Eagles 40th Anniversary

[zeldabjr]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY EAGLES
Why are we still talking about the Eagles after 40 years? Because they are a talented group. They don't need anything but their instruments and their voices to put on a show. No fancy dance moves, no wild special effects, no crazy costumes, just their talent. OK, their looks don't hurt.

I have always thought this way also about them...when I first saw HFO with just them sitting there on stools...nothing but them...I remember thinking...these guys are soooo stinking talented I can't stand it...I remember hating all the music that was out at that time and thinking..now this is what music is supposed to be...

[BramwenR]

I have always thought this way also about them...when I first saw HFO with just them sitting there on stools...nothing but them...I remember thinking...these guys are soooo stinking talented I can't stand it...I remember hating all the music that was out at that time and thinking..now this is what music is supposed to be...

Ah, now you're talking and that's gonna start me talking...in fact, I just may turn my comments into a blog, been thinking about it. Because I have far too much to say about why I think they've lasted the distance and then some.

Briefly, though...it's the songs. We all relate to the songs because we grew up with their music and it was current for our time. Also, their professionalism and attention to detail. The melodies, the lyrics, the studio recordings, the musicianship of their collective talents..as Glenn said when intro'ing them on F1...where they came from was the fertiliser of their genius.

AMEN.

[EaglesKiwi]

Ah, now you're talking and that's gonna start me talking...in fact, I just may turn my comments into a blog, been thinking about it. Because I have far too much to say about why I think they've lasted the distance and then some.

Briefly, though...it's the songs. We all relate to the songs because we grew up with their music and it was current for our time. Also, their professionalism and attention to detail. The melodies, the lyrics, the studio recordings, the musicianship of their collective talents..as Glenn said when intro'ing them on F1...where they came from was the fertiliser of their genius.

AMEN.

I've just got to add here: even if we didn't grow up with the music we can still relate to it because intelligent lyrics, strong melody and beautiful harmony are timeless.

Oh, and Bramwen - JB HiFi over here usually have Eagles CDs for around $9 each - I'm sure they'd have them in Sydney too.

[TimothyBFan]

I'm 48 and I can't really remember when they weren't a constant part of my life. I have older cousins that introduced me to them when I was very young and from there....

There was the Hotel California concert I missed because my parents said I was to young, the first time I opened up the Long Run album to see Timothy as the new bass player and falling head over heels, the news that they had broken up that was so devastating, hearing Life's Been Good for the first time on the radio on a trip with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins to Great America and having to have them stop at a record store so my cousin Terri and I could buy But Seriously, Folks, etc. Even when I was getting married and starting a family in the late 80s & 90s and they were no longer a band, their music was always there, along with all the wonderful solo music from Glenn & Don that was hitting the charts and MTV at the time.

I remember vividly the night, after putting our small children to bed and settling in to watch a bit of tv one Friday night, while flipping channels my husband stopped at a concert, HFO, and I remember sitting there mesmerized and thinking, "My God, they're back!!". Hubby pointing at the long haired bass player and saying "isn't that the one you were always in love with?". The HOF induction and seeing them all on the stage together. My hubby taking me to Cleveland that same year because I had to visit the HOF THE year that the Eagles were put into it.

They've always been there... Getting The Very Best of for Christmas one year from hubby and sitting down to watch the DVD of Hole In The World, preordering LROOE and thinking it was never going to happen and get here. I would never be able to thank the Eagles enough for putting that album out just when I needed it most and how it became my constant companion for the daily trips to my parents home and hospital immediately after being released in the final month of my father's battle with cancer and the song WITW bringing me to tears every freaking time it played.

Finding this board that I wouldn't of found or made so many wonderful friends from had it not been for this band!

The tickets from my husband for our 20th wedding anniversary and him swearing I would finally see them live after a few failed attempts over the previous 30 years, come hell or high water. Meeting fellow Borderers there that made it that much more special.

My Long Run birthday cake while having a vinyl night on the patio with friends who included Soda and Prettymaid.

The release of Expando and seeing Timothy for the very first time solo.

Etc....etc.... etc..... etc.... They've always been there!!!!

Thank you Eagles!

[Windeagle]

HAPPY 40TH, EAGLES!

I've never seen them live (yet), but this band has made such an imprint on my life. Some memorable Eagles moments:

- That first chilly day in September 1979 when I heard "Wasted Time" on my carpool-mate's Hotel California cassette on the way to high school. I yawned at the hits - the radio had played them to death - but "Wasted Time" grabbed me and wouldn't let go. The remainder of the album finished the job. I was hooked.

- Visiting my best friend when he was living in Texas. On my last morning there, we danced to "Ol' 55". I cried and realized that he really was more than a friend. Within a month, he had moved back home and we were dating.

- In my senior yearbook, my favorite quote is "Sometimes to keep it together, you've got to leave it alone." (It was going to be "So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key," but it was too long).

- Getting some of the strongest music shivers I've ever had upon hearing "Doolin Dalton Desperado Reprise" for the first time. I still get them.

- Playing the Eagles Live album to death, then recording it and taking it to college with me. I cranked it in the car on my weekend commutes home because my Wham- and Duran-Duran-loving roommates wouldn't let me play it in the dorm.

