The song that made Eagles the biggest band in America, according to Don Henley
Perhaps more than any band of the 1970s, the Eagles had a true grip on what America was as a country, both good and bad.
As for the good, well, their sun-kissed brand of rock and roll seemingly captured the American dream. Hopeful melodies met spiritual harmonies, chased with iconic guitar solos to make rock that soundtracked driving off into the Western horizon, where your dreams could quite feasibly come true.
But like the reality of the country, it seemingly separates, and a darkness exists should you dare to dig a little deeper. In fact, you need to look no further than their seminal hit ‘Hotel California’ to understand that fully. Once inside the gates of this glamorous hotel, which epitomises the grandeur of the country’s entertainment epicentre, truly nothing but exploitation and manipulation awaits.
“It’s a journey from innocence to experience. It’s not really about California; it’s about America,” Henley said. “It’s about the dark underbelly of the American dream. It’s about excess, it’s about narcissism. It’s about the music business.”
The 1976 song and album helped them become one of the biggest bands of the decade, if not the biggest. Those who understood the deeper meaning of Henley’s critique found the artistic guidance endearing, while those who simply didn’t grasp it similarly adored the song, largely on the basis of it being a ripping rock track that hosted one of music’s most iconic guitar solos at the end.
But looking back on the Eagles’ successful career, Henley would rather place the legacy credit to a song that preceded ‘Hotel California’, arguing that it helped start the wave of success that would come by 1976.
“Ever since ‘Best Of My Love’ kicked off a whole big thing for us, moving us from the top 90 per cent of bands in America to the top 10 per cent,” Henley remembered.
You can see where Henley takes his cues from, given that this track was the first US number one hit for the Eagles. In fact, it was the third single from the album and almost salvaged Henley’s hopes of the Eagles becoming the band they should be. The first two, ‘Already Gone’ and ‘James Dean’, barely made a dent on the charts before ‘Best Of My Love’ swooped in and salvaged their dignity, making a claim for their most important single of all time.
One Of These Nights swiftly followed the year after, with the title track continuing on in the same vein for the band, acting as both an artistic and commercial success. It was their second US number one and opened the gateways for their iconic 1976 album to follow, and for the Eagles to assume their position as America’s biggest rock band.
Eventually, the expectation of the sort of success these songs garnered got the best of the band. After Hotel California, the desperate pursuit of industry triumph within a band whose relationships were dangerously toxic, ultimately spiralled the Eagles into a state of intra-band turmoil that ended with appropriate drama in 1980.
