisseur of the rock doc but I can't recall one as deathly dull as 'The History Of The Eagles'...oh shit sorry the Tom Petty one

this was me. as i mentioned upthread. my fave chart hits around this time were "heartache tonight", "its still rock and roll to me", "any way you want it", and "you shook me all night long". played all those 45s a ton. then on october 1, 1980 i bought Kings of the Wild Frontier and it was all over for me.

My first-ever self-purchased 45 was Journey's "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin" so there we are.

xpost

Seen Scorsese's Harrison doc?

I'll see your Harrison and raise it with........a three hour borefest on......'The Moody Blues'........I don't think they even made it till the end.....no sex..no drugs and come to think of it......no rock and roll

someone just bought the eagles greatest hits as a revenge gift. he had given his friends an aaron copland record and they didn't appreciate it, so he was buying this because he thought it was what his friends deserved.

why does no one ever want to talk about my favorite Eagles track THE DISCO STRANGLER

That track is actually pretty funky and I like 'I Can't Tell You Why'...

What I realized recently is that I really like Glenn Frey's voice. I never noticed it before because there's a little boy-next-door quality to the way he sounds in general and I think you just don't notice how good he was. But then he just nails certain notes kind of effortlessly - LIGHTEN UUUUP while you still ca-an (with that nice little country melisma on "can").

someone just bought the eagles greatest hits as a revenge gift. he had given his friends an aaron copland record and they didn't appreciate it, so he was buying this because he thought it was what his friends deserved.

― scott seward, Wednesday, August 14, 2013 11:01 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeeaaahh, that's what I'd probably tell the record store guy too.

hahaha! you think? he actually said: oh maybe i shouldn't say that because you might be a fan. i said that i like them okay.

but i guess it could be like buying porn or a bong. its for a friend.

man none of my friends ever buy me porn :(

Here, have some Eagles instead.

"Haha, Derek's bachelor party is this weekend and we've all chipped in to get him a copy of EAGLES GREATEST HITS 2! He's gonna be all like 'What is this????'"

according to simon frith lyin eyes is "the most perfect pop single ever made." i think i agree sometimes.

― artdamages, Friday, May 11, 2007 11:14 AM (6 years ago)

From this thread: TS: the Eagles reconsidered VS the death of rock criticism

Well, it seems the "rockist haters" on ILM aren't ready to quite rehabilitate The Eagles yet. I guess, mainly because they hate anything that appeals mostly to grownups.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, May 11, 2007 12:02 PM (6 years ago)

i've always loved the eagles. i've never understood the hate.

― scott seward, Friday, May 11, 2007 12:30 PM (6 years ago)

troo kult eagleskot

like fleetwood mac, they have always had a pretty even male/female audience too.

― scott seward, Friday, May 11, 2007 3:01 PM (6 years ago)

that last bit kinda key. if you wanna sell a gazillion records in the u.s.

Anyone read the story on Watchtel, Kortchmar and the other members of the EL Lay mafia?

Before too long, everyone was struggling to adjust to the altered musical landscape. Kortchmar and Ronstadt chopped off their long locks in favor of shorter, semipunky hairdos. After cutting one Costello song in 1978, Ronstadt decided to make an entire New Wave-influenced album, 1980's Mad Love. Wachtel was the first to quit. "At that point, I decided, 'I'm not into this music,'" he says, still frowning. "I didn't dig it. And for Linda to do this stuff seemed weird to me."

Kortchmar, who'd been chafing at playing restrained guitar parts for years, couldn't have been happier at the arrival of punk. He was feeling increasingly estranged from Taylor, thanks to his boss's deepening drug use. After one last tour with Taylor, he quit Taylor's band, joined up with Ronstadt's group for her Mad Love tour, and even cut a pogo-beat solo album, Innuendo. "People said, 'What are you trying to do, jump on the bandwagon?'" Kortchmar says. "And I said, 'You're fucking right I am!' I was tired of wearing bell-bottoms. I liked skinny ties and hipster jackets. I didn't want to be a stodgy shithead. Fuck the Seventies."

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haha amazing kortchmar quote

I'm always interested in hearing about Wachtel, dude seems like he's been around forever

probably because he has, haha

<3 watchel!

xpensive winos 4 lyfe

http://barrysdiscs.com/Images/Rock%20Female/6058.jpg

waddy gets lots of play in the keith richards autobio.

<3 watchel!

i got that living in the usa linda ronstadt album on october 1, 1978. sadly, not the picture disc. i spent a lot of time looking at her picture on the cover. and on the inner sleeve. and the gatefold. probably the only album i ever owned with elvis costello and warren zevon songs on it. never having owned an elvis costello or warren zevon album. always loved that there was an elvis costello AND elvis presley song on it.

i don't think i ever owned mad love though. simple dreams is still my fave. and its the most Eagles-y. the songs you would hear over and over. i would play those songs on the jukebox every time we went to the pizza parlor. how amurrican can you get?

It's true: "How Do I Make You" is a New Wave bid. Dunno if the album is any good. You're otm about Simple Dreams: the band has that clenched rhythm it would put to great effect on Bryan Ferry's The Bride Stripped Bare (a forgotten coke-rock wonder)

also: her "Tumbling Dice" and "Old Paint" rule.

i opened up a sealed copy of simple dreams a while back and that shit is tight. made for maximum fm radio ears but in a good way. the drums are amazing. the whole thing sounds great actually.

That Ronstadt roller skates photo was my desktop image for a long long time, until I got a new monitor with different dimensions. ;_;

yeah I think my wachtel interest goes pretty much hand in hand with my Keef love, kinda hard to separate those 2

"People said, 'What are you trying to do, jump on the bandwagon?'" Kortchmar says. "And I said, 'You're fucking right I am!' I was tired of wearing bell-bottoms. I liked skinny ties and hipster jackets. I didn't want to be a stodgy shithead. Fuck the Seventies."

this guy

other bands that should go into this title:

Fleetwood Mac
Steely Dan
ELO

nope.

all of those bands are better than the Eagles. in one case exponentially so.

ELO? gtfo

Scott Miller's blurb on "Certain Kind of Fool" from Music: What Happened?:

Is it just me? I've never met an actual Eagles fan. Yet, they're something like the biggest-selling band in history. It's like, most people must buy an album at far below the level of conscious enthusiasm--sort of, "oh well, this is something people buy"--and the Eagles devastate that market. Otherwise, statistically, I ought to know at least a couple of people who decided to start a band the day they heard "Best of My Love." Yet, before whenever that sorry pattern started, they were minimally very decent, and at moments, great. "Certain Kind of Fool--a neglected moment from Desperado--is great. If you don't count "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," it's the best (only?) classic gunfighter ballad since "El Paso," sensibly paces, not a bit hokey. I adore the change at "He took it to the country.

