Who do you guys side with? Felder or Henley/Frey?

[sodascouts]

I thought this was a troll question so I answered it silly. Hmmmm.....

Yeah, I debated about whether or not I should answer seriously as well.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Me too. But, I do want to comment on this part of the thread ...

Financial success is of course important but I agree that an artists influence can't be measured just by sales, it's the inspiration they provoke that's important

I agree wholeheartedly with this and the other comments regarding how we measure the success of musical artists. Although commercial and critical success is a definite bonus, it shouldn’t be the standard for judging the quality of an artist's work. After all, there are a lot of really bad songs that hit Number 1 on the Billboard charts (Can we say ‘Disco Duck’ for starters?), as well as, really good songs that never got the recognition they deserved. So, it is true that, overall Henley had the most commercial and critical success of all of the band members, however, I think Glenn’s solo career was also very impressive and one that many artists would be delighted to have. His biggest hits, The Heat Is On, and You Belong to the City actually charted higher than Henley’s. They both reached Billboard #2, while Dirty Laundry and The Boys of Summer peaked at #3 and #5, respectively. But that certainly doesn’t make them better songs. I’d have to do some research, but I’d bet Glenn and Don are pretty close in the number of their solo songs that charted in the Billboard Top 100. But, the hits rarely tell the entire story about the quality of the work – you have to look at the whole picture. So if you compare the totality of Glenn’s solo work against Henley’s, I believe it stands up very well. Once you get beyond the facts, then it’s all very subjective about which songs you like best. For me, personally, I happen to think that Glenn’s Strange Weather is the best solo album recorded by any of the band members, followed closely by Don’s The End of the Innocence. Obviously, there are others that would disagree with me about this. As bluefeather said, that’s when it all comes down to who and what inspires and moves you the most.

[UndertheWire]

The worst part of taking sides has to be the "fans" who take it too far and post about Felder being fired/no longer in the band whenever there is anything related to the Eagles even when it has nothing to do with Felder.
Some examples:
- a picture of the original line-up is posted and there are comments like "They need to get Felder back."
- a video interview on youtube given by Glenn as part of his "After Hours" promotion has more comments about the treatment of Felder than the content of the interview
- a video on youtube with the Eagles playing a Joe Walsh song has lots of complaints about how Joe didn't stand up for Felder

Rather than making me want to side with Felder, that pushes me to the other side. There are stupid posts from the other side, just nowhere near as many.

[sodascouts]

I hear ya, UTW. I follow Felder on Facebook, and the man cannot post ANYTHING without some of his fans talking about how mistreated he was and/or taking digs at Glenn.

Felder posts about his guest spot on Hell's Kitchen. A reply:
"You should cook up a horrible-tasting soufflé for Glenn Frey. I can't believe what he referred to you as in The History of the Eagles. I would have sued him for defamation of character."

Felder posts about helping out a young blind musician. A reply:
"probably won't see Glenn Fry doing anything like this.... after all... isn't money the only thing that's important to him.....he made that clear in the HBO special."

Felder posts about appearing at a Cystic Fibrosis benefit. A reply:
"Way to go, Don! Bet Frey won't be there!"

Those were just the three latest posts from his Facebook. They are typical examples. I wonder when these fans will ever let it go...

[UndertheWire]

Yikes! Even Felder must get sick of it.

[shunlvswx]

I get sick of it when I see it on Don's page.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Yikes! Even Felder must get sick of it.

I think he does. I've noticed that he sometimes replies to his fans, but only the ones who support him and what he's posting rather than those tearing down others. It's bad enough that he can't get interviewed without someone asking him or mentioning The Rift, he has to be pretty sick about his so-called fans who bring up Glenn and/or Henley with everything he does and says. There seems to be a lot of people out there who feel that tearing someone else down is building someone else up. All it really shows is lack of character on the part of the person who's posting it.

[sodascouts]

I think fans who post stuff like that are very much invested in the "taking sides" mentality - ie "I'm on TEAM FELDER! Be my Facebook friend, Don! Let me prove how much I love you by hating on Frey, by telling you how much better you are than he is - surely that will please you and make you like me!" It's kind of pathetic, and I wouldn't be surprised if on some level, it actually embarrasses Felder.

However, I think Felder doesn't mind at all talking about his conflict with the Eagles in interviews; he doesn't need prompting to tell the press that he rises above the conflict while Henley/Frey don't. That's not the case on his Facebook, though. He tries to talk about other stuff there; some fans don't seem to want to allow him to do so.

[DJ]

I hear ya, UTW. I follow Felder on Facebook, and the man cannot post ANYTHING without some of his fans talking about how mistreated he was and/or taking digs at Glenn.

Felder posts about his guest spot on Hell's Kitchen. A reply:
"You should cook up a horrible-tasting soufflé for Glenn Frey. I can't believe what he referred to you as in The History of the Eagles. I would have sued him for defamation of character."

Felder posts about helping out a young blind musician. A reply:
"probably won't see Glenn Fry doing anything like this.... after all... isn't money the only thing that's important to him.....he made that clear in the HBO special."

Felder posts about appearing at a Cystic Fibrosis benefit. A reply:
"Way to go, Don! Bet Frey won't be there!"

Those were just the three latest posts from his Facebook. They are typical examples. I wonder when these fans will ever let it go...

Those "Fans" won't ever quit! They feed on conflict. Pity they can't get a life!

[Funk 50]

Conflict within bands is almost obligatory. Comings and goings of band members also, unless you're U2.

Even Felder himself, says he thought the eagles split the day after he joined them but it turns out that's just the way the band functioned.

I can't remember when I heard about Leadon pouring a beer over Glenn but I never heard of Bernie publicly criticising other band members. I can't recall Randy criticising the band, when Felder was sacked it was one hell of a shock because we couldn't be aware of any major internal friction within the band because it was all in-house.

Can anybody remember how the sacking was announced?

I can't remember reading anybody slagging Felder off. it was just Felder goes or the Eagles cease to exist.

Maybe my memory is tainted through rose tinted spectacles but I think the eagles were very private until Felder started legal proceedings and his book.

I'm sure Don F still believes he did the right thing, dragging his ex mates through court and attempting to poison the Eagles legacy with Heaven and Hell, even though there will always be negative repercussions to deal with.

Lastly, if Mr. Felder (Plaintiff) really wants to rise above his Eagles past he could start by retiring his Eagles reliant live act.

In hindsight, from a fan's point of view, I'm not sure if the post Felder, Eagles years (2001 - present) have been as relevant and entertaining as any of the previous incarnations.