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Speaker 1: Revals is a production of I Heart Radio. Hello everyone,

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Speaker 1: and Welcome to Rivals, the show about beefs and feuds

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Speaker 1: and long simmering resentments between musicians. I'm Steve and I'm

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Speaker 1: Jordan's and welcome to part one of our three part

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Speaker 1: episode on the Eagles. Saga now ordinarily represent a fairly

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Speaker 1: straightforward face off, but this episode is more like a

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Speaker 1: battle royal with multiple adversaries, multiple alliances, and enough spite

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Speaker 1: and bile. The Torpedo one of the most successful bands

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Speaker 1: in history. UH today We're gonna focus on the first

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Speaker 1: part of the Eagle's career, would solve the departure of

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Speaker 1: two of the band's founding members, the original producer Glenn John's,

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Speaker 1: and a feud with the pre eminent rock magazine in

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Speaker 1: the country. I gotta say, as much as I love

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Speaker 1: the eagles songs, I might love their story even more

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Speaker 1: than their music. I think that this whole series has

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Speaker 1: kind of been building to this episode. I think yes.

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Speaker 1: I'm reminded of the found words of Joe Walsh in

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Speaker 1: the classic documentary The History of the Eagles. As you

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Speaker 1: live your life, it appears to be anarchy and chaos,

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Speaker 1: and later when you look back at it, it looks

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Speaker 1: like a finely crafted novel. How's that for a Joe

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Speaker 1: Alston pression. I'm not incredible. I've been I've been work

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Speaker 1: shopping that for a while. That quote, to me is

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Speaker 1: the Eagle Story in a nutshell. All of this crazy

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Speaker 1: stuff happened, and in retrospect it seems like this grand

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Speaker 1: Shakespearean saga. You have big egos, cocaine, greed, cocaine, power struggles, cocaine,

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Speaker 1: bitter breakups, cocaine, and have I mentioned cocaine yet? Jordan's

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Speaker 1: what I love about The Eagle Story is that it's

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Speaker 1: not really just a story about one band. It's really

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Speaker 1: a microcosm of how the music industry Los Angeles and

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Speaker 1: even America overall changed from the late sixties to the

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Speaker 1: early eighties, from the idealism of the hippie era to

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Speaker 1: the self interest of the yuppi age. I really believe

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Speaker 1: at centuries from now, historians will study this band in

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Speaker 1: order to understand the moral and ethical collapse of the

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Speaker 1: United States in the second half of the twentieth century.

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Speaker 1: And I believe we're starting that work with this series. Ja.

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Speaker 1: It's important work, and you're right, I mean We've seen

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Speaker 1: blood feuds before, We've seen especially feuds among family members.

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Speaker 1: We've seen brutal rap disc tracks. We've seen lengthy and

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Speaker 1: costly legal spats. But I don't think there's been a

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Speaker 1: more cutthroat musical outfit than the Eagles. Like it's almost

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Speaker 1: like an episode of Survivor. I mean, you've got Don

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Speaker 1: Henley and Glenn Fry, and they have blown through a

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Speaker 1: truly impressive number of bandmates and associates, and I'm consistently

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Speaker 1: impressed that they're well documented internal strife hasn't completely undermined

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Speaker 1: their you know, comparatively laid back musical legacy of peaceful,

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Speaker 1: easy feelings. Yeah, I think it's fair to say that

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Speaker 1: several members of the Eagles have checked into the band

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Speaker 1: and proven that you can, in fact leave, even when

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Speaker 1: it's not of your own volition. A little Hotel California

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Speaker 1: reference there for you. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

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Speaker 1: We have so much to exp bloor in savor here,

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Speaker 1: So without further ado, let's get into this mess. You

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Speaker 1: gotta start with Glenn Fry, the original ringleader. The Eagles

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Speaker 1: were initially his vision and fueled by his ambition, and

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Speaker 1: he was born and raised in Detroit, where his early

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Speaker 1: piano lessons were subverted in the early rock and roll

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Speaker 1: ventures after seeing the Beatles on ed Sullivan like so

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Speaker 1: many of his generation, and one of his earliest public

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Speaker 1: appearances was at a frat party when he marched up

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Speaker 1: to the party band playing and demanded that they play

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Speaker 1: Satisfaction and then he commandeered the lead vocal spot which

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Speaker 1: I feel like it is pretty indicative of a character

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Speaker 1: we're dealing with. No, Yeah, Glenn did not take it easy.

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Speaker 1: He's and he had a taste for the spotlight. He

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Speaker 1: liked it. He played with a few local R and

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Speaker 1: B bands with Great Sixties names, groups with names like

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Speaker 1: the Mushrooms and the Heavy Metal Kids, but he eventually

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Speaker 1: fell into the wing of a slightly older Detroit musician

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Speaker 1: named Bob Seeger, and you can hear him singing on

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Speaker 1: Bob Seegers Ram when Gambler Man in the background, and

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Speaker 1: he almost joined Seegers band as a bassist, but his

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Speaker 1: plan was thwarted when his mother caught him smoking pot

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Speaker 1: and I guess put the kai bosh on that whole

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Speaker 1: plan of him joining Seeger's band, But Secret became an

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Speaker 1: important mentor for young Glenn because he really encouraged him

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Speaker 1: to start writing his own music. You know, after the Beatles,

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Speaker 1: that was really the way that you made your name

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Speaker 1: as a musicians that you had to write your own

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Speaker 1: material too, And so uh Segre really gave him important

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Speaker 1: encouragement as a young musician. So by ninety eight, Glenn

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Speaker 1: moves from Detroit to Los Angeles like so many musicians

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Speaker 1: of his generation, and the first guy he meets in

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Speaker 1: l A is j D. South There. Now. J D,

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Speaker 1: to me is like one of the coolest guys in

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Speaker 1: the orbit of the Eagles. He seems really smart, laid

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Speaker 1: back Texas guy. He did it like Linda rons that

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Speaker 1: for a couple of years, which to me makes you

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Speaker 1: a god just by itself. He was like a really

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Speaker 1: good songwriter. I happened to be a fan of his

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Speaker 1: self titled solo debut, which came out around the time

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Speaker 1: of the first Eagles record. But JD never really became

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Speaker 1: a star. He was more like a background figure in

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Speaker 1: the Eagles story. He ended up being a core songwriting

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Speaker 1: tributor to the band. He was a big part of

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Speaker 1: hits like new Kid in Town and Best of My

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Speaker 1: Love and a bunch of other songs. And it's interesting

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Speaker 1: to me that he was like never like a member

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Speaker 1: of the Eagles, and I wonder if on some level

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Speaker 1: he was just smart enough to like stay out of

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Speaker 1: this mess, you know, that he knew, maybe he had

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Speaker 1: a premonition that like this was going to be just

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Speaker 1: like a snake pit, and maybe he'd be better off

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Speaker 1: on the periphery where he could, you know, get the

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Speaker 1: benefits of associating with these guys and their status as well,

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Speaker 1: exactly all the money that he made from contributing to

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Speaker 1: Eagle songs, but he wouldn't have to do with like

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Speaker 1: a lot of the bullshit of this band. But I'm

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Speaker 1: getting ahead of myself with that, getting back into I

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Speaker 1: guess the timeline here. Around nineteen seventy, Glenn and Don

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Speaker 1: they put out a record under the name Long Branch

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Speaker 1: Petty Whistle, which is this folk rock duo and I

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Speaker 1: think can be fairly described as like a rough draft

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Speaker 1: for the Eagles. You know. It has that again, that

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Speaker 1: laid back country rock sound, but the songs aren't quite there,

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Speaker 1: and for Glenn to get to where he needs to go,

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Speaker 1: he's gonna need to find another partner. In addition to

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Speaker 1: j D and luckily he soon meets another guy from

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Speaker 1: Texas named Don Henley. Don Henley was born in Lynden,

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Speaker 1: Northeastern Texas, the birthplace of t bone Walker and Scott

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Speaker 1: Choplin great musical legacy. Uh Don got to start playing

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Speaker 1: Dixieland jazz, and while he was a student at North

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Speaker 1: Texas State, he was in a band called Felicity, which

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Speaker 1: if you've heard it's really kind of interesting. You can

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Speaker 1: hear it on YouTube. They released a single in nineteen seven,

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Speaker 1: I think one of Don Henley's first songs he ever wrote,

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Speaker 1: called all Try It, and the b sides called Hurton

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Speaker 1: and you can hear it's the unmistakable voice of Don

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Speaker 1: Henley and it's kind of cool. It's got this like

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Speaker 1: Young Rascal's question mark and the mysterions vibe to it

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Speaker 1: with like weird like Farfisa Oregon and a fuzz guitar.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty interesting. After they graduated college, they morphed into

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Speaker 1: sort of more of a country flavor group called Shiloh. Yeah, Shiloh.

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Speaker 1: They end up moving to Los Angeles at the invite

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Speaker 1: of Kenny Rogers, and yes it is the Kenny Rogers,

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Speaker 1: the one that we all know the Gamble or the

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Speaker 1: fast food Chicken Magnate and uh. At this time, Kenny

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Speaker 1: was in a band called the First Edition, which you

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Speaker 1: might know from their song just checked in to see

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Speaker 1: what condition my condition was in, which I feel like

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Speaker 1: most like modern audiences know because that songs in The

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Speaker 1: Big Lebowski, which is kind of funny to me because

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Speaker 1: we all know how Jeff Lebowski feels about the Eagles.

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Speaker 1: It's kind of an interesting wrinkle in this story. But anyway,

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Speaker 1: Kenny Rogers invites Shiloh to come out to Los Angeles.

