 | |
 |
|
 | |
             |
Their greatest hits compilation has managed to become the best-selling album of all time in the United States
First, here's a promotional account of the Eagles from just a couple of years ago: One of the most commercially successful bands of the past three decades, the Eagles had a modest beginning as a California studio band. Gathered by producer John Boylan in 1970, Glenn Frey (guitar), Bernie Leadon (banjo, mandolin), Randy Meisner (bass) and Don Henley (drums) served as Linda Rondstadt's back-up band. After attracting the attention of Rondstadt's label Asylum, they recorded their self-titled debut album, which went gold and produced several Top 40 hits.
Now certified rock stars, the Eagles saw fit to release a greatest hits album in 1976, which remains rock 'n' roll's best-selling hits album to date. Leadon was replaced by Joe Walsh of the James Gang and the band recorded the Grammy Award-winning Hotel California in 1977. The album produced several hits, including the title track with the infamously long guitar solo. The Eagles celebrated the new decade with the release of a live album, but the band split up in 1981. Throughout the '80s, each band member embarked on his own solo career, of which Henley's was the most successful. The former drummer earned critical acclaim as a serious singer/songwriter, winning a Grammy Award for the wistful composition The End of the Innocence. The Eagles reunited in 1994 for a hugely successful stadium tour and released the No. 1 album Hell Freezes Over. Four years later, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. In 2001, The Eagles were again in the news when their total album sales hit a whopping 83.5 million -- making them the third biggest selling band of all time, behind the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.
by J.D. Considine Tuesday, March 29, 2005 -- Toronto, ON -- If you want a sense of how quintessentially American the Eagles are, consider this factoid: Nearly one in every 10 Americans owns a copy of their greatest-hits album.
Even more impressive, the album's success has managed to be an continuing proposition. Where Thriller owed its mega-sales to the momentary madness that was Michael-mania and now seems as dated as the moonwalk, the Eagles' Greatest Hits continues to shift units; indeed, a quarter of its sales occurred over the last decade. Likewise, the Eagles themselves continue to pack arenas and amphitheatres (they play the Air Canada Centre in Toronto this evening), despite not having released a full album of new material in over 25 years. It's almost as if what the band stands for has become more important than what it actually does. Somehow, quietly and gradually, the Eagles became America's band, representing the nation's aesthetic and sense of self in ways Bruce Springsteen or Lee Greenwood never could. It's not patriotism, exactly -- you'd be hard-pressed to find the words "America" or "U.S.A." in their lyrics -- but it speaks to the American identity on an almost subliminal level, evoking a psychic landscape far more immediate than the iconic purple mountains and amber waves of grain. But the vision of America that seems to resonate most deeply south of the border isn't the obvious one. Even though the weary cynicism and star-struck disillusionment that formed the Hotel California album stand as the Eagles' most obvious and pointed social commentary, sales for that album -- even when combined with Greatest Hits Volume II -- lag behind that first hits collection. Truth be told, it's Desperado, Take It Easy and Already Gone that speak most directly to the American psyche.
Yet their subject matter was anything but citified. Even though their protagonists -- and by extension, their audience -- rarely got closer to horseback than riding in a Ford Bronco, they identified deeply and frequently with cowboys and Western independence. Where Springsteen's everyman shared beaches, boardwalks and highways with his brothers, and Bob Seger's blue-collar heroes had a sense of punch-clock camaraderie, the denizens of Eagles' songs could only escape into heartbreak and wide-open spaces. Well, that and cheating on their partners. As much as that material owed to honky-tonk country, the Eagles added an important twist. Instead of the tear-in-my-beer self-pity Nashville pickers wallowed in, the Eagles spun that emotional isolation as a sort of every-man-for-himself individualism, converting heartbreak into a weird triumph of the will. The 1974 hit Already Gone is typical; although the gist of the song is essentially "I dumped you before you could dump me," its mood is exuberant, almost exultant, with the chorus boasting of the hero's "victory song." Losing the girl never felt so good.
Far more subtle -- but perhaps more significant -- was the music's social impact. The Eagles' vision of America was not big-city urban, but Western and Midwestern -- modern, but with a longing for old-fashioned self-reliance, at once wanting someone or something to stop the world from going to hell, while still leaving enough room to raise a little hell. In short, it's the same cocktail of traditional values and self-indulgence that has fuelled the Republican revolution of the last 15 years -- a movement, it should be noted, with deep support in the very territory the Eagles' songs most vividly evoke. The irony in all this is that the Eagles themselves are hardly hard-core red-staters. Don Henley in particular has been strongly critical of the Bush administration and Republican environmental policy. Then again, if modern Republicans can claim John F. Kennedy as one of their own, why not the Eagles? It's not like the Democrats are promising anyone a peaceful, easy feeling.
Read other entertainment commentary on evalu8.org... |
|||
|
Home | About | Contact Us | FAQs | Terms of Use | Privacy | Advertise | Affiliates | Partners | Links | Press Releases | Suggest a Site | Request a Review | Feedback
|
Their 1973 follow-up Desperado, wasn't as commercially viable, but is notable for its melancholy title track that has been covered by numerous artists, including Rondstadt herself. 1974's On The Border, however, was a bona fide hit, producing the No. 1 single "Best of My Love." The Eagles capitalized on this newfound success with the quick release of One of These Nights, an album that topped the charts immediately and won the band the first of its four Grammy Awards for the Top 10 single "Lyin' Eyes."
Specifically, 
The most obvious impact of this twist on country traditions was felt in Nashville, where in the nineties, a whole generation of Stetson-topped singers and pickers insisted that the Eagles were as much an inspiration as Hank Williams (if not more). That debt was made explicit with the album Common Thread, in which Allan Jackson, Clint Black, Trisha Yearwood and Brooks & Dunn had their way with such songs as Desperado, Lyin' Eyes and Best of My Love. Needless to say, it was a huge hit, and helped pave the way for such country crossover successes as Garth Brooks and Shania Twain.