Comments on: With A Million Stars All Around

With A Million Stars All Around

timsteil — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:18:56 -0800

The Eagles had been together for barely a week at the time, but Frey immediately recognized a great song when he heard it.

By: (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates

(Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:22:32 -0800

Jesus, man, can you change the station?

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:25:55 -0800

"For me, the last verse of a song is the clincher that ties up everything that came before and gives a one-two punch to the chorus. I wrote that verse sitting at the concrete table at the Wienerschnitzel."

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:27:17 -0800

And you think Smooth is an earworm? I just read the title and I can't get rid of this annoying, uneasy feeling. It's like being trapped in an elevator. And it's a billion stars.

By: El Sabor Asiatico

El Sabor Asiatico — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:29:10 -0800

Jesus, man, can you change the station? Fuck you man! You don't like my fucking music, get your own fucking cab!

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:30:25 -0800

Huh. I did feel a strange sense of dread the one time I ate at that Wienerschnitzel. Now I know why. But all joking aside, and in spite of the fact that I don't particularly dig the Eagles, if I can someday write just one song as good as that one, I'll be a happy man.

By: benito.strauss

benito.strauss — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:32:45 -0800

This is why I liked punk so much.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:37:34 -0800

I loved country rock and I loved the Eagles. I got over it after seeing them live on the Hotel California tour.

By: ninjew

ninjew — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:37:35 -0800

Smuggler's Blues was a GREAT Miami Vice episode, featuring Glenn Frey..

By: timsteil

timsteil — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:39:01 -0800

And it's a billion stars. I just assumed he had a cold at the time they recorded it.

By: Lame_username

Lame_username — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:45:12 -0800

I just finished reading Hotel California: The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends which had a lot of interesting background on the whole LA/Topanga scene at the time. Not quite as good a read as Shakey, but a lot of fun if you are interested in music of the period. Tempchin is only mentioned a few times, but the Eagles and Geffen are pretty much at the center of the story.

By: wabbittwax

wabbittwax — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:47:31 -0800

Jesus, man, can you change the station? Fuck you man! You don't like my fucking music, get your own fucking cab! Man, come on, I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man.

By: TigerMoth

TigerMoth — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:53:01 -0800

Jesus, man, can you change the station? Fuck you man! You don't like my fucking music, get your own fucking cab! Done.

By: Egg Shen

Egg Shen — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:53:15 -0800

I never liked "Take It To The Limit" until I heard it interpreted by Cher. True story.

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:54:04 -0800

CynicalKnight: "For me, the last verse of a song is the clincher that ties up everything that came before and gives a one-two punch to the chorus. I wrote that verse sitting at the concrete table at the Wienerschnitzel."

Holy shit. Do you ever feel that, in about 10 years, Google will be able to show you streaming webcam of that table from 40 years ago, Jack Tempchins munching and scribbling on a napkin?

By: colie

colie — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:54:41 -0800

I tried to get me some Eagles on Spotify and it can only supply covers from an album called 'Dinner Party Guitar Moods Vol 1'. Hipsters may appreciate. Biggest selling US band in history. The Dinner Party acoustic versions all sound like the Beatles' 'If I Fell' but played faster and with country instrumentation.

By: echo target

echo target — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:54:49 -0800

I am actually going to a Big Lebowski Brew & View tonight. We're going to dress in costume, drink white russians, and yell all the lines at the screen. I've been excited for weeks. It's at the Majestic, Madison Mefites. Be there!

By: Aquaman

Aquaman — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:17:13 -0800

The '70s were a hell of a drug.

By: Decani

Decani — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:22:41 -0800

This is why I, too, liked punk so much. That isn't a good song. That's triple-distilled sonic chloroform. That song makes elevator muzak sound edgy and raw.

By: Foosnark

Foosnark — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:27:35 -0800

There is one good Eagles song and it's not really that good. And this song is not the one.