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Speaker 1: He produces their self titled debut, which comes out in

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Speaker 1: nine seventy, and it's similar to the Long Branch Penny

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Speaker 1: Whistle situation, where it's this country rock band. It has this,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of hippie vibe and you can hear

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Speaker 1: the seas of the Eagles in that band, but you know,

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Speaker 1: it's not quite slick enough. The songs aren't there. The

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Speaker 1: lead single from that record was called simple Little down

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Speaker 1: home rock and roll Love Song for Rosie, which rolls

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Speaker 1: off the rolls off the tongue and you could you

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Speaker 1: can see, you know, the contrast between something like that

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Speaker 1: and songs like take It Easy, whichy woman, these very simple,

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Speaker 1: straightforward songs that you feel like, you know like the

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Speaker 1: first time you hear them. So both Done and Glenn

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Speaker 1: they're sort of again like in rough draft versions of

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Speaker 1: the band that they're going to form together at this point,

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Speaker 1: and both of their bands are on the rocks. In

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Speaker 1: the early seventies, and and Done would recall hanging out

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Speaker 1: at the Troubadour Club, which you know, the notorious musician

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Speaker 1: hang out on Santa Monica Boulevard, but it was the

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Speaker 1: launching path for so many Laurel Canyon acts in the

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Speaker 1: late sixties and early seventies. And to hear Don tell it,

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Speaker 1: he was just a sort of sad figure just hang

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Speaker 1: out at this club, lacking a band and really with

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Speaker 1: no direction. He said, he didn't know anybody, and he

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Speaker 1: just was there by himself and kind of pathetic. And

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Speaker 1: Glenn Fry came over one night, invited him over to

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Speaker 1: his table and bottom a beer and just kind of said,

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Speaker 1: you know, hey, what's going on? And they knew each other.

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Speaker 1: I think both Long Branch, Penny Whistle and Shiloh were

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Speaker 1: on a small label called Amos Records, so they were

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Speaker 1: probably on like nodding acquaintance level to each other. But

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Speaker 1: they got to talk in this one night and it

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Speaker 1: came out that both their bands were on the rocks

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Speaker 1: and Long Branch of Penny Whistle were splitting up, and

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Speaker 1: so with Shiloh and Glenn was sort of the man

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Speaker 1: with the plan. Don would always say he kind of

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Speaker 1: knew all the industry figures, if not personally, he knew

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Speaker 1: of them and he knew the right people to talk to.

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Speaker 1: He was a lot more, a lot better networking than

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Speaker 1: Don was at this time. And Glenn's talking about how

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Speaker 1: he has in roads with Linda Ronstat was about to

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Speaker 1: go on tour and needed a backing band. So they

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Speaker 1: go on tour with her, making the two hundred bucks

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Speaker 1: a week while they kind of get their own musical

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Speaker 1: project together. Now, when they're on this tour, all the

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Speaker 1: guys in the band, they end up sharing hotel rooms

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Speaker 1: in order to save money. So Glenn and Don end

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Speaker 1: up rooming together on this tour, and this is like

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Speaker 1: where they really start to bond. And you know, looking back,

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Speaker 1: they don't really have a lot in common. You look

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Speaker 1: at Glenn Fry, He's this guy from Michigan. He's very energetic.

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Speaker 1: He's kind of like a jock. I mean, certainly in

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Speaker 1: terms of how he carries himself. It's more of like

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Speaker 1: a jock type stature. I think that he has. He's

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Speaker 1: very aggressive, very forward, whereas Don, you know, he is

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Speaker 1: the sensitive literature major. He's more introverted. And it really

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Speaker 1: is a case of like the quiet guy drawing people in, well,

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Speaker 1: like the loudmouth kind of repels people. Like there was

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Speaker 1: this famous quote where someone described Don Henley at this

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Speaker 1: time having charisma and Glenn Fry having care isn't Mom,

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Speaker 1: which is like pretty brutal. I think what united these

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Speaker 1: guys is that they were both ambitious. I mean, Glenn

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Speaker 1: was I think more sort of upfront about it. But

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Speaker 1: you know, Don also, I think was just as as

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Speaker 1: ambitious as Glenn, and I think they saw in each

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Speaker 1: other that together, maybe we can form a band that

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Speaker 1: will go the distance. And I think to understand that

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Speaker 1: you really have to look at the context of the times,

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Speaker 1: because you know, Don and Glenn they came out of

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Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, but I think they had like a

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Speaker 1: post sixties sensibility and that they were influenced by seeing

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Speaker 1: what had worked and what didn't work in the previous

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Speaker 1: generation of bands. You know, they were aware of the

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Speaker 1: Flying Breeder Brothers and Poco and Dillert and Clark, all

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Speaker 1: these like you know, brilliant l A based country rock

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Speaker 1: bands that had just tons of talent, but ultimately like

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Speaker 1: they didn't have the professional is um or the focus

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Speaker 1: or the drive to go the distance. Even Crosby Stills,

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Speaker 1: Nash and Young, who were like the kingpins of Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles in the early seventies, and if you don't know,

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Speaker 1: they were also covered on this show in a multi

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Speaker 1: part series that you're gonna want to check out if

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Speaker 1: you haven't heard it yet, you know, even C S.

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Speaker 1: N Y. I think they were hamstrung by not having

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Speaker 1: a clearly defined hierarchy that kept the operation in line.

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Speaker 1: And I think all that stuff ultimately influenced Don and

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Speaker 1: Glenn as they were conceptualizing like what they wanted their

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Speaker 1: band to be. You know, they wanted to be in control,

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Speaker 1: they wanted to have a consistent live show. They wanted

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Speaker 1: to have you know, catchy hit songs that would work

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Speaker 1: on the radio, and above all, they want to make

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Speaker 1: a ship ton of money. And you know, they bonded

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Speaker 1: over these shared ambitions and at some point they decided that,

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Speaker 1: you know, we don't want to back up Linda run

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Speaker 1: said anymore. We want to form our own band, which

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Speaker 1: would have been a problem if Linda Ronstad Like wasn't

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Speaker 1: the coolest woman on the planet. Oh complete angel. They

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Speaker 1: tell Linda about their desire to go out on their own,

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Speaker 1: and she not only agree, but starts giving recommendations of

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Speaker 1: guys that they should team up with to make this

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Speaker 1: new band. So she's helping him along and she the

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Speaker 1: first person she recommends is Bernie Leaden, who had backed

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Speaker 1: her I think on a previous tour, and he'd come

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Speaker 1: through the Birds school of l A Rock and he

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Speaker 1: was playing with Gene Clark and Dillard and Clark, and

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Speaker 1: more recently he was playing with the Flying Burrito Brothers

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Speaker 1: on Burrito Deluxe and they're self titled ninety one album.

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Speaker 1: And he was a crucial figure in the burgeoning l

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Speaker 1: A country rock scene because he played not only guitar,

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Speaker 1: but pedal steel and banjo and mandolin and b benders.

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Speaker 1: He really had that country flare down. And then Linda

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Speaker 1: also recommended another member of her backing band roster, Randy Meisner,

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Speaker 1: and he was this basis with the Sky High Falsetto,

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Speaker 1: and he came through the Buffalo Springfield School of l

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Speaker 1: A Rock. He was playing in Poco with Richie Fay

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Speaker 1: and Jim Messina before joining Ricky Nelson's group, the Stone

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Speaker 1: Canyon Band. And the version of the story that I heard,

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Speaker 1: although I've heard different versions, was that Linda arranged for

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Speaker 1: Bernie and Randy to come back and back her first

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Speaker 1: show at Disneyland in July one, just so that Don

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Speaker 1: and Glenn could see what it was like playing with

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Speaker 1: them and see how they jailed in. It jailed very well.

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Speaker 1: That was the first line of the Eagles. So they

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Speaker 1: ended up getting a deal with David Geffen on his

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Speaker 1: label Asylum. And I think it's worth noting that like

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Speaker 1: Bernie Leaden was the most forward with David Geffen at

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Speaker 1: this point, Like he basically like walked into David Geffen's

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Speaker 1: office and said do you want us or not? And

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Speaker 1: like Geffen did, like he could see the potential of

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Speaker 1: this group. And I think that speaks to how Bernie

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Speaker 1: Laden at this point seems like the most important member

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Speaker 1: of the band in a way, like he had the

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Speaker 1: best pedigree he had played like with Graham Parsons. He

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Speaker 1: had played in The Birds. You know, he was a

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Speaker 1: connection to that sixties l a rock scene that the

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Speaker 1: Eagles were coming from. So Geffen signs the Eagles and

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Speaker 1: he sends them off to Aspen to basically just like

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Speaker 1: play in bars and get their act together. And by

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Speaker 1: the way, we're gonna be talking a lot more about

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Speaker 1: David Geffen in his relationship with the Eagles in a

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Speaker 1: future episode, which I'm very excited to do. I think

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Speaker 1: David Geffen is a fast and aiding character and all

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Speaker 1: the shenanigans with him and irving A's off and like

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Speaker 1: him telling Don Henley that I'd rather die than let

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Speaker 1: you fuck me like that great moment. Anyway, I don't

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Speaker 1: want to spill all the beans of that episode. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot to get into there, but there's a lot there.

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Speaker 1: For now, we're just gonna kind of keep David Geffen

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Speaker 1: in the background of the Eagles story. The Eagles aren't

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Speaker 1: Aspen and they're rehearsing, and Glenn has the idea that

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Speaker 1: he wants Glenn John's to produce their first record. Now,

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Speaker 1: who is Glen John's, Well, if you don't know who

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Speaker 1: Glen John's is you haven't looked at the liner notes

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Speaker 1: of some of the biggest classic rock records of all time.

