Owners of a unique and constantly evolving musical style, the Eagles were one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century. Subsequently, they knew how to incorporate new sounds to captivate their long-lived fans and attract new generations.
1. Jackson Browne Was The Key To Eagles’ Fate
Glenn Frey had arrived in California from Michigan in 1969, following his girlfriend, an aspiring singer. Here he formed Longbranch Pennywhistle, an anonymous folk-rock group, and met Jackson Browne (Heidelberg-9 October 1948), a famous songwriter, with whom he began a prolific collaboration of fundamental importance for the destiny of the band. Frey and Henley first met in 1970 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and discovered they worked for the same label, Amos Records. When Ronstadt summoned them, the two were already friends. They worked with her on the album of the same name published in 1971 in which, as simple session players, also the brothers Michael and Richard Bowen, the ex-Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as valid multi-instrumentalists, Bernie Leadon (Minneapolis – July 19, 1947) and “Sneaky Pete Kleinow, and bassist Randy Maisner (Scottsbluff – March 8, 1946) from Ritchie Furay’s Poco.
2. Linda Ronstadt Involvement
In 1971, Glenn Frey and Don Henley were playing for the band of the well-known American singer Linda Ronstadt. During one of the tours, Frey suggested to Henley that they play together on a new project, and the pair of friends approached Ronstadt to let him know of their wish to leave the group. The singer put them in touch with Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, who accepted the proposal.
3. Teen King
With Frey and Leadon as guitarists, Henley on drums and Meisner on bass, the quartet performed for the first time in Colorado, under the name Teen King and the Emergencies.
4. Local Tribes Worshipping Eagles
The band stood out because, although Frey was the main voice, all the members of the group collaborated with their voices. The members chose the name Eagles after an outing to Arizona, due to a local tribe that worshiped eagles.
5. Take It Easy Was Their First Promotional Single
The band debuted with the album Eagles, released in 1972. In a short time, the album had become a success and critics were quick to applaud the harmonic quality and high-level lyrics of the songs. The first promotional single from the album was Take It Easy, which was well received.
6. Don Felder Joins In
For their next album, the members invited Don Felder, a childhood friend of Bernie Leadon who had shared the stage with the band at a performance. After recording a song, the Eagles asked him to join immediately. The album, titled On the Border, came out in 1975, becoming a new success.
7. Bernie Leadon Left Because He Didn’t Like Hard Rock
In 1975, the Eagles would face the departure of Bernie Leadon, who was not satisfied with the direction the band was taking, since he preferred country music over rock and roll. Shortly after they released an album of their greatest hits, which became the best-selling album of the century in the United States.
8. Joe Walsh’s Hotel California
With Joe Walsh as guitarist and the Eagles at the peak of stardom, the album Hotel California was released in 1976. The single that bore the album’s name was a resounding success, going down in history as one of the most iconic songs. 20th century. The enigmatic letter of the subject raised enormous controversy; Some listeners pointed out that the song had satanic or cannibalistic messages, which the band was quick to disprove.
9. Frey And Henley’s Full Control Led Them Go To Pop
The whirlwind rhythms of the tour and the accumulated stress exacerbated the tensions already present within the group. In particular, the absolute control exercised by Glenn Frey and Don Henley, regarding the artistic / musical choices, began to irritate the other members. It was above all Leadon who was affected by this almost dictatorial management and by the radical change of style, showing himself more and more intolerant towards the other members. Strongly oriented towards the country, he reluctantly underwent the pop twist impressed on the last two works. His presence became, over time, more and more marginal and his frustration became unbearable, so much so that he was forced to leave the band in the worst possible way. It is said that, during a heated verbal confrontation, he spilled a mug of beer on Frey’s head. Evidently a point of no return had come and the separation was inevitable.
10. Tension Rising
The subsequent promotional tour was, however, fatal to the band. Internal tensions escalated to such an extent that they reached their peak on July 31, 1980 when, during a stop in Long Beach (later renamed “Long Night In Wrong Beach”) Felder and Frey discussed animatedly throughout the concert. The Eagles inevitably disbanded soon after, although Elektra Records, the group’s new record company, already had plans to release a live album taken from the last tour. Eagles Live was affected by the poisoned climate in which he was conceived. The tracks contained in it were mixed at a distance by Frey and Henley who, having reached the point of not wanting to share either the same city or, much less the same studio, resided in two opposite places in the United States. Producer Bill Szymczyk said, “The perfect recording of the three-part vocal harmonies was courtesy of Federal Express.” In addition, a lapidary “Thank you and goodnight” appears in the cover credits, which leaves little hope for the fate of the Eagles. Despite this, the album reached a good twenty-first place in the charts, thanks to the presence of an incredible amount of evergreens. Unique unreleased, Steve Young’s “Seven Bridges Road”, a song usually used by the band in the back-stage to warm up before going on stage.
11. The Long Run and The Break Up
The next album after Hotel California, The Long Run, would take two years to complete and was released in 1979. Although it was well received by critics and fans, the Eagles announced their separation shortly thereafter. The band argued that irreparable differences had arisen between the members. The sixth album of carried the title of “The Long Run”, and supposed the rupture of the formation. The album was a success, with songs like “Heartache Tonight,” “The Long Run” and “I Can’t Tell You Why”, but the members of the band had already decided their future. It was the year 1980. Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh started solo careers.
12. The Comeback
In 1994, after fourteen years of separation, the Eagles decided to unite again to continue playing. The first work of this new era is the album “Hell Freezes Over” (Hell freezes), with four new songs and 11 previous hits. The band members pursued solo careers during the 1980s, until they reunited. For the next several years, they toured around the world. Later, in 2001, the group replaced Don Felder with Steuart Smith.
13.The Road Out Of Eden The Unreleased Album
After years of silence, the band, on October 30, 2007, released The Road Out Of Eden, their first unreleased album twenty-eight years after The Long Run. A good record in which the Eagles appear in great shape, capable of ranging from the “a cappella” singing of “No More Walks In The Wood”, to the country-rock of “How Long” and “Busy Being Fabulous”, from soft ballads like “No More Cloudy Days” to the rock of “Fast Company”. The album reached the top of the charts, selling three and a half million copies in the United States alone, winning two Grammys for “How Long” and for the instrumental “I Dreamed There Was No War”. An amazing result, given that, during the first year of publication, it was available in North America only through the official website of the band or only in Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores. The promotional tour started on March 20, 2008 from the O2 Arena in London. to touch the major cities of the world.
14. New Record Is Possible But The Band Are Evasive About It
To this day the Eagles remain one of the most acclaimed bands on the planet, able to collect sold-out everywhere despite the very high ticket prices. Interviewed several times about a possible new record release, Schmit, Walsh and Henley have always, however, answered evasively. However things go, there will always be a host of adoring fans ready to follow the whims, the quarrels, the reconciliations but, above all, the great music, demonstrating that the Eagles still know how to fly high.
15. Frey’s Death
In 2016, however, the news of the death of Glenn Frey, following the complications of rheumatoid arthritis and pneumonia, probably ends the story of the Eagles. “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the death of our companion and founder of the Eagles Glenn Frey, in New York City on January 18, 2016,” reads the text of the announcement on the group’s website. A heavy mourning to be absorbed not only for all the fans of the Californian band, but for the entire history of rock.