Say something charitable about the Eagles.

"God's Own Singer" written by Bernie Leadon before he joined the Eags is a right nice song.

Donny wore his hair real nice some say...

Don't think any -ism has ever been the main motivation behind Eagle-bashing. No matter how many records they sold, their misogyny could never mean as much as the Stones' because they weren't capable of making it sharp enough.

The reputation of "The Boys of Summer" on this board is starting to snowball, which I'm fine with, misogynist or not.

I like the Eagles, but I own nothing by them and I have been known to bash them to score conversational coolness points. "All the hypocrites in the house, raise your motherfuckin' hands in the ayyyurrrr!"

Jackie N. and I used to listen to his sister Belinda's copy of The Long Run when she wasn't home. Sam S. and I rocked out to "Witchy Woman," and Scott H. and I used to sing "Take It Easy" when we went over to the elementary school gym to dunk on their little hoops. But I've never really met many women who love the Eagles.

Oh man, I just listened to The Long Run and it is so good. "Teenage Jail" is great - sounds like a Black Sabbath song, with a synthesizer solo (maybe something from Sabotage)! The transition from "Teenage Jail" into "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" is among the funniest on any album ever! Also, I still can't really tell "The Long Run" and "Heartache Tonight" apart, but they're both great.

Do you like "The Disco Strangler"?

oh yeah JBR why hasn't anyone sampled that guitar riff?

yeah, "Disco Strangler" is great! (read you on it today, too)

It's funny how thin and whispy the guitar sound is! Like you wouldn't expect a band like them to attempt something like that, it's almost .. vulnerable.

And that kick-hihat (boom-tchik) sound is so not disco (hi-hat's would never be clipped off like that) it makes you wonder if it's this intentional piss-take or this horrible misapprehension!

(it's the same pattern on Zep's "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" and um, some other cut that came to mind when I was listening but I forgot)

also, another totally weird thing about it is that it has no discernable melody, Henley just moves between two notes, stretching syllables and fighting the rhythm. Very strange cut.

"King of Hollywood" really sucks though.

They invented the word culetos. Or is it colitis?

The American Pink Floyd. Glenn Frey was a very underrated guitar player. I think his leads on 'Long Run' are better than Walsh's and Felder's. Also the keyboard solo on "Teenage Jail" is the most fucked-up thing I ever heard in my life. I learned how to play it on the piano and did it over and over to annoy people. It's such a crap solo that everyone KNEW I was doing it to annoy them. But then, the synth solo from Van Halen's "Jump" is even worse, but when you play that one ppl think you're pretty skilled for some reason. I'll never understand ppl who don't play instruments.

I'll cop to this: I hate them for what they represent, whereas the music is overplayed but often tolerable. I can't think of a single Eagles track that I LURVE (and the love-in for "Take it Easy" mystifies me, since that's one of their worst songs!) with the possible exception of "James Dean," but "Best of My Love" and their cover of Tom Waits' "Ol' 55" are both very nice. "Those Shoes" is really good atmospheric coke music, and "Heartache Tonight" is pretty okay within the context of seventies-revival radio.

I don't understand Chuck's claim that they 'rock', since they almost never rock, either in the Little Richard earlyearlymorning sense nor in the Kiss Detroit Rock City sense, nor even in the 1-2-3-4 Ramonesy sense. "Life in the Fast Lane" comes closest, but even it peters out into synth-boogie about halfway through. And the lyrics suck.

it's pure cocaine stardust fm radio and indirectly responsible for the beachwood sparks andd the cosmic rough riders. more later!

re 'Little Richard' - "Out of Control"? "Chug All Night"? "James Dean"? OK maybe those weren't their finest moments tho...but the most amazing thing about this thread is Chuck Eddy dismissing the 'social context'! (btw where's the love for "After the Thrill is Gone", it's the most jaw-dropping rich-famous-rockstars-have-feelings-too! affrontery I've ever heard (cuz it's SOOOO downbeat, not even a 'well at least we still get to play music!' vibe that lets everyone 'excuse' "Life in the Fast Lane"), 'American Life' and 'The Wall' are like monastic repentance in comparison