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Speaker 1: This is the guy who worked with the Rolling Stones

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Speaker 1: in the sixties, he worked with the Beatles, he produced

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Speaker 1: Who's Next for the Who. He worked with Led Zeppelin

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Speaker 1: on all their classic records. He's basically like mr. Classic rock,

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Speaker 1: especially of like the British variety. So to be like

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Speaker 1: a young band and to say I want Glenn John's

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Speaker 1: to produce our record, it's a pretty ballsy thing to do,

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Speaker 1: wouldn't you say? Yeah? No, I mean especially yeah for

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Speaker 1: these neophyte l A country guys. Also really interesting because

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Speaker 1: his sort of sound is really nothing like what the

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Speaker 1: embryonic Eagles sounds like. To like, it was definitely it

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Speaker 1: was an interesting choice. Yeah. I think it speaks to

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Speaker 1: how Glenn probably had a different view of the Eagles

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Speaker 1: than what they actually were. I think he already thought

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Speaker 1: of them as this like rock and roll machine, when

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Speaker 1: in reality they were this like kind of pleasant country

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Speaker 1: rock band. And when Glenn John's comes out to Aspen

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Speaker 1: to see them, that is his impression basically that he

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Speaker 1: sees them playing like in this Aspen bar, and you

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Speaker 1: know they're playing these sort of like lame Chuck Berry

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Speaker 1: derived rockers and you know, kind of like nice but

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Speaker 1: not especially distinguished, you know, country songs, and you know,

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Speaker 1: Glenn Johnson later said, you know, I thought they were confused,

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Speaker 1: Like Glenn Fry wanted to be in a rock band

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Speaker 1: and Bernie Leaden, you know, was one of the greatest

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Speaker 1: acoustic players in l A at that point. So he

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Speaker 1: walked away and he wasn't all that impressed. David Geffen

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Speaker 1: keeps pushing for Glenn John's to give the Eagles another chance.

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Speaker 1: So Glenn John's hops back on a plane, goes you know,

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Speaker 1: from England to Los Angeles, and he's watching an Eagles rehearsal,

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Speaker 1: and at first he's like feeling like he didn't Aspen.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't really hear anything that leads them to want

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Speaker 1: to work with this band, and then during a break,

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Speaker 1: they end up harmonizing on this Randy Riiser song called

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Speaker 1: Take the Devil. And when Glenn John's here's those like

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Speaker 1: l a country rock harmonies, that's when it all clicks

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Speaker 1: into place for him, and that's when he decides that

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Speaker 1: he's going to produce this band. And I think like

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Speaker 1: from his perspective. He really did look at them as

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Speaker 1: like an extension of the Flying Burrito Brothers or even

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Speaker 1: like of the Beach Boys. I mean, I think that

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Speaker 1: in terms of like the l a rock lineage. I

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Speaker 1: think the early Eagles were like a harmony band in

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Speaker 1: the tradition of the Beach Boys, and and even like

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Speaker 1: the Birds to some degree. But this really does like

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Speaker 1: set up like the first big feud of the Eagles

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Speaker 1: story between the Eagles and I guess mainly Glenn Fry

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Speaker 1: and Glenn John's because you know, Glen John's is gonna

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Speaker 1: produce that first record, They're gonna have some hits on it.

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Speaker 1: But as they progress on, like the next, the record

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Speaker 1: after that, and the third record, there's gonna be this

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Speaker 1: tension between how Glenn john sees them, which is as

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Speaker 1: this country rock band, and how Glenn Fry wants this

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Speaker 1: band to be, which is like more of like a

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Speaker 1: rock band. And Glenn John's. Let's you mentioned he's a

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Speaker 1: very big deal and he has very specific ways that

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Speaker 1: he goes about producing records, and he likes his control

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Speaker 1: and why not because because it works, It clearly works,

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Speaker 1: and uh, the band really didn't want to be dictated

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Speaker 1: to in such a strict way. I mean, Don Henley

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Speaker 1: talks about how he didn't agree with how Glenn was

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Speaker 1: making his drums up. He miked him like he was

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Speaker 1: making John Bonham. And Don wanted every single individual drum

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Speaker 1: on the kit mike individually so you could get a

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Speaker 1: better control in the mix. And Glenn would say, you

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Speaker 1: know you want it louder, play louder, which is what

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Speaker 1: he'd say to Bonham. And then same with with Glenn

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Speaker 1: Fry when if he's saying he would put this echo

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Speaker 1: on Glenn's vocal and Glenn hated it, and Glenn John's

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Speaker 1: was saying, well, that's my trademark, Like that's that's you

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Speaker 1: want me to bruce your record, That's how I like

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Speaker 1: my vocals to sound. That's what I do. And so

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Speaker 1: and they really, I mean, not only were they disagreeing

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Speaker 1: with sort of broad strokes like this is the kind

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Speaker 1: of band we want to do, but just individual nuts

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Speaker 1: and bolts how they put the songs together. They were

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Speaker 1: really budding heads at at every turn. And also, you know,

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Speaker 1: a very early seventies rock band problem to Glenn had

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Speaker 1: a really dim view of drinking and drug taking in

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Speaker 1: the studio. I mean, this was He's well into his

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Speaker 1: career at this point and he had lost many, many

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Speaker 1: many hours in days to you know, Keith Richards and

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Speaker 1: so many other rock and rollers just you know, being

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Speaker 1: being stoned out of their mind of being unable to work.

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Speaker 1: So we had a very strict no drugs policy in

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Speaker 1: the studio, which really piste off Glenn Fry in particular.

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Speaker 1: He just thought he was like a schoolmarm. I think

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Speaker 1: that was the word he used. I mean, they just

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Speaker 1: really were very different planes. Their debut album, self titled Debut,

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Speaker 1: was you know, a decent sized success when it was

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Speaker 1: released in nineteen seventy two, peaked at number twenty two,

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Speaker 1: and I think eventually went platinum, and it had taken

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Speaker 1: easy and witchy woman and peaceful, easy feeling. Uh. To me,

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Speaker 1: this album was more unified and almost any that they

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Speaker 1: would do later on. I mean, all four members contributed songs,

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Speaker 1: all four members took lead vocals. Randy Meisner sung more

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Speaker 1: than Don Henley on this record, which is weird to

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Speaker 1: think of now, but it's actually one of my favorite

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Speaker 1: albums on there is. Yeah, it really is like, you know,

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Speaker 1: the platonic ideal of like the Eagles being a band,

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Speaker 1: like you said, each member contributing more or less equally,

402
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Speaker 1: which is going to be less and less the case,

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Speaker 1: of course, as the Eagle's career progresses in the seventies.

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Speaker 1: I want to do like one quick side note about

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Speaker 1: take it Easy. You know. Of course, that's like one

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Speaker 1: of the classic Eagles songs. And it's my understanding that

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Speaker 1: like Jackson Brown like wrote the music, the melody, and

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Speaker 1: almost all the lyrics, say for one line, which is

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Speaker 1: it's a girl, my lord and a flatbed forward slowing

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Speaker 1: down to take a look at me. Like apparently, like

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Speaker 1: Glenn Fry wrote that lyric and for that he got

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Speaker 1: a co write, which I guess is normal for songwriting.

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Speaker 1: I mean to me, like, I'm not a songwriter. I

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Speaker 1: I feel like that seems like a little weird that

415
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Speaker 1: Glenn Fry gets equal credit for this song even though

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Speaker 1: it was basically Jackson Brown's song. But I feel like

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Speaker 1: this will become a major theme for the Eagles, you know,

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Speaker 1: as their career unfolds, like where someone outside of the

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Speaker 1: band brings in a song and Don and Glenn make

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Speaker 1: like a relatively minor edition and voi la, they get

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Speaker 1: a piece of the publishing, you know, like they really

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Speaker 1: seem like, you know, like Glory Hoggs in a way

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Speaker 1: they're on top of that very canny, you know, even

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Speaker 1: though it seems like a little underhanded to me. But anyway,

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Speaker 1: after the debut and all those hit singles, they decide

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Speaker 1: on the sophomore record to do what many bands do,

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Speaker 1: which is to make their art album, and in the

428
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,359
Speaker 1: Eagles case, it's a cowboy concept record called Desperado. I

429
00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:36,280
Speaker 1: actually think this is like one of their best albums.

430
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:40,360
Speaker 1: Like Eagles, I think they generally made like pretty spotty LPs,

431
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,840
Speaker 1: but this one and later Hotel California, for me, hold

432
00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,520
Speaker 1: together the best as like complete statements, you know, Like

433
00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,920
Speaker 1: Hotel California. Desperado was centered on an epic title track

434
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,920
Speaker 1: sung by Don Henley, where he's really i think coming

435
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,040
Speaker 1: into his own as like the voice of the band

436
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,560
Speaker 1: on that song. Also, like Hotel California, it's a thinly

437
00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,040
Speaker 1: viled commentary on them usic industry, which in this case,

438
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:03,840
Speaker 1: you know, the concept of the record is that like

439
00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:06,320
Speaker 1: rock stars of the seventies are like the outlaws of

440
00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:10,520
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, which apparently this was suggested by Glenn Fry,

441
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:14,040
Speaker 1: though I wonder like, did youn bond Job ultimately take

442
00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:16,879
Speaker 1: that concept the farthest a decade later with Wanted Dead

443
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:19,719
Speaker 1: or Alive and Blaze of Glory. I mean he did

444
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,920
Speaker 1: ride the steel horse Jordan's with a loaded six string

445
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,360
Speaker 1: on his back. What a line, what a song? Yeah, man,

446
00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,440
Speaker 1: Eagles and bon Jovi making the connection right there. I

447
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:30,360
Speaker 1: always thought it was really weird that, you know, after

448
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:32,600
Speaker 1: all the fuss about, you know, when they were making

449
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,320
Speaker 1: their first album with with John's saying, you know, we

450
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,119
Speaker 1: are a rock and roll band, don't try to make

451
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,320
Speaker 1: us into this this this country flavored group that they went.