By: basicchannel

basicchannel — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:32:38 -0800

In case anyone needs a palate cleanser.

By: tommyD

tommyD — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:39:35 -0800

There is, you know a lot of good music besides punk, but if all you like is punk, start a thread about punk. I will not shit in that thread, if you don't shit in other music threads.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:51:46 -0800

peaceful easy feeling always left me feeling neither peaceful nor easy. But I'd be lying if I dismissed the Eagles in their entirety. James Dean is a fun rocker. Journey of the Sorcerer is cosmic, epic, quite brilliant actually. One of These Nights has one of the great grooves. lyin eyes will be getting sung at campfires for at least another 500 years. King of Hollywood is creepy and true in all the right ways.

By: Senor Cardgage

Senor Cardgage — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:58:50 -0800

I used to hate The Eagles. I've mellowed on the topic since my youth. I still dont love them but "One of These Nights" and "I Can't Tell You Why" have given them a lifetime dispensation from me. Hell, even the songs I dont particularly like from them are still well-crafted, if workmanlike.

By: sfts2

sfts2 — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:59:55 -0800

Wow, who knew? music enjoyed by those with a 70s perspective not ALWAYS enjoyed by those with a 80s, 90s or 00s perspective. Have to write a note to self

By: lumpenprole

lumpenprole — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:13:35 -0800

Jeeez, what's with all the negative vibes, man? I love The Fucking Eagles!

By: mazola

mazola — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:16:25 -0800

I don't need your fuckin' sympathy, man, I need my fucking johnson! Wait. What?

By: KingEdRa

KingEdRa — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:24:45 -0800

I seem to recall an anecdote relating to The Eagles when they were starting out that they were the poor man's Poco. Considering that Poco always suffered from being considered the poor man's Flying Burrito Brothers, that's saying something.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:26:35 -0800

also, I realize it's kind of a cliche now but I was flipping through some very old Rolling Stone articles a while back and found a review of the Eagles first album (1972) wherein the reviewer made it clear: the cool NEW song of the moment, early autumn 1972, was Take It Easy. It was fresh, it was positive, EVERYBODY LOVED IT -- hippies, straights, teenybops, rockers, probably even Richard Nixon. It had the zeitgeist by the balls. and that's the last good thing I'm going to say about the Eagles for a long while, I hope, because truth be told, I'm way more with Leibowski than agin him -- Creedence all the way)

By: Rangeboy

Rangeboy — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:36:39 -0800

I, too, hated the Eagles--okay, I still hate the fuckin' Eagles--but the Langley Schools Music Project cover of "Desperado" made me realize that beneath all the coked-out '70s overproduction, there are some solid songs there.

By: benito.strauss

benito.strauss — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:05:49 -0800

There is, you know a lot of good music besides punk, but if all you like is punk, start a thread about punk. I will not shit in that thread, if you don't shit in other music threads. Howdy, youngster, pull up a stump and let me tell you about Southern California in the 1970s. It was a different time, I tell you what. There just was not that big a choice in the music you could hear, 'specially not in Orange County. Most'a'th' radio played the same stuff, and "Oldies" meant 1950's doo-wop. You'd be in the car, and you didn't have XM, or a CD player, or maybe even a cassette player. So when your best-bet Rock station decided to play The Eagles, you didn't have much choice but to listen to it. And that happened a lot. So, I sure as hell don't only like punk music. And I didn't come into this thread just to say "Oi, that's not punk!". I made my comment because The Eagle are very specifically the music that was around me when I first heard punk, and are precisely what punk (and New Wave) contrasted with that made them so exciting. Besides, I always did like America better. Fuck the haters, Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn't already have.

By: Mr. Bad Example

Mr. Bad Example — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:11:23 -0800

I got burned out on the Eagles a while back, but I will still drop everything just to listen to Seven Bridges Road if it comes on. It's the harmonies.

By: basicchannel

basicchannel — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:25:36 -0800

I liked the part in Hotel California where they mock Steely Dan.