<3 watchel!

Whatever happened with his kiddie porn bust?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, August 14, 2013 2:16 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

goddamn it :(

never heard of that

fleetwood mac and the dan rule over the eagles

xp

Wachtel and his wife Annie were arrested in 1998 on suspicion of possession of child pornography after questionable images were found on the computer in their bedroom, after they had taken it in for repair.[5][6] Wachtel was sentenced to three years probation after pleading no contest to the charges.[7] In an interview with a Fleetwood Mac fansite in 2000, Wachtel's bandmate in Stevie Nicks' touring band, Brett Tuggle, responded to a question about these charges saying "All I really know is that there were some files on his computer that were questionable when he took it in to be fixed and most of what happened was completely blown way out of proportion by the press and was dismissed anyway ... there is no way Stevie would have him in her band if she thought he was guilty of any wrongdoing".[8]

okay I watched the whole History of the Eagles tonight

part 1 is pretty fun. Not AMAZING as crazypants Bill Simmons suggests, but there's some great footage and jeeeezus christ Glenn Frey is a douchecanoe.
by the end of part I realized Henley and Frey were like 2 fratboys who formed a band and instead of leaving the band and becoming corporate weasels they stayed IN the band and became corporate weasels

Part 2 is horrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible
horrible

Though the Timothy guy from Poco that replaced Randy Meisner from Poco seems pretty chill and he still has a gorgeous voice (and looks weirdly like Karen Carpenter)

poco >>>> eagles imo

i love poco

keep on tryin's one of my favorite songs

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There was a bit in the Carole King/James Taylor episode of American Masters on PBS when they were really spending a lot of time on the Troubadour's history and the people who came through there, and they mentioned that when Glenn Frey thought up the name Eagles, he ran it by someone who said "Oh, THE Eagles. That sounds good." And he said "No, just Eagles. No THE."

It was at that point that I decided I'd forever more call them THE Eagles just to piss off Glenn Frey.

i own 14 poco albums. i don't own any eagles albums.

" And he said "No, just Eagles. No THE."

like Swans! they should tour together.

Poco rule. Maybe they should have called themselves The Poco though.

xp and Pixies!

Eagles, w. special guests, Pixies and Swans.

Eagles are one of those bands, like Journey, that I've just never owned in any format. No LP, no cassette, no CD, no MP3, not used, not new, not a copy, not a single song anywhere. Even the single-digit age me was dubious. I have owned a couple of Henley solo albums over the years, though. "Building the Perfect Beast" and "End of the Innocence" have some great stuff on them. Interesting that so many Tom Petty guys are his credited co-writers, not just Mike Campbell, but Benmont Tench and Stan Lynch, too. Equally interesting array of background vocalists on the latter: Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Edie Brickell, Patty Smyth, Ivan Neville, JD Souther, Axl Rose ...

Anyone else know that not only did Patty Smyth have a kid with Richard Hell, but she's been married to John McEnroe for 15 years?

Stan Lynch became one of his bros.

And, for one date only, Buzzcocks (xp)

i worked in a kitchen in wisconsin with patty smyth's daughter. she says mcenroe is a really nice guy, not the temper tantrum thrower of his public image. not sure i'd want to meet anyone related to henley/frey

I watched the doc too over the past couple days, partly after seeing all this Eagles talk. Pretty well put-together. VG otm though, the last hour dragggggged. I like Henley's solo stuff more than the Eagles in general but nobody needs an hour focused on their post-breakup period. I did find it strange that they apparently include Henley/Frey/Walsh solo songs on their tours now. They seem like the type of band with way too many competing egos for that.

I watched the whole documentary too... Of course I dislike The Eagles, but hating on them is an empty and ultimately futile gesture - it's like getting mad at the wind.

Fave part is Glyn Johns admonishing them for daring to compare themselves to The Who or Zeppelin. I thought the second part was OK. There's a Faustian (Azoffian?) bargain at play here: you will be wildly successful beyond your imagination but you'll be hated and made fun of forever. Your love of playing music will become a horribly disfigured corporate machine, but you'll be making so much money that you'll barely have time to practice your sneering.

Frey and Henley's assholery is legendary, but what do you expect? They're openly dicks - it seems like you know exactly what you're going to be getting yourself into. What a weird band to be in... Frey punches you in the face while Henley stabs you in the back. I understand Azoff though - don't mess with the formula.. Joe Walsh forever!

Wish Zevon was still alive for a zinger at the end.

That whole taking-Felder-out-to-lunch so that Henley could do the vocals on Victim of Love was fking hilarious. I parsed 'Felder can't sing' to read 'Felder can't sing exactly like Henley'

....and then Henley contributed backing vocals on 'Heavy Metal' which sounds exactly like fucking Henley anyway!

i forgot about Linda's Don't Cry Now album! no big hits. pretty record. VERY eagles-y. she does desperado on it. of the people involved with the making of the album/songs i have owned albums by:

j.d. souther, sneaky pete, eric kaz, libby titus, jimmy haskell, herb pederson, chris ethridge (L.A. Getaway 4ever!), nino tempo, buddy emmons, wendy waldman, randy newman, larry carlton, craig doerge and lee sklar (The Section were terrible...), rick roberts, and booker t.

and then since i'm crazy i look at the people involved and think dang i really need a copy of that spooner oldham album from 1972! and then ian will come on here and be all dude you don't HAVE that album, Pot Luck is the jam i can't believe that you don't have that and i'm all like i never see it shut up i'll find one i mean damn.

i mean i have never truly OWNED a randy newman album. i just end up with them and sell them as quickly as possible.

I quite like Glyn Johns' production on the first album (I haven't listened to the second much so I can't speak to that)...I mean, he was right that their voices in harmony are the thing that sells them over everything

i like glyn and bill szyxjshxyk a bunch. both great record makers. though i'm more of a fan of gary katz/roger nichols with steely and also the stuff that ted templeman did with the doobie brothers if we are talking mega-selling 70's stuff. ted templeman was a genius, in my opinion.

Pot Luck is the jam i can't believe that you don't have that

This is true, btw.

stop!