- Being devasted when, in 1982, I read in People Magazine that the Eagles had officially broken up. I was shocked by the fact that by the time I played Eagles Live for the first time, they were already no more and I would never have the opportunity to see them live.

- Going to Don Henley's Walden Woods Benefit concert in 1990 and screaming when "special guests" Glenn Frey and Timothy B. Schmit were introduced. It was a dream come true. Until then, I was certain I would never see Henley and Frey on the same stage again. I barely even remember the setlist. My boyfriend had to drive us home because I was shaking so badly.

And more recently:

- Replacing my Eagles LPs on CD so I could put them on my iPod and, after a long hiatus, falling in love with the band all over again.

- Discovering that there was a wealth of Eagles info on the internet that never existed when I loved them the first time, along with a certain message board for people with like interests.

- Clinging tightly to Joe's lead on LROOE during a particularly scary airplane landing last winter. Concentrating on every note kept me from getting sick.

I'm sure there are more, but these are my stand-outs. I'm not even counting solo moments. That could be another whole topic!

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Wow! Some of these posts really choked me up - they are so moving and are straight from the heart. I truly wish the band members could hear some of them.

I'm going to try to post several things throughout the week about the band. One of the things I thought about is this question: Are the Eagles truly America’s greatest band? I know this group, including myself, is probably a bit biased, but my answer is a resounding YES THEY ARE! I’m also aware that there have been tons of polls and surveys about who is the best band ever conducted in various formats, and our guys usually fare pretty well in many of these. I want to share with all of you about a contest that I participated in back in the spring of 2005 not too long after I had become involved in following the band on the internet. The contest was sponsored by the Florida Times-Union at their Jacksonville.com website and it was modeled after the “March Madness” tournament, which determines the NCAA Men’s College Basketball champion here in the states each year. The question they posed in the contest was who is the greatest American rock band of all time, and there was a bracket with 64 bands chosen for the contest. After four elimination rounds, the band that came out on top was ... of course, none other than our Eagles. I thought I’d share an interesting article that was written by a reporter on the publication’s website after the contest was over …

They take it to the limit – and that’s why they’re the champs

It was one of those goosebump moments you experience when a good concert suddenly becomes really good. The Eagles were lined up on stools across the stage at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, doing a handful of acoustic numbers, when Glenn Frey took the microphone.

"All alone at the end of the evening

And the bright lights have faded to blue …"

On the original version of 'Take It To the Limit', Frey wasn’t even the singer; former bass player Randy Meisner was. But that didn’t matter to the 17,000 or so people in the arena. It was an Eagles song, Frey’s an Eagle and he made the song his own.

The Eagles, the kings of the laid-back Southern California sound, have come out on top in our contest to find the greatest American rock ‘n roll band, beating 63 competitors to claim the crown.

There are those who’d argue that the Eagles are not even a rock band. For much of their career, that might have been true. But then they brought in a couple of hotshot guitar players, Don Felder and Joe Walsh, started putting out songs like 'James Dean' and 'Victim of Love', and the debate was over. The Eagles could rock. Besides “It doesn’t have to be hard rock,” wrote one Eagles fan, “to be rock.”

Here are 10 reasons why they deserve the title of greatest American rock band.

1. Joe Walsh. The dude can’t sing to save his life, but he’s rock ‘n roll personified. He was a big solo star before joining the band, while he was in band and during the long period when they were broken up. And his fingerprints are all over 'Life in the Fast Lane', the Eagles hardest rocking tune.

2. They let the music do the talking. In concert, there are no explosions, no laser shows, no confetti falling from the ceiling. They just stand there and play, but the songs are so compelling that you walk out of the concert thinking maybe $126 for a ticket wasn’t so outrageous after all.

3. Oh, those harmonies. Walsh, Frey, Meisner, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Timothy B. Schmit all sang lead at one point or another. But when you got to the chorus and those three- or four-part harmonies kicked in, it was like a punch in the gut.

4. The Eagles were never a one-trick pony. They played Memphis soul on 'The Long Run', hard rock on 'Life in the Fast Lane', bluegrass on 'Midnight Flyer', folk on 'Seven Bridges Road', country on 'Tequila Sunrise'.

5. Their sound is timeless. 'Good Day In Hell' sounds as good on CD as it did on 8-track, vinyl and cassette. And our grandkids are going to be listening to 'Desperado' and 'Take It Easy'.

6. They’re 50-something and cool with that.

7. They’ve always been at least as interesting offstage as on. Walsh has run for president several times; Frey did a guest shot on 'Miami Vice'; and, in 1980, a teenage hooker overdosed in Henley’s hotel room. And if that ain’t rock ‘n roll, nothing is.

8. If you were alive in the ‘70s, you know most of their songs by heart. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they were inescapable.

9. The band is greater than the sum of its parts. Henley, Walsh and Frey have all had very successful solo careers, and everyone who has ever been in the band has put out at least one solo album. But none of the solo work was as good as what they could do when they worked together.

10. Has there ever been a better guitar solo than the one in 'Hotel California'?

So, as the man says:

"Put me on a highway

And show me a sign

And take it to the limit one more time."

[GlennLover]

Thanks for posting that, Dreamer. Very interesting (and true)!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Dreamer, thanks for posting that!

[TimothyBFan]

Wonderful!! Thanks for sharing!

[Brooke]

Dreamer, love it! And I wholeheartedly agree!