The Eagles

Induction Year: 1998

Induction Category: Performer

"Inductees: Don Felder (guitar; born 9/21/47), Glenn Frey (born 11/6/48; guitar, vocals), Don Henley (drums, vocals; born 7/22/47), Bernie Leadon (guitar, mandolin, banjo; born 7/19/47), Randy Meisner (bass, vocals; born 3/8/46), Timothy B. Schmit (bass, vocals; born 10/30/47), Joe Walsh (guitar, vocals; born 11/20/47)

The Eagles chronicled America in the high-flying Seventies, a time of rapidly changing social mores leading up to what they called “life in the fast lane.” Between the lines, their favorite subject matter was the pursuit and unraveling of the American dream. They began as wide-eyed country-rockers on the fertile Los Angeles music scene and evolved into purveyors of grandiose, dark-themed albums about excess and seduction. The Eagles were defined and bounded by the Seventies, forming in 1971 and parting ways in 1980. They were born again in 1994 as public demand for their music and messages persuaded them to reunite.

The statistics on the Eagles reveal their influence as a rock and roll band. The group’s first best-of collection, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, is the best-selling album of all time, having sold 26 million copies. It was the first album to be certified platinum (1 million sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America, which introduced that classification in 1976. They released four consecutive #1 albums between 1975 and 1979-One of These Nights, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, Hotel California and The Long Run-which collectively topped Billboard’s album chart for 27 weeks. Proving they hadn’t lost their touch, the 1994 reunion album Hell Freezes Over occupied the #1 spot for two weeks. The Eagles charted five #1 hits, and five more singles made the Top Ten. They sold more albums in the Seventies than any other American band. Moreover, though the band was inactive in the Eighties, their back catalog steadily sold 1.5 million copies a year.

The Eagles formed in Los Angeles as four musicians from varied backgrounds and locales. Drummer Don Henley had migrated west from Texas with his band, Shiloh. Guitarist Glenn Frey was a rocker from Detroit who headed to Los Angeles, where he befriended fellow musicians and John David Souther. Bernie Leadon, who plays a variety of stringed instruments, boasted a bluegrass background and belonged to the Flying Burrito Brothers. Bassist and high-harmony singer Randy Meisner played with such country- and folk-rock mainstays as Rick Nelson, and Poco. After touring together in 1971 as members of Linda Ronstadt’s band, they went off on their own and were honing the repertoire of songs that would appear on their debut album, Eagles.

At this point, their country-flavored rock evoked vistas as boundless as those of the Old West, whose frontier mythology they adopted. The album kicked off with the rousing country-rocker “Take It Easy” (cowritten by Frey and Browne). It also contained the Eagles standards “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Witchy Woman.” The social milieu of Southern California inspired the central metaphor of Desperado, a concept album in which the Eagles explored the notion of rocker-as-outlaw. Released in 1973, it yielded such Eagles favorites as “Tequila Sunrise” and the title track. The group’s third album, On the Border, found the Eagles changing producers (Glyn Johns to Bill Szymczyk) and locales (London to Los Angeles). Harder-rocking than its predecessors, On the Border was beefed up by the addition of guitarist Don Felder late in the sessions. Ironically, it was an acoustic ballad, “The Best of My Love,” that carried them to the top of the charts in March 1975.

One of These Nights, the Eagles’ next album, reflected the disillusionment that had infiltrated the political outlooks and personal lives of young Americans at mid-decade. With the nation poised between Watergate and the Bicentennial, the Eagles unerringly captured the mood of uncertainty and mistrust. The group was rewarded with their first #1 album and a trio of hit singles: “One of These Nights,” “Lyin’ Eyes” and “Take It to the Limit.” One of These Nights took six months to make, and the increasingly grueling recording process, along with the creative control exerted by chief songwriters Henley and Frey, caused Bernie Leadon to quit at the end of 1975. He was replaced by Joe Walsh, an old friend who added even more of a hard-rock edge to the Eagles’ sound.

By now, the Eagles could justifiably be called superstars. The Eagles raised the stakes with their masterful fifth album, Hotel California, and its haunting, metaphorical title track. Largely composed in the studio, Hotel California was released in December 1976. The album instantly struck a responsive chord and stands as their best-selling release (excluding compilations). The Eagles added a popular catch phrase to the lexicon-"Life in the fast lane"-and set a new standard for song composition and recording with the exquisitely layered “Hotel California.” However, the year spent making Hotel California claimed another member. Citing exhaustion, Randy Meisner left in September and was replaced by Timothy Schmit, formerly of Poco.

Sessions for their sixth album, The Long Run, dragged on for two years and drove the Eagles to the breaking point. Though it was by all outward standards a success, yielding yet another trio of hits ("Heartache Tonight,” “The Long Run” and “I Can’t Tell You Why"), its making had been a draining experience that ultimately spelled the Eagles’ demise. Tellingly, the album cover was black. “I knew the Eagles were over about halfway through The Long Run,” said Frey. Their swan song was Eagles Live, a double album released in 1980. By that time the group had essentially disbanded, though no formal announcement was made. “We probably peaked on Hotel California,” Henley noted in a 1982 interview. “After that, we started growing apart as collaborators and as friends.”