I was trying to figure out why Henley and Frey irritate me so much, why that has always been such a hurdle for me enjoying their music. I mean, I love Crosby Stills and Nash and in a lot of ways they were just as fucked up and whiny and melodramatic ... Eagles certainly weren't unique in douchebaggery.

I think part of it is that I didn't know anyone growing up who was a fan of the Eagles, who wasn't over 40. I mean, I heard their music fking everywhere but it's not like you get to college and everyone has an Eagles best of in their cd collection. At least, not people in my circle of friends. I'm sure other kids did.

Plus that whole Hell Freezes Over thing happened when I was in college and I remember all the pants-wetting on the radio about their tour and just being grossed out that anyone would pay so much fucking money to see a bunch of slick crabby dudes in elastic-waisted leather jackets yelling GET OVER IT and singing song you could hear just as easily if you walked into a McDonalds.

God that Get Over It song was so fucking horrible.

stills in that hotel california book. man, there is a movie there for someone to make. hallucinating that he had been in vietnam, all that stuff.

I grew up with the Eagles. I had Greatest Hits 1 in my tape deck as I made my circuit between Pizza Hut and the bowling alley. I'll have to check the yearbooks, but it even seems like one of the senior classes picked "Hotel California" as their class song (and we'd be talking about Class of '82 or '85 here!)

But the reunion tour in 1994 ruined things. Like VG says, everyone had this defensive attitude of GET OVER IT and HELL FREEZES OVER. There was that awful acoustic version of "Hotel California" on every radio station. At my age, it may have been my first exposure to seeing something really irrelevant being treated like it's relevant. I'm sorry, but for me, the Eagles canon ends with the last notes of "The Sad Café".

And after that, I worked at the classic rock station, and boy, if that doesn't turn you against the Eagles, nothing will.

This thread really reminds me of Steely Dan: "Steely Dan's name has been popping up as a hip musical crush. Remember, this glossy bop-pop was the indifferent aristocracy to punk rock's stone-throwing in the late 70's. People fought

I hadn't even paid attention to that Long Road Out of Eden album that came out a few years ago, but hearing clips of that in Part 2 of the doc was just *hurl*. Don Henley telling me about 9/11, the Iraq War etc just...no.

The name of the band was first suggested by Leadon during a peyote and tequila-influenced group outing in the Mojave Desert, when he recalled reading about the Hopis' reverence for the eagle.[10] Steve Martin, a friend of the band from their early days at The Troubadour, recounts in his autobiography that he suggested that they should be referred to as "the Eagles," but Frey insists that the group's name is simply "Eagles".[11]

cool stories bros

Post -The Long Run Eagles = post Season 11 Simpsons.

With or without "the", Eagles has got to be the most boring rock band name ever. Which is fitting....

xpost Phil otm

Long Road to Eden was one of those massive albums that I doubt anyone here's bought or listened to.

never even heard of it!

It took them 13 years post-reunion to get one studio album made, and I still think they rushed it.

Long Road Out of Eden is the seventh studio album by the Eagles, released in 2007 on Lost Highway Records. Nearly six years in production, Long Road Out of Eden is the first studio album from the Eagles since 1979's The Long Run, and along with the four original tracks on 1994 Hell Freezes Over, and two songs in 2003 ("Hole in the World") and 2005 ("One Day at a Time"), the only original material since. The album produced two singles on the Hot Country Songs charts: a cover of J.D. Souther's "How Long" and "Busy Being Fabulous", both of which were Top 30 hits on the country charts as well as Top 20 hits on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts. The album produced five straight hits on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts with "How Long", "Busy Being Fabulous", "No More Cloudy Days", "What Do I Do With My Heart", and "I Don't Want to Hear Anymore". The album debuted at #1 in the U.S. and won the band two Grammy awards for "How Long" and the instrumental "I Dreamed There Was No War". The album became the band's sixth #1 album and was the highest selling album of the year. It has since sold 3.5 million copies in the U.S. alone. Being a double album with length exceeding 90 minutes, the album was certified 7x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 3.5 million discs.

The only thing that I even know about that record is that they signed some exclusive deal to sell it only through Wal Mart or Target or one of those for the first year, which resulted in HMV here in Canada pulling all Eagles product from their shelves during that time.

Even dismissing the dubious RIAA strategy of certifying double albums and the band's box store campaign, 3.5 million records is a fucking lot of records for the Eagles in the late 2000s.

Busy Being Fabulous is a funny title

I did find it strange that they apparently include Henley/Frey/Walsh solo songs on their tours now. They seem like the type of band with way too many competing egos for that.

They did Walsh solo stuff on their last tour in '80. There's an Eagle-ized version of "Life's Been Good" on Eagles Live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2aeYEp0SlI

Them doing the solo stuff now is a double-edged thing: On one hand, it's wish fulfillment for fans that like "Boys of Summer" or "The Heat Is On", but would...just...die...if the Eagles did them. On the other, it's a fuck you to the lesser successful guys in the band--"haha, we have hits to do and you don't!"

when I saw them in '03 I heard:

Life's Been Good (without question the highlight and the crowd loved it)
Boys of Summer
You Belong to the City (the show's lowpoint, with lowlife Frey at the synths wearing a salmon pink "Miami Vice" jacket and flamingos backprojeced)
Dirty Laundry

xpost FTR, I've always thought "Life's Been Good" was Walsh making fun of his Eagles bros, and if not, it was certainly a song he couldn't have written without spending the time he did in their orbit.

walsh's "in the city" >>>>>>>>>>> frey's "you belong to the city"

tell yeah

"In The City" was actually a Walsh solo song first recorded in 1979, the Eagles re-recorded it for The Long Run

it's a great song. joe's "darkness on the edge of town"

I'd go to a reunion show just to see Henley's face when that horn intro for "The Heat is On" starts playing...

yeah it would have been on The Warriors soundtrack before the long run right?

correct. Doesn't sound much different than the Eagles version, some believe the earlier recording was just overdubed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljSuROOUxg8

Frey's "You Belong to the City" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Frey's "Sexy Girl"

I heard this godawful song the other day, can't believe it was a hit in any sense.

it's a fuck you to the lesser successful guys in the band--"haha, we have hits to do and you don't!"

