Eagles to Foo Fighters: The 10 best guitar moments of Joe Walsh
Even before he joined the Eagles, Joe Walsh had established himself as one of the most effervescent players in rock. Prior to linking up with the Californian group and giving them the missing piece of the puzzle they had long sought, he had confirmed his fire on the fretboard with the James Gang and Barnstorm, and was even invited to join the legendary Steve Marriott’s Humble Pie after Peter Frampton departed, an opportunity he turned down.
Naturally, his attitude-laden, genre-bending licks caused some consternation for members of the Eagles after they extended the invitation for him to replace the outgoing Bernie Leadon, as Walsh’s take on rock had always been much more muscular than their breezy Americana. However, these fears were soon put to bed when it became clear that he was the perfect player to provide a foil to Don Felder’s ice-cool sliding proclivities.
It wouldn’t be long until the band’s drummer and one of their in-house songwriting trio, Don Henley, would liken the pair to Duane Allman and Eric Clapton in the ephemeral Derek and the Dominos. Their masterwork will always be the dovetailing solos at the end of ‘Hotel California’, the group’s best-known hit, and the title track of their most iconic album, which, significantly, was the first to feature Walsh.
Yet, as a true maestro of the six-string, Walsh’s work with the Eagles, while his most famous sonic exploits, only account for a portion of his might. Outside of the bickering soft rockers, he’s committed many moments to tape that show how excellent, dynamic and comprehensive his playing is. Because of this, today we’re celebrating his greatest moments on the six-string. We’ve listed them in chronological order.
The best guitar moments of Joe Walsh:
James Gang – ‘Funk #49’
This 1970 classic by the James Gang was the track that introduced the might of Walsh on the guitar to the world. Featuring a stoned groove and that gritty, choppy main riff from him, it’s an absolute earworm that fuses hard rock and funk to wondrous effect.
While Walsh has always been dismissive of the quality of the lyrics, which are about a wild girlfriend, this jam was never about the words. It emerged from him coming up with the central lick and was built around it. The guitar performance displays Walsh’s rhythmic flair, his knack for punchy riffs, and his vivid imagination in songwriting, with the link-up between the drums and guitars impressive.
James Gang – ‘The Bomber’
James Gang are a band well deserving of your time. They instilled real fury into rock and utilised flecks of metal, alternative rock and punk before they’d even formed. While Walsh’s wailing vocals are undoubtedly overlooked, his animated, expressive guitar work was always the tip of the band’s spear, which he displays once more on ‘The Bomber’.
One of the brilliant things about Walsh as a player is that you never know what he’s going to do next. He establishes this on the potent jam ‘The Bomber’, which not only cheekily interpolated Ravel’s ‘Boléro’ but astutely used it to create the headiest solo of Walsh’s early career, with it coated in effects, brimming with melodic flair, and cleverly weaponising dissonance. The floating ending of the solo is like a precursor to the sound of The Verve’s Nick McCabe. Brilliant.
James Gang – ‘Walk Away’
The James Gang weren’t just about ‘Funk #49’. This 1971 single doubles up as one of Walsh’s catchiest compositions and most pioneering. It also features some of that heaviness that would inspire the alternative rock of Foo Fighters and Alice in Chains years later.
Another moment that was ahead of its time, it welds Walsh’s take on hard rock and funk with a strange, soul-evoking chorus and, interestingly, features him using different types of distortion for impact, affording a different dimension to the lyrics detailing the brutal end of a relationship. From the varied use of distortion to the textural noise of the solo, and the crunching low end he delves into, it was clear that Walsh was one of the first alt-rockers with this track.
Barnstorm – ‘Rocky Mountain Way’
A slice of classic hard rock from Walsh, clearly inspired by his blues influences, this strutting number was motivated by him mowing the lawn one day and looking up at the snow-covered front range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. As Walsh had not long left the James Gang, this was the stimulation he needed to bring to life one of his most tangible forays into Americana.
A deeply bluesy number that could quite easily have been the work of ZZ Top, Walsh’s guitar playing is based on feel here. The main riff is rich, using a slide guitar, and the middle section is a strange jam, setting it apart from other cuts of the day. He didn’t stop there either; always wanting to push his playing into new spaces, he uses the guitar talk box by Bob Heil, the man behind the Heil high-powered talk box, to give it that extra dose of mountain man ruggedness.
Eagles – ‘Hotel California’
Even people who don’t like the Eagles must have some soft spot for the Leviathan that is ‘Hotel California’. Perfectly bringing to life the surreal, drug-affected nature of the Los Angeles they wrote it in, it features classic performances from all of the band, with Don Felder deserving much praise as he wrote the music.