By: immlass

immlass — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:26:50 -0800

Lame_username, thank you for finding one of my husband's Christmas presents for me.

By: timsteil

timsteil — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:29:02 -0800

-- they mock Steely Dan "Turn up The Eagles the neighbors are listening."

By: JeffL

JeffL — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:49:08 -0800

Worst band ever. Robert Christgau provided the best description of their horrible music: "Slickshit"

By: timsteil

timsteil — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:51:37 -0800

Was there any kind of a feud going on between Steely Dan and the Eagles in the '70s? In the steel-cage death match of tasteful '70s rock bands lacking muscle tone, Steely Dan fired the first shot, on their 1976 album The Royal Scam. "Everything You Did," a bitter, vengeful song directed at a lover, features the line "turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening." Glenn Frey of the Eagles said, "Apparently Walter Becker's girlfriend loved the Eagles, and she played them all the time. I think it drove him nuts. So, the story goes that they were having a fight one day and that was the genesis of the line." Given that the two bands shared a manager (Irving Azoff) and that the Eagles proclaimed their admiration for Steely Dan, this was more friendly rivalry than feud. Nevertheless, on "Hotel California" the same year, the Eagles sent a barbed-wire kiss back to Steely Dan with the lyric "They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast." Frey commented, "We just wanted to allude to Steely Dan rather than mentioning them outright, so 'Dan' got changed to 'knives,' which is still, you know, a penile metaphor." (Excerpted from the 2006 book Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John?: Music's Most Enduring Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed, published by Three Rivers Press, written by Gavin Edwards.)

By: JeffL

JeffL — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:53:25 -0800

I was somehow unaware until this thread that they mocked one of my all-time faves, Steely Dan. Now I hate them even more.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:15:55 -0800

I have never hated the Eagles, even during my most musically-intolerant angry young man days, but I must admit that I can't really listen to most of their output any more, other than a few select songs, maybe once every year or two. Which is fine.

By: potsmokinghippieoverlord

potsmokinghippieoverlord — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:30:57 -0800

Guess I better not start a thread about Journey, then. When the lights go down in the ci-taaaay....

By: philip-random

philip-random — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:32:09 -0800

Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn't already have. Fair enough, but what's with that horse with no name - the heat hot, the ground dry, and there ain't no one for to give you no name? That song was a new pop hit when I was twelve and even I knew the lyrics were dumb.

By: snuffleupagus

snuffleupagus — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:42:04 -0800

I have a love/hate relationship with the Eagles. I heard a lot of them growing up in L.A., and a lot of Don Henley's solo stuff. Some of the stuff really, really sucks. But there are some songs that I always found hard to resist. "Life in the Fast Lane," for instance. If CSN had recorded "Seven Bridges Road," I don't think anyone would have branded it 'slickshit' (but that does fit a lot of their songs). And there are a few that I do find cringeworthy musically or lyrically, but still enjoy as a kind of a distillation of cultural moment that produced it (even moreso with the Henley solo stuff. "Dirty Laundry" being probably the most widely known example, but most of End of the Innocence probably qualifies.) Henley's solo stuff is thematically darker than most Eagles material, though, which I think plays more interestingly against those sort of plasticized arrangements and production.

By: benito.strauss

benito.strauss — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:43:45 -0800

Fair enough, but what's with that horse with no name ? The word among my set of tweens was that it was a sly reference to !*!*dRuGs!*!*!, but there were lots of things that we didn't quite understand. I wouldn't be surprised if that was yet another one.

By: ThatCanadianGirl

ThatCanadianGirl — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:50:10 -0800

I was in high school in the mid-seventies. I loved the Eagles. They are the reason I bought a guitar and took lessons. I also liked Santana.

By: snuffleupagus

snuffleupagus — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:00:25 -0800

Fair enough, but what's with that horse with no name ? Only Neil Young can write Neil Young songs, that's what.

