match the sheer force and popularity of the originals
in modern country music, recorded the tribute album
from LA. Even at the height of their fame, some of the
Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles. Possibly a little
U.S. rock press refused to see the depth and complexities
flattered, the Eagles reunited to shoot a video for Travis
in the Eagles’ music, preferring to champion similar
Tritt’s version of “Take It Easy.” Don Henley had said that
artists like Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen
hell would freeze over before the Eagles would get back
instead. But that critical oversight would change with
together, so naturally the reunion album was called Hell
time, and the band’s 1998 induction into the Rock and
Freezes Over. It was released in 1994. In just a few months,
Roll Hall of Fame was a clear signal that they had proven
the album was number 1 and had sold more than ten
themselves to even their harshest critics.
million copies worldwide.
Early press resistance to the band came in part because
When the Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll
the Eagles’ songs were definitively post-Woodstock, and
Hall of Fame, all seven musicians who had previously
they steered clear of overtly political lyrical content. As
been members of the band performed together for the
parts of the music business turned to punk and a new
first time at the ceremony. There were more intermittent
wave of harder, faster sounds in the mid-1970s, the Eagles’
reunions, including a sell-out mini-tour in 1999 and a
reliance and insistence on keeping with their trademark
four-CD retrospective set, Eagles 1972–1999: Selected
peaceful and easy style would fly in the face of fashion.
Works, in 2000. As was often the case with the band,
Millions of new fans didn’t seem to mind, though.
though, frictions were never too far from the surface, and in February 2001 the Eagles fired guitarist Don Felder.
As with most rock bands of the time, fame brought its
He responded by suing the band for over $200 million.
own problems. Excess, decadence, and hedonism became
As the acrimonious court cases proceeded, in 2003 The
synonymous with mid-to-late ’70s Eagles, especially on
Very Best of the Eagles was released along with a brand
their world tours where their rock-star antics made the
new single entitled “Hole in the World.” Finally the legal
Who and Led Zeppelin look like choir boys. Money and
disputes were settled out of court in May 2007, just as the
drugs fueled the already inherent personality clashes, and
Eagles completed their first new album proper in twenty-
when lawyers and accountants became more important
eight years. Long Road Out of Eden debuted at number
than producers and musicians, it was inevitable that the
1 on the Billboard chart in October and it seemed that,
band would implode. When songwriter and co-founder
once again, there was just no stopping them. The Eagles
Bernie Leadon departed, fellow co-founders Glenn Frey
continued to play to sell-out crowds internationally into
and Don Henley gained power and control over the
the second decade of the new century.
Eagles. Relationships were so strained within the band by the end of the 1970s that the individual members stayed
As they enter their fifth decade as a working band, the
in separate hotels when on tour.
Eagles have come a very long way from those denimclad hippies in the summer of 1971 who played backing
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Following an acrimonious break-up in 1980, each of
for Linda Ronstadt at Disneyland. It has been a long
have never sounded better. Then again, with tunes like
the Eagles went on to solo careers and that seemed to
and sometimes rocky road, but through all the line-up
“Take It Easy,” “Best of My Love,” and “Hotel California,”
be that for the most successful American rock band in
changes, the upsets and acrimony, the fights and the
they have the material to sound better than most. Credit
history. Until, that was, 1993, when Irving Azoff’s Giant
resentments, the Eagles have survived. Now in their
is deserved for surviving the decades, but the Eagles are
Records, recognizing the huge impact of the Eagles
sixties, whether playing live or in the studio, the Eagles
far more than a band who simply weathered the storms.
The Eagles
The Eagles should be recognized as the creators of some of the most magical and significant music of the past forty years. Andrew Vaughan, Nashville, 2010
Introduction
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