The Eagles

[Martin Hash]

When I was in High School, I used to listen to The Eagles at one of my first jobs. The guy I worked for's wife had an affair and they were estranged, and whenever the song “Lyin' Eyes” came on the radio, he always looked sad. I found out who sang that song, and my Eagles fanhood began. I can remember being at the record store when their new album came out; it caught my attention because it had a sticker on the wrapper that said “Including Joe Walsh.” Joe Walsh part of The Eagles!? My goodness, Joe Walsh was a guitar god, a Rock superstar in his own right. I loved Joe Walsh. I'd never bought an Eagles album before but I bought that one: “Hotel California.” Damn, what a great album. In fact, “Eagles – Greatest Hits” is the biggest selling album of all time primarily on the strength of the songs from Hotel California. I've heard Hotel California thousands of times, so has everyone else, certainly every kid knows Hotel California. Whole generations younger than me traversed into adulthood listening to The Eagles, and I smile whenever I see some kid singing along to the songs.

There were other bands; Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, that were formative but I never really gave it much thought until it became clear that the opportunity to see them live was quickly diminishing. For example, when The Rolling Stones came through town, tickets for my wife and me were going to be $2000. “Screw that!” I thought. “No band's worth $2000.” But as the years ticked by, I kept thinking about the chance I had to see The Rolling Stones and missed it. $2000 started to seem pretty reasonable really. Then Tom Petty died. Damn, I REALLY wanted to see Tom Petty but had frittered away the chance.

AlbumCovers.jpg

Christmas came. I got my son, Heath, an original Nirvana “Nevermind” album. It's a German First Edition that I got off of eBay from Greece. I bought a beautiful two-sided glass frame for it to hang in his house after he gets married. He loved it. I'd bought some more frames, and we went through my old albums and framed the ones I remembered fondly, one of which was “Eagles – Greatest Hits.” THE VERY NEXT DAY Heath sent me an email that The Eagles were coming to town. When people talk about a “no brainer,” that is what they mean.

Joe Walsh.jpg

Hotel California.jpg

[Matt Campbell]

Sad day when Glen Frye died. I never really listened to the Eagles but happened upon learning 'Take it Easy' on guitar recently, and really appreciate his voice and his midwestern-Deetroit City twang. I've seen the Stones 5-6 times- first time was in 1981. They are NOTHING of what they once were, and since the bassist Bill Wyman left the group they sorta lost their edge. Keith is more interested in hitting poses than hitting notes, Mick redefines 'tone deaf' every show, Ron Woods guitar isn't even plugged in half the time, and Charlie Watts is just amazing. In the shadows behind the drums up in the elaborate stages they concoct, you can see other people strumming guitars and other instruments. Save your money, rent the Altamont Speedway concert on DVD, back in the day when hippies were hippies and drank ripple, now hipsters are on meth and everything costs way more than free, which is how much Altamont cost to enter.

[DBTrek]

If Martin were a black cab driver.

I was fortunate enough to catch Tom Petty about a month before he died. It was an amazing show, far beyond anything I expected (I guess that’s what happens when you work a craft for 40 years, you get pretty good at it). Promised myself I’d catch him the next time he came through the area. Fate had other plans.

[Speaker to Animals]

One of those albums does not belong. Can you guess which one doesn't belong next to epic albums like Animals and Stranglehold??

[katarn]

When I was in High School, I used to listen to The Eagles at one of my first jobs. The guy I worked for's wife had an affair and they were estranged, and whenever the song “Lyin' Eyes” came on the radio, he always looked sad. I found out who sang that song, and my Eagles fanhood began. I can remember being at the record store when their new album came out; it caught my attention because it had a sticker on the wrapper that said “Including Joe Walsh.” Joe Walsh part of The Eagles!? My goodness, Joe Walsh was a guitar god, a Rock superstar in his own right. I loved Joe Walsh. I'd never bought an Eagles album before but I bought that one: “Hotel California.” Damn, what a great album. In fact, “Eagles – Greatest Hits” is the biggest selling album of all time primarily on the strength of the songs from Hotel California. I've heard Hotel California thousands of times, so has everyone else, certainly every kid knows Hotel California. Whole generations younger than me traversed into adulthood listening to The Eagles, and I smile whenever I see some kid singing along to the songs.

There were other bands; Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, that were formative but I never really gave it much thought until it became clear that the opportunity to see them live was quickly diminishing. For example, when The Rolling Stones came through town, tickets for my wife and me were going to be $2000. “Screw that!” I thought. “No band's worth $2000.” But as the years ticked by, I kept thinking about the chance I had to see The Rolling Stones and missed it. $2000 started to seem pretty reasonable really. Then Tom Petty died. Damn, I REALLY wanted to see Tom Petty but had frittered away the chance.


AlbumCovers.jpgChristmas came. I got my son, Heath, an original Nirvana “Nevermind” album. It's a German First Edition that I got off of eBay from Greece. I bought a beautiful two-sided glass frame for it to hang in his house after he gets married. He loved it. I'd bought some more frames, and we went through my old albums and framed the ones I remembered fondly, one of which was “Eagles – Greatest Hits.” THE VERY NEXT DAY Heath sent me an email that The Eagles were coming to town. When people talk about a “no brainer,” that is what they mean.

Joe Walsh.jpgHotel California.jpg

I think that all about the current kids and such is probably still true, but it might fade soon. I'd wager there's a ton of kids who really love that older music (from a kid's view, ten years or so makes music old), but just as many who've never heard of any of these bands. Which is kind of sad, since a lot of that stuff is much better than the normal stuff put out today (of course, popular memory tends to forget the crap of previous eras).

[SuburbanFarmer]

I’d struggle to name 3 modern bands that are destined to be “classics”.

[Kath]

I love almost every Eagles song. Life in the Fast Lane is probably the only one I don't care for. I haven't seen a ton of concerts in my life; it's never been a huge draw for me.

I recently got to see John Fogerty, and that was cool. Going to see Brit Floyd, a tribute band, next month. They are supposedly very good. They are doing all of Dark Side for this concert.

Got to see a Queen cover band a couple of years ago, and they were fantastic.

I never got to see Elton, David Bowie, The Eagles, Pink Floyd ... missed a bunch of them that I should have gone to.

[Speaker to Animals]

I am fairly confident Hell is basically you listening to the Eagles on eternal repeat.

[SuburbanFarmer]