By: stargell

stargell — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:07:24 -0800

And they stole their signature song from Tull

By: Ber

Ber — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:22:26 -0800

High school 71-75, college thereafter. So my musical tastes were formed before punk but nonetheless, the Eagles were thought of by myself and most of my friends as a "girl band". You know, your girl friend had the greatest hits album right next to her copy of Seals & Crofts. But that mostly laid back west coast country wasn't exactly getting the testosterone the jump it required. And being we all grew up in the upper Midwest, country was the music we were absolutely rebelling against. That was our parents' music. Besides, the Eagles were not exactly the spike in the limbic system that some other bands were in those days. These days I will acknowledge that the songwriting skills of the Eagles were pretty damn good. But I still shudder when I hear just about anything off that damn greatest hits album. My wife can play all the Seals & Crofts, Elton John, or James Taylor she wants but I am happy that she gave up her Eagles Greatest Hits a long time ago.

By: Rangeboy

Rangeboy — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:36:55 -0800

I got burned out on the Eagles a while back, but I will still drop everything just to listen to Seven Bridges Road if it comes on. It's the harmonies. A great song, but it wasn't written by the Eagles and it's been done better by other performers.

By: tommyD

tommyD — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:35:06 -0800

If the Eagle did nothing else, they did Ol' '55, and I had to find out who wrote it. Turned out it was this strange genius name of Tom Waits, and lord knows, I was feelin' alive.

By: timsteil

timsteil — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:50:24 -0800

"Apparently Walter Becker's girlfriend loved the Eagles, and she played them all the time. I think it drove him nuts. So, the story goes that they were having a fight one day and that was the genesis of the line." Something I totally spaced when posting that (kind of apropos right?), is that Becker's girlfriend OD'ed, he got sued for wrongful death, he got hit by a cab, and moved to Hawaii to kick heroin. And that was the end of Steely Dan. For a while.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:35:54 -0800

There is a special place in hell for the person who wrote that insipid piece of crap "Hotel California".

By: philip-random

philip-random — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:19:23 -0800

I believe it's a room in the Hotel California.

By: rhiannonstone

rhiannonstone — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:39:21 -0800

So Steely Dan & the Eagles are contemporaries and share a subset of fans and maybe both sometimes sing about rich white guy problems, but otherwise I will never understand why people assume that because I love Steely Dan I am also an Eagles fan. The Eagles are, like, the Robert Frost of rock 'n roll, while Steely Dan is more like the W. H. Auden or Wallace Stevens.

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 02:14:54 -0800

Because they objectively sound the same, coked up seventies production values and all?

By: Wolof

Wolof — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 02:33:54 -0800

My rough grab at a tentative hypothesis is that somebody doesn't know what "objectively" means. I await proof of the contrary. Bring data.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:32:23 -0800

Whatever. Me, I remember cocaine with great, great fondness.

By: Wolof

Wolof — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:59:59 -0800

Me, I remember cocaine with great, great fondness. Had to stop this drug very early myself. Too encouraging, too too good. Too too, err, too.

By: sfts2

sfts2 — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 05:35:11 -0800

I find it funny, having the strong sense that many people like only one kind of music.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:17:30 -0800

Hotel California: The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends The secret ingredient is Waddy Wachtel.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:31:11 -0800

Eagles: Cheap imitation America. Anyone who would try to call "Horse With No Name" a "Neil Young song" has not the slightest clue what makes Neil Young sound like Neil Young. As a fan of both, I can assure you, they are not like each other! (might sound good if they tried though). It might be said that America was sounding amazingly like an update of CSN. It is interesting to note (to my big surprise) that was the doing of their producer, and not the band. Personally, I liked their producer's vision better. The band wanted to be more pop.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:37:44 -0800

I'm listening to Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 right now. Yes, partly out of spite. And I'm loving it.