This makes some weird sense.

lol i was wondering what solo frey they did, figured 'smuggler's blues' or that thelma and louise one were close enough to the eagles ballpark that they'd fit. thought no way in hell (unless by chance it froze over) they would do the sax stuff. in a better world (well maybe not better) they do a version 'sexy girl', trading off verses while some half naked 13 year old has an od in the center stage while henley snaps at anyone that approaches her.

the production is way less lo-fi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SrXi1SsFgg

original sounds more like a slow-burning crazy horse jam

think that's just a low-quality rip. Still sounds like a remix to my ears - lead vocal tracks sounds identical

i would kill for a jayhawks cover of that song

I truly believe that "Hotel California" should be the go-to ironic club request over "Freebird," not least because "Freebird" is a good song I have no problem with, and "Hotel California" is shittier and more boring. Like, yelling "Freebird" implies both the band and song suck, but they don't. Whereas yelling "Hotel California" works as a better punchline, because my god, you can't be serious. Literally no one in the room wants to hear it.

(I say this full well knowing that no one should be shouting either of these songs out, anyway, but if someone's going to make a song the butt of a gag, better "Hotel California").

jesus, just remembered the friggin' gypsy kings version. forgot about it. maybe that's why eagles did that acoustic version. they wanted to get in on that gypsy king money!

I like to think shouting out "Freebird" means someone has been so taken away by that song that they must request it from any act they pay to hear.

i always thought it meant "none of your songs are as good as 'freebird'"

If someone polled "Freebird" vs. "Hotel California," the only votes for "Hotel California" would come from the kinds of people who shout "Freebird" at shows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dyw6LZpSOA

josh offtm

i like them both. i don't need to hear freebird a ton though. hotel california is concise enough that i never mind hearing it. like both better than layla.

There are a lot of necks in that youtube still.

the guitar solo in "hotel california" is up there all-time-wise with "freebird" imo. totally iconic. has anyone ever been at a show where someone really shouts "freebird"? i've heard people shout pavement song titles at a fugazi show, but that's the closest

i think there's a thread about that - several, actually.

i've never heard a "freebird" request in the 40 or so concerts i've been to.

The only thing I hear yelled at shows more than "Freebird" is "Play what you want!" which usually follows a request for "Freebird" and may be even more annoying.

"Hotel California" is 6:30. "Freebird" runs 9:06ish. Neither is terribly concise, and both are half guitar solos. But the "Freebird" solos are better, and the song has fewer words. And no one would do an unplugged "Freebird."

I've seen at least one or two bands cover "Freebird" on request.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8whmIaeftQ

the production on hotel califronia is amazing though. i like it a lot better than freebird, which i like.

i saw built to spill do "cortez the killer," which was awesome

I want to say the same night I saw them do "Freebird" they also did BOC's "Don't Fear the Reaper" and George Harrison's "What Is Life" (he had just died).

You don't have to click any of these. In fact, I would very much advise that you keep moving on to the next post.

http://grooveshark.com/#!/search/song?q=Insane+Clown+Posse+Freestylin'+Over+The+Eagles+-+Free+Bird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2QPetIFF-o

part 1 is pretty fun. Not AMAZING as crazypants Bill Simmons suggests, but there's some great footage and jeeeezus christ Glenn Frey is a douchecanoe.
by the end of part I realized Henley and Frey were like 2 fratboys who formed a band and instead of leaving the band and becoming corporate weasels they stayed IN the band and became corporate weasels

I watched the first part the other night then went back tonight for the rest, only to find its gone from iPlayer. My loss. 'Corporate weasels who stayed in the band' is so perfect though.

Soooo many gruesome moments:

• Frey: "So many people tell me 'Hey, you're just like a normal person!'; and I say [slows right down] 'Well of course'".
• Henley: "We can keep it going for a few more years. The Rolling Stones, The Who have really stretched out what a band can do. Shit don't float."
• the naked girl dancing on stage for them, bending over and everything. What're you thinking, sister?
• so much plaid.

• how Frey'll say something assertive then give a little breathy laugh. But there's no joke, it's not even aggression disguised as a joke. You need Herculean humourlessness to pull that shit off.
• the footage of them in a suite with a ton of groupies, Henley leaning in right frame and patronising away. Nothing in Hammer Of The Gods comes close for pure degradation.

Part 2 is horrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible

Yeah I wondered what exactly was gonna be in it. I mean I switched off at about 1h 20m into a 3hr 5min film, and they were already doing Hotel California. What exactly's left to say? If it was all epic Troggs tapes I could understand, but you just know they'd still've remixed those suckers to perfection.

It's like when you watch the Behind the Music of Styx and the narrator says "But trouble found the band again in 1997..." 1997? No, the documentary should end in 1985 with Dennis DeYoung saying he has to go now, Desert Moon needs me.

Then he dies on the way back because someone made him drink bleach.

has anyone ever been at a show where someone really shouts "freebird"?

I shouted "Freebird" at a Dead Can Dance concert once. It was their own fault—they asked for requests.

pplains otm

Part 2 is like 'so much plaid' but replace plaid with 'flannel' and 'polo shirts'

also notable for Henley not once but TWICE quoting other musicians lyrics with all the faux-poignancy of someone who had just dropped a Wittgenstein truthbomb. Those lyrics?

It's only rock and roll but I like it.

and

It's better to burn out than to rust.

lol i was wondering what solo frey they did, figured 'smuggler's blues' or that thelma and louise one were close enough to the eagles ballpark that they'd fit.

Apparently they did "Smuggler's Blues" on the '94 tour. It's up on youtube, but Frey & Co. have blocked audio on ALL "Smuggler's Blues" clips on the site, resulting in a bunch of muted videos ('cause really now, it's enough to just look at the dudes).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUFFakjZqFA

In case you were wondering what the original "Smuggler's Blues" video would be like with just the dialog and sfx tracks enabled:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcTopQeG7JY

By the end of Part 2 Frey has well and truly doubled-down on the douchewad of Part 1 and becomes this MechaFrey version of himself. Not to mention MechaHenley and his lawsuits and passive-aggressive general weaselyness. Like as much as you didn't want to be in a band with either of them by the end of Part 1, you will be biting down on the cyanide capsule by Part 2

The shots of Walsh in his wilderness years doing MTV interviews are rough...he looks SO bad

I'm still supergrossed out that they made all those SpreadEagle home movies. I bet Frey still watches them while he's working out on his Bowflex

"Smuggler's Blues" is terrible.

That was really weird, Grisso.

Never forget:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/540b145e5d/the-h-is-o-a-short-by-adam-mckay-from-adam-ghost-panther-mckay-will-ferrell-jimmy-fallon-and-ben-stiller

I'm still supergrossed out that they made all those SpreadEagle home movies

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, August 15, 2013 4:17 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

things I just didn't want to know....

has anyone ever been at a show where someone really shouts "freebird"?

