The moment that Don Henley said Don Felder crossed the line: “A really low, cheap shot”
If there’s one thing that Don Henley once felt summed him up the best, it’s that he’s a fair person. As he once quipped, “If people say anything about me, it’s that I’m overly generous.”
It’s probably fair to say that he’s also put this theory to the test countless times over the years. Most frictions came at the tail-end of the Eagles’ reign, when Henley kept them treading water when it became particularly hard to coast along. Disagreements are totally normal in bands, as Henley already knew. But what he perhaps didn’t anticipate was the heat that would resurface later, when Don Felder decided it was time to tell his side of the story in a book that didn’t hold back.
The biggest takeaway from the book was that Felder felt he was pushed out of the band and was unable to express how he felt. According to his recollections, his opinions would almost always be dismissed or overruled. This eventually led to him being forced out with nothing but a bitter taste in his mouth. There was, of course, the issue of finances, too, as Felder felt that Henley and Glenn Frey were signed on to receive a higher share than he was.
He also felt that he was pressured into signing a contract that left him with a smaller cut, and so he filed legal action, a move that destroyed whatever remaining respect they had beforehand and any future prospect of being invited back into the group. Henley, of course, found all of his recollections and accusations offensive and far from the truth. And the worst part, according to Henley, was that people believed him.
According to Henley, the reasons for the lies were clear – Felder had been “kicked out of the group” and felt a lingering sourness about it. “The fact is, we are largely responsible both for the longevity and the success of this band,” Henley told The Guardian.
Adding, “Felder’s just bitter because he got kicked out of the group, so he decided to write a nasty little tell-all, which I think is a really low, cheap shot. I mean, I could write some stuff about him that would make your moustache curl.”
He also provided some perspective beyond the drama within the Eagles, saying that every band struggles with dynamics from time to time. In his view, encountering challenges is just a fact of being successful. He mused, “It’s bands, isn’t it? There are factions: the two guys like Mick and Keith against everybody else, or Roger Waters against whoever. Every band has that.”
Eagles might have had more than their share of internal fractures, but he maintains that Felder’s negative spin was embellished by his own bias and inability to bury the hatchet when it’s due. Though even that feels slightly dismissive of all the reasons he had issues with the band towards the end, even if some of it was enhanced by the upset caused along the way. Either way, time hasn’t been all that unkind to the frayed dynamics between the musicians, especially after Felder paid tribute to Frey following his passing in 2016.
Part of his tribute was how Frey was “the James Dean” of the Eagles, and that they never got the chance to fully reconcile before the prolonged fallout. Any chance of reconciliation between Henley and Felder might be off the table, but at least time has rendered them “cordial”, any residual sting from old wounds blending into the past like a barely-remembered piece of their history.
At this point, maybe that’s for the best.
