‘Don Henley Must Die’: When the Eagles songwriter crashed a Mojo Nixon gig
‘Death to the mainstream’ has been a prevailing mantra for punk rock since its very beginning. Emerging as a defiant alternative to the perceived complacency of chart music and mainstream rock, punk artists put the power in the hands of grassroots artists and cultural revolutionaries. With that, there have been countless punk anthems which directly call out the worst offenders of mainstream rock, but few have been quite as severe as Mojo Nixon and his 1990 track ‘Don Henley Must Die’.
There is no shortage of reasons to hate Don Henley, particularly if you are a punk rocker. The Eagles’ songwriter defined the sounds of mainstream rock during the 1970s, becoming one of the most successful musicians of all time with his brand of middle-of-the-road rock. In the years that followed, the famously turbulent relationships within the Eagles seemed to routinely repair themselves for a range of reunion shows, including the current residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, which has a ticket price of over $1000.
Punk rock represented the antithesis of the Eagles, and Henley’s consistent reunion cash grabs have made him a continued figure of criticism within the punk world. In 1990, it made the songwriter the focus of a blistering cow-punk track by Mojo Nixon, famous for his unique blend of psychobilly, punk, country music, and folk. The song ‘Don Henley Must Die’, released on Nixon’s 1990 record Otis, tears into the songwriter for his “pretentious” persona and “idiot poetry” songwriting.
Over the course of the song, delivered in a typically tongue-in-cheek manner by Nixon, the songwriter accuses Henley of “killing rock and roll” and urges the listener to “Put him in the electric chair” and “Watch him fry”. Clearly, there can be no misinterpretation of the cow-punk pioneer and his feelings towards Don Henley and the Eagles. Nevertheless, Nixon could not have expected Henley’s reaction to the song.
During a 1992 gig at the infamous Hole In The Wall venue in Austin, Texas, Nixon launched into the song only to find that Don Henley himself was in the audience. “There I was, the king of bullshit, completely flabbergasted,” Nixon recalled to the Austin Chronicle in 2014. “I took my guitar off, put it back on, did that like three times, then got on the mic and said, ‘Don, do you want to debate? Do you want to fist fight?’ He was shit-faced, and he goes, ‘I want to sing that song, especially the part about not getting together with Glenn Frey!'”
“I don’t know how many people can fit in the front room, 100 at the most, but about 5,000 people have told me they were there.”
Mojo Nixon
Seemingly, Henley didn’t mind being put to death by Nixon so long as he could lay an insult on his former bandmate. So, Nixon and his group, The Toadliquors, continued through ‘Don Henley Must Die’ and, when it came to the chorus, the punk singer would pass the mic over to the ‘Hotel California’ songwriter. “Don Henley must die! Don’t let him get back together with Glenn Frey!” the lyrics go, “He was beltin’ that shit out, screaming like he was Johnny fuckin’ Rotten,” recalled Nixon.
In the months and years that followed this bizarre gig, where a drunken Don Henley willingly sang a punk rock about his own execution, the Mojo Nixon show gained something of a legendary reputation. “I don’t know how many people can fit in the front room, 100 at the most,” the singer shared. “But about 5,000 people have told me they were there.”
The biggest surprise of the evening, however, seemed to be that Henley was pretty amicable to Mojo Nixon and the band. “I was surprised he was so magnanimous and that he didn’t punch me,” he said. “That stage is so tiny. He could have knocked me out at any moment.” So, while Nixon never fully got on board with the constant reunion tours and reissues of the Eagles, that 1992 gig did give him a shred of respect for Don Henley.
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