A Good Day In Hell - The Official ILM Track-By-Track EAGLES Listening Thread

elton idea was basically the ten years in hell:

A Single Man (1978)
Victim of Love (1979)
21 at 33 (1980)
The Fox (1981)
Jump Up! (1982)
Too Low for Zero (1983)
Breaking Hearts (1984)
Ice on Fire (1985)
Leather Jackets (1986)
Reg Strikes Back (1988)

I could go for a Billy Joel or 80s Elton thread. With Chicago, I feel like there'd have to be a cut-off point, like maybe just the Terry Kath years because there's a few records with no hits and likely few other redeeming qualities.

Best (worst) Chicago story has already been told; beyond that, I don't think there's very much that's interesting about them.

xp, exception for Too Low For Zero, the one great brief-return-to-form record amongst those ten

we must not lose sight of the fact that Chicago have more than 20 studio albums including a swing band album and Christmas albums.

and that it's impossible to tell them apart from the album covers

styx have 15 studio albums.

that's why the post-peak Elton's intriguing: he put out an album a year? What's on those things, besides the Top 10 hit each one (er most) produced?

Styx I'm curious how the sub-Andrew Lloyd Webber stylings of D. De Young developed alongside the Midwest rawk of Tommy Shaw and the Panozzo brothers

Cornerstone was the first album I ever owned.

so many great styx haircuts...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tUtFVvOLDj0/UjB6J9dpp4I/AAAAAAAAE7w/6ErbLmOyCno/s1600/styx.jpg

Classic poll:

DEFINITIVE CHICAGO ALBUMS POLL

Nevuh nevuh
Nevuh say nevuh
Ne dit jamais jamais

i would totally do styx. what the hell, you only live like an idiot once. i'd even post songs every day for styx. elton's dreary near-misses might make me sad. i have a feeling he didn't go 80's enough in the 80's. whereas styx just throttled the 80's and then stuck their styx-y tongue in the 80's mouth and the 80's just said jesus alright already you win i give up!

Weird pointless Styx fact: Their charting singles from 1980-84 included "The Best of Times", "Music Time", "Too Much Time on My Hands", "Wasted Time", "Borrowed Time" and "High Time". ("First Time", released in 1980, did not chart.)

Not "Mr. Roboto"?

My nomination for a track-by-track would be Bread. Lots of tracks that will surprise anyone only familiar with the hits, and many of them (but not all) are quite good. Plus their discography is manageable - just 6 albums, and no reunions. Would have to include some essential prequels though, like The Girlfriends' "Jimmy Boy" and Pleasure Fair's "Morning Glory Days".

Yeah, they had a couple non-"time" hits as well xpost

Bread might be good.
Or America?

bread are great but they wouldn't bring the laughs? uniformly high quality pop/rock. don't get me wrong, i love them, but i dunno...

Seems like we need a band:
• generally considered to be pretty crap
• with a few undeniable solid gold tunes
• and proper chops
• who hate each other
• at least one of whom is an asshole
• but have some decent stories

so ... creed? not totally sure about the undeniable solid golds, but otherwise, check, check, check.

creed isn't very amusing though

not a band but Joel probably closest to the Eagles in other regards. But I don't think I could slag through the entire discography. Except Attila....

Three Dog Night had an exploding penis.

so ... creed? not totally sure about the undeniable solid golds, but otherwise, check, check, check.

i'll actually rep for several songs on My Own Prison, the one that trips me up with creed is the "proper chops" bit

Xpost Glenn Frey is an exploding penis.

Styx is made for this. I have their Behind The Mysic episode memorized, I watched it so many times

but I still would love it to be Billy Joel

jfc i had never heard that story before

“I think it was Miss Oklahoma and we ended up spending the night together and in the middle of the sex, it was like a hot dog splitting and you know, I found myself in the emergency room with my penis in my hand waiting to be stitched up.”

Styx is made for this. I have their Behind The Mysic episode memorized, I watched it so many times

Hahaha me too! My favorite part: "The audience is beer, quaaludes, and 'show us your tits!' and I have to go out there and say, 'But Kilroy! What about the children of the world?'"

What is the general critical consensus on Styx? The Eagles were loved by a big swath of the general public and mostly hated by critics; Styx had lots of hits but I don't have a good read on what the music cognescenti think of them. I do know their eventual intra-band warfare rivaled the Eagles'.

"Dennis DeYoung is the Brian Wilson of Styx."

Styx are pretty universally ridiculed.

I can't think of anyone who is the Brian Wilson of any band other than the one he was in. BW is unique.

Styx is disgusting whereas the Eagles have flashes of brilliance, like gold teeth in turds.

'Desperado' v 'Renegade'

I am kinda curious to know which Styx songs some of you will compare to Big Star.

i think a chicago one might turn up a few deepcut gems but i fear the brass

also i want to write the name "guercio" multiple times

Chicago wilderness years scare me more than actual wilderness

I am kinda curious to know which Styx songs some of you will compare to Big Star.

― pplains,

I laughed because this comparison is what makes ILM a shiny happy place.

early styx albums are rad. i dig them a lot.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Styx_-_The_Serpent_Is_Rising.jpg

you get a little bit of everything with styx. hard rock, symphonic prog suites, broadway ballads, electro, power metal, pop, tommy shaw's hair, robots.

styx next for sure

Every night I tell myself I'm going to be a blue collar man.

"The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks"

http://www.donhenleyonline.com/images/DHenleyGlennLRHug.jpg

http://youtu.be/Ms0VIKlp0CU

What a odd little tune.

if "Teenage Jail" was their dig at Sabbath/metal and "Strangler" a fuck-you to disco, was this their go at New Wave? Guess so: the organ seems to be a reference to Steve Nieve/Jimmy Destri. Dumb and a bit leaden, and having Henley sing never helps, but by Eagles standards this is fun.

Yeah does sound a bit like the Attractions

YouTube says backing vocals by Jimmy Buffet!

I suspect it's not a new wave dig though. Perhaps: they are drunk/high & someone says "the Greeks don't want no freaks" and everyone cracks up & it becomes a thing for a few days and they decided to make it a sing as a goof... So they just jam out a little old Seger 2 chord garage rock throwaway

DON: I thought it'd be a good idea to write a fun song about how ancient Athens and Sparta weren't exactly copacetic with each other.

GLENN: They sure were funny lookin' in those days!

DON: Well, yeah.

hahaha
this song contains the word "barfin"

they were courting the animal house vote with this song. eagles frat boys at heart.

yeah, they probably watched Animal House with Buffett and then went into the studio and grunted this one out quickly.