The only number one Glenn Frey had without Eagles
There’s hardly any band that the charts loved more than Eagles.
Even if they weren’t exactly the critical darlings when they first debuted, the natural catchiness of tunes like ‘Take It Easy’ and ‘One of These Nights’ were more than enough to get them on the radio no matter what any of the tastemakers of the world had to say about them. But while they worked great as a united front, it was always going to be a little bit shaky when all of them decided to fly solo for the first time.
Then again, Don Henley and Glenn Frey didn’t really need to worry about a thing. They were the Lennon and McCartney of the group in many respects, and even if Joe Walsh had his own solo career going for him at the time, it was a lot easier for people to get onboard with Henley’s ‘Dirty Laundry’ than anything that Timothy B Schmitt or Don Felder had cooking up.
If Frey hadn’t struck first, though, Henley would have had a much different outlook on his solo career. Frey was the one that ended everything in the first place after having it out with Felder, but when he put out his first solo record by himself, he was more interested in making a more ramshackle project. Half the songs he wrote at the time had the kind of pop sheen everyone expected, so bringing in Jack Tempchin to have some fun on his debut was his way of cutting loose.
Once Henley’s star began to rise, though, Frey’s time as a solo artist started to be a little bit complicated. While it was never bad by any means, there was no way that he was going to match the kind of heights that Henley was doing, especially when he was trying to juggle his music career with his life as an actor working on shows like Miami Vice. ‘Smuggler’s Blues’ did give him a decent hit, but it wasn’t until a few years in before he got the right tune.
Admittedly, Frey did have a lot of help from the soundtrack business around that time as well. A lot of the songs coming off of his records felt like a slightly “edgier” version of what people like the Traveling Wilburys would be doing later, but ‘The Heat Is On’ didn’t exactly feel out of place when featured on the soundtrack to Beverly Hills Cop, and when ‘You Belong to the City’ debuted in the background of Miami Vice, it was almost too perfect.
As much as some people have memories of listening to Phil Collins’s ‘In the Air Tonight’ in the show, there aren’t many tunes that sum up the feeling of LA quite like this. From the moody instrumentation to the beautiful saxophone solo in between the verses, this is Frey giving Los Angeles the same kind of sheen that most people think of when they write songs about the beauty of New York City.
But even for all the great tunes Frey had, ‘You Belong to the City’ was the only one that gave him a number-one hit. The rest of his records would usually fall through the cracks or end up with modest placements on the charts. It was never terrible by any means, but it was a lot easier to focus on ‘The Boys of Summer’ than worry about the more soulful ballads that Frey had in his arsenal.
That’s not to say either direction is bad; they were just different. Frey could have easily kept going with his solo career and passed on Eagles reunions for the rest of his life, but his solo career is nothing more than further proof of what David Geffen said when he first thought about signing him. He was a good singer and a fantastic songwriter, but sometimes the best in the business need people to stand alongside them.
