The “bitter” Eagles member Don Henley said tried to destroy his career
No musician is obligated to have warm feelings about their former bandmates. Groups fall out for a reason, and sometimes there are more than a few bruised egos that get in the way of people reuniting over a beer and talking things through. While Don Henley managed to steer the Eagles through some of their final shows together, he admitted that former guitarist Don Felder had been trying to ruin his reputation for years.
But it’s not like Felder didn’t have some kind of power in the group when he was there. He may not have written any lyrics and only contributed guitar lines to most of their greatest songs, but writing the chord progression to ‘Hotel California’ and playing the blistering solo is something no one can take away from him.
Despite Felder being joined at the hip with Joe Walsh every time they made a record together, he tended to be at arm’s length from the rest of the group behind the scenes. He certainly wanted to have greater input into the group and treat everything like a democracy, but considering the entire band went behind his back to record their version of ‘Victim of Love’, he knew there was no way that would happen.
Even though he was willing to let some things go when reuniting with them for the Hell Freezes Over tour, Felder still couldn’t let go of the pay cut that he would be facing in the group, eventually getting “the only asshole” in the band by Glenn Frey when they were negotiating their contracts. When you can’t get a word in with a band that big, the only logical thing is to bring your story to the public.
As the Eagles worked on albums like Long Road Out of Eden, Felder put together his tell-all book talking about all of the problems that he faced in their prime. The guitarist didn’t pull punches, either, talking about how Frey and Henley didn’t want to release their second greatest hits and explaining why he felt forced out of the group rather than given a fair shot to speak his mind.
Despite trying to spin a narrative about how the leaders of the band were ruthless, Henley thought it couldn’t be further from the truth, telling The Guardian, “A lot of people on the outside believe a lot of the bullshit in Don Felder’s book and believe Glenn Frey, and I are some kind of tyrants. We are largely responsible both for the longevity and the success of this band. 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.”
Felder’s immortal guitar chops may not be a part of the Eagles’ set anymore, but they could certainly find a worthy replacement when they brought in Steuart Smith and Vince Gill. Even though it’s easy to see him as a hired gun, Smith is one of the greatest parts of seeing the group perform these days, hanging in the background when he needs while also matching the intensity of Walsh.
And while Gill has his own stellar country career, his guitar playing puts most modern shredders to shame, almost filling in the gaps left behind in the 1970s when Bernie Leadon left the fold following One of These Nights. Regardless of who’s playing the guitar these days, Henley can rest easy at night knowing that his band is still running when their contemporaries have fallen.