The original lineup was the Monkees' secret comeback (Henley=Dolenz, Frey=Jones, Leadon=Nesmith, Meisner=Tork, even Azoff=Don Kirshener). They lost me when Walsh joined, although everything he was involved in up to then was finestkind, was most of "Life's Been Good." But speaking of so-hip(pie)-it-hurts drole playing (which Warren Zevon does much better, for better or worse), methinks the desperadudes doth protest too much ("Get Over It" indeed, sez the umpteenth reunion tour poster where "Life in the Fast Lane" is the "Born in the USA" of misinterpreted-by-the-audience-they-purport-to-condemn anthems from the 1970s).

Still, I love playing their stuff on guitar, especially "Take It Easy," "Already Gone," "On The Border," even "Hotel California." Great at parties, 'cuz the girls know the words, too. Same with "Desperado" on piano (and "Jump" too, although I skip the Styx soloing).

PS Nice Big Pussy move on Don Felder.

wait, are you saying you play guitar at parties?

their harmonies, like csny's, have a strange way of lulling me to sleep. but they were ace pop songwriters, and "new kid in town" is pretty much perfect.

Well, I don't think that any member of the Eagles have raped or murdered anyone. That's about the best thing I can say about them.

That's "something charitable"?

Whateva. Y'all are too caught up in the vogue. Hotel California is probably the greatest song ever written. THERE, I SAID IT!!!! The album version won't prove this however, as the outdated production is quick to prove. Anyone seen the original video for the tune? I'm talking about the one filmed at an L.A. show in the late 70's, not the Hell Freezes Over performance. It is PRIME CHOICE.

It's crap.

They knew how to write songs, were embarrassingly self conscious, and capitalized on an american ideal that had run its course. David Geffen hypnotized them with the magic crystal. I'm glad I got to hear them as a child because with out them Happy and Artie Traum might not make any sense today. Zevon endures. Steve K to the plate...JA

Did anyone else find "Get Over It" really offensive?

yes

Their cover of "Take it Easy" made money for Jackson Browne, who dated Nico. I wish I'd dated Nico.

Jackson Browne is the devil.

Why is "Get Over It" offensive? Is it just bad? I barely remember it.

"Get Over It" = whiny ex-hippies scolding those who do not have $$ for complaining. It's baby-boomer sanctimony at its absolute nadir.

I still like "Those Shoes," though.

"Get Over It" isn't even so offensive for the message (although anyone with any sensitivity whatsoever knows that you don't just get over depression and trauma -- get a brain, morans). It's that I listen to the song and feel like I'm sitting there with Henley et al at the songwriting session, and they're all "let's write an anthem about how much those whiny Oprah shits get on our nerves!!" and then I think about all the dumbass rednecks driving around with their Confederate-flag stickers on their dashboards, singing along and going "whooo-eeee DAMN RIGHT."

Eagles - Get Over It lyrics

I turn on the tube and what do I see
A whole lotta people cryin' "Don't blame me"
They point their crooked little fingers ar everybody else
Spend all their time feelin' sorry for themselves
Victim of this, victim of that
Your momma's too thin; your daddy's too fat

Get over it
Get over it
All this whinin' and cryin' and pitchin' a fit
Get over it, get over it

You say you haven't been the same since you had your little crash
But you might feel better if I gave you some cash
The more I think about it, Old Billy was right
Let's kill all the lawyers, kill 'em tonight
You don't want to work, you want to live like a king
But the big, bad world doesn't owe you a thing

Get over it
Get over it
If you don't want to play, then you might as well split
Get over it, Get over it

It's like going to confession every time I hear you speak
You're makin' the most of your losin' streak
Some call it sick, but I call it weak

