1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. Just a quick 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 1: note to my beloved music nerd listeners out there. 3 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 2: I'm quite aware of the fact that. 4 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: The name of the Eagles isn't the Eagles, and that 5 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: it is officially just Eagles, no the But you know what, 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: I can't do it. I can't go an entire episode 7 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: referring to the band. I and everyone else Jeff Lebowski included, 8 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: have Slash has forever referred. 9 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 2: To as the Eagles. 10 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: It just sounds too fucking weird to just constantly refer 11 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: to them as Eagles. So, even though it's wrong, because 12 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,520 Speaker 1: it just feels right for me, Don Hemley, Glenn Fry 13 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: and company are forever the Eagles. Melo Dron, the stories 14 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: about the Eagles are insane. Upon their ascent, the band 15 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: narrowly avoided arrest from smuggling drugs. One member on the 16 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 1: eve of the band's breakup, skirted potentially devastating legal ramifications 17 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: from the discovery of an overdosed underage sex worker in 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: his home. During their early days, the Eagles dosed out 19 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: on peyote and reimagined and reconfigured a new FM sound 20 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: for the ages that would result in unimaginable success and 21 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 1: excess private planes, games of Chicken on private planes, and 22 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: one member surviving a private plane crash. The Eagles as 23 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: a group very narrowly survived themselves decades after the seventy superstardom. 24 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: The band's status as one of the best selling artists 25 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: of all time remains untouchable, with two hundred million global 26 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 1: record sales. And the Eagles are untouchable because the Eagles 27 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: made great music. Unlike that music. I played few at 28 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: the top of the show that wasn't great music. That 29 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: was a preset loop from my melotron called Chuck Wagon 30 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: Chowdown MK. 31 00:01:57,040 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 2: Two. 32 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 33 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: rights to Oh Girl by the Shylights. And why would 34 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: I play you that specific slice of right on Time Cheese? 35 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,799 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 36 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,920 Speaker 1: song in America on June first, nineteen seventy two, and 37 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: that was the day that Eagles released their self titled 38 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 1: debut album, an album that would begin the band's ascent 39 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: to iconic status, an attempt to restore America's innocence with peaceful, 40 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 1: easy feelings. On this part one of a special two 41 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: part episode, international drug smuggling, a dead sex worker, a 42 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: plane crash, and innocence lost at what cost courtesy. 43 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 2: Of the Eagles. 44 00:02:41,680 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. The dead don't laugh. 45 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: They don't cry either. They don't dance, they don't smile. 46 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: They don't succeed, fail, fuck or fight. They don't do 47 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: much of anything. They're dead, gone over. In nineteen eighty 48 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: the Eagles were dead, but they were far from God. 49 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: They were everywhere, despite the fact that by the beginning 50 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: of the decade, the individual members of one of the 51 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: biggest selling bands in the nineteen seventies, Don Henley, Glenn Frye, 52 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: Don Felder, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt had disbanded. 53 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: But you wouldn't know it from listening to FM radio 54 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: in the early eighties. And that's because in nineteen eighty, 55 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: as fortunate an event as any Eagle could have imagined, happened, 56 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: the classic rock radio format was invented. It made ubiquitous 57 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: on FM radio dials around the country. For this format, 58 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: radio station execs needed reliable programming, i e. Music that 59 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: post dated rock and roll's early oldies era of Elvis 60 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: Presley and Little Richard in pre dated rock's current new 61 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: wave video era of talking heads in Devo, so classic 62 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,160 Speaker 1: rock radio programmers turned to the peaceful, easy sounds of 63 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,039 Speaker 1: Southern California's Eagles. Born in the seventies and dead in 64 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: the water in the eighties, the band's proven hits Hotel, California, 65 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 1: one of these nights already gone, Lie in eye and 66 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: take it to the limit, among what seemed to be 67 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:35,600 Speaker 1: an endless. 68 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 2: Parade of other chart toppers. 