The solo song Don Henley always regretted: “It pissed people off”
How many musicians have gone on to make better music in their solo careers? As great as all of The Beatles’ individual music was, none of it superseded the work of the band and come to think of similar examples from that era of music, I would be inclined to suggest it’s largely a similar story. In fact, it is certainly the case for the Eagles.
Albeit not as musically innovative as, say, The Beatles, there is no denying that Eagles mastered their own brand of soft-rock. Sure, the bands with whom they shared the sunny hills of California did, too, showcase stunning three-part harmonies, but Eagles created a sound that was deeply unique to them. Americana, country, and, at times, psychedelia were blended in one melting pot of smooth Californian rock.
At the heart of that was Don Henley’s voice. Powerful, soulful, and delicate all in one, it perfectly embodied the soft-edged sound of the band, one that flirts with the darkness of music and all its misgivings while maintaining an upbeat melodic disposition.
But around the smooth tones of Henley’s voice swirled chaos. The band were notoriously fractious, and their musical kinship was built on a deep level of anger towards one another. In many ways, they were a ticking time bomb that eventually went off during a fateful gig at Long Beach in 1980.
While the band performed in front of a crowd of sun-drenched smiles, in the heat of the Pacific coast afternoon, little did they know that in between songs, Glenn Frey and Don Felder were exchanging threatening mutterings that, come the end of the performance, would culminate in a fist fight. Despite the fact that the group had pushed on through multiple fallouts over the course of the 1970s, their position as a band had now become untenable, and they were left to their own devices.
As the vocalist, you would assume Henley felt the most liberated by this creative change, for he had the means to explore whatever territory he wanted as a frontman. And so two years after the break-up, when he released his debut album, I Can’t Stand Still, Eagles fans still reeling from their fallout felt encouraged at the opportunity to lean back into their country rock roots once again.
But Henley followed in the footsteps of icons who grew at every creative corner by embracing change and led with a single that shocked Eagles fans. ‘Johnny Can’t Read’ was very much of the 1980s, embracing a chirpy, upbeat melody led by the caustic tones of electronic instruments, marking a drastically new chapter for the former Eagles singer. But one, he soon regretted.
“‘Johnny Can’t Read’ [the album’s first single] was the wrong thing to do,” Henley once said. “It was a little bit too much of a leftfield turn from the Eagles days, and it took a lot of people by surprise. It was too controversial. It pissed people off.”
As his solo career developed throughout the decade, Henley returned to the sounds where he felt comfortable, with songs like ‘The Boys of Summer’ and ‘Dirty Laundry’. It proved that his legacy of greatness wasn’t necessarily like Bowie’s, rooted in ever-changing innovation, but rather his mastery of a specific genre. One that, along with his band of argumentative brothers, he helped forge.