452
00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,159
Speaker 1: They really leaned into this old West country rock thing.

453
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,280
Speaker 1: And on Desperado, I thought that was, like, that was

454
00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,720
Speaker 1: a choice I wouldn't have expected given how much they

455
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:50,920
Speaker 1: were playing, you know, those chuck Berry riffs and stuff,

456
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,359
Speaker 1: but when they first met Glenn John's in Aspen. But

457
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:56,960
Speaker 1: also on the flip side, like you said, it's a

458
00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,520
Speaker 1: young band making their bid for you know, mature critical praise.

459
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,120
Speaker 1: I also really like the fact that the back cover

460
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,120
Speaker 1: shows them as playing dead while members of the Law

461
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 1: are standing over their their bodies and the members of

462
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:13,639
Speaker 1: the Law are all their managers and executives and Glenn

463
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:18,040
Speaker 1: John's himself. Yeah that's heavy ship. Yeah, not very subtle.

464
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:20,720
Speaker 1: My really interesting part about the making of the album

465
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:25,520
Speaker 1: was that Glenn he liked this idea and he encouraged

466
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,439
Speaker 1: Bernie Leaden to write musical linking themes to link the songs,

467
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,960
Speaker 1: to really make it like a concept album. And it

468
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,480
Speaker 1: seems like at this time the bond between Glenn John's

469
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,359
Speaker 1: and Bernie Leaden was sort of the strongest, which is

470
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,240
Speaker 1: actually what started to drive a bit of a wedge

471
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:44,399
Speaker 1: between Bernie and the rest of the band, which happened

472
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:46,479
Speaker 1: more later, is the band lead more into the rock

473
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: and roll sound, which wasn't really Bernie's forte really Yeah.

474
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,320
Speaker 1: And I think the other thing that really drove away

475
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:55,960
Speaker 1: suddenly between the band and Glen John's was that Desperado

476
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:58,719
Speaker 1: like wasn't a hit, you know. Like in his memoir

477
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,280
Speaker 1: sound Man, Glen On notes that like when a record

478
00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:04,719
Speaker 1: does well, the artist takes the credit, and when it fails,

479
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 1: it's the fault of the producer. And I feel like

480
00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,719
Speaker 1: that's basically what happened with Glenn Johns and Desperado. I mean,

481
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,560
Speaker 1: it's a little strange now because you know, people look

482
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,040
Speaker 1: back on that album and they of course remember the

483
00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:18,879
Speaker 1: title track, which is one of the most iconic Eagles songs.

484
00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:22,399
Speaker 1: There's also Tequila Sunrise on that record, which ended up,

485
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:24,480
Speaker 1: you know, on the Greatest Hits record, a very famous

486
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 1: Eagles track. So it seems like it was a success,

487
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,920
Speaker 1: but like at the time, like it wasn't really successful

488
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:32,800
Speaker 1: at all. I don't think it even broke like the

489
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:36,159
Speaker 1: top forty on the album's chart. And I think they

490
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:37,960
Speaker 1: had a lot to do with like country rock in

491
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,240
Speaker 1: general just being like a little played out by then,

492
00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,639
Speaker 1: like you know, entering the mid seventies that was like

493
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:45,720
Speaker 1: really the prime of arena rock, you know, like led Zeppelin,

494
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:50,440
Speaker 1: The Who, Kiss, Aerosmith, Peter Frampton, and you know, with Desperado,

495
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 1: I think the Eagles were in danger of being sort

496
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:55,200
Speaker 1: of perceived as like like a fixture of like a

497
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,280
Speaker 1: bygone era. Like they were fading like a bit at

498
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:01,879
Speaker 1: this time, and it's seems like done and Glenn recognized that,

499
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,120
Speaker 1: you know, Glenn already wanted to be a rock band,

500
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:05,639
Speaker 1: but I think they were also starting to see like

501
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,639
Speaker 1: the financial necessity to like beef up a little bit

502
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,000
Speaker 1: and compete like with the big boys of arena rock.

503
00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:13,360
Speaker 1: So this makes them less and less inclined to listen

504
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 1: to Glenn John's and they go back to London to

505
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,040
Speaker 1: work on their third album on the Border, and they

506
00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:20,000
Speaker 1: really they aren't interested in listening to them anymore for

507
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,720
Speaker 1: two reasons. I mean one, the success that they enjoyed

508
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 1: to date really embolded them, and they were less interested

509
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,280
Speaker 1: in in cow towing to what Glenn told them. I mean,

510
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:30,080
Speaker 1: Glenn would say, I think it was in his memoir.

511
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 1: They began to be opinionated and less insecure, and they

512
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,879
Speaker 1: wanted to have more input on how the records they

513
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,040
Speaker 1: made sounded, and they would fight him over things like

514
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,200
Speaker 1: vocal echo and drum sounds. So the success in both

515
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 1: of them, and then on the flip side, the failure

516
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,239
Speaker 1: of Desperado made them question Glen John's choices even more

517
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,160
Speaker 1: is he continued to push him further into this you know, harmony,

518
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,320
Speaker 1: country rock, realm and uh. In the History of the

519
00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 1: Eagles documentary, they really frame it as almost like a

520
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,480
Speaker 1: personal failing on Glenn's part. They're like, we were saying,

521
00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:59,639
Speaker 1: you know, he'd been bombarded by loud rock and roll

522
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:01,440
Speaker 1: for so many years, and at this point in his

523
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,359
Speaker 1: life he just wanted to be mellow and make mellow

524
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 1: music and you know, take it easy. And the famous

525
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,440
Speaker 1: quote from Glenn John's at this time is, you know,

526
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,800
Speaker 1: you guys are not a rock and roll band, but

527
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:14,840
Speaker 1: who are a rock and roll band? And you are

528
00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:18,560
Speaker 1: not that? And you know he's right. Yeah, I mean,

529
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:20,720
Speaker 1: I think in the case of the Eagles, certainly like

530
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: this line with the Eagles like wasn't really like a

531
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,960
Speaker 1: strong rock band. They had to add eventually, you know,

532
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,439
Speaker 1: Don Felder and especially Joe Walsh, to have that arena

533
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,920
Speaker 1: rock just firepower, you know, that would enable them to

534
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:36,320
Speaker 1: make that transition. But yeah, at this point, you know,

535
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: they were still kind of on their way to getting

536
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,240
Speaker 1: to that point. So the Eagles, like they leave England,

537
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:43,159
Speaker 1: they go back to America, they want to find a

538
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 1: new producer, and they ended up having a meeting with

539
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 1: this guy named Bill Simsic, who at that time was

540
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:52,080
Speaker 1: best known for working with Joe Walsh, who quite I

541
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:55,639
Speaker 1: guess fortuitously was also managed by Irving as Off at

542
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 1: that time. And they had this meeting with Bill and

543
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:00,560
Speaker 1: they asked two questions. They they say, will you let

544
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:02,639
Speaker 1: us have input on how much echo you put on

545
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,200
Speaker 1: our records and Bill says yes. And they asked, will

546
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,159
Speaker 1: you put a mike on each drum so we can

547
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,520
Speaker 1: better control the mix, and Bill says yes to that too,

548
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 1: And of course this is all covered in the documentary.

549
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,480
Speaker 1: What isn't quite spelled out in that movie. But I

550
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,119
Speaker 1: think was also a plus for Bill Simsic is that

551
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,920
Speaker 1: he had a much more permissive attitude about drugs and

552
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:24,480
Speaker 1: alcohol in the studio. And from here on out, Eagles

553
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,680
Speaker 1: productions are going to get more and more decadent and

554
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 1: like also take a lot longer, much much longer, which

555
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 1: kind of works for a while, but it's going to

556
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:35,680
Speaker 1: end up derailing them in the future. But like for now,

557
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 1: it's really cool. They're happy with Bill Simsic. I guess

558
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 1: Bill Simpson called Glenn John's before he took the job

559
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:42,399
Speaker 1: and asked for his blessing, and Glenn said, better you

560
00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:44,879
Speaker 1: than me producing them, So yeah, I don't think he

561
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 1: was really all that sad to see the Eagles go either. No, now, Glenn,

562
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,120
Speaker 1: he had other things to do, all right hand, We'll

563
00:26:50,119 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 1: be right back with more rivals. So now that the

564
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 1: Eagles could rock out to their hearts content, they realized

565
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 1: they have a logistical problem is that basically, whenever Glenn

566
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 1: Fry wanted to singing rock and roll tune, he had

567
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,879
Speaker 1: to hand off lead guitar duties to Bertie Leadon, who

568
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,639
Speaker 1: was more of a country bass guitar player. And whenever

569
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,359
Speaker 1: one they wanted to do country tinge songs that Bernie sang,

570
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,080
Speaker 1: Glenn had to play lead guitar and you know, country

571
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 1: guitar pick and wasn't really his thing. So they realized

572
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 1: that they needed a third guitarist, so they looked up

573
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,720
Speaker 1: Dawn Fingers. Felder was great, you know, virtuosic guitar player,

574
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:34,960
Speaker 1: and he came in to play lead on the on

575
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:38,080
Speaker 1: the Border track already gone, and he assumed it was

576
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: just you know, a session, and then to his surprise,

577
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,480
Speaker 1: the next day he was asked to join and he