However, as everyone knows, the best part of the song, which is over six minutes, is the extended solos that Felder and Walsh dive into in the climax, with Felder’s undertaken on a Gibson double neck and Walsh on his trusty Fender Telecaster, wherein they synchronise perfectly, taking turns to play the lead, harmonising and rattling off arpeggios. Not only is it a defining moment for both players and a masterwork in a twin guitar assault, but it’s always been a challenge for Walsh, confirming that guitarists always have to push themselves to reach the promised land of celebration and lasting influence.
Eagles – ‘Life in the Fast Lane’
Walsh is such a bad boy on the guitar that this Hotel California highlight emerged from the finger exercises he used to do at rehearsals. One day, when he busted it out, Henley was astounded by its vivacity and asked him what in the hell they had just heard. They then committed to figuring it out and making it a full-fledged song.
It’s a classic Walsh moment in that it blends hard rock fire with a swaggering, funk-inflected groove. Its energy is palpable, and the riff is absolutely exquisite. Around halfway through, it takes on a truly epic essence, boasting those catchy hammer-ons and him and Felder dovetailing with such potency that it brings Glenn Frey’s lyrics about riding in the titular lane with a drug dealer to life. That’s even before the solo, which is one of his ultimate moments.
Joe Walsh – ‘Life’s Been Good’
Although many think that ‘Hotel California’ is Walsh’s finest playing moment, I’d argue that it’s ‘Life’s Been Good’. First appearing on the soundtrack to the 1978 movie FM, it was later featured on that year’s But Seriously, Folks… and sees him sardonically reflect on the antics of rockstars. This lyrical prowess, vocal delivery and guitar performance all add to the argument that it’s a serious contender for his ultimate moment, period.
His playing is absolutely phenomenal across the 8-minute masterpiece. The layered opening riff is towering, sliding, and more assertive than anything he committed to tape with the Eagles; his chiming choppy chords keep the whole thing moving in the verses, and the picking pattern as he sings, “Life’s been good to me so far,” is a slice of pure genius. Then, there are the solos in the finale. Absolutely tremendous.
The fact that Walsh was being somewhat ironic with the song makes it even more astounding.
Eagles – ‘King of Hollywood’
Unsurprisingly, one of the Eagles’s most atmospheric songs features Walsh on heat. A track based upon the dark side of Hollywood and the sinister way those in power would control the lives of their stars, this moment from 1979’s The Long Run is greatly overlooked. Not only is it a celebration of all things minor key, but the fact that this number is based on two chords shows just how mighty Walsh’s intellect is and how effective his partnership with Felder was.
Kicking off with spacey licks, it becomes gradually more detailed as the song develops, with the pair of players layering each other and showing their force. It builds to an epic symphony wherein the two bounce off each other, with their melodies and tones perfect for the song’s essence, with each stroke painting a broader picture of regret.
Don Henley – ‘Dirty Laundry’
As the Eagles broke up in 1980, it left the members to explore whatever musical palettes they saw fit. Henley wasted no time delving into the synthy new wave that was all the rage at the start of the decade and released his debut solo album, I Can’t Stand Still, in 1982. While it would receive a mixed reception, with its 1984 successor, Building the Perfect Beast, his best solo effort, it still contained some moments that appealed to fans, including ‘Dirty Laundry’.
Of course, the song, which trashes the callous tabloids, is dated, but it is lifted from being terrible by featuring a guitar solo by Joe Walsh. The Eagles might have been on the back burner, but in one fell swoop, he showed that none of his potency had been lost in this downtime. It’s searing, full of effects, dissonance, hammer-ons and bends, and resoundingly exhibited that Walsh was far ahead of his time. People talk about Eddie Van Halen being on fire during this era, but what about Walsh? It’s probably to do with his personal issues at the time.
Foo Fighters – ‘Outside’
Yes, that’s right, Joe Walsh has featured on a song by Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters, which illustrates how far his cultural reach extends away from the pretty square reaches of Henley and co. Taken from 2014’s Sonic Highways, the Butch Vig-produced effort that contains performances from a host of legends, ‘Outside’ is the highlight.
It contains both Walsh’s scintillating lead guitar work and the backing vocals of Chris Goss. Although Walsh is blistering throughout, showing his alternative rock prowess, the solo is what takes the crown. Textural, spacey and doused in delay and reverb, it resoundingly confirms how effective his approach is in the contemporary context. It’s more narcotic than anything else in his oeuvre.