69 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:40,919 Speaker 1: For the Eagles, decade defining studio albums proved easy fodder 70 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: for unimaginative radio programmers and thus filled the airwaves. After 71 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: nearly a solid decade of stadium sellouts, number one singles, 72 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: top selling albums, and enough cocaine sex intention to make 73 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: even the hardest, wildest seventies rock and rollers cry uncle, 74 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: the Eagles Glen Fry called his co leader in the band, Henley, 75 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: on the telephone. 76 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 2: It was over. 77 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: Glenn was out, no mos Henley didn't argue. What could 78 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,840 Speaker 1: he say? Things would get better, easier, They wouldn't. Don 79 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: Henley was too practical to not know that writing hit 80 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: songs was tough sledding Under the best of circumstances, never 81 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 1: mind under constant burnout from the grind of the road, 82 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: under the distrustful eyes of creatively jealous band members, romantically 83 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: jealous lovers, or under the gaze of over demanding, insensitive 84 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 1: record label suits whose. 85 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:33,359 Speaker 2: Entire financial quarters could turn on. 86 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,159 Speaker 1: The release of a long awaited Eagles album, all of 87 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:39,840 Speaker 1: whom were ghacked to the gills, lovers and band members included, 88 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:42,719 Speaker 1: unable to see their way through any challenge with clarity, 89 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: hazed by paranoia and exhaustion, two constants that were as 90 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: omnipresent as the bands of irrepressible hooks and inimitable harmonies. 91 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: No Glenn was right. Henley knew it. The Eagles were dead, 92 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,040 Speaker 1: but even so classic rock radio kept the band and 93 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: still heart beating strong, unlike the heart of the sixteen 94 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: year old sex worker in Don Henley's bathroom. At the moment, 95 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 1: her heart was another story. The paramedics moved with the 96 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: quickness the young girl had stopped breathing. Voices from the 97 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: end of the car or confirmed it. Fear pressed itself 98 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 1: hard against the Texas singer's chest. His Mulhallan drive home 99 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: was quickly transformed from idyllic West coast party scene to 100 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,720 Speaker 1: crime scene, and there was nothing he or his high 101 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 1: powered representatives could do about it. If the girl was dead, 102 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,919 Speaker 1: there would likely be no coming back from it. What 103 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: happened next isn't entirely clear. The only person who's ever 104 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: told the story is Don Henley himself, and he hasn't 105 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 1: said much. Henley claimed he called the paramedics out of 106 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: a sense of decency. Henley claimed he didn't know she 107 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: was sixteen. Henley claimed he didn't have sex with her. 108 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:58,040 Speaker 1: Henley admitted he'd solicited the girl from a trusted madam 109 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: as a gift for his hard working road crew, a 110 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: going away gift to make tonight's going away party go 111 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: off with a little Lextra oomph. November twenty one, nineteen eighty, 112 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: the Eagles were over. Don Hemley's road crew were out 113 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: on their asses. Unlike the thirty three year old rock 114 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: star who could fall back on what would be a 115 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: tsunami of royalties from his band's hits, his roadies faced 116 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: a much less certain financial future. A party with some 117 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: girls and some blow was the least mister Hemley could 118 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: do for them, or so went thinking. The girl was 119 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: naked and there was another girl too, even younger fifteen, 120 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:41,880 Speaker 1: and the drugs were everywhere, coke, ludes, grass, relax. The 121 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: nightmare was calm, unlike the rock star, but then again, 122 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: the nightman was always calm. A near dead girl on 123 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: the little dope wasn't going to rattle. He'd seen worse, 124 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: but Don Hemley was tense. How could he not be. 125 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: Henley claimed he'd took the heat in the moment when 126 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: the girl turned up, naked, convulsing, and near dead. He 127 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: didn't panic the fear pulse. Though his head was heavy, 128 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: his sight dim, he managed to hold tight and grasp 129 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: control of the moment. Henley claimed he didn't dart about 130 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: his house to flush the drugs. He focused on helping 131 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: the girl. He called the paramedics, and the paramedics called 132 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: the cops, and the cops called the Department Sexually Exploited 133 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: Child Unit, and Don Henley, co founder of the Eagles, 134 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: called his lawyer, for he was under arrest and the 135 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: fear was now enough to make his chest explode. The 136 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 1: fear was always there, in some way or another, going 137 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: as far back as his days in Lynton, Texas as 138 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: a boy. Sure is upbringing hadham high on the sounds 139 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 1: of t Bone Walker and Hank Williams. But down in 140 