Joe Walsh reveals the truth about ‘Life’s Been Good’
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Credit: Far Out / Alamy / Jim Summaria
How Joe Walsh and John Belushi caused $23,000 worth of damage in one night
The Eagles are one of the most celebrated bands of all time, and for good reason. A sum of their different genius parts, they were Americana and the rock ‘n’ roll spirit combined, providing numerous classics despite a raucous off-stage life and inter-personal struggles.
‘Hotel California’, ‘New Kid in Town’ and ‘Pretty Maids All in a Row’ are just three of their most important tracks, with there no surprise that they remain one of the best-selling artists in history, despite only releasing six albums on their original run between 1971 and 1980.
Making stars of the likes of Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Don Felder, Glenn Frey, and Randy Meisner, The Eagles’ brand of rock is amongst the headiest out there, taking the listener back to the days of the 1970s, a time when everything seemed possible and where the members of the band were some of the hardest partying in music. Some would even go as far as to say they gave the likes of John Lennon and Keith Richards a run for their money.
Whilst each member of The Eagles has their own fair share of tales to tell, the one who possesses the highest volume of anecdotes is their resident guitar hero Joe Walsh, an artist who was by far the most hedonistic of the bunch. From having a romantic dalliance with Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks to touring with The Who and partying with their resident maniac Keith Moon, Joe Walsh has seen and done it all.
Whilst he is brimming with stories that seem fictional to us laypeople, there is one that is so bonkers it reflects just how unhinged rockstars and celebrities were in the 1970s and 1980s. Notably, Walsh was great friends with comedy’s late hellraiser John Belushi of Saturday Night Live and The Blues Brothers fame, and once when speaking on Colbert in 2017, he discussed their friendship, describing that at points, Belushi could be “terrifying”.
During his Colbert appearance, Walsh recalled that the pair were once denied entry into the famed restaurant at the Astor Towers Hotel in Chicago for wearing blues jeans. Duly, the quick-witted Belushi devised a solution, they would spray paint their trousers black in a nearby alley.
In the documentary, The History of The Eagles, Walsh said they were seated without question after returning to the restaurant with their black jeans. However, when they got up to leave, the chairs were black, and their trousers “looked like jeans again”.
This set a precedent for things to come that night. When they went back to The Eagles’ suite at the luxurious Chicago residence, The Gold Coast Hotel, the pair trashed the place. In the documentary, the late Glenn Fry recalled the moment, saying: “And so that night, with a bunch of glee, (Walsh and Belushi) set about to set the world record for room trash”.
This included completely tearing down the wallpaper of the room, and by the time it came for them to check out, Belushi and Walsh were slapped with a bill of $23,000 for damages, as it turned out that the room they were staying in was the owner of the hotel’s private apartment.
