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Heartbreaking. The Eagles were a big favorite of mine back in the day, and I still love hearing those songs.

 

He does seem to have been pretty unlucky with illnesses you don't often associate with fatality.

 

RIP

 

:(

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I LOVE the music of the Eagles and I have never given a rat's ass about how popular or overplayed on the radio any music I like is.  I don't have a problem with slickly produced and highly crafted pop music or romanticism or any of the other things Eagles get routinely criticized for.
 
No doubt Frey was an incredible songwriter and he (and Henley probably went along with it willingly) drove that band to rehearse and rehearse.  There is a reason they were so good on the vocals and Frey being a taskmaster definitely had a lot to do with it.
 
This is a nice piece by Cameron Crowe  http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/remembering-glenn-frey-cameron-crowe-on-eagles-teen-king-20160121
 
I did have a hard time watching the second half of the Eagles documentary when Frey was talking shamelessly with smug arrogance about how he deserved more money than Felder, Walsh and Schmitt.  I get that Irving Azoff helped them avoid being taken advantage of financial by record companies and the music business in general, but it seems to me that Azoff and Frey and Henley took it too far when they started treating the other band members as second class citizens deserving of being hired hands, not full members of the band.  Those interview sequences with Frey about the Hell Freezes Over tour and later ones is seemingly at odds with the quote from the late 70s to Crowe when he says he only wants $2 million and doesn't want the big money.
 
I love Frey's music with Eagles so much, but its a bummer to see what I consider to be greed infect a rock band like that.
 
But then I listen to this and I forget all about his less than admirable qualities.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUW_sGwMECc

 

Fuck, they could sing so good, but again that's what I'm talking about, you can't have that vocal blend without Meisner or Schmidt and even Felder and Walsh are in there making Glenn's songs sound fantastic.  Frey and Henley could not have made the records Eagles made without the other guys in the band.  They were indispensible, IMO, and should have been treated with a lot more respect.

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It's probably not much different from what happens to most bands. There is just film of it. I am actually not much of an Eagles fan - but there is, of course, a big difference between their early and later stuff. I think what he and Don Henley did was take Gram Parsons vision and translate it so that it would appeal to everyone. Of course, the later stuff is just good old rock and roll. Anyhow - it is still miles ahead of what is popular now. They actually played guitars and created songs - imagine that.

 

Anyhow - I like this:

 

Longbranch Pennywhistle - Rebecca

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I LOVE the music of the Eagles and I have never given a rat's ass about how popular or overplayed on the radio any music I like is.  I don't have a problem with slickly produced and highly crafted pop music or romanticism or any of the other things Eagles get routinely criticized for.

 

No doubt Frey was an incredible songwriter and he (and Henley probably went along with it willingly) drove that band to rehearse and rehearse.  There is a reason they were so good on the vocals and Frey being a taskmaster definitely had a lot to do with it.

 

This is a nice piece by Cameron Crowe  http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/remembering-glenn-frey-cameron-crowe-on-eagles-teen-king-20160121

 

I did have a hard time watching the second half of the Eagles documentary when Frey was talking shamelessly with smug arrogance about how he deserved more money than Felder, Walsh and Schmitt.  I get that Irving Azoff helped them avoid being taken advantage of financial by record companies and the music business in general, but it seems to me that Azoff and Frey and Henley took it too far when they started treating the other band members as second class citizens deserving of being hired hands, not full members of the band.  Those interview sequences with Frey about the Hell Freezes Over tour and later ones is seemingly at odds with the quote from the late 70s to Crowe when he says he only wants $2 million and doesn't want the big money.

 

I love Frey's music with Eagles so much, but its a bummer to see what I consider to be greed infect a rock band like that.

 

But then I listen to this and I forget all about his less than admirable qualities.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUW_sGwMECc

 

Fuck, they could sing so good, but again that's what I'm talking about, you can't have that vocal blend without Meisner or Schmidt and even Felder and Walsh are in there making Glenn's songs sound fantastic.  Frey and Henley could not have made the records Eagles made without the other guys in the band.  They were indispensible, IMO, and should have been treated with a lot more respect.

Irving Azoff is a total mercenary. He took very good care of Henley & Frey & adequate care of the rest. Thank God they rescued Joe Walsh. Also read recently that they took care of all of Randy Meisner's medical expenses during his recent troubles. What I really disliked hugely was when they released the Eden record exclusively to Walmart. It was like f everybody else who had supported them over the years. I personally think Walmart is pretty evil from personal experience & perpetuates the lowest common denominator ethos that is taking over the US. I watched them destroy all other retail in Kodiak, Alaska. I had my biggest account there, supplying them with music & video. Now people have no choice where to shop, not that there was a lot of variety before Walmart but small & large local businesses boarded up as they couldn't compete with the prices. It was such a huge hit to my company that it in large part put us under. That was the end of my 25 years in the music biz. Not just angry with the Eagles as AC/DC did the same thing. Anyway, Azoff was a trailblazer in those sort of arrangements.