578
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: also added a slide guitar and good day in Hell too, um,

579
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,159
Speaker 1: and he joined that next day and uh, sort of

580
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:53,120
Speaker 1: you know, we'll get into this in the next episode,

581
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,880
Speaker 1: but sort of sowed the seeds for the band's uh destruction,

582
00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 1: I would say a couple of years later, but we're

583
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,719
Speaker 1: getting ahead of ourselves. Yeah, yeah, Felder he ends up

584
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,440
Speaker 1: being like one of the most He is the bitterest

585
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,720
Speaker 1: rival really for Henley and Fry, and we're gonna see

586
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 1: that in our next episode. But in the short run,

587
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,960
Speaker 1: he was exactly what Fry was looking for. He was

588
00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:14,960
Speaker 1: the southern rock guitar player in a style like you know,

589
00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:16,960
Speaker 1: you could liken him to like a Dwyane Allman or

590
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 1: Eric Clapton, like those were two of the big influences

591
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,679
Speaker 1: for Felder. And when he enters the band, I mean,

592
00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:24,919
Speaker 1: this is like one of the like truly Shakespearean turns

593
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 1: for me and this story because Don Felder and Bernie

594
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:31,360
Speaker 1: Laden were friends. I mean they both were from Gainesville, Florida,

595
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,439
Speaker 1: which is like a crazy fertile city for like rock

596
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 1: and roll. Not only do you have Felder and Leaden,

597
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,680
Speaker 1: but that's also the home place of Tom Petty and

598
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:44,600
Speaker 1: Steven Still's Actually like Don Felder was Tom Petty's guitar teacher,

599
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 1: like when Petty was a kid. It's crazy, like how

600
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 1: all these things come together. The narrative with Bernie Laden

601
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 1: is that he didn't like the rocked out sound that

602
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,040
Speaker 1: the Eagles are starting to embrace with songs like Already

603
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:58,520
Speaker 1: Gone Now this is a big theme of the documentary.

604
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: It gets pounded time and again, and that does seem

605
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,280
Speaker 1: true up to a point, but like it kind of

606
00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 1: overlooks the fact that, like Bernie Leadon had played rock

607
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,040
Speaker 1: and roll in his other bands. You know, Bernie himself

608
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 1: said that he felt like this was oversimplification of his

609
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 1: problems in the Eagles, and he said, like, I played

610
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:16,840
Speaker 1: a gibson less Paul and I enjoyed rock and roll.

611
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 1: That's evident from the early albums. And you know, it's

612
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 1: worth noting that, like he wrote the guitar riff to

613
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:23,400
Speaker 1: which he Woman, which I think is like one of

614
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,280
Speaker 1: the coolest guitar riffs in the Eagles canon. So it's

615
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,800
Speaker 1: not like he was like just this country purist who

616
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 1: couldn't play rock music at all. I think what was

617
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,200
Speaker 1: more the case with Leaden is that he was just

618
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 1: like burned out by this toxic atmosphere in the Eagles.

619
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,440
Speaker 1: And I'm sure he was also angry about his diminishing

620
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: role in the band. I mean, like I said before,

621
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:43,920
Speaker 1: like he was kind of the man early on in

622
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 1: the Eagles, at least in terms of his reputation as

623
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 1: a player. You know, he had had this great pedigree.

624
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 1: I think that he was a big reason why Glenn

625
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,400
Speaker 1: John's ultimately decided to produce them, because he just had

626
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 1: so much respect for his musicianship. And now, like on

627
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 1: the third record, he wasn't even like a second or

628
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,440
Speaker 1: third banana in the band, you know, So I think

629
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 1: he could feel that he was in a way being

630
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:07,920
Speaker 1: pushed out, while he was also just feeling like a

631
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 1: lot of discontent with just the vibe of this band.

632
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 1: Tensions boiled over in October nine, backstage during a gig

633
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 1: at the Orange Bowl. Bernie, as you mentioned earlier, I mean,

634
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:19,360
Speaker 1: he was fried by this point. He wanted to take

635
00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 1: some time off with the band and uh, and that

636
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 1: was not well received by Dawn and Glenn. Glenn is

637
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: backstage talking animatedly about what they're gonna do next, and

638
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 1: he's getting all excited, and Bernie just he can't take

639
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 1: it anymore. He can't resist popping his ego by pouring

640
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,440
Speaker 1: a beer over Glenn's head and delivering the immortal line

641
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 1: you need to chill out, man, which you know, I mean,

642
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:45,880
Speaker 1: it seems like something from like American Pie or something like.

643
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 1: It seems like kind of quaint and adorable. He would

644
00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 1: later say. Bernie would say that he regretted this in

645
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,240
Speaker 1: later years he would kind of have like a non apology.

646
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:54,840
Speaker 1: So oh yeah, that was a that was a very

647
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,840
Speaker 1: disrespectful thing to do, something I'm not very proud of,

648
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 1: but pretty much marked his end, the end of his

649
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 1: tenure in the end, and he was replaced I think

650
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 1: like not long later by Joe Walking. I was gonna say,

651
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:09,400
Speaker 1: like when you when you dump a beer on someone's head,

652
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,480
Speaker 1: that is like a resignation letter, you know, in in

653
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 1: beer form. Here's no coming back from that, no, I mean,

654
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 1: and this is with his departure and when they got

655
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,400
Speaker 1: Joe Walsh, and I mean, the band's transformation from a

656
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 1: harmony group into like a rock or at least a

657
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,960
Speaker 1: rockier group was more or less complete. And Glenn would

658
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 1: say in the in the documentary, maybe the vocals won't

659
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,280
Speaker 1: be quite as good, but boy, are we gonna kick

660
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:35,160
Speaker 1: some ass. And I guess, to Bernie's amusement, like right

661
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,560
Speaker 1: after he uh, he was kicked out, the band did

662
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 1: take a year off, which he always thought was very funny,

663
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 1: just says he'd wanted. And the other thing with Bernie

664
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 1: Leaden is that of all the members of the Eagles.

665
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 1: To me, he seems like the most content in his skin,

666
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:50,920
Speaker 1: at least in terms of like his decision to like

667
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,240
Speaker 1: to leave the band, because as we're going to see

668
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: with some of the other members that were edged out

669
00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:57,960
Speaker 1: of the Eagles, you know, there's like a lot of

670
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 1: bitterness and jealousy and and and content. But it seems

671
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 1: like Leaden, you know, really felt like he did the

672
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 1: right thing and he was happy in his decision. And

673
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 1: of course he also has the benefit of like still

674
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 1: making tons of money from his involvement in the Eagles

675
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 1: without actually having to be around Don Henley and Glenn Fry.

676
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: Like he once said, like, you know, I get royalties

677
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 1: on that Greatest Hits record just like it was a

678
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:22,560
Speaker 1: new album. In a way, I'm still part of a

679
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 1: band that goes platinum every year. So in a way,

680
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 1: like Bernie Leaden, he ended up having the best of

681
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 1: both worlds after he left the Eagles, oh totally. And

682
00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:32,600
Speaker 1: then there's a part in Glenn in in Don Felder's

683
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 1: book where I guess in the in the early two

684
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,400
Speaker 1: thousands or late nineties or something, Bernie comes and like

685
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 1: catches a show and goes backstage and says Hi, and

686
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 1: like it's totally cool and chill, and he like talks

687
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,160
Speaker 1: about kind of being jealous about how Bernie's at this

688
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,160
Speaker 1: great point in his relationship with the guys in the band,

689
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 1: So yeah, you're I think you're right. I think of

690
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 1: almost everybody in the story, he's the one who came

691
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:55,480
Speaker 1: out of hand and they let in the Eagles, like

692
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:59,760
Speaker 1: actually let Leaden play on their two or the tour

693
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,720
Speaker 1: after the History of the Eagles documentary came out. So

694
00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,520
Speaker 1: it seems like whatever ill will you know existed at

695
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:08,760
Speaker 1: you know, from the beer dumping incident, it seemed like

696
00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:12,280
Speaker 1: that was now water or beer sets under the bridge

697
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,200
Speaker 1: and they were all cool. By that point. Things are

698
00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,840
Speaker 1: way less sunny for Randy Meisner, and this whole part

699
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: of the story makes me so sad. The eagles next album,

700
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,200
Speaker 1: One of These Nights, became the first number one record,

701
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:25,680
Speaker 1: and it contained Take It to the Limit, which contained

702
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:28,720
Speaker 1: Randy's you know, soaring falsetto at the end, and it

703
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 1: became just an instant staple in the band set and

704
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:33,960
Speaker 1: it was it was their concert encore is their big moment,

705
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 1: and uh, Randy really didn't want this big moment in

706
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 1: the spotlight, you know. I mean, he was really fundamentally

707
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 1: a shy, humble guy, and just the pressure of having

708
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,360
Speaker 1: the solo spot really wore on him, and he started

709
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 1: to dread it because, for the most part of me,

710
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:50,320
Speaker 1: he was terrified that he wouldn't be able to hit

711
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 1: this crazy high note at the end and let everyone down.