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: the dust was that lingering fear of where his future 141 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: would take him, or more specifically, if his future would 142 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: take him anywhere at all. His father owned an autoparts store, 143 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: and he saved pennies, and then nichols, and then dimes 144 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:02,440 Speaker 1: and eventually enough quarters when coupled with whatever savings teenage 145 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: Don Henley himself scrapped together from gigging around Northern Texas 146 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: in his high school. Bands amounted to enough to cover 147 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: the tuition at North Texas State University, but college didn't 148 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: hold His English late classes interested him. However, college presented 149 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: a new kind of fear, fear of becoming something. You 150 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:24,280 Speaker 1: weren't a jag, just another guy. Don Henley was not 151 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: just another guy. There was greatness in him. 152 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:27,840 Speaker 2: He knew this. 153 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: Henley was more than just college, or at least he 154 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: sensed that the world held more for him than the 155 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: boredom and straitness of academia. He buttonholed another Texan, Kenny Rogers. 156 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,439 Speaker 1: Rogers had success with his group the first edition. Kenny 157 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: Rogers recognized something in Don Henley. Call it game recognizing game, 158 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: call it just dropping in to see what condition the 159 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: kid's condition was in. Call it whatever you want. For 160 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: Don Hemley his group Shiloh was the play they called. 161 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: Kenny Rogers as producer was the coach. In Los Angeles, 162 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: California was Field of opportunity. Go West, Go West, Go est, 163 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: young man, and see what the sun is set in motion, 164 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 1: manifest destiny Los Angeles, Sunny southern California. It was a 165 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: rock and roll gold rush in nineteen seventy. The Beach 166 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,440 Speaker 1: Boys had established the California sound in the mid sixties, 167 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: but it had evolved from sonny and surfey to electric 168 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: folk psychedelia, and each evolution struck. 169 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 2: Another mother road of pop hits. 170 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: Now nestled in the dust and black top ribbons of 171 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,240 Speaker 1: Laurel Canyon, just north of Hollywood, was one of the 172 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: most fertile artistic communities in the world, cross pollinating musical 173 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 1: ideas and band members The Birds, The Mamas, and the Papas, 174 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 1: Buffalo Springfield, all culminating in the Crosby Stills, Nash and 175 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: Young supergroup of the late sixties, with their honeyed vocal harmonies, 176 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 1: thick acoustic bliss, and massive success. On any given night 177 00:10:56,679 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: in the city music legends in the Laurel Canyon scenesters 178 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,679 Speaker 1: were crowd Doug Weston's Troubadour in Santa Monica, where Buffalo 179 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:07,200 Speaker 1: Springfield had debuted in sixty six and where in nineteen 180 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 1: seventy Elton John had made his thunderous Us debut. The 181 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: Troubadour in nineteen seventy was something else. It was where 182 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: careers were made, where low key folksters made it with 183 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: bronze dimespot California girls on the make, and where rock 184 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:25,239 Speaker 1: and roll dreams came to life in a Hollywood technicolor. 185 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 1: It was where greatness actually seemed possible to a starry 186 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,599 Speaker 1: eyed musician from a one stop town in Nowhere, Texas. 187 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,320 Speaker 1: It was where Don Henley met j D and where 188 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 1: he met Jackson, and most importantly, where he met Glen. 189 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: Glenn Fry was in Mexico, twenty years old, confidence radiating 190 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: off of his young, toned, tanned body. Quickly, he loaded 191 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: the contraband tightly packed bags of cheap acapoca gold marijuana 192 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: onto his pickup American maid born in Detroit, just like him. 193 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 1: The pickup was solid, reliable, capable of making the one 194 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,480 Speaker 1: hundred plus mile trip himself. Of the border to Los 195 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:30,959 Speaker 1: Angeles without breaking down and getting flagged by the customs man. 196 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 2: The desert highway was. 197 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,839 Speaker 1: Dark, the wind cool, blowing through Glenn's long, dark hair. 198 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: Light in the distance, shimmering, beckoning, the Kalida and the 199 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: ash tray burned sweetly. Innocence shadowed his big, round almond 200 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: colored eyes. He could feel it in his chest. Excitement, anticipation. 201 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: Los Angeles, California. There was nowhere in the world like it, 202 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:56,560 Speaker 1: at least not in Glenn Fry's young world, which at 203 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: the time consisted of just Detroit, Michigan, San Francisco and 204 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,440 Speaker 1: some drug dealers den on the border. La came as 205 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:08,319 Speaker 1: advertised girls that were somehow more beautiful than the weather. 