Some friends and myself did it at the Replacements in '91, but ironically

I'd be more impressed if anyone yelled it out earnestly. Isn't it always ironic?

It's even ironic at a Lynyrd Skynyrd show.

for real though i think dead can dance could do an amazing freebird.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a show where someone didn't yell "Freebird". maybe Indigo Girls? bet they'd have done a nice v though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lCvixWLvVw

lol

I shouted "Freebird"! at the last Nicolas Jaar show I saw!

the original "Smuggler's Blues" video

is that Virginia Madsen...?

i must be going to the wrong shows

The Solomon Freebird is repetitive wank that's not even well done enough to qualify as empty flash. The solo on Hotel California is a wonder of melodic invention and the only undeniably great moment in the eagles back catalogue.

Solomon = solo on

Solomon Freebird should be your stripper name!

Solomon Layla would be more appropriate since you can cut it into two distinct parts.

Those two songs are nothing like each other. As well as melodic invention, Freebird is loose like your favourite old jeans while Hotel California is uptight as hell.

and still those voices are calling from far away

i just learned the eagle actually had a song called "chug all night"

this band does p much suck outside of the singles

@Scott Maybe it is already.

Khalid Hamid 3 hours ago

I first listened to this amazing song in 1975 in a very small village in Bavaria/Germany since than over and over in my native Lahore/Pakistan.It is almost now 38 years still brilliant. Thumbs up for Eagles especially for Mr Don Henley the great.

Was just pondering what this guy's life might be and how wrong it is that it's been enriched by Don fucking Henley, but then I figured that my life'd be the poorer without him and Boys of Summer, so

Also if Daft Punk go the full West Coast route next time he can totally do a voiceover for them

henley lays out some hard-won life lessons in "heart of the matter"

forgiveness

conveniently don didn't write boys of summer!

Well, he co-wrote.

according to the petty doc, campbell had the song and wanted it to be on a petty album and petty passed on it to his regret now....

i bet it was "co-writing" like "give me half the publishing cuz i'm don henley"

Maybe more like "Henley wrote the lyrics."

Huh, skimming quickly, I don't think there's a single Eagles or solo song credited just to Henley, so maybe the guy is just generous with the co-writes, seeing he could have probably dicked out a few Henley-only credits over the years. Danny Kortchmar's written a shitload for him and others.

:(

http://www.bostoneventworks.com/acts/Spread-Eagle

The lyrics of "Boys of Summer" sound nothing like Petty -- sentimental and gross -- and even the backing track -- synth-heavy with guitar fills -- is nothing that Benmont and Stan Lynch would never have allowed.

and Petty is capable of gross lyrics

Huh, skimming quickly, I don't think there's a single Eagles or solo song credited just to Henley,

"A Month of Sundays" on Building a Perfect Beast gets a solo credit but point taken. Same with Frey until Long Road to Eden.

i like glyn and bill szyxjshxyk a bunch. both great record makers. though i'm more of a fan of gary katz/roger nichols with steely and also the stuff that ted templeman did with the doobie brothers if we are talking mega-selling 70's stuff. ted templeman was a genius, in my opinion.

― scott seward, Thursday, August 15, 2013 12:29 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The difference to me between Katz/Nichols and Szymczyk is that the former were tight, and the latter was like an aural straitjacket. Listening to his Eagles productions feels like gasping for breath.

Johns was in a different league altogether; I put him up there with Rudy Van Gelder. And Templeman's VH records are brilliant, if for no other reason than for the untouchable snare sound.

synth-heavy with guitar fills -- is nothing that Benmont and Stan Lynch would never have allowed.

― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, August 15, 2013 8:02 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Perm

how is it more synth heavy than don't come around here no more?

what makes you think benmont and stan lynch have shit to say abt it if tom wants to? are they even on don't come around here no more?

maybe henley just can't write songs w/o someone's help

that makes more sense than him being "generous" a word i've never heard associated w/the eagles

Plus that whole Hell Freezes Over thing happened when I was in college and I remember all the pants-wetting on the radio about their tour and just being grossed out that anyone would pay so much fucking money to see a bunch of slick crabby dudes in elastic-waisted leather jackets yelling GET OVER IT and singing song you could hear just as easily if you walked into a McDonalds.

God that Get Over It song was so fucking horrible.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, August 15, 2013 12:34 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

iirc, they were the first band (starting with that '94 tour) to charge $100/ticket. Fuck them forever for that shit.

xpost generous egos

or more synthy than this obscure petty nugget?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTAhZKP5wCY

oh and I'm probably the last person to realize this but today I stumbled on the realization the Beastie Boys sampled Eagles 'Those Shoes' for 'High Plains Drifter'. I was chilling at work listening to The Long Run for the first time and no shit I burst out laughing when it started playing.

fuckin terrible song, so glad the Beasties turned into a fine tune

yeah that's a dope loop

how is it more synth heavy than don't come around here no more?

what makes you think benmont and stan lynch have shit to say abt it if tom wants to? are they even on don't come around here no more?

"Don't Come Around Here No More" isn't very synth-heavy. It sports a coral guitar and drum machine: those are the unusual elements for a Petty song.

The first question: who knows? The second: yes.

don't come around here is mostly just petty and dave stewart. i think. they did it together.

fwiw, Lynch's approximation/expansion of the drum machine when they did it live fucking killed.

that tom petty interview book was my bible last year. i don't know what the hell was wrong with me. i learned so much. haha, i didn't even know i was so curious. i could have read that book forever. daily tom petty affirmations.

Petty sounds awful on "Don't Come Around Here No More."

Thought exercise: Daryl Hall singing it. Hall and David Stewart created "Dreamtime" the following year, so it makes sense imo.

that tom petty interview book was my bible last year. i don't know what the hell was wrong with me

so otm. Learned to respect Stan Lynch and the crew.

the peak of that opulent mid eighties swirly post-psychedelia is "Dreamtime" imo

How is Those Shoes a terrible song? I use to love playing in my dj sets. It's one of my favorite Eagles songs with Joe Walsh.

iirc, they were the first band (starting with that '94 tour) to charge $100/ticket. Fuck them forever for that shit.

In To The Limit Azoff (who now runs Ticketmaster btw) justified this to promoters by quietly including the parking fee in the ticketprice, freeing up on site bucks for parking to be spent on beer and nachos.

...which the band declined to to take a cut of.

Not trying to justify any of this, only pointing out the cleverness of the con.