712
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 1: And you know, this was just the most obvious example

713
00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:57,920
Speaker 1: of just the pressure that he was coping with being

714
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 1: in this band. He really wasn't cut out to be

715
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 1: in a you know, a mega arena rock group. He

716
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,000
Speaker 1: was the beta man in a group of albums. Yeah,

717
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,320
Speaker 1: I mean, like I'm sorry to keep quoting Joe Walsh

718
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:10,480
Speaker 1: from History of the Eagles, but like I love that

719
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:15,920
Speaker 1: scene where he says Randy wasn't alpha. I mean, Jesus,

720
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 1: can you imagine being in this band. It's like being

721
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:20,799
Speaker 1: on Like I mean, it's like a high school football team,

722
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 1: just like, oh, the worst in the world, just torturing you,

723
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 1: you know, and taking advantage of like your insecurity. You know,

724
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:32,560
Speaker 1: that's what this band was. Oh absolutely, I mean Randy

725
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 1: was miserable, and I mean just just just the daily

726
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:38,440
Speaker 1: grind of the touring and all that made him miserable

727
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 1: and just the overbearing personalities of Don and Glenn. I

728
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 1: always likened Randy to like Fredo in uh in The Godfather,

729
00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:48,960
Speaker 1: and you know, and Glenn is sunny, he's like loud

730
00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:51,560
Speaker 1: and quick tempered, and he's like nominally the leader and

731
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:53,799
Speaker 1: he's not afraid to look like an asshole. And then

732
00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:57,680
Speaker 1: Don Henley is definitely Michael. He's just this like cold

733
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 1: fury who who you know, actually, you know, you truly

734
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 1: don't want to cross him. But Randy, you know, confrontations

735
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:05,680
Speaker 1: are really hard for him. And then there's some quote

736
00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 1: he gave where he says, you know, all I want

737
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:10,120
Speaker 1: to do is see five guys happy playing together, and

738
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:14,279
Speaker 1: it just it breaks your heart, you know. Yeah, and

739
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:15,960
Speaker 1: he would say, you know, as soon as the band

740
00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: started taking separate limos two gigs, all the camaraderie was lost.

741
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,680
Speaker 1: And and you know, in addition to the strain of

742
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:23,640
Speaker 1: living out of a suitcase, and he was coping with

743
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 1: the collapse of his marriage, he coped by partying. Really yeah,

744
00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:29,160
Speaker 1: And this all comes to a head at a gig

745
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:33,759
Speaker 1: in Knoxville, Tennessee, in June seven. It's the Hotel California tour.

746
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:35,880
Speaker 1: They've been on the road for like eleven months at

747
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,200
Speaker 1: this point, so everyone's pretty fried. And there's like different

748
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:42,640
Speaker 1: stories about like this incident that happened in Knoxville according

749
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 1: to Glenn and Dunn, like Randy apparently had been out

750
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:48,320
Speaker 1: late the night before with a bottle of vodka and

751
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:50,600
Speaker 1: a couple of groupies and like his voice was shot,

752
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,600
Speaker 1: and according to Randy, he was having problems. He had

753
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:55,319
Speaker 1: a bad case of the flu. And also, like I says,

754
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 1: Ulster was acting up. By the way, everyone in this

755
00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:00,919
Speaker 1: band had ulcers in the seventies, Like if you're biographies,

756
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,600
Speaker 1: like Don Glenn has an ulcer, Don Felder is like

757
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,520
Speaker 1: having stomach issues. You know, there's this huge band and

758
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 1: like everyone is acting like you know they work for

759
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,400
Speaker 1: like a high powered like finance firm or something. You know,

760
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,840
Speaker 1: there's no joy to be had at all. Did exactly

761
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,960
Speaker 1: so in any event, like Randy Meisner, he doesn't feel

762
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:21,960
Speaker 1: well enough to tackle that high note and take it

763
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,200
Speaker 1: to the limit, so he asks for that song to

764
00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 1: be taken out the set list and take it to

765
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:28,600
Speaker 1: the limit. Of course, was one of the biggest Eagles

766
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:30,760
Speaker 1: hits at this point. It's a song that the people

767
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,520
Speaker 1: in the audience love. So you know, Glenn hears about

768
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:35,760
Speaker 1: this and he gets really angry, and like this incident

769
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 1: is it's broken down in detail in the in the documentary.

770
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:41,520
Speaker 1: The one thing that's like not in the movie is

771
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,400
Speaker 1: that Glenn apparently called Randy Meisner a pussy, and like

772
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,840
Speaker 1: that is specifically like what set Randy Meisner off. Like

773
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 1: Randy Meisner this like mild mannered country rock dude, like

774
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: one of the nicest people in any rock band. He

775
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:57,800
Speaker 1: actually gets angry enough to throw Glen Fry against a

776
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 1: wall and they start going at it, and like it's

777
00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:04,840
Speaker 1: apparently like the scuffle got bad enough that like security

778
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 1: guards like tried to intervene, and like Don Henley got

779
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:11,839
Speaker 1: between his bandmates and the security guys and said, stay

780
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:16,360
Speaker 1: out of this. This is personal and private, real fucking private.

781
00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:20,200
Speaker 1: That's my favorite quote I think of the entire Eagle

782
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:24,320
Speaker 1: that was me imitating Glenn Fry imitating Don Henley in

783
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 1: the documentary. So eventually they get separated, but like this

784
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,840
Speaker 1: this fight ends up really kind of sealing Randy Meisner's

785
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:34,560
Speaker 1: fate in the band. Like he said later that he

786
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,200
Speaker 1: was basically like frozen out of the band for the

787
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:39,960
Speaker 1: rest of that tour, and you know, he said, like

788
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,080
Speaker 1: no one was talking to me, they wouldn't hang out

789
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,800
Speaker 1: with me after shows. I was made an outcast in

790
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:47,839
Speaker 1: a band that I helped to start. And uh, after

791
00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:50,960
Speaker 1: the tour he exited the Eagles, and of course the

792
00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:53,560
Speaker 1: Eagles they put out the requisite press release saying that

793
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:57,960
Speaker 1: Randy Meisner had exhaustion, which is code for you know,

794
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:00,960
Speaker 1: whatever the case, maybe usually that they're some blowout that

795
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:03,200
Speaker 1: causes a band member to get fired. But he gets

796
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 1: out of the band and they hire the other nicest

797
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,640
Speaker 1: man in rock, Timothy BI Schmidt, to replace him. And

798
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,480
Speaker 1: it was a natural hire to make because Timothy BI

799
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:15,640
Speaker 1: Schmitt had previously replaced Randy Meisner in the band Poco,

800
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:18,880
Speaker 1: and he also had like a similar voice and a

801
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:22,640
Speaker 1: very very deferential personality. I mean, I think Timothy BI Schmitt. Again,

802
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:25,680
Speaker 1: it would have been hard to find like a like

803
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 1: a more sort of like laid back person than Randy Meisner,

804
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,480
Speaker 1: but somehow they found it with Timothy B. Schmitt, and

805
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:33,839
Speaker 1: Randy did join the group at the Rock and Roll

806
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:37,880
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame induction in he attempted to not rejoin

807
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 1: the band, but joined them on stage when their two

808
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 1: thousand eight tour came through l A but but he

809
00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:44,879
Speaker 1: was rebuffed and he was quoted as saying, I didn't

810
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 1: get much response. I thought it would be nice to

811
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:48,840
Speaker 1: sit in with Timothy bi Schmitt and sing take it

812
00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,080
Speaker 1: to the limit. But they pretty much gave me a no.

813
00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 1: On a roundabout way. I can't blame them. They have

814
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:57,279
Speaker 1: to keep their band the way it is, just I

815
00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:00,720
Speaker 1: can just hear his voice and his story gets even sadder.

816
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,759
Speaker 1: I guess they finally when they were doing the History

817
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:07,520
Speaker 1: of the Eagles tour, they reached out to Randy to join,

818
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:09,800
Speaker 1: like just as I did with Bernie Leaden, and he

819
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:11,920
Speaker 1: finally had his moment to rejoin, and he had some

820
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,480
Speaker 1: really serious health scare after thirty six years of waiting

821
00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:18,880
Speaker 1: to rejoin this band. Uh, he missed his moment. I

822
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,360
Speaker 1: think he choked on a piece of food and lost

823
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:23,640
Speaker 1: consciousness and was in a coma for a short time

824
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,800
Speaker 1: or something some like really yeah, a coma was involved,

825
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:29,879
Speaker 1: and so he couldn't join the tour. And he also

826
00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,680
Speaker 1: dealt with alcoholism and some mental health issues, including bipolar disorder.

827
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:38,040
Speaker 1: In he threatened to shoot his wife and himself with

828
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:40,880
Speaker 1: an a K forty seven. Another time he threatened to

829
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:44,040
Speaker 1: take you know, all of his medication at once. I mean,

830
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: really really sad, scary stuff. He was placed under conservative

831
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,719
Speaker 1: ship for a time, and then his wife I think,

832
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:52,480
Speaker 1: ended up getting killed in some freak accident when a

833
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,480
Speaker 1: rifle she was holding bumped up against a cabinet and

834
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,160
Speaker 1: discharged and killed her. I mean, just all in all,

835
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,080
Speaker 1: Randy Meiser's later years have been pretty bleak. So you know,

836
00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:03,680
Speaker 1: big big prayers for him. Man. I feel like someone

837
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:07,560
Speaker 1: just pumped the brakes on this episode. Uh, and we're

838
00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:11,960
Speaker 1: stranded in bummertown. This is like the bleakesting that you

839
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:15,240
Speaker 1: can imagine. I mean, the the Shakespearean twists keep turning

840
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:18,080
Speaker 1: up in this story. I can't believe it. I think

841
00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:20,240
Speaker 1: we have to find a way to end this episode

842
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 1: on a lighter note. So I think we should talk

843
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:25,719
Speaker 1: about the Rolling Stone softball match. That's This is like

844
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:28,520
Speaker 1: the most awkward transition efforts, Like when you watch the

845
00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 1: news and there's like a plane crash and then they

846
00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:34,200
Speaker 1: like segue to like a a visit to a pupping

847
00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:36,719
Speaker 1: on a skatebag. We're going to the zoo to look

848
00:40:36,719 --> 00:40:40,840
Speaker 1: at some quali bears now, But yeah, there's there was

849
00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 1: this famous softball match that took place between the Eagles

850
00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:46,799
Speaker 1: and the writers of Rolling Stone in the late seventies,

851
00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,640
Speaker 1: and it was basically like away for the Eagles to

852
00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:52,920
Speaker 1: vent their frustration about like how poorly they had been

853
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,600
Speaker 1: treated by rock critics in the seventies, you know, because

854
00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:58,160
Speaker 1: I think a lot of critics they looked at the Eagles,

855
00:40:58,200 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 1: they you know, they acknowledged that this was like a

856
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:01,600
Speaker 1: very pot or band, but there was like this idea

857
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:04,239
Speaker 1: that like, these guys are too slick for their own good.

