The Eagles album Don Henley felt “typecast” the band
When assembling the Eagles, Don Henley wanted to put together the ultimate rock band he had never seen. Rather than just looking the part, Henley wanted to create songs that would resonate with people for generations to come, pulling from every corner of American music to suit his needs, whether it was the sounds of Motown or the sounds of bluegrass and country music. Although they could wear different sonic costumes on every record, one album became too stifling for them.
During his pre-Eagles days, though, Henley had already been honing his craft working in various upstart bands like Shiloh, finding his way to Los Angeles singing from behind the drum stool. By the time he caught the eye of manager John Boyland, Henley eventually was enlisted to play with up-and-coming vocalist Linda Ronstadt, who would have a massive impact on the California rock scene.
Looking to put together a supergroup to back up Ronstadt, Henley thought that he would be better suited to starting a band with her guitarist, Glenn Frey, with whom he had already started putting songs together. Rounding out the lineup with Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon, the first Eagles were born, crafting an eclectic mix of tunes for their debut album, such as ‘Take It Easy’ and ‘Witchy Woman’.
By the time the band had their first sonic statement, Henley was already itching to dream bigger. After being given a book on gunslingers from Frey by way of Jackson Browne, the songwriting duo set about putting together an album all about the rebels of society, which would become their sophomore release, Desperado.
While the album would only follow a loose concept centred around outlaw behaviour, the title track would turn into one of the most celebrated songs in the group’s catalogue. Despite the album flopping due to their sudden switch towards country music, the title track would endure when Ronstadt later covered it in her solo career.
As the Eagles began to stretch out on their subsequent albums like One of These Nights, Henley couldn’t help but feel that the aesthetic of Desperado had started to put them in a creative box. Instead of their vast array of influences, most people were turning up to shows thinking that the band was nothing more than a country take on rock and roll music.
When discussing the legacy of their sophomore album, Henley thought that the band had been inadvertently typecast as a country act, saying, “It was fun at the time, but unfortunately, we got typecast from that album, and we were never really able to break out of it, even with One of These Nights and Hotel California and all our attempts at white R&B and soul music. We were always typecast as a country-rock band on the strength of our first three albums.”
Looking through their later material, it’s easy to see what Henley was getting at, too, having legitimate rock chops on songs like ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ and dipping their toes into soul music on emotional ballads like ‘I Can’t Tell You Why’. The Eagles may have been able to try on a lot of different genres, but sometimes, a band does one trick a little too well.
