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Thread: Eagles and Band Leadership

  1. #1
    Stuck on the Border Delilah's Avatar
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    Default Eagles and Band Leadership

    Quote Originally Posted by redstorm1968 View Post

    Number one, Frey was always the leader of the band from the inception. That doesn't mean that everyone else was unimportant or had no voice, but it was his idea to build a band based on Geffin's advice to do so. Henley did not have the temperament or the inclination to be the leader by his own admission.
    Quote Originally Posted by redstorm1968 View Post
    I have not seen evidence of that. Please provide a source. I have heard people say that Henley was a perfectionist, that Frey was tired of all the strife in the band, that both were tired and on cocaine, which made the problems 100 times worse. I have never read or heard that they fought over the leadership of the band.
    This was originally posted in the Eagles 3.0 topic. I don't agree that it is so clear-cut that Glenn was the leader from the get-go. So I thought a discussion in a new thread might be warranted. Here are some reasons why I don't agree.

    1. Glenn had the idea for a band and started it with Don Henley. However Randy has been quoted as saying that when they were backing up Linda Ronstadt together, he thought they should form a band together. Glenn probably had the idea first but I thought I would throw that in there since it's implied that having the idea for a band makes one the leader (Brian Jones anyone?).

    2. During the early days of the Eagles, Don told Glenn, "You and I are going to have run this band."

    3. In Heaven and Hell, Don F quotes Glenn as saying, "There are no sidemen in this band. We've all been there and we know what it's like." This statement was made when they were discussing a 5-way split of Eagles Ltd. and the profits right after Don F joined.

    4. In the HOTE documentary, Joe described the guys as alpha males and that during all the fighting you'd hear, "I'm in charge, no you're not!" etc.

    5. Also in the HOTE documentary, Don H says you cannot have 5 leaders in a band, which indicates that there was indeed a something of a power struggle among the members. Such a power struggle would not happen if there was a definite, accepted leader from the start.

    I believe Bill Szymczyk also says something about leadership conflicts during The Long Run era but I can't remember off-hand what he said exactly.

    During the HFO era and after, it's pretty clear Glenn was the leader but I still believe Don H wielded a lot of influence.

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    Default Re: Eagles and Band Leadership

    I don't think I'm wrong if I state that there was a power struggle between Frey & Henley, not the others. The others never got anywhere near 'leadership'. I don't think they ever wanted to, although Felder obviously felt that his views went unheard. I think you could say that Henley became more of a leader in terms of writing more lyrics but Glenn as far as I know still dealt with most of the business decisions & did the musical arrangements. There is no argument that Henley remained second in command throughout. The attempt at a reunion in 1992 failed because Glenn refused to be involved - essentially he vetoed it.

    I have never heard that Randy suggested forming the band. It has always been my understanding that he & Bernie were asked to join.

    Just because someone is a leader doesn't stop power struggles. No matter how hard you try, you can't stop people working against you. You only have to look at political parties to know that. But you have to remember Glenn's own statement towards the end of HOTE. It was the only time he ever came out & stated it explicitly but he said that he was proud to have been the leader of the Eagles & to have been Henley's partner.

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    Stuck on the Border Delilah's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eagles and Band Leadership

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    I don't think I'm wrong if I state that there was a power struggle between Frey & Henley, not the others.

    I have never heard that Randy suggested forming the band. It has always been my understanding that he & Bernie were asked to join.
    I agree that the leadership issues were primarily between Henley and Frey. My point is that I don't believe it was clearly established that Glenn was the leader from the very beginning. Brian Jones was probably a poor example since he was the leader of the RS at the beginning, although it didn't last.

    Around 1970, Meisner met eventual Eagle co-leaders Don Henley and Glenn Frey.

    "Glenn was playing with Linda Ronstadt at the time, and I think Henley too," he says. "They used to watch me at the Troubadour, and they asked me if I would play a gig with them. So we played in San Jose. I remember that night because I told Glenn, 'Man, we should start a group.' I think they already had that in mind. Then Bernie Leadon left the Flying Burrito Brothers [and joined the group]. That's how the Eagles started."
    "An Eagle Has Landed" L.A. Times, Apr. 4, 1996

    (I just noticed the "co-leaders" reference in the quote)

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    Default Re: Eagles and Band Leadership

    It should also be remembered that when they made their pitch to David Geffen, it was Bernie who made it. 'Do you want us or not'? Glenn deferred to Bernie in that instance. It took him time to find his feet, although he was always the onstage spokesman.

    Frey & Henley were referred to as co-leaders on numerous occasions in the media. There is a case for it, but I believe that Glenn always had the final say in the end.

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    Default Re: Eagles and Band Leadership

    Well, based the books I have read it has always been stated that Glenn was the leader/founder of the band. As I stated earlier in another thread, Marc Eliot's book "To The Limit" goes into detail regarding this. The media always referred to Glenn and Don as "co-leaders", which probably was true until their power struggle began.