"Johns was in a different league altogether; I put him up there with Rudy Van Gelder."

i'm totally a fan. he produced those steve miller albums i love so much. they're beautiful. i was talking within the context of superduper fm poprock. johns was more organic in the 70's. he made some down home records. he was working on stuff like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/Joan_Armatrading_%28album%29.jpg

and that album is not an eagles album. he was better off. and you know he was making who records. but ASIDE from the who he worked on a lot of laid back stuff.

Those Shoes just sounds like a low-rent strip club song to me. idk. Maybe not so much bad as just kinda cheesy in a late 80's corvette kinda way.

True, and he even made the Who's most laid-back record (By Numbers). I love that Johns didn't have a specific sound that he shoehorned bands into. It figures that my favorite Eagles rocker, "Take It Easy," was produced by Johns.

(Also, he quit the Who Are You sessions to work on Joan's To The Limit)

xp

Trying to imagine Tom Petty singing "Boys of Summer."

[shudder]

Okay, let me imagine him singing it in a lower key.

...and a slower tempo.

...

No, still can't.

iirc, they were the first band (starting with that '94 tour) to charge $100/ticket. Fuck them forever for that shit.

I worked for the agency that booked The Eagles during the Hell Freezes Tour. I saw all the numbers and contracts and figured out that Henley and Frey each made $250,000 per gig for just walking out on stage.

...

IIRC, part of the driving reason for that $100 ticket price was that The Eagles wanted to break it before the Stones did so they could brag about it.

"Suck it, Jagger! We were the first to charge $100 for tickets!"

"Really? Wow, that's great, Glenn. We wrote and recorded Exile on Main Street."

"[chokes on own rage]"

It was a weird time to be working at William Morris because at the same time The Eagles were pulling in over a million guarantee per show, Pearl Jam was in the middle of their Ticketmaster fight and booking that erratic tour in fee-free venues. Tremendous pressure to "play ball" all around.

the Stones are a good comparison. the only band to challenge them in the asshole department?

Nah, rock's full of assholes

yeah, but few are as notorious. plus the similar time frame, the US/UK difference, the level of success...

Zeppelin would run them both close I guess

Robert Plant's notoriously charming though, nobody's ever going to say that about Glenn Frey.

Zeppelin always had Peter Grant as an Enforcer.

The Eagles is like a Stones if everyone was Mick Jagger. Minus the moves.

Wow, have you all forgotten the crazy rationale for the high ticket prices? I could have sworn they claimed that with prices that high - they were even more than $100, weren't they? - there would be less scalping, since the baseline was already in the stratosphere. Of course it was bullshit, but they were right that people were willing to shell out. And still are. I just read a Chicago Tribune article from the same time that pointed out Streisand was charging $350 the same year, which her manager considered fair compared to what Vegas prices are. But of course scalpers were still asking $1000.

Let's not forget Bill Wyman

singing "Boys of Summer"

"Underage Girls of Summer" more like

and yet as horrible as we all know mick probably can be, aren't we still fond of mick? i am. i mean anyone who smiles that much can't be all bad. he's just a diva in the grand tradition.

bill wyman is just a mope. who won the lottery. and took advantage. i love that part in keith's book where he's like bill left the greatest job in the world to run a chip shop? what an idiot.

xp with his lovable off-shore tax arrangements

oh and his point was wyman left right before they started making crazy friggin' tour money that would set them up until they all die at the age of 180.

Bill Wyman is a musician, record and film producer, as well as composer, with a net worth of $80 million

i don't care about mick's taxes.

Well, there's this bit:

Wyman formed his current band in the early 1990's as a deliberate antidote to the one he left after the Steel Wheels tour. From a financial standpoint, the timing of his departure was not auspicious.

"The big money wasn't there yet. I had a small nest egg and I can live nicely but I can't rely on Stones royalties to support me. I have to work and I'm not in the same league as the boys who stayed on. But I wanted to have fun. Playing with the Stones there was always such a lot of pressure. The next album or single always had to be the best, or at least sell more. When we got together to play it was a great moment. Working with Charlie (Watts) was fantastic, and we're still really close

Wyman has kept a journal since he was a child after World War II. It has been useful as an inspiration to him, as an author who has written seven books, which have sold two million copies. Wyman's love of art has additionally led to his proficiency in photography and his photographs have hung in galleries around the world. Wyman's lack of funds in his early years led him to create and build his own fretless bass guitar. He became an amateur archaeologist and enjoys relic hunting; The Times published a letter about his hobby. He designed and marketed a patented "Bill Wyman signature metal detector", which he has used to find relics in the English countryside dating back to the era of the Roman Empire. As a businessman he owns several establishments, including the famous Sticky Fingers Café, a rock-and-roll-themed bistro serving American cuisine, first opened in 1989 in the Kensington area of London, and, later, in two additional locations in Cambridge (now closed) and Manchester.

Pfft, I bet his small nest egg *is* £80 million

keith made brian seem like the worst stone. worst person anyway.

Yeah, he was horrible.

But no one in the Stones can fuck with Charlie. Beyond the fact that he punched Mick out, iirc, they set their touring schedule entirely around what he's willing (or not willing) to do. No one in the Eagles who isn't Glenn or Don has that much power. I bet if even Joe Walsh was reluctant to tour they'd get rid of him and hire, I dunno, John Mayer or someone in his place.

John Stamos

one of my favorite things about mick is how he negs his lyrics in interviews. that recent 'rolling stone' collection of all the greatest stones stories is a major treat. i'd pick one of the eagles up, too, if you're reading this, jann wenner

Trying to put this in the right words....

Eagles get hated so much more (and I'm right there with everyone) than Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones because the latter two bands took a style of music everyone liked and capitalized on it to great decadent heights.

I'm not saying there's no one out there who doesn't like Jackson Browne or Gram Parsons or Roger McGuinn, but it was on the very surface such a puss genre to begin with, these sad-eyed white boys kicking stones in the desert, that with the Eagles making a billion dollars by creating a faux version of that, of course a legitimate backlash is going to begin especially from the city boys up in New York.

The blues was such a better genre to rip off anyway than California country rock. That, and the way LZ & RS plagiarized some of those songs still sounded fucking bombastic compared to the originals. Meanwhile, with songs like "Old '55", Eagles were more like Pat Boone in glossing over an established sound to make it sound more palatable for the masses. Except in this case, it was Pat Boone covering Claude King.

I'm already finding parts of that I disagree with, but you get the gist.

