“Everything that was pissing him off”: the Eagles song about Don Henley’s hatred of celebrities
However which way you spin it, there is no getting away from the fact that the Eagles are among the most successful and famous rock bands of all time. From their inception during the early 1970s, the band created by Glenn Frey and Don Henley have produced some truly iconic recordings and amassed a colossal following all over the world. Yet, despite all of this unparalleled success, the group were pretty bitter about the world around them.
In contrast to the hippie counterculture age which preceded the Eagles, the California band rarely wrote politically active or even socially conscious tracks, opting instead for soft rock and broad appeal. In fact, their material was often concerned with the constant in-fighting and conflict within the band’s line-up itself. Nevertheless, as Henley and Frey matured as songwriters, their writing became more and more reflective of their views on society.
Having been together since 1971, albeit with various hiatuses and break-ups punctuating their history along the way, the Eagles have witnessed colossal changes in popular culture. If you look at the cultural landscape of the United States during the early 1970s versus today, the differences are profound.
One of the biggest differences is the change in representations and definitions of ‘celebrity’. Once a term reserved for notable stars in film, television, music, and art, celebrities eventually came to encapsulate anybody who was willing to embarrass themselves on national television for their 15 minutes of fame. By the time the Eagles reformed in 1994, this depressing new era of celebrity was in full swing, and Don Henley took particular umbrage at the swathes of people ready to exploit others for a shot at fame.
In answer to his frustrations with this change in celebrity culture, Henley penned the song ‘Get Over It’, largely aimed at talk show guests blaming others for their failures and exploiting people for a shot at fame. As Glenn Frey recalled, during the documentary, History Of the Eagles, “Don said, ‘I have this one title ‘Get Over It’’, and he proceeded to tell me everything that was pissing him off. Celebrities come on television, and everything wrong with them is someone else’s fault. I’m gonna write a tune called ‘Get Over It’ [about that].”
On one hand, Henley might not have been the best-placed person to write this indictment of celebrity culture, given that he had long since been an incredibly successful and well-known musician with his own problematic past. However, his take on the changing celebrity culture certainly did ring true during the mid-1990s, and audiences in America seemed to respond positively to his frustrations.
‘Get Over It’ marked a successful return for the Eagles following a 14-year absence from the music industry. Reaching number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release, the song showed clearly that there was still a huge market for the Eagles’ distinctive classic rock style, as well as the fact that many other people were becoming fatigued by this constant barrage of fabricated celebrities, too.
Since the release of the single, not a whole lot has changed in terms of celebrity culture. If anything, the trends that Henley lamented within ‘Get Over It’ have only increased past the point of no return – ironically extending the popularity of the Eagles’ track. On the other hand, the song was the last Eagles composition to get into the pop charts, so perhaps American audiences weren’t totally bowled over by the idea of a huge celebrity like Don Henley attempting to tear down other celebrities out of a sense of moral superiority.