Various members-particularly Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh-thereupon launched or resumed successful solo careers. Meanwhile, the Eagles’ ongoing influence inspired the renegade “new country” movement. When 13 of country’s hottest acts recorded the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles in 1993, its triple-platinum success helped trigger an Eagles reunion a year later. Glenn Frey announced at the start of a 1994 concert for MTV’s cameras that the Eagles’ 14-year-old “vacation” had ended. “We see this not as a reunion but a resumption,” Frey explained. The Eagles recorded four new studio songs, and these joined live run-throughs of 11 old favorites for Hell Freezes Over. The subsequent Eagles tours-whose high-priced tickets engendered some controversy-were bonafide events for fans who’d despaired of ever seeing them share a stage again. The Eagles closed out the century as headliners at a Millennium Eve concert in Los Angeles.”

TIMELINE

March 8, 1946: Randy Meisner was born.

July 19, 1947: Bernie Leadon was born.

July 22, 1947: Don Henley was born.

September 21, 1947: Don Felder was born.

October 30, 1947: Timothy B. Schmit was born.

November 20, 1947: Joe Walsh was born.

November 6, 1948: Glenn Frey was born.

January 1, 1970: David Geffen establishes Asylum Records. The first artist he signs is . The label’s roster eventually will include Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles, , J.D. Souther and numerous other Los Angeles musicians.

June 1, 1970: Don Henley arrives in L.A. from Texas. He will soon join Glenn Frey in Linda Ronstadt’s backing band.

April 1, 1971: Linda Ronstadt recruits Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner for her touring band from among a pool of musicians centered around the Troubadour, a Los Angeles club that is the center of the nascent country-rock scene.

August 1, 1971: After signing to David Geffen’s fledgling Asylum label, the Eagles tighten up their act during a month-long residency at the Gallery Club in Aspen, Colorado.

March 1, 1972: The Eagles record their eponymous debut album with producer-engineer Glyn Johns in London.

June 24, 1972: The Eagles chalk up the first of many hits with “Take It Easy.” The song reaches Number Twelve. Three months later, “Witchy Woman” will do even better — Number Nine.

January 1, 1974: Guitarist Don Felder joins the Eagles during sessions for their third album, ‘Already Gone.’

March 1, 1975: “The Best of My Love” becomes the Eagles’ first #1 hit and million-selling single. Four more will follow: “One of These Nights” (1975), “New Kid in Town” (1977), “Hotel California” (1977) and “Heartache Tonight” (1979).

July 27, 1975: One of These Nights (The Eagles) was a hit.

January 1, 1976: Guitarist Joe Walsh replaces multi-instrumentalist Bernie Leadon, who was not pleased that sessions for ‘One of These Nights’, released in June 1975, had consumed half a year of their lives.

March 13, 1976: ‘Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975,’ a best-of drawn from the Eagles’ first four albums, enters the album chart. One-third of a century later it will be pronounced the best-selling album in history.

December 25, 1976: ‘Hotel California’ enters the album charts for the first of 107 weeks.

February 20, 1977: New Kid in Town (The Eagles) was a hit.

May 1, 1977: Hotel California (The Eagles) was a hit.

October 20, 1979: ‘The Long Run’ begins its yearlong run on the charts, including nine weeks at #1—one more week than Hotel California’s reign at the top.

November 4, 1979: Heartache Tonight (The Eagles) was a hit.

July 1, 1980: Performances in Santa Monica and Long Beach, ‘Eagles Live’. Shortly after these dates, Glenn Frey calls Don Henley to announce that the Eagles were over. “I started the band, I got tired of it, and I quit,” Frey said in 1982.

October 12, 1993: ‘Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles’, an album in which some of country music’s hottest stars pay tribute to the Eagles, is released. It sells more than 3 million copies, wins the Country Music Association’s Album of the Year Award, and rekindles interest in the band.

April 25-26, 1994: The reunited Eagles perform live at Warner Burbank Studios for an MTV special that is aired the following November.

October 26, 1994: MTV premieres “The Eagles: Hell Freezes Over.” The music special receives a 2.5 Nielsen rating and more than 2 million viewers tune in for this concert performance. This show marks the first time since 1980 that the band members Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt perform together.

November 8, 1994: ‘Hell Freezes Over’, the first album of new recordings by the Eagles since 1980, is released. It includes four new studio compositions, including the hit single “Get Over It.”

January 12, 1998: The Eagles are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the thirteenth annual induction dinner. Jimmy Buffett is their presenter.

November 11, 1999: The Recording Association of America names the Eagles to its list of Artists of the Century, putting them in the elite company of , Garth Brooks, , and Barbra Streisand. It is also announced that ‘Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975’ has sold 26 million copies, making it the top-selling album of the 20th century.

Essential Songs

Hotel California
Take It Easy
Desperado
Life In the Fast Lane
One of These Nights
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Take It to the Limit
Lyin’ Eyes
The Long Run
Already Gone

Recommended Reading

To the Limit: The Untold History of the Eagles
Marc Eliot. New York: Little, Brown, 1998.

Heaven Is Under Our Feet: A Book for Walden Woods
Don Henley and Dave Marsh (eds.). New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1992.

Eagles: The Long Run
Marc Shapiro. London: Omnibus, 1995.