Quote Originally Posted by sodascouts View Post
This quote from Glenn in 1975 is a bit enigmatic, but perhaps I'm missing something:
"My feeling is that Los Angeles is the Rome of North America, during the chaos. And if there's going to be any fall of the dynasty, I'd like to see it from L.A. because I think L.A. will feel it first."
The fall of the decadent empire. Isn't that what the whole Hotel California album was about? LA as Glenn apparently saw it was full of selfish rich people wallowing in their decadence (Tiffany twisted etc) while turning a blind eye to the poor. I would think he thought the rich were more visible & prominent in LA because of the music & movie industries than they were in other cities where they were more low key. So he thought if the US empire was going to crumble the first symptoms would occur in LA.

You get a direct reference in Disco Strangler; 'Rome is burning, but that's alright' & much later more broadly in I've Got Mine. I would argue that the title track from LROOE also bemoans this American decline as evidenced in the divide between rich & poor & the flaunting of wealth & privliege. I'm not giving an opinion on this; just trying to interpret what he may have meant.