206 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: Music on every stage, opportunity, it seemed, on every corner. Hell, 207 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: David Crosby was right there, man on sunset, just walking 208 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 1: down the street in his flat brimmed hat like everyone else. Detroit, 209 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: Glenn's hometown, was a different trip entirely. Music didn't surround 210 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: you in the motor city so much as it punched 211 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: you in the face. It was ubiquitous, but the barrier 212 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:34,440 Speaker 1: for entry was steeper. Barry Gordy wasn't banging down Glenn 213 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:37,920 Speaker 1: Fry's door anytime soon to sign them to Detroit's Motown Records. 214 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:42,680 Speaker 1: But another Michigan native was more welcoming, Bob Seeker. Beginning 215 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen sixties. As incredible as it might 216 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: sound today, it was hard to find another musician anywhere, 217 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:51,959 Speaker 1: never minded Detroit who better embodied the rock and roll 218 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: spirit than Bob Seeker. He and his bands, first the 219 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: Bob Seegar System, then Bob Seger In The Last Heard, 220 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: and later the Silver Bullet and were live forces of nature, 221 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: putting in work night after night on the Midwest circuit 222 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: with a mix of traditional blue eyed R and B 223 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: and mid sixties frat rock energy in a way that 224 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 1: would help solidify what true classic rock would become. Bob 225 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:17,240 Speaker 1: Seeker brought it night after night, and as he experienced 226 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: local rocker with a steady lineup of shows in a 227 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:23,479 Speaker 1: record contract to Boop, he brought a young, ambitious, irrepressible 228 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:26,240 Speaker 1: local kid named Glenn Fry under his wing. In a 229 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: half ast sort of mentor slash protegee kind of way, 230 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,640 Speaker 1: Glenn made the most of his opportunity. 231 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:33,720 Speaker 2: Music was his. 232 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: Ticket out from where or what He didn't really know 233 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: just out out of teen gangland, out of Detroit, out 234 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: of going nowhere fast, a chance at becoming somebody, something, 235 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 1: something more, something great. He made the most of his 236 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: first opportunity when asked to sit in on backing vocals 237 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: for Bob Seeker's second major label single, nineteen sixty nine's 238 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,000 Speaker 1: Rambling gambling Man, and Glenn Fry came in hot on 239 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:00,040 Speaker 1: the first chorus. You could hear the ambition in his 240 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,480 Speaker 1: voice as he shadows Seeker. It's a pronouncement of someone 241 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,600 Speaker 1: new hitting the scene, someone not likes some other guys, 242 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: someone not content with the shadows of the stage, someone 243 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: destined for greatness. 244 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:13,640 Speaker 2: Rambling gambling Man hit. 245 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 1: Number sixty two on the pop charts and gave young 246 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: Glen Fry a taste music was away. It was possible. 247 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: He loaded up his pickup and split for the coast. 248 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 1: No job, no band, no plan, just confidence in himself. 249 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: He'd figure it out. That's what the Acapoca gold was 250 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:32,880 Speaker 1: all about. He'd break it off in smaller bags for 251 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: the heads down on sunset and walk away with some 252 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 1: walking around money to get him started, enough to drink 253 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: down at the famous Troubadour on a weeknight and see 254 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:45,440 Speaker 1: what kind of trouble he could get himself into. Glenn 255 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: quickly connected with the troubadour's local athario, j D. Souther, 256 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: an Amarillo stick man who knew his way around not 257 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: only the local scene, but around a country chord progression 258 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 1: as well. JD met Glenn through one of Glenn's exes. 259 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: Quickly the two men developed a bond around music. Glenn 260 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: brought a street smart R and B toughness to JD's 261 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: natural country roots. They took up under the name Long 262 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 1: Branch Pennywhistle as a duo and settled into a cheap 263 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: apartment in Echo Park to woodshead some original songs. In 264 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: the one room apartment downstairs, another local songwriter was putting 265 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 1: on a masterclass and songwriting. Every morning, Glenn could hear 266 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 1: him through the floorboards up at nine am straight to 267 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,080 Speaker 1: a pit stop at the stove, where the songwriter would 268 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: set a tea kettle alight. Then he'd work out the 269 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: first verse the chord progression on the keyboard with the 270 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: vocal melody over and over again. The kettle would blow 271 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,160 Speaker 1: off steam, the songwriter would break, pour his cup, let 272 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: it steep back to the bench, time for the chorus. 