858
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:06,719
Speaker 1: You know, this is like soft rock, you know, there's

859
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:09,840
Speaker 1: no soul here. I think that the biggest problem that

860
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,160
Speaker 1: rock critics probably had with the Eagles in the seventies

861
00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:15,200
Speaker 1: is that they were like the jockeyest band of the seventies,

862
00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:17,440
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of how the whole yeah, the

863
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:19,920
Speaker 1: way that they carried themselves and and the way that

864
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:23,440
Speaker 1: they like constantly competed and like really kind of frontloaded

865
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:25,520
Speaker 1: that aspect of the band. I mean, I think, you know,

866
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:27,399
Speaker 1: you look at the Stones or sep when the who

867
00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:29,560
Speaker 1: any of the great rock bands, they were all competitive,

868
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,320
Speaker 1: they all wanted to be successful, but like they didn't

869
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:34,640
Speaker 1: talk about it as much. You know, they didn't like

870
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:37,640
Speaker 1: make that as much a part of their narrative. I think,

871
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,400
Speaker 1: like to the degree that the Eagles did, you know,

872
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:44,040
Speaker 1: they just the Eagles were upfront about wanting to be successful,

873
00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:46,120
Speaker 1: wanting to be the best. You know, they didn't care

874
00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 1: who knew it, and there was an arrogance about that.

875
00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:50,520
Speaker 1: I think that bothered a lot of people. There was

876
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:53,200
Speaker 1: also the fact that the Eagles actually played sports too,

877
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:57,239
Speaker 1: and like they were big fans of playing softball, like

878
00:41:57,360 --> 00:41:59,120
Speaker 1: to release the tensions that they had on the road.

879
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:01,120
Speaker 1: You know, Glenn Fry said that if we can yell

880
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,400
Speaker 1: at each other on the baseball field, we don't do

881
00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:06,320
Speaker 1: it in the studio, which actually proved not to be true,

882
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:09,600
Speaker 1: totally true, like or else, they didn't play enough softball,

883
00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:13,200
Speaker 1: I guess, uh, you know, to to avoid those studio arguments.

884
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:16,560
Speaker 1: But I think Rolling Stone was like the biggest, you know,

885
00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:19,040
Speaker 1: sort of target of ire for the Eagles because they

886
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:21,640
Speaker 1: were the most respected rock magazine. I think the Eagles,

887
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:25,600
Speaker 1: especially Don and Glen like secretly craved like their praise

888
00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:27,680
Speaker 1: and their attention, and when they didn't get it, it

889
00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: made them angry. So that's set up this epic softball

890
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,280
Speaker 1: game where the Eagles could finally get revenge on rock critics.

891
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:37,000
Speaker 1: I mean it really started with a fairly minor thing

892
00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:40,319
Speaker 1: in Rolling Stone. Uh. The writer Charles M. Young wrote

893
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:42,399
Speaker 1: in the random notes section that he was talking about

894
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:44,879
Speaker 1: Joe Walsh's new solo album, and he wrote, the rest

895
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:47,320
Speaker 1: of the Eagles, on their first vacation in three years,

896
00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:50,479
Speaker 1: seemore interested in finding a softball team they can beat,

897
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:54,320
Speaker 1: having lost in recent weeks two teams fielded by Andrew Gold,

898
00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:58,360
Speaker 1: Jimmy Buffett, employees of several San Francisco radio stations, and

899
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:02,000
Speaker 1: their own road crew. And I'm guessing that you know

900
00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 1: they weren't thrilled that Rolling Stone and publicized the fact

901
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:07,120
Speaker 1: that they lost to the Thank you for being a friend,

902
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:11,640
Speaker 1: guy Glenn wrote in Uh, what you have failed to

903
00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:13,919
Speaker 1: mention is that the Eagles won two out of three

904
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,800
Speaker 1: games against Jimmy Buffett. I'm gonna let that sink in

905
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:20,680
Speaker 1: for a minute. Anytime you pencil pushing desk jockeys want

906
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:22,839
Speaker 1: to put on your spikes, will kick your ass too.

907
00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:25,640
Speaker 1: And the challenge was accepted immediately. Now I have to

908
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:28,160
Speaker 1: say that like Rolling Stone, like the rock writers there,

909
00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:30,760
Speaker 1: I I think that they were a little arrogant themselves

910
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:33,800
Speaker 1: and accepting this invitation. I mean, I'm a rock critic myself.

911
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:36,520
Speaker 1: I'm not in good shape. Every rock writer I know

912
00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:40,080
Speaker 1: in poor shape. You know, if you were a jock,

913
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:42,239
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be a rock writer, you know. So they

914
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:45,120
Speaker 1: I think we're set up to lose from the beginning.

915
00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 1: I think also they underestimated how seriously the Eagles like

916
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:51,640
Speaker 1: took this game. You know, I think, like the people

917
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:53,560
Speaker 1: are Rolling Stone, they probably looked at this as like

918
00:43:53,640 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 1: a as a pr stunt, you know, something that they

919
00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:58,920
Speaker 1: could take photos of and put in their magazine and

920
00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:01,080
Speaker 1: have a good laugh of at it. There was also,

921
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:04,239
Speaker 1: uh the fundraising aspect of this, Like the losing team

922
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:06,600
Speaker 1: was going to pay like five thousand dollars to UNICEF,

923
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:09,279
Speaker 1: so it was for a good cause. But like when

924
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:12,319
Speaker 1: the Rolling Stone staff they showed up at the game,

925
00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:15,799
Speaker 1: it was. It took place at usc in May eight

926
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,160
Speaker 1: and like the rock critics were presented as the villains

927
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:22,480
Speaker 1: essentially of this game, Like the Eagles had loaded the

928
00:44:22,560 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 1: stands with like celebrities like Chevy Chase was there, Joni

929
00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:28,680
Speaker 1: Mitchell was there, the Governor of California at the time,

930
00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 1: Jerry Brown was there, and they're all cheering for the Eagles,

931
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:34,480
Speaker 1: you know, because look, in the eyes of the public,

932
00:44:34,719 --> 00:44:37,319
Speaker 1: rock critics are always going to be less cool than

933
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:40,239
Speaker 1: rock stars, so you're gonna cheer for the famous cool

934
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:42,960
Speaker 1: guys and the Eagles. Also, the Eagles showed up wearing

935
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 1: metal cleats, which I think is kind of insane, you know,

936
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:49,480
Speaker 1: like when you slide into second you might take out

937
00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:53,719
Speaker 1: someone's leg exactly. And Johan Winner actually yelled at irving

938
00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:56,600
Speaker 1: A's Off like, hey, someone might get hurt, and as

939
00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,880
Speaker 1: Off retorted, do you think your writers ever think about that?

940
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:02,400
Speaker 1: So that pretty much set the tone there that like,

941
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:04,799
Speaker 1: the Eagles were gonna wear metal cleats to get their

942
00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:08,160
Speaker 1: revenge for all the snarky reviews that Rolling Stone writers

943
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:10,720
Speaker 1: and other recritics had written of their records in the past.

944
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,799
Speaker 1: And the Eagles ended up killing Rolling Stone. I think

945
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:17,800
Speaker 1: they won fifteen to eight. Damn that is bad, I

946
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:20,440
Speaker 1: guess uh, Henry and Fry wrote into the magazine a

947
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:23,040
Speaker 1: few weeks later. In the end, it was errors that

948
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:26,200
Speaker 1: cost Rolling Stone the game. Their first error was to

949
00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:30,440
Speaker 1: call the Eagles sissies in random notes. We're gonna take

950
00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:32,280
Speaker 1: a quick break to get a word from our sponsor

951
00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 1: before we get to more rivals. All right, we've now

952
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:44,080
Speaker 1: reached the part of the episode where we give the

953
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:46,480
Speaker 1: pro side of each part of the rivalry. Let's talk

954
00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:49,880
Speaker 1: about Bernie Leaden and Randy Bisner first. Like I said before,

955
00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:52,440
Speaker 1: you know, Bernie Leadon, while he's sort of forgotten now,

956
00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:54,759
Speaker 1: I feel like in the early seventies he was like

957
00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:57,400
Speaker 1: the most famous and respected member of the Eagles, like

958
00:45:57,560 --> 00:45:59,880
Speaker 1: as they got going with their debut record, and I

959
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:01,879
Speaker 1: I really feel like he was probably the main reason

960
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:04,279
Speaker 1: why Glenn John's decided to work with them, and he

961
00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 1: was also the most forceful about them getting a record

962
00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:09,239
Speaker 1: deal with David Geffen. Randy Meisner was also like, well

963
00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:12,080
Speaker 1: regarded you as a former member of Poco, and after

964
00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:14,080
Speaker 1: Don Henley, I think he was like the best singer

965
00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:15,960
Speaker 1: in the band. I mean, like take It to the Limit.