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I LOVE the music of the Eagles and I have never given a rat's ass about how popular or overplayed on the radio any music I like is.  I don't have a problem with slickly produced and highly crafted pop music or romanticism or any of the other things Eagles get routinely criticized for.

 

No doubt Frey was an incredible songwriter and he (and Henley probably went along with it willingly) drove that band to rehearse and rehearse.  There is a reason they were so good on the vocals and Frey being a taskmaster definitely had a lot to do with it.

 

This is a nice piece by Cameron Crowe  http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/remembering-glenn-frey-cameron-crowe-on-eagles-teen-king-20160121

 

I did have a hard time watching the second half of the Eagles documentary when Frey was talking shamelessly with smug arrogance about how he deserved more money than Felder, Walsh and Schmitt.  I get that Irving Azoff helped them avoid being taken advantage of financial by record companies and the music business in general, but it seems to me that Azoff and Frey and Henley took it too far when they started treating the other band members as second class citizens deserving of being hired hands, not full members of the band.  Those interview sequences with Frey about the Hell Freezes Over tour and later ones is seemingly at odds with the quote from the late 70s to Crowe when he says he only wants $2 million and doesn't want the big money.

 

I love Frey's music with Eagles so much, but its a bummer to see what I consider to be greed infect a rock band like that.

 

But then I listen to this and I forget all about his less than admirable qualities.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUW_sGwMECc

 

Fuck, they could sing so good, but again that's what I'm talking about, you can't have that vocal blend without Meisner or Schmidt and even Felder and Walsh are in there making Glenn's songs sound fantastic.  Frey and Henley could not have made the records Eagles made without the other guys in the band.  They were indispensible, IMO, and should have been treated with a lot more respect.

 

The movie was great, but the attitude of Frey and Henley was absolutely infuriating and disgusting.  What those dudes were good at had more to do with taking advantage of others in huge ways and riding coattails rather than musical talent.  I was especially pissed about the way Felder was treated.  He was a huge part of the latter day Eagles sound.  And the treatment of Joe Walsh that way?!  The dude IS classic rock.  His songs filled out the concerts so the band could headline.  There's a reason why they played Funk 49, Rocky Mt. Way, Life's Been Good and Walk Away at the end of the shows.

 

As I said, the 'genius' of Frey and Henley was not in their songwriting.  Granted, they were perfectionists and that made for a tight band with tight harmonies.  However, if you look at their big and minor hits, you'll see that hardly any were written completely by Henley/Frey.  From the first album, Peaceful Easy Feeling was written by Jack Tempchin.  Frey added one line to Jackson Browne's Take It Easy and got writing credit.  Jackson Browne wrote that song and helped out quite a bit with Desperado.  The big hit, Already Gone, on On The Border was, again, written by Tempchin.  Best Of My Love was written with JD Souther.  Meisner wrote Take It To The Limit with help from the others. Felder wrote the music for the song Hotel California and Victim of Love and added all the killer guitar solos from One Of These Nights on. Frey couldn't play lead.  Walsh wrote Life in the Fast Lane and In The City.  Timothy B. Schmit wrote I Can't Tell You Why with the help of others.  Incidentally, Frey had no songs for the Long Run so he had to steel one of Bob Seger's...Heartache Tonight.  AND, they had no potential singles for the Eden album, so they recorded another JD Souther song, Hold On, which was a minor hit.  Again, steeling from others to make themselves look good.  At best, Frey and Henley were good collaborators with others that could do what they couldn't...write music, write riffs, play lead guitar etc.

 

There are many more examples.  If their career had been based only on the Frey/Henley only songs...they'd have been a minor band only.  Another reason Frey says they should have more money is because their solo careers were successful.  What!?  Frey's solo career was an embarrassment.  And comparing that to Joe Walsh's! Henley did do well in the 80s, but is that something to be proud of?   (-;

 

Anyway, I've probably wasted a lot of time on this stuff.  I like the Eagles and was just fascinated by the film and the lie Henley and Frey lived as rock and roll heroes.  Truth is, they were mediocre songwriters who subversively came in and claimed the genius of others as their own.  Irving had a bit to do with that as well.