273 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: The chord progression on keyboard with the vocal melody on top, 274 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: just like the first verse, over and over again. Then 275 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: he'd retrieve his tea, settle sip onto the second verse, 276 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:01,360 Speaker 1: same as the first. Over he'd break for a sip 277 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 1: here and there to Grease's vocal chords, and then straight 278 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,200 Speaker 1: back at it from the second verse to the second 279 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: chorus to the middle eighth the final verse in the outro. 280 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: When all was said and done, it would be lunch 281 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: and the song would be not only worked out, but 282 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: fused by muscle memory. Glenn fry knew the dude downstairs 283 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:22,160 Speaker 1: was on to something, and the dude downstairs was Jackson Brown. 284 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,560 Speaker 1: Blessed with the good looks of everybody's favorite little brother. 285 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:29,360 Speaker 1: Jackson Brown was at an early age already an experience 286 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: not to mention naturally gifted singer songwriter. He'd grown up 287 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:36,119 Speaker 1: in la but by the time he'd crossed paths with 288 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: Glenn fry he'd already been around the block, having completed 289 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,880 Speaker 1: a songwriter's pilgrimage to New York City's Greenwich Village, where 290 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,639 Speaker 1: he'd witnessed first hand the culture defining a rattle of 291 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 1: the velvet underground wound up backing their singer Nico on 292 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 1: stage and personally fallen in and out of bed with 293 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:55,919 Speaker 1: her in the process. Neco's Iconic World Where resignature ballad 294 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:56,639 Speaker 1: These Days. 295 00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 2: Jackson Brown wrote that when he. 296 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: Was sixteen, after New York, Jackson Brown wound up back 297 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles at the turn of the decade with 298 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: a head full of inspiration and just enough experience to 299 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:12,800 Speaker 1: turn that inspiration into a coveted record contract. None of 300 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: it surprised the blue collar Glen Fry, who could hear 301 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 1: Jackson Brown's discipline emanate through his kitchen floor every morning. 302 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,439 Speaker 1: This was how the greats did it, through hard work. 303 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: It wasn't just fast cars, grass and bronzed babes. 304 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 2: It was putting in work. 305 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: It was hustle, and in Los Angeles in nineteen seventy 306 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: when it came to the folk scene, anyway, no one 307 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:36,440 Speaker 1: had more hustle or was more of a hustler than 308 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:37,360 Speaker 1: David Geffen. 309 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,440 Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this word word word. 310 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: David Geffen believed in Jackson Brown before anyone else believed 311 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,199 Speaker 1: in Jackson Brown. Because David Geffen believed in himself, or 312 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 1: perhaps because David Geffen had what traders of any commodity 313 00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: covet most inside knowledge. How he got that was anyone's 314 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: guests When he was coming up in the mailroom at 315 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:07,480 Speaker 1: the William Morris Agency, he simply took it, steaming open 316 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 1: letters to agency executives to gain inside information on what 317 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:14,560 Speaker 1: opportunities were available for him to pounce upon. But when 318 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,679 Speaker 1: it came to Jackson Brown, David Geffen didn't need anyone 319 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 1: to tell him about Jackson's talent, not his clients Crosby 320 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,960 Speaker 1: Stills or Nash or Laura Nero. Geffen just knew it 321 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: was obvious Jackson Brown was going to write hits and 322 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:29,919 Speaker 1: become a star. He wasn't like the other artists in 323 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:34,479 Speaker 1: Geffen's circle. Jackson had it all talent, drive and good looks. 324 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 1: How no one else in the music industry besides David 325 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: Geffen saw that only reinforced Geffen's belief in himself that 326 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:44,679 Speaker 1: he alone had a special understanding of talent and thus success. 327 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:48,679 Speaker 1: I'm at Erdigan, founder of Atlantic Records, believed in David Geffen, 328 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,879 Speaker 1: even if he didn't believe in Jackson Brown. When Geffen 329 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: went to Ertigon for a record contract for Jackson Brown, 330 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,760 Speaker 1: who Geffen was now managing Erdigon told Geffen that if 331 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,159 Speaker 1: he believed so strongly in his artist that he he 332 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,040 Speaker 1: then should start his own record label in Atlantic would 333 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:06,919 Speaker 1: distribute the records. David Geffen took to the challenge and 334 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:10,400 Speaker 1: with his managing partner Elliott Roberts, Geffen founded the artist 335 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 1: friendly Asylum Records. And that's artist friendly, as in the 336 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,879 Speaker 1: artists or the inmates were running the Asylum. It was 337 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,360 Speaker 1: the spirit of the early seventies, when musical artistry