966
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:18,160
Speaker 1: That's a great vocal on that song, and it really

967
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:20,799
Speaker 1: is like one of my favorite Eagle songs of that era.

968
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:22,359
Speaker 1: So like when you look at these two guys together,

969
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:24,600
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, for this era of the band,

970
00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:27,319
Speaker 1: they really were essential in terms of like shoring up

971
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:30,640
Speaker 1: the Eagles country rock bona fides like this was a

972
00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:32,160
Speaker 1: band that I think had a lot of hits because

973
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 1: these two guys brought an element that like Don and

974
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:37,040
Speaker 1: Glenn didn't have. They might have had the songs, but

975
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:39,000
Speaker 1: like those guys really had like sort of you know,

976
00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 1: the instrumental chops and integrity that they needed at that time. Yeah,

977
00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:44,960
Speaker 1: I agree. I mean overall, I think I prefer the

978
00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:47,160
Speaker 1: Burning and Randy years. I mean I really like this

979
00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:49,440
Speaker 1: sort of the b Benders and the mandolin's and the

980
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:51,800
Speaker 1: banjos and the Joe Bows. I like that sound. And

981
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,320
Speaker 1: you know, I could never deny that Joe Walsh, you know,

982
00:46:54,719 --> 00:46:56,680
Speaker 1: he is one of the great guitarists of all time.

983
00:46:57,080 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 1: But I think I'm more of a bigger fan of

984
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,640
Speaker 1: the Eagles as the peaceful, easy feeling country rock type group.

985
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:04,480
Speaker 1: And you know, Bernie himself was a crucial architect of

986
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:06,719
Speaker 1: that sound. With this time in Dillard and Clark and

987
00:47:06,719 --> 00:47:09,399
Speaker 1: the Flying Burrito Brothers. I think that Bernie, like you said,

988
00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:11,640
Speaker 1: was kind of their secret weapon in those early days

989
00:47:11,719 --> 00:47:15,000
Speaker 1: because his talent as a multi instrumentalist, and he contributed

990
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:18,600
Speaker 1: great songs, I mean early Bird one and then Yeah, Randy,

991
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:21,760
Speaker 1: I feel compelled to back up my my soft spoken,

992
00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:25,040
Speaker 1: gentle bass playing brethren here. I uh, I don't think

993
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:27,320
Speaker 1: the harmonies were ever as good after Randy left, and

994
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:29,359
Speaker 1: you know, obviously take It to the Limit was never

995
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:31,400
Speaker 1: the same. It was never the show stopper it was

996
00:47:31,680 --> 00:47:34,160
Speaker 1: after Randy left. I think part of the you know,

997
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:36,800
Speaker 1: the incredible part of watching that song live was like

998
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:40,440
Speaker 1: the actual just sort of palpable fear and anxiety that

999
00:47:40,600 --> 00:47:42,440
Speaker 1: you could get coming off of Randy is whether or

1000
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:44,879
Speaker 1: not he would hit that note, and whenever he did,

1001
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:48,879
Speaker 1: it made it so much more triumphant, enjoyous and exuberant.

1002
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:51,360
Speaker 1: So yeah, I I missed that from you know, watching

1003
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:53,960
Speaker 1: those old concerts when he would sing that song is

1004
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:57,000
Speaker 1: is a real highlight of anything Eagles related for me.

1005
00:47:57,200 --> 00:47:59,200
Speaker 1: Now moving over to the Dunn in Glenside, I think

1006
00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:02,120
Speaker 1: a comment theme of our Eagles episodes is that while

1007
00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:04,640
Speaker 1: Don and Glenn we're off at assholes and probably hard

1008
00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:06,399
Speaker 1: to deal with if you were in a band with them,

1009
00:48:06,960 --> 00:48:09,400
Speaker 1: I think that they were usually correct in terms of

1010
00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:12,239
Speaker 1: their instincts and guiding the Eagles forward. You know, they

1011
00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:14,880
Speaker 1: started out with the idea of being like a real band,

1012
00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:16,400
Speaker 1: but you know, Don and Glenn came up with the

1013
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:19,280
Speaker 1: strongest material, and they also I think had the vision

1014
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:21,839
Speaker 1: of like how to bring the Eagles forward. They were

1015
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:24,520
Speaker 1: ultimately right, I think, in guiding them out of country

1016
00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:27,000
Speaker 1: rock into more of like an arena rock sound with

1017
00:48:27,239 --> 00:48:29,279
Speaker 1: Walsh and Felder, and I have to say that that's

1018
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:31,719
Speaker 1: probably my favorite era personally, and we're going to get

1019
00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:33,920
Speaker 1: into that more in our next episode. You know, I

1020
00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:36,800
Speaker 1: love all those Joe Walsh and Don Felder guitar solos,

1021
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:39,160
Speaker 1: and I'm excited to get into it in part two

1022
00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:41,800
Speaker 1: of this series. You know, we mentioned the big Lebowski

1023
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:45,520
Speaker 1: earlier in the episode, and I thinking of Don handling

1024
00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:48,120
Speaker 1: Glenn Fry. I just always think of the line when

1025
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:54,640
Speaker 1: Lebowski's talking to his uh increasingly uh pushy friend Walter Schobcheck. Uh,

1026
00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:56,600
Speaker 1: I says, you know, am I wrong? Am I wrong?

1027
00:48:56,800 --> 00:49:01,160
Speaker 1: And Lebowski says, You're not wrong, Walter, You're just an asshole,

1028
00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:04,000
Speaker 1: And that kind of sums up how I feel about

1029
00:49:04,280 --> 00:49:08,000
Speaker 1: Don and Glenn. They're very rarely wrong, you know. I

1030
00:49:08,080 --> 00:49:10,640
Speaker 1: think musical choice is overall, especially in this era, where

1031
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:13,920
Speaker 1: in well any era, really we're dead on. But they

1032
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:16,759
Speaker 1: didn't always approach it in the best way. They weren't wrong,

1033
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:19,360
Speaker 1: they could just be assholes. So that that's my my

1034
00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:22,080
Speaker 1: final thought on them. So when we look at, you know,

1035
00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:24,239
Speaker 1: these guys together, you know, again I have to go

1036
00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:26,040
Speaker 1: back to the Joe Walsh quote. You know that there

1037
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:28,640
Speaker 1: was a lot of anarchy at this time, but when

1038
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:30,880
Speaker 1: you look back at it, it seems like a finally

1039
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:33,880
Speaker 1: crafted novel. And you know, for all of the chaos

1040
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:37,080
Speaker 1: that existed, all the egos, all the strife, there is

1041
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:40,399
Speaker 1: a certain kind of logic to Lennon and Meisner being

1042
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:42,480
Speaker 1: in the band when they were and then exiting when

1043
00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:45,120
Speaker 1: they exited, Like, I think they had perfect timing in

1044
00:49:45,160 --> 00:49:47,800
Speaker 1: the early seventies when it was more of a country

1045
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:50,239
Speaker 1: rock era and those guys belonged in the Eagles, and

1046
00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:53,279
Speaker 1: then when times changed and the Eagles evolved, those guys

1047
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:56,400
Speaker 1: left and some other people came in. And for all

1048
00:49:56,440 --> 00:49:58,719
Speaker 1: of the tension that exists in this band, you can't

1049
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:00,680
Speaker 1: argue with like what if you want to call it

1050
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:04,640
Speaker 1: the logic, the fate, the finely crafted novel nature of

1051
00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:06,600
Speaker 1: it all, you know, it all comes together, I think

1052
00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:08,799
Speaker 1: in this period of the Eagles. Yeah, I mean it's

1053
00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:11,520
Speaker 1: rare that a band can so completely reinvent their sound,

1054
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:14,239
Speaker 1: especially in such a short span of time, especially when

1055
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:16,960
Speaker 1: Matt prior sound was so successful. And you know, the

1056
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:20,640
Speaker 1: Hotel California is absolutely they're defining work. The success of

1057
00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:23,920
Speaker 1: their n through seventy five Greatest Hits album, which is

1058
00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:26,560
Speaker 1: the best selling disc of the twentieth century, is you know,

1059
00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:28,840
Speaker 1: proof positive that the country rock era is just a

1060
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:30,720
Speaker 1: significant and I don't think that would have been possible

1061
00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:34,200
Speaker 1: without Randy and Burning Well. Jordan's talking about all this

1062
00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 1: Eagle stuff. I can't believe this episode has already gone.

1063
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:41,800
Speaker 1: That one flew like an eagle by Oh no, no,

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00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:45,080
Speaker 1: damn it, that was Steve Miller ship. That's okay. We

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00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:48,120
Speaker 1: have another installment of this Eagle series to make up

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00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:50,319
Speaker 1: for that, and I can't wait to get into part

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00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:54,399
Speaker 1: two of our special Eagles Exploration. It's going to be great.

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00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:57,400
Speaker 1: Until then, I hope you enjoyed this discussion of beefs

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00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:00,520
Speaker 1: and rivals and bitter dissension inside the Eagle. We'll have

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00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:08,800
Speaker 1: more for you next week. Rivals is a production of

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00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:11,640
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. The executive producers are shaun Tytone and

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00:51:11,719 --> 00:51:15,280
Speaker 1: Noel Brown. Supervising producers are Taylor chicogn and Tristan McNeil.

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00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 1: The producer is Joel hat Stat. I'm Jordan run Tug.

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00:51:18,640 --> 00:51:20,680
Speaker 1: I'm Stephen Hyden. If you like what you heard, please

1075
00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:22,880
Speaker 1: subscribe and leave us a review. For more podcast for

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00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:26,360
Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,

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00:51:26,640 --> 00:51:28,360
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,