History of the Eagles on Showtime

Sort of like Bob Knight selling out for a media job, ain't it?

 

Yes they did. Henley and Frey both said they had accomplished more, had successful solo careers after the breakup, were the creative talent in the band, were the only charter members of the band, and were giving up more than the others with the reunification, and thus deserved a larger share of the profits if they reunited. And they were 100 percent right and had nothing to be ashamed about for asking for a larger share of the pie. As Frey said (paraphrasing), bands are not one-man, one-vote democracies.

Schmit and Walsh were fine with it. Felder not at first, but he went along with it before eventually being asked to leave the band.

 

In the long run, I liked ZZ Top better.

And at their concerts, they jam on almost every song. Epic shows.

 

Knight didn't sell out.

He desperately latched onto the only thing that would afford him some measure of relevance.

It was years after Frey's last hit, and four years after End of the Innocence finished its run.

Neither Henley nor Frey would sell as many tickets solo as they would with the Eagles.

The sheep fans continue to pay the exhorbitant prices for their shows, so there ya go.

 

Maybe so. But Frey and Henley did far more to build the brand that sold those tickets and made everybody rich than did Schmit, Walsh or Felder. And if the other three were OK with it, then so be it.

As far as what their fans do with their money, hey, it's a free country. I like the Eagles, but no way am I shellin gout big bucks to see them (or anyone else, for that matter. Cost me $5 the last time I saw Springsteen. No need to pay $150 to repeat the experience.).

And either way, it's good TV.

 

Hey, corporations are people. But are they bandmates anymore?

Maybe they're just too busy being fabulous.

 

The Eagles were built for radio. Period. And their most popular songs have indeed been run straight into the ground in the classic rock format.

But they did have a few really good songs, such as On The Border, and a couple of true hidden gems on the Desperado album, notably Bitter Creek and Doolin-Dalton.

And I always thought the moment they sold what soul they had was when Bernie Leadon left or was pushed out of the band.

 

Leadon's departure is discussed too. Frey and Henley wanted to take the band in a different direction, more rock than country. Leadon's interviewed extensively, was very unhappy at the time of his departure, and seems OK with what happened.

I don't have a problem with them making money. They're the talent, not the record company moguls. They sued Geffen several times to get out of unfavorable contracts, and to retain their publishing rights. When they were talking about grabbing Schmit from Poco (Meisner's original band, too) to replace Meisner, Frey noted that even though Poco was an established, quality band, they toured 40 weeks a year and some of the musicians were only making $250 a week. Frey/Henley wanted nothing to do with that, nor should they, considering how many records they sold.

And Frey, Henley, Schmit and Walsh seem pretty happy and remain friends, and it seemed as if there was no rancor between Meisner, Leadon and the current Eagles. Felder, not so much. I don't think Frey and Henley exchange Christmas cards with him anymore; Walsh and Schmit don't really have much to say about Felder's departure.

They also talk about how FM classic rock radio made them more popular after they'd broken up than they were when they were together, because their music fit the genre so well. Like I said, it's interesting, quality TV.

 

What's Don Felder up to these days anyway?

 

How close are Henley and Frey? Or are they distant rivals?

 

It's the end of the innocence.

 

KISS had a similar arrangement on their reunion tour, except in their case Gene and Paul each got three shares and Ace and Peter had to split one.