trumped 338 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: everything in the folk inspired pop scene. In nineteen seventy 339 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:27,679 Speaker 1: one in the record business, to be for the artist 340 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: was to be at the vanguard of hypnos. It was 341 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: who David Geffen was. It was why Asylum was perfect 342 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,919 Speaker 1: for a song focused to artists like Jackson Brown and 343 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: Jackson Brown had friends, talented friends, friends who hung out 344 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 1: nightly at the Troubadour. Don Hemley made the scene immediately 345 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: upon arriving in La the Troubadour's doors swung open, and 346 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:51,920 Speaker 1: so too did the doors to his own slice of 347 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: Heaven on Earth. On his first night inside the club, 348 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,120 Speaker 1: he saw Neil Young and Linda Ronstack just hanging out, 349 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: and they were both already firmly established as stars. Don 350 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 1: Henley couldn't believe his newfound lot in life. His band Shiloh, 351 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,119 Speaker 1: booked a gig, but it was clear quickly that Shiloh 352 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 1: was going nowhere. Henley fell in with Glenn Frye, who 353 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 1: had already firmly made the scene. Glenn and Henley sat 354 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 1: in with J. D. Souther in the front room at 355 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,360 Speaker 1: the Troubadoor and traded songs with Jackson Brown. Don Hemley 356 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: Texas boy that he was vibed on the laid back 357 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,639 Speaker 1: country stylings that came naturally to all involved, even for 358 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,200 Speaker 1: Glenn Frye, the boy from Detroit. Glenn's hard R and 359 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:34,680 Speaker 1: B influence tempered the dusty honky tonk swinging from Henley's 360 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: Styx and snare together amalgamated with J. D. Souther's direct 361 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 1: country tape on Jackson Brown's breezy Southern California songwriting. Something 362 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:48,040 Speaker 1: special started to happen, and Linda Ronstadd took note, recruiting 363 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:50,119 Speaker 1: Glen fry and Don Henley to become part of her 364 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: live band. 365 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 2: She recruited JD. 366 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:56,359 Speaker 1: Souther for something else her bedroom in Anaheim in nineteen 367 00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: seventy one, Glenn and Henley back for Linda Ronstadt, alongside 368 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,679 Speaker 1: two other musicians, Poco's Randy Meisner on bass and the 369 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: Flying Burrito Brothers Bernie Leaden on guitar and banjo. The 370 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,000 Speaker 1: four backing musicians felt it, and Linda Ronstadt did too, 371 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: especially when they sang in harmony voices rushing up from 372 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: far away, snapping you to attention enough to wake you up, 373 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: no matter the time of day. Dan Tana's nineteen seventy 374 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,520 Speaker 1: two Santa Monica Boulevard. If the Troubadour was the place 375 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,159 Speaker 1: to be, Dan Tana's was the place next to the 376 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,119 Speaker 1: place to be in old school red and white checkered 377 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: Italian restaurant that served as a pre and post haang 378 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,879 Speaker 1: for Troubadour regulars, not to mention an old school Hollywood 379 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: power player clubhouse where attendees got up to all manner 380 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:48,920 Speaker 1: of no good on a regular basis. David Geffen sat 381 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: in a corner booth surrounded by Southern California folk rock royalty, 382 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,439 Speaker 1: Jackson Brown, Joni Mitchell, among them, a pregame of sorts 383 00:22:57,480 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: before a party later that night at the Laurel Canyon 384 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 1: home of Geffen's business partner Elliott Roberts, where the guest 385 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,479 Speaker 1: list would include Hollywood's young elite, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, 386 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 1: and Dennis Hopper, among more rock royals Michelle Phillips, Cass Elliot, 387 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:15,400 Speaker 1: Neil Young, and John Sebastian. But back at Dan Tana's 388 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:19,159 Speaker 1: gathered for their pre party feast, David Geffen stabbed at 389 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: his broiled swordfish with his steely knife and called for 390 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:27,160 Speaker 1: more wine. Jackson Brown was unusually uncool in Geffen's ear, 391 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,359 Speaker 1: constantly about putting his friend Glen Frye under contract with 392 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,960 Speaker 1: him in Asylum Records. Geffen was aware of fry whose 393 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,399 Speaker 1: reputation as a singer, songwriter and a potential frontman was beginning 394 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,440 Speaker 1: to make the rounds due to his stint on the 395 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,120 Speaker 1: road and then in the studio with Linda Ronstadt. Fry's 396 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: reputation was growing quickly, so much so that Columbia Records 397 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,840 Speaker 1: Clad Davis was circling and ready to sign him right 398 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 1: out from under Geffen. What innocent as Glen fry was 399 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,119 Speaker 1: he understood what most artists often failed to understand, and 400 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 1: what David Geffen sure as shit never failed to understand, 401 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: and that is that artists, at least, the ones who 402 