Mick is mostly a dick in the financial realm. Money and economics often seem to dictate the direction of the band under his stewardship. Like, if you asked Keith how much tickets should be, he'd possibly say he doesn't know, or that it should be free, or he doesn't care. But Mick would say whatever the market will bear. Admittedly, they all take the money, but no one in the Stones seems to be as abjectly craven as the guys in the Eagles. Or Pixies for that matter. One of the times I've covered the Stones live the publicist made a point of underscoring all the songs the band had switched around from its previous shows. Similarly, I saw them once and they sort of sucked, and I know Mick personally contacted a writer friend to say the next night would be better. And it was, which shows me somewhere in there Mick and buds care. Whereas I bet the Eagles are just stage animatronics, and the Pixies are mediocre animatronics.

One big dif. between Zep (why they are in this discussion I dunno but whatevs) and the Stones is the character of the musicianship. Bonham or Keith or Charlie or Page bring a huge personality to their songs so that even when they're ripping something or somebody off it still sounds absolutely awesome and distinctive. The Eagles, I'm sure those dudes are all good musicians, but I've never heard much personality in their playing, Maybe a fan of the band can defend them better as players, but to my ears the Eagles could just be any slick anono LA country-rock session player band, music-wise. Minus the edge and weirdness of Steely Dan or Fleetwood Mac or whomever.

I admire Jagger's financial acumen though. This may sound weird but it humanizes him.

What have the Pixies done xp? I hope there's a lol there.

What have the Pixies done in terms of what? I just meant general we're only in it for the money-ness, and we're not even pretending otherwise.

And also, PS, we clearly hate each other.

"Fuck you. I'm Mick Jagger. I wrote 'Jumping Jack Flash'."

vs

"Fuck you. I'm Don Henley. I sang 'Witchy Woman'."

vs "Fuck you. I'm Glenn Frey. I sang songs that were used in cop movies."

feel like mick gets a bad rap and i'm closer to imagining him how bill wyman does than the pinata keith's caricatured him into

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/low_concept/2010/11/please_allow_me_to_correct_a_few_things.html

lol

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f0/GlennFreyNoFunAloud.jpg

80s health club ad:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/ozeagle/Solo%20Years/RockHard.jpg

Frey has lyin' eyes!

"Eagles could just be any slick anono LA country-rock session player band, music-wise"

^Yes

I think the multiplicity of songwriting partners contributes to this. Probably the cynicism of the lyrics is the only thing that serves to tie their work together.

Except for the fact there is an Eagles sound. You can tell when it's Henley backing Ronstadt, or a bunch of them backing Newman or whomever. That their sound defined 70s California rock (and that others aped them as best they could) doesn't mean it wasn't distinctly theirs.

Bernie Leadon and Joe Walsh had personality in their playing

Joe Walsh also l.b.t., so there's that.

xpost Playing or writing? Just wondering. Like, are there guitarist who aspire to sound like Leadon or Walsh?

I'm not sure there is an Eagles sound, per se. Like, Jackson Browne's "Running On Empty" - is that the Eagles sound, or does it just sound like the Eagles because it occupies the same creative West Coast musical space? Does "Little Criminals" sound like the Eagles because it features a bunch of Eagles in addition to LA's studio best?

"Like, are there guitarist who aspire to sound like Leadon or Walsh?"
I'd love to *sound* like Leadon, he has great tone and good taste. I dont know if I could identify him in a blind test against other LA session dudes though.

That's sort of what I mean. He's obviously very good! But there are a lot of guys who are very good.

Like, Lindley (with Browne) and Ry Cooder - those cats are awesomely talented but also pretty distinctive, I think.

Joe Walsh also l.b.t., so there's that.

― pplains, Friday, August 16, 2013 10:45 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lower back tattoo?

i still can't get over how eagles-y these two dudes were as early as 1969. pretty sure both of these albums were recorded in 1969.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b449xvDqX0M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59QR1sc6cP8

note Longbridge Pennywhistle guitarist wearing an Eagles t-shirt 0:43

a thousand xposts but pplains otm -- really, really well put!!

I was amazed to discover a Longbranch Pennywhistle song in the soundtrack to Vanishing Point the last time I rescreened.

The Eagles is like a Stones if everyone was Mick Jagger. Minus the moves.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, August 16, 2013 8:18 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^

After reading that Bill Simmons thing last night I was eager to watch the documentary last night. I must be missing something. There's more pathos/laughs/cheap thrills in the ten minutes of that CSN profile posted upthread than in all three hours of this thing.

Has Bill Simmons never seen a documentary before? Only a guy whose touchstone for rock hedonism is a Cameron Crowe movie could boast of sitting through this SEVEN times.

My takeaway after watching it: Frey and Henley fall WAY short of their reputations as king dicks. At least by rock biz standards these guys are just regular dicks, a couple of uptight dudes who ended up with each other instead of the looser foils alongside whom each would have made better music (but probably less money) a la Mick Jagger, Morrissey, Richard Rodgers. (Obv. not a qualitative analogy)

I can't remember the last time I saw a music documentary and didn't afterwards feel like diving into or rediscovering the discography in question. And the Eagles aren't so bad! But in my case at least the reason I'm not sure I even like the songs can't be blamed on classic-rock radio (even though I was reared on it). It's more like even on repeated listening there are no points of re-entry, just the carapace of sterility and cynicism and NO FUN w/ no cracks in it, no weakly defended or dimly lit areas to sneak through.

I can't remember the last time I saw a music documentary and didn't afterwards feel like diving into or rediscovering the discography in question.

totally i said the exact same thing to my friend....i was totally into watching the doc but it did nothing to convince me the eagles were worth more than the 8 singles i dig

even the four-hour Tom Petty doc made me check out several obscure albums

frey in particular seems, yes, just like kind of a petty regular joe dickhead. in fact, there's something about him and henley and the way they act that kinda makes me wonder if, deep down, even they know the eagles were really not that great

even the four-hour Tom Petty doc made me check out several obscure albums

And yet all I can recall is Bill Flanagan calling "The Last DJ" a masterpiece or some such nonsense. Which did the opposite of sending me to that record.

simmons conceived and produces 30 for 30 so he's seen a documentary before. the only other rock doc i know he's seen is rattle and hum.

I was being facetious but that seems abt right.

in fact, there's something about him and henley and the way they act that kinda makes me wonder if, deep down, even they know the eagles were really not that great

I totally got this vibe, in part because they don't even pretend to having had a healthy or friendly rivalry w/ anyone else, which usually seems the case with big songwriters. And not that anyone should measure up to Bonham re: the Glyn Johns dismissal but Henley wears his inferiority a little too comfortably. Also I'm sure Linda Ronstradt was magnanimous and super cool, but also it seems like parts of her letting them go w/o a fight was kinda "uh, so what?"