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Irving Azoff is a total mercenary. He took very good care of Henley & Frey & adequate care of the rest. Thank God they rescued Joe Walsh. Also read recently that they took care of all of Randy Meisner's medical expenses during his recent troubles. What I really disliked hugely was when they released the Eden record exclusively to Walmart. It was like f everybody else who had supported them over the years. I personally think Walmart is pretty evil from personal experience & perpetuates the lowest common denominator ethos that is taking over the US. I watched them destroy all other retail in Kodiak, Alaska. I had my biggest account there, supplying them with music & video. Now people have no choice where to shop, not that there was a lot of variety before Walmart but small & large local businesses boarded up as they couldn't compete with the prices. It was such a huge hit to my company that it in large part put us under. That was the end of my 25 years in the music biz. Not just angry with the Eagles as AC/DC did the same thing. Anyway, Azoff was a trailblazer in those sort of arrangements.

 

Agree completely about Wal-Mart.  All the crap they sell isn't even the half of it.  I also agree with the Eden album debacle.  The band claimed to be so pro-environment etc and the make a deal with the worst corporation in America?  Not to mention that album was not too good.

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I can get behind what you are saying in spirit, Vacant, but I think I give Frey and Henley a bit more credit as songwriters than you do.  When I think of Frey's and Henley's really good songwriting, I think of Lyin' Eyes and New Kid In Town, Wasted Time and The Last Resort. Those are fantastic melodies and really good lyrics IMO, but they also have a critical perspective on the shallow materialism of celebrity, fame, wealth etc while also relating to the emotional realities of the characters going through those experiences.  Not that there isn't a shit-ton of hypocrisy in there, but it is perhaps somewhat interesting psychologically for a songwriter to write about the price of fame while at the same time not being able to resist its temptations or even actively seeking out more and more of it.  AND to still have those songs resonate with so many people.  Sure alot of it had to do with the vocals and the co-writers and the musicians and I don't think Henley or Frey or any songwriters deserve more money than the lead guitarist or bass player, but I also believe, probably naively, in the sanctity of an egalitarian rock band for art's sake, not with as much profit as possible as the bottom line.

 

And yeah, what Walmart and the Walton family have done to the US and especially the small towns they destroyed economically and socially are absolutely atrocious, I agree. 

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I can get behind what you are saying in spirit, Vacant, but I think I give Frey and Henley a bit more credit as songwriters than you do.  When I think of Frey's and Henley's really good songwriting, I think of Lyin' Eyes and New Kid In Town, Wasted Time and The Last Resort. Those are fantastic melodies and really good lyrics IMO, but they also have a critical perspective on the shallow materialism of celebrity, fame, wealth etc while also relating to the emotional realities of the characters going through those experiences.  Not that there isn't a shit-ton of hypocrisy in there, but it is perhaps somewhat interesting psychologically for a songwriter to write about the price of fame while at the same time not being able to resist its temptations or even actively seeking out more and more of it.  AND to still have those songs resonate with so many people.  Sure alot of it had to do with the vocals and the co-writers and the musicians and I don't think Henley or Frey or any songwriters deserve more money than the lead guitarist or bass player, but I also believe, probably naively, in the sanctity of an egalitarian rock band for art's sake, not with as much profit as possible as the bottom line.

 

And yeah, what Walmart and the Walton family have done to the US and especially the small towns they destroyed economically and socially are absolutely atrocious, I agree.

 

You make an excellent point. I was focusing more on the hits than the album songs. Of course Lyin Eyes, Tequila Sunrise, New Kid were great tunes. What made them a great classic band were all the elements put together. Have to give credit to Bernie Leadon. He had some great tunes that could've been minor hits.

 

Also, good point about profit before art. And of course, the Walmart-ization of America. Ugh!

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I'm glad they took care of Randy's medical bills, because that guy was so talented.  I love in the Maryland 1977 show when Randy nails Take It To The Limit and Felder gives him the "you are the man" props with a huge smile on his face at the end of the song.  Even Glenn gives Randy props for his lead vocals on that one, even if he also gave him shit for his nervous reluctance to do it every night.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7hmF_IX9Ic

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  • 4 months later...

I don't like it when I hit the Someone Elses Song thread and see RIP at the top.

Then I immediately see the artist, and am sort of "Good, I already knew that."

 

But BAD, and tragic, and sad for Glenn's family and fans.

 

Tough not quite half a year, I get jumpy when I hear two songs in a row by the same 60's - 80's artist on the radio. WXPN played 3 stones songs in a row this past weekend, I had palpable refief when they announced after it was a 3 songs themed weekend.....

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I don't like it when I hit the Someone Elses Song thread and see RIP at the top.

Then I immediately see the artist, and am sort of "Good, I already knew that."

 

But BAD, and tragic, and sad for Glenn's family and fans.

 

Tough not quite half a year, I get jumpy when I hear two songs in a row by the same 60's - 80's artist on the radio. WXPN played 3 stones songs in a row this past weekend, I had palpable refief when they announced after it was a 3 songs themed weekend.....

 

Totally.  I remember getting in the car and hearing a rare Dead track in Aug. 95.  Sure enough, Garcia had died.

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