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: can create and perform at a high level, are the 403 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:11,119 Speaker 1: rarest of commodities. Like professional athletes, there are only so 404 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,640 Speaker 1: many people in the world who can do what they do, 405 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 1: and for record label owners and music managers, those artists, 406 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: those rare few, are all they got. Their business is 407 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,199 Speaker 1: entirely dependent on them, on the artist. The rub is 408 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: that artists are naturally insecure. They operate from a position 409 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: of fear and too often lose sight of the power 410 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:33,359 Speaker 1: they actually possess when it comes to business, and therefore 411 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: allow themselves to be taken by the businessmen. Glenn Fry 412 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: was not naturally insecure, quite the opposite. He was brimming 413 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 1: with confidence, even at a young age. Jackson Brown saw it. 414 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: Everyone on the scene saw it, and it would be 415 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,880 Speaker 1: David Geffen's great loss if he too didn't see it soon. 416 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,359 Speaker 1: But David Geffen wasn't used to losing, and he was 417 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,600 Speaker 1: clearly no dummy. He got the message, and despite Clive 418 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: Davis's aggressive stab at Glenn frye Geffen was able to 419 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: preempt Columbia Records. David Geffen went on a shopping spree 420 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:06,720 Speaker 1: long in the process of signing Linda Ronstadt away from 421 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: her existing record contract. He moved quickly to secure the 422 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,679 Speaker 1: rights to her backing band, and that meant purchasing the 423 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: existing small time record contract for Long Branch Pennywhistle, Glenn 424 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,680 Speaker 1: Fry's band with J. D. Souther, as well as the 425 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:23,639 Speaker 1: small time record contract for Shiloh Don Hemley's band. David 426 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: Geffen's Asylum Records now not only owned Jackson Brown, but 427 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:30,400 Speaker 1: Linda Ronstack, Glen Frye and Don Henley, as well as 428 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:33,720 Speaker 1: other solo artists Tom Waite's, Joni Mitchell and of course JD. 429 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 2: Souther. 430 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,359 Speaker 1: Glenn Frye corralled the players behind that magic on stage 431 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: in Anaheim with Linda Don Henley on drums, Bernie Ledden 432 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,639 Speaker 1: on banjo and guitar, and Randy Meisner on bass, Together 433 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,440 Speaker 1: with JD. Souther and Jackson Brown informally contributing bits of songs, 434 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: they set about to become, like so many before them, 435 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: America's next great rock and roll band. To become just that, 436 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 1: there was only one name possible for the band, only 437 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,360 Speaker 1: one name that contained the requisite combination of inspiration and aspiration, 438 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 1: only one name capable of representing the greatness. Glen Fry 439 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 1: and Don Henley sought only one name, American enough the Eagles. 440 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: The late nineteen sixties, America torn apart, Vietnam fast approaching, 441 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: fifty thousand soldiers dead, Martin Luther King Junior dead, Robert F. 442 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:48,680 Speaker 1: Kennedy dead, Riots in the streets Detroit, D. C. Watts 443 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: the early seventies, more dead in Vietnam, crossing the fifty 444 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: thousand milestone, like nothing, Cambodia Agent Orange Watergate, and then 445 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:04,520 Speaker 1: finally arrest, A crack in the chaos, the California Sunshine, 446 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:08,840 Speaker 1: sneaking through something approaching hope, a new decade, a chance 447 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:12,640 Speaker 1: at no more war, no more death, a fucking break 448 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: of peaceful, easy feeling. By the time The Eagle's self 449 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: titled debut record was released on Geffen Records in nineteen 450 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:24,199 Speaker 1: seventy two, the America couldn't have been more ready for 451 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:28,399 Speaker 1: the breezy, countrified, Southern California sound of the Eagles. A 452 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:33,679 Speaker 1: decade of discord and this this sounded like harmony. Glen Fry, 453 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: Don Henley, Bernie Leedten and Randy Meisner's self titled debut 454 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:41,639 Speaker 1: album was a smash, just like David Geffen, Jackson Brown 455 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,440 Speaker 1: and anyone with ears who heard and saw the Eagles 456 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,479 Speaker 1: come together knew would be the case. Everyone except their 457 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 1: chosen producer, the renowned Glenn Johns. He couldn't hear it, 458 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:52,240 Speaker 1: so the. 459 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:53,600 Speaker 2: Record almost never happened. 