“I’m not sure”: The reason Don Henley refused to make any new albums
The entire music industry can be extremely fickle regarding new artists. There might be some true legends of the world that still love to play music for the joy of hearing the perfect melody, but it’s hard to get that worked up about making another song when someone’s forcing you into the studio and threatening to tear up your record contract if you don’t have material after a certain time. Don Henley may have known how the sausage was made ever since his days in the Eagles, but he eventually figured that the world was much better if he didn’t have to ever go back behind the glass.
Then again, Henley was always searching for the perfect take whenever he worked with the California rockers. Most people would have been fine trying to get a version of a song with no mistakes, but Henley knew the best way to record was to treat it like a job, and that meant doing everything from preserving his voice to making sure that every note he sang was up to the standards he set for himself.
And it’s not like those standards weren’t high. Eagles were already considered one of the greatest vocal bands of all time, so when they made a record like Long Road Out of Eden, the only thing they had to measure everything against was themselves when they were in their 20s. That’s simply not fair, but there are moments on tunes like ‘How Long’ where they get close to sounding like their old selves.
By the time they made their comeback record, the music industry had gone through a few more shakeups. The age of streaming wasn’t yet upon them, but since the mp3s were dominating the conversation around music, the only way the band could make any profit was to cut a deal with Wal-Mart to make sure that they could sell the record but also didn’t raise the price out of the reach of their fans.
While there’s no chance of the band making another Eagles album after Glenn Frey passed away, Henley has tried to keep busy with his solo career by releasing the album Cass County. But whereas earlier he had been optimistic that he would keep his music rolling, he said later that he wasn’t exactly itching to go back in the studio if he didn’t have a good reason behind it.
Now that the album market has completely shifted, Henley has said that he doesn’t see a point in making a new record if no one’s going to hear it, saying, “I’m not sure I care any more. Because we could make the best album we’ve ever made in the history of this band, and it wouldn’t get played on the radio simply because it’s all about demographics now, it’s about marketing youth to youth.”
For anyone who’s been paying attention to him long enough, though, that would mean leaving a lot of great music unrecorded. There may have been a handful of covers on Cass County, but since this is the same lyrical mastermind that gave us tracks like ‘A Month of Sundays’ or ‘Hotel California’, it would be a shame if he even decided to close the door entirely on his recording career.
But who knows? During an interview he had with Billy Joel, Henley felt that the ‘Piano Man’ was far from done releasing new music, and since Joel eventually found the time to work on tracks like ‘Turn the Lights Back On’, perhaps Henley can make the kind of album that he can be proud solely for the love of the sport.