You drag it around like a ball and chain
You wallow in the guilt; you wallow in the pain
You wave it like a flag, you wear it like a crown
Got your mind in the gutter, bringin' everybody down
Complain about the present and blame it on the past
I'd like to find your inner child and kick its little ass

Get over it
Get over it
All this bitchin' and moanin' and pitchin' a fit
Get over it, get over it

Get over it
Get over it
It's gotta stop sometime, so why don't you quit
Get over it, get over it

"I'd like to find your inner child and kick its little ass" = the eagles are punker than the punkiest punk who ever punked!!

(i wish they were actually called the wagles, though, like i just typed)

What a stupid fuckin' song, the first line gives it away. Don, TURN OFF THE FUCKIN' TUBE

Check out the version of hotel california...

http://www.eugenemirman.com/

this lawyer thinks that fools that point to "billy" shakespeare's "the first thing we'll do is/kill all the lawyers!"* line have outed themselves as morons, just as effectively as beginning any sentence with "as rush limbaugh/ann coulter/bill o'reilly/george bush says ... "

yet another reason to kill don henley and glen frey.

* the person who utters this line is a low-life rabble-rouser leading a mob; in other words, shakespeare did not approve of these sentiments. not that that inconvenient fact ever stops shitheads like don and glen from spouting off that line ... not to mention that they prob. love the lawyers they hired to go after eric b & rakim for "unauthorized sampling."

Why didn't anyone review Don Henley's Inside Job with the three simple words: Get Over It?

They can be tremendous.

They seem like 'good musicians'.

When they play country I like it a lot.

They don't make the mistake of finishing their guitar solos sooner than they have to.

What did/do the Eagles stand for? As someone who grew up on classic rock I'm perplexed that I don't even know. I have always hated their music for reasons i can't put my finger on... it just makes me feel sick and depressed. I hate Henley's voice and his whining and preaching. "Desperado" is OK, though...

"Something charitable about the Eagles"

nothing happened.

I like the fact that they've given young managers such as Kit "the Silver Fox" Symons a chance. And who can forget Vince Hilaire, Thomas Brolin's headband, and the Wright and Bright partnership of the early 90's?

I have a strong sense that a great many people attack or dislike the Eagles for 'extra-musical reasons'.

I don't say that there is anything wrong with that. Possibly it is right or inevitable.

But it is notable to me that I have no real context or back-story about them, no history of Eagle hegemony or anti-Eagle polemic, and I just like a lot of their tracks, from what I've heard so far.

And the fact they sold a shitload of records. Although I'm willing to bet a lot of people mistakenly bought their first compilation (Vol.1), thinking Hotel C. was in it, and probably liked it enough to not sell it back.

The only charitable thing I can say about The Eagles is that by creating my most hated song of all time in "Hotel California", they have raised the bar so high in the competition that any other song on earth will always sounds better than "Hotel California".

I'm not sure if that's charitable though.

As I mentioned earlier today, Eagles > Swans.

Though I've not heard any Swans, I'm willing to argue that with you Tim. But just not at the moment. Or any other moment actually.

I can't believe there have been 138 answers on a thread entitled "Say something charitable about the Eagles" without anyone having mentioned Linda Ronstadt and what a fine backing band they were for her.

Dave Q is SO RIGHT about the Eagles being the American Pink Floyd -- I once tried to convince my mom this was the case so we could listen to Dark Side of the Moon on the car radio. (She didn't buy it.)

wow, "James Dean" is a fairly great song. Another feather in their cap. I guess I should just go ahead and buy On the Border for a buck somewhere. already have Hotel and Long Run of course, just never thought I needed pre-Walsh stuff beyond GH 1; Dave Q right as always.

this also came up now on my DEEP CUTS classic rock station

ha -- now the classic rock station is playing "Ripples" by Genesis from Trick of the tail!! holy shit this classic rock station rocks!!