Ronstadt also convinced of her own genius (and to a degree she's right).

its definitely the smugness that repels people. usually people want some vulnerability/warmth from their pop stars, and there is definitely some of that in eagles music, but mostly i think people like the music because its fun to drive around in the car to and makes people feel u.s.a. strong/proud. ram tough. like seger. i'm guessing. there is a triumphalist spirit to their rock songs. america has always loved Queen for this too. or the Queen hits anyway. jock jams.

http://philliprauls.com/images/yes_poster_prauls.jpg

http://vancouverposters.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IMG0085.jpg

"Do you guys play instruments? You do? Great, you're on the bill!"

xpost That's funny because it's Queen I was thinking of. A lot of stuff I hear again through my daughters' ears...a couple weeks ago we chanced into Bicycle Race and I was like OH YEAH!! and I went on this great Queen binge. I can't think of a more triumphalist band than Queen (The Who? GBV?) but it was tempered w/ a vulnerability and sense of humor that Frey-Henley never sniff.

My Eagles boxed set came in the mail this morning. See what you people have done to me?

To counter your purchase I'm going to illegally download it ten times and then delete the files.

eagles aren't even on queen's level

no way no how. not in my book. and my book is rarely wrong. but i just adore the queen that i adore. in a way that i could never love eagles. i kinda feel no emotional attachment to eagles. even playing that 45 of heartache tonight over and over, it might as well have been machines making the music.

I hate Queen so much. They are like the antithesis of everything great about rock. The only big 70s act worse than Queen is probably ELO.

That is craziness.

The only big 70s act worse than Queen is probably ELO.

hahhahahahahhahahhahahhahlkjd;lfkalk ,mncnc,mhxkh

:O

D:

things have taken a turn

GBV is triumphalist?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PrMTqBqF7SA/TEI1Sp4Ci_I/AAAAAAAACDE/iStLLjCBB6E/s1600/201+Roger+Rabbit.jpg

yeah totally they are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J-V6AGuA2k

i can't socialize, i'll be institutionalized

I have trouble hearing the triumphalism through the lo-fi though. GBV being triumphalist is like Neil Tennant being Robert Plant.

people used to lose their minds at shows chanting out the lyrics like an arena show, just fyi i don't think you understand

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ec/Kim_Fields_One_to_Grow_On.png

"I hate Queen so much. They are like the antithesis of everything great about rock. The only big 70s act worse than Queen is probably ELO."

the ballad of el wrongo

lol @ 'the antithesis of everything great about rock.' wtf?

I'd put the best of ELO (that is, the official best-of) up against the best of Queen. One difference is that there are at least a couple of ELO albums I like start to finish, but I've never gotten into any Queen albums. Certainly a couple of them have to be good from start to finish, too. Right?

I've always listened to ELO as what the Beatles would have sounded like had they made it through the '70s intact. Certainly I like their Beatles better than solo Macca.

I've been thinking about this alot. The Eagles sing in a very ~feelsy~ way but in a weirdly detached way, like they're just singing stories out of a magazine or something. I dunno how to articulate it though, as you can see

They're Hallmark card writers. Any feelings you get from what they're saying are your own projections.

I've never gotten into any Queen albums. Certainly a couple of them have to be good from start to finish, too. Right?

I'll stan for The Game.

"Certainly a couple of them have to be good from start to finish, too. Right?"

sheer heart attack is almost perfect.

and news of the world is totally strong as well but depends on your tolerance for jock rock anthem numero uno.

i love news of the world cuz all four members wrote amazing songs for it.

and a night at the opera is great too but depends on your tolerance of wayne's world memories. and a day at the races is also a great LP experience.

and yeah the game is cool too.

sheer heart attack just one of the greatest rock/hard rock albums of the 70's. so strong. and so fierce!

sheer heart attack is alltime, scott otm

I guess we said all that needed to be said about the Eagles. Let the next Two Minute Hate contestant enter!

xpost Cool, thanks for the recommendations!

Queen II is my fav

I am not exactly a huge Eagles guy, however, I saw them live ten odd years ago, and it remains one of the best shows I have ever seen, because when you cherry pick the best stuff from their own discog + a smattering of solo henley, solo frey, and james gang for good measure, you end up with a pretty unfuckwithable 2 1/2 hour set.

Also Joe Motherfucking Walsh yo. Don Henley looks like my grandma, and Glen Frey seems like an awful person but he did co-write "New Kid in Town" so oh well.

Not an Eagles fan, but after reading this thread and the Simmons article I really need to catch this film.

Seconded, or thirded, on Sheer Heart Attack. Another one that all four members had at least one song on.

did Queen suffer from ego problems? Without knowing much about their catalog, I'm heartened by the number of solo writing credits by all four members.

as far as peaceful easy 70's feelings go, i might prefer queen's "you're my beat friend" to anything by eagles. so beautiful to me. and under three minutes long! so much for pomp rock bombast and bloat.

"best" friend. not beat friend.

"you're my best friend" is perfect. tbh i'd take the lamest queen song i've heard over the best eagles song i've heard.

I've been thinking about this alot. The Eagles sing in a very ~feelsy~ way but in a weirdly detached way, like they're just singing stories out of a magazine or something. I dunno how to articulate it though, as you can see

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, August 16, 2013 1:02 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I know what you mean, it's this aspect of their vocals that have always been weirdly comforting to me. The stereotypical emotionally wracked confessional singer/songwriter voice is replaced by just some peaceful easy feelings, getting high etc. i guess john denver and a lot of other 70s dudes were simiarly mellow, though.

Like, the Eagles' vocals are strangely life affirming to me, in that i hear the voices (especially the early stuff ) and go "oh well these guys sound like their lives are going pretty well, they seem really content".

Yeah the detached-vocal thing totally sums it up for me too. It's as if the Eagles were just reading off a lyric sheet to make a random demo.

They never sounded hungry.

for pussy and coke

don henley has a pretty cool voice! is there anyone else who really sings like him? its not a cowboy voice. or even a peaceful easy voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUb450Alpps

ugh.

Temple of The Don

eddie vedder trying to be "subtle" or "soulful" is an all caps exclamation points nightmare. telegraphed a mile away. with a bullhorn. as soulful as a half eaten grand slam at denny's.