“The king”: The musician Glenn Frey crowned as the great American party animal
When Glenn Frey first started Eagles, becoming one of the most dangerous rock and roll bands of all time probably wasn’t on his mind.
He was looking to make melodies that could last forever, and when he started working with Don Henley, those songs were among some of the greatest country rock tunes that the nation had ever spat out. But even though they were used to making the breeziest rock and roll tunes, they did have a few backstage habits that you’d think would be reserved for the hardcore partiers of the world.
After all, they had reached the same heights that bands like Led Zeppelin had reached, and there were more than a few chances for them to entertain themselves when they weren’t onstage. They weren’t exactly choir boys compared to what the rest of the rest of their contemporaries were doing, and when looking through their best tours, there were more than a few times where they seemed to be out of their minds half the time when they weren’t harmonising together.
That might not have been how Henley wanted to live his life, but there was that fraternal sense of competition. Every single show was another test of who could function when they still had some junk in their system, but there was clearly some real resentment going on behind the scenes. Bernie Leadon didn’t like the band getting heavier, and even Randy Meisner would pack his bags and head out before the Hotel California tour was over, but Frey felt that they had an ace in the hole when they drafted in Joe Walsh.
Then again, Walsh did end up having a few disadvantages before he even started recording with them. All of his former bands weren’t exactly known for having the best harmonies, and despite being able to play like a madman, his squawky voice was going to take a little while to be accommodated to what the rest of the band were singing. But the one thing he had in spades was rock and roll swagger.
The band needed a kick in the ass after being called a soft rock act for so long, and Walsh breaking out tunes like ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ during their set was bound to liven up the crowd after going through tunes like ‘Take It Easy’. But even if Frey knew what he was getting into with Walsh, he remembered that there were more than a few hotels that they weren’t allowed to go back to because of him.
Walsh had already been friends with Keith Moon before he joined the band, but Frey felt that there was no wilder party animal in America than him, saying, “Joe Walsh was the American king of room trash. He had studied under some of the best. At this point we were staying in nice hotels and drinking expensive wine. We were staying in Chicago at the Astor Towers. And that night, with much glee, Joe set about to set the world record for room trash.” And with John Belushi as his partner in crime, it’s not like they were getting off clean without a hefty bill at the end of things.
The band’s manager did end up having to pay a $20,000 bill for all of the damages that night, but that was just the beginning of the hijinks. Walsh was a loose cannon on the same level as Moon back in the day, and while the band weren’t exactly ready to handle that kind of musician, they knew that they wouldn’t be respected as rock and rollers if they simply told everyone to calm things down at the end of the night.
Rock and roll wasn’t about being mellow all the time, and while the message behind ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ ended up making Henley sick after a while, it was all about documenting what their life was like on the road. They were heading as fast as any rock band could go at that point, but even when working at their peak, they probably weren’t looking at the comedown when they eventually started working on The Long Run.
