The hit Eagles song the band argued over releasing: “It’s just the absolute wrong format”
In the 1970s, California was the place to go for hearts drenched in the malaise of subdued everyday life.
Los Angeles wasn’t just a hub for opportunists wanting to try out the bustling music scene for themselves; it was an escape from mundanity, a place people either flocked to or journeyed through to find some bigger or deeper hidden meaning. A place where there existed mystical go-to joints like The Troubadour, where personalities became split between louder figureheads and quietly confident torchbearers.
These places became the central playground for collaboration, with musicians coming together to evolve the sonic landscape into a place where eclecticism reigned supreme against the push to reflect the nature of the times. As Linda Ronstadt once put it, “[It’s] really responsible for the entire music scene over here. It’s a place where performers can be very comfortable and do their best, and other people can see them.”
And so it goes, names like Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, and members of the Eagles came along from places all over the country to see where it would lead. And many of them, at the peak of this immense quest for self-discovery, stumbled across what it was like to feel an immense surge of creative inhibition alongside a greater, arguably more overpowering sense of malaise, both at the reality of being industry leaders as well as central to one of the most transitional periods in history.
For this reason, among many others, many argue that Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ is one of the more ambiguous reflections not only on an entire era but a centralised hub that made it all possible, bringing together both sides of the cognitive dissonance of being an LA-scene challenger as well as simply a human navigating a breeding ground that, for the most part, tried to transform this societal disassociation into music that resonated.
In fact, despite its popularity, ‘Hotel California’ is one of the most mysterious songs ever written. For one, it presents a strangely enticing flavour of being a part of a movement at the peak of its powers and the mythologisation of not knowing what it’s like unless you’re truly a part of it. Also, it subtly navigates the perils of such an experience, and how living in paradise can be a precursor to entering an almost The Shining-esque state of entrapment—a literal and figurative hotel you can’t escape from.
As Don Henley explained to author Marc Eliot: “The concept had to do with taking a look at all the band had gone through, personally and professionally, while it was still happening to them. We were getting an extensive education in life, in love, in business. Beverly Hills was still a mythical place to us. In that sense, it became something of a symbol, and the ‘Hotel’ was the locus of all that LA had come to mean for us. In a sentence, I’d sum it up as the end of the innocence, round one.”
But this isn’t why the band argued over releasing it as a single. Aside from the obvious implications of a band deliberating and possibly choosing not to release the one song that would change their story forever, ‘Hotel California’ was actually argued over, specifically by Don Felder, because of its length. Henley wanted it to be released, while Felder wasn’t so sure.
“AM radio had a specific formula for what it would play,” he once recalled.
He went on to describe how songs had to be around three minutes long, and preferably some kind of “uptempo, wet, mushy ballad”. This iconic track, on the other hand, was over six minutes long, and Henley only comes in just before the minute mark—another thing radio stations shied away from at the time.
“It’s just the absolute wrong format for the radio,” he added.
Obviously he was happy that they went against his wishes and released it anyway, but he also learned something he hadn’t expected along the way, that maybe its length and unconventional formula was something of a breath of fresh air for certain radio stations, giving presenters an opportunity to “go smoke a cigarette or go to the bathroom”.
Of course, there were several other reasons why it started to play on heavy rotation, but having an extended break likely wasn’t too bad either.