460 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,560 Speaker 1: To John's, the Eagles were confused, one part country, one 461 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:01,359 Speaker 1: part rock, one part acoustic, one part of elect Sonically, 462 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: Glenn John's believed the band didn't know who they were 463 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,199 Speaker 1: or what they wanted to be until they opened their 464 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,920 Speaker 1: mouths and started singing together and those beautiful vocal harmonies 465 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: came out. They were somehow gritty and angelic at the 466 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 1: same time, dusty like the desert floor, sublime like the 467 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 1: desert sky. The Eagles were their own trip. After recording 468 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:25,919 Speaker 1: their debut, they shipped off to the desert to capture 469 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: photographs for the cover of their album. Before making the 470 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: one hundred and forty mile trip to Joshua Tree, they 471 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: loaded up on tequila shots at the troubadour, closed the joint, 472 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: then piled into a late model American sedan with room 473 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: for the band, plustered photographers, A cooler of beer, more tequila, 474 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 1: and a pouch of peyote squirreled away in the glove 475 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: compartment and sped off to capture sunrise in the desert. 476 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: Before it passed, the peote kicked in hard on his back. 477 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 1: Glen Fry stared at the desert sky. The blinding sun 478 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,800 Speaker 1: turned the blue sky to silver glass, a mirror of 479 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:03,720 Speaker 1: us ceiling cutting through an actual eagle. Glenn would never 480 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:05,920 Speaker 1: forget this. It was so on the nose, but one 481 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: of those things that actually happened. He would later tell 482 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 1: the story over and over again, but now, in the moment, 483 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: it freaked him the fuck out. 484 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 2: It's all over. 485 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: This was the moment, one of those points in your 486 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,480 Speaker 1: life where you can feel the punctuation happened, where you 487 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 1: know life will never be the same, where you feel 488 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,880 Speaker 1: your past life compartmentalized into a mental archive. 489 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 2: Right there in real time, You're. 490 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:35,200 Speaker 1: On the precipice of something There is only one direction forward, 491 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: away from the past, where you can feel yourself being 492 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: pulled back as you run for the door. 493 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,200 Speaker 2: That passage back is the wrong. 494 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,719 Speaker 1: Way, where so you think innocence can never be regained. 495 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: What remains is only experience. You're shot at something big, 496 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:55,840 Speaker 1: at something grand, at something great. Life in the fast 497 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: lane wouldn't truly present itself for a few years to come. 498 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: But it began here in the desert, and then on 499 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 1: the road and on the airwaves. Peaceful, Easy, feeling, witchy Woman. 500 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 1: In the brilliant leadoff track Take It Easy, co written 501 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:14,800 Speaker 1: with Jackson Brown, the songs Hank Williams inspired lyrical simplicity, 502 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 1: magical harmonies in perfect mix of banjo and driving rock 503 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: rhythm resulted in a masterful work of pop Americana magic. 504 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: Take It Easy does what the greatest pop songs throughout 505 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:28,320 Speaker 1: history have done, gives the masses what they don't even 506 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,960 Speaker 1: know they want. As with many turning points in history, 507 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 1: music provided an alternative, a relief from the status quo, 508 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,520 Speaker 1: in relief from the turbulent sixties, just like the Beatles 509 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:41,640 Speaker 1: I Want to Hold Your Hand did in the aftermath 510 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 1: of the Kennedy assassination, and just like Nirvana did with 511 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:47,360 Speaker 1: Smells Like Teen Spirit in the wake of the overtly 512 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:53,480 Speaker 1: commercial nineteen eighties. The Eagles had arrived with three bonafide 513 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 1: smash hits off their debut album, and nothing for any 514 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: member of the band would ever be the same. I'm 515 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan in this episode of Disgraceland. 516 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 2: This to be. 517 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:27,719 Speaker 1: Continued Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced 518 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,160 Speaker 1: in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can 519 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:34,880 Speaker 1: be found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com. 520 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank 521 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 1: you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it, and 522 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 1: if not, you can become a member right now by 523 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:47,800 Speaker 1: going to disgracelampod dot com Slash Membership. Members can listen 524 00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:51,640 Speaker 1: to every episode of Disgraceland ad free, Plus you'll get 525 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:56,479 Speaker 1: one brand new exclusive episode every month, weekly unscripted bonus episodes, 526 00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: special audio collections, and early access to merchandise and events. 527 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 1: Visit disgrayslampod dot com slash Membership for details, rate and 528 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,000 Speaker 1: review the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, 529 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:12,000 Speaker 1: and Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at YouTube dot 530 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,920 Speaker 1: com slash at disgracelampod. 531 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 2: Rock a Roller, He's the bed Don Man