    According to Eliot's book, sometime soon after the band started, Glenn was voted "President". Don was voted something along the lines of "Secretary". Glenn apparently did make the statement about no leaders but obviously, this was not true. In the beginning Glenn emerged as the clear leader. He apparently set band schedules in term of rehearsing, drew up set lists and made the announcements on stage. The struggle between Don and Glenn apparently began around 1977 and continued until they broke up in 1980. This was one of the many contributing factors that led to the break up of the group. Glenn and Don had been living together up until somewhere around 1977. They had a huge fight which Eliot indicated was over control of the band, and Don moved in with Irving(who was by then married).
    When they toyed with the idea of regrouping in 1990, I think this was one of the reasons Glenn said no to the resumption (Glenn stated the others being his need for his first intestional surgery and his recent marriage to Cindy). When they regrouped in 1994 for HFO, Don made some comments in the book about old problems resurfacing alluding to his battles with Glenn and Glenn's with Don F. Somewhere along the line after this Glenn became the acknowledged leader with Don as his co-leader. All band decisions were made by Glenn, Don and Irving. It apparently remained this way until Glenn's death.
    Last edited by New Kid In Town; 04-24-2017 at 01:01 AM.

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    Stuck on the Border Delilah's Avatar
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    Default Re: Eagles and Band Leadership

    The positions of "President", "Secretary" etc. refer to the corporation that was set up after Felder joined the band. I don't consider that "soon after the band started."

    I've watched videos as well as listened to bootleg concerts from the early days and Glenn is not the only one making announcements. That didn't come till later ("We're the Eagles from Los Angeles").

    I've read that he drew up setlists and the like later during the band's run. I've seen no evidence he was the sole decision maker in this regard at the beginning. Randy and I believe Don H helped secure locations for rehearsals in the early days.

    I don't agree that "Glenn apparently did make the statement about no leaders but obviously, this was not true." I don't think it's so obvious at that time. You make it sound like you were in the band.

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    Default Re: Eagles and Band Leadership

    Delilah - I was just indicating what I had read in numerous books regarding the Eagles.
    Last edited by New Kid In Town; 04-24-2017 at 02:22 AM.

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    Default Re: Eagles and Band Leadership

    The leadership position seems to have changed over time. In the beginning, the premise was that they were all equal with an equal vote. They had all been sidemen and their ideal was to run the group as a democracy. However, when you have two people who tend to agree, their votes are going to carry more weight than the other two, so in practice it was probably Glenn backed by Don who made most of the decisions.

    Another factor in this is that Glenn and Don were putting more time into the group than Bernie and Randy. Glenn and Don lived the life 24 hours a day whereas Randy would go home to his family and Bernie preferred a more balanced life with time off with friends at the beach and such.

    Bernie did a radio interview a few years ago and he was asked (by the interviewer who also a musician) about who did the work in the early days such as publicity that can add up to 12 hours to the day and Bernie's response was that would be Glenn. A contract for an early gig came up on ebay a while back, and it had Glenn's signature in the place for the group leader. This supports the idea that Glenn was the one who primarily dealt with the business side of the band from the start.

    In the early days, it appears that Don deferred to Glenn on many matters. Glenn had spent a lot of time at the Troubadour, watching and networking and had a plan for success whereas Don didn't even know who Geffen was or why they needed him.

    If you can find the "No Christmas Cards" article from Uncut, it describes early band dynamics with quotes from Bernie and also Glyn Johns.

    Glenn was their frontman on stage from the start. For some reason he was also the lead singer, although all of the others got to sing lead at some point. If you look at setlists from around 1973/4 you can see that Glenn sang lead on about half the songs.

    I need to get on with other things but I'm sure I'll return to this topic.
    Last edited by UndertheWire; 04-24-2017 at 07:38 AM.

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    Default Re: Eagles and Band Leadership

    To quote Glenn directly:

    The band was like a fake democracy. Henley and I were making the decisions while at the same time trying to pacify, include, and cajole the others.
    We can argue over whether or not Glenn or Don was slightly more the leader than the other. But, I believe that the band was co-lead by both Glenn and Don.

    There are other noteworthy opinions, such as Bob Seger. But, I see no reason not to take Glenn's words at face value.

    If you insit on saying that Eagles had one leader, then it has to be Glenn right from the beginning to Glenn's passing. But, Don was not just a yes-man, he was an important leading force in the band too.

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    Default Re: Eagles and Band Leadership

    There appears to have been a shift in power from Glenn backed by Don to a co-leadership around 1975 and this may have led to increasing friction. However, it's worth noting that when faced with opposition, they always seemed to stand together.

    1975 was when they made it big. Two #1 hits (both sung by Henley). Headline tours, lots of money, the cover of the Rolling Stone. The addition of Don Felder will have changed the balance of power. New manager. New producer. Increased drug usage.

    Something happened between Don and Glenn during the recording of the HC album and it carried on into the tour. They were no longer friends sharing a room but members of a band who communicated with each other through their roadies.

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