By: snuffleupagus

snuffleupagus — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:47:17 -0800

Anyone who would try to call "Horse With No Name" a "Neil Young song" has not the slightest clue what makes Neil Young sound like Neil Young. As a fan of both, I can assure you, they are not like each other! (might sound good if they tried though). I assure you that you opinion is bad and wrong, as demonstrated by the inherent ignorance of your comment. Take it from me, you are not the person you think you are. Thanks for playing.

By: Slarty Bartfast

Slarty Bartfast — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 08:37:57 -0800

Thank god for the Eagles. Without them, there surely would never have been a Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, or any other West Coast music that mattered.

By: tallmiddleagedgeek

tallmiddleagedgeek — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:00:32 -0800

I like the Eagles' version of "Seven Bridges Road", but I didn't know about Dolly Parton's version of "Seven Bridges Road". Cool. I'm no fan of the Eagles - to put it mildly - and I really really dislike the lyrics for "Already Gone", but hearing all three of those guitars going at once in the middle section is ear candy. But I'd rather listen to [insert name of band that you've probably never heard of because I'm so cool and all that :-)].

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:16:08 -0800

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:17:26 -0800

The secret ingredient is Waddy Wachtel. Amen. And anyone who hates the Eagles and needs convincing that Waddy Wachtel makes great things sound better just needs to be reminded that The Church's Starfish album was produced by Waddy Wachtel. From what I've read, The Church didn't get along with Wachtel at all, but the album they made together is easily one of the best albums of all time.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:17:02 -0800

Me, I remember cocaine with great, great fondness. Maybe a year out of high school (1978), a good friend of mine got into coke. We all did, sort of, but he really got into. Because unlike other drugs, coke was harmless, other than the odd nosebleed. He was dead within the year. Not by overdose. Suicide. He'd taken a fifty thousand dollar inheritance and turned it into a huge debt, with bad people after him to collect. And he'd alienated so many people with his apocalyptic egoism, nobody cared enough to help him out. Fuck cocaine, I decided. I've done it maybe two dozen times since, and found it good for the immediate esteem and not much else.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:18:02 -0800

also, required viewing: From The Byrds To The Eagles Part 1 of 7

By: snuffleupagus

snuffleupagus — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:39:00 -0800

Your assurances are of value only to yourself, sir. Mr. Young is about dissonance. America hardly touches the stuff. Mr. Young is Canadian. The guys from America grew up in England and played the London scene. Sigh. My point was to genericize your comment to show the offensive dismissiveness inherent in "assuring" someone they "don't have the slightest clue" what they're talking about. To make the point, again: I've been a Neil Young fan my whole life. I've seen him live numerous times, solo, with Crazy Horse, and with CSNY. To reduce Neil Young to "dissonance" is like saying French cuisine "consists of butter." Futhermore, a band from here may be perfectly capable of emulating another performer from there when they choose to do so, so I suppose you must have even less than "the slightest clue." Or you could just offer your opinion without feeling the need to discredit mine based purely on the band's genealogy and a single adjective, rather than what the actual song we're talking about sounds like. But this is a derail anyway, so whatever...

By: philip-random

philip-random — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:45:40 -0800

Goofyy, you are being goofy here, I think. If Horse With No Name doesn't sound similar to Neil Young, then red isn't similar to violet. Fun fact: in Vancouver, early spring 1972, Horse With No Name was the #2 song on the weekly Top 40 and Neil Young's Heart of Gold was #3. Donny Osmond's Puppy Love was #1.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:43:51 -0800

Maybe a year out of high school (1978), a good friend of mine got into coke. We all did, sort of, but he really got into. Because unlike other drugs, coke was harmless, other than the odd nosebleed. He was dead within the year. Yup, it's an all-too-common story. I've had more than a handful and friends and acquaintances killed by it over the decades. The same goes for booze, for that matter. Neither are anything like harmless, of course. So it goes, sadly. I still remember the drug itself with fondness.