Anyone see The History Of The Eagles on Showtime ?

[Mike Eskimo]

Very interesting warts-and-all documentary.

Two-parter.

1st one infinitely more interesting than the second - and a lot less acidic.

Early live footage and Ronstadt stuff really cool.

Super tight proficient band w/ 2 guitars, bass, and drums.

I wish Glen Frey wasn't from here.

I wish Bernie Leadon was. Very together, couldn't-give-a-crap guy. Loved his playing. Never took junk from anybody.

Frey got Felder out of the band and is STILL mad at him. His retelling of his ultimatum to Felder is an old, angry rich guy who still has to be in charge.

Henley comes across much better.

By the end of it you realize that at any time in their history if they were given an ultimatum that they'd have to replace any of their fellow band members or Irving Azoff - Joe Walsh and the others should be nervous - Irving was a member of the troika.

Everybody else was expendable.

[stnmtthw]

Love the Eagles' music. I've heard a lot of bad stories about Don Henley, but in interviews, he always comes across as a funny, likeable guy. One of my favorite singers.

Glenn Frey is a talented musician. No other comment.

And Joe Walsh doesn't need the Eagles. He has a good career of his own, although I have no doubt joining the Eagles at the height of their popularity helped him out.

[Telenator]

Great program.

Watched the whole thing. I had no idea so much controversy was brewing in the background. Great band just the same.

[Mjark]

Yeah. Frey is not a likable guy. Henley presents himself better. I empathized with Felder, but as we all know, there's always another guitar player available.

[Mike Eskimo]

Yeah. Frey is not a likable guy. Henley presents himself better. I empathized with Felder, but as we all know, there's always another guitar player available.

Yeah - I mean on the one hand he has writer credits on some pretty huge tunes so I'm sure he's not hurting , but on the other it's pretty obvious he regrets not signing the "Anyone not named Frey or Henley is a band member and makes far less than the aforementioned two" agreement.

So instead of making $90,000 a show he maybe made $45,000 a show.

Hard to feel sorry for him. Joe signed it and Joe gives the other two much credibility.

They've always been lucky to have him.

[Swampash&Tweed]

When you see stuff like this , its really amazing when bands like the Stones managed to keep it together for over a half century.

[adjason]

Loved it. I though Frey came off just fine in the video- heck I expected much worse. I can totally understand Henley and Frey making more money and Felder's comments to the politician would have made me mad too.

[JayBeezy42]

No Showtime so I couldn't catch it...

Per his book, the only thing Felder really seemed to regret was that Walsh didn't stand with him when Henley and Frey proposed the new contract that reduced them to sidemen.

Since Felder was fired instead of quitting like Leadon and Meisner, he still held a stake in Eagles Ltd. Considering that the resulting lawsuit was settled out of court, it's easy to infer that Henley and Frey threw a significant chunk of change at Felder to get him to go away.

[Skully]

I haven't seen it yet, but Henley typically comes off worse in interviews than Frey, who generally seems to be able to play nice guy for the camera.

[Brad Pittiful]

i hate the eagles but i would watch cause i like those kinds of shows

[Uncle Joe]

Good show worth watching. It came as no surprise that somebody was running that band like a business and feathers were ruffled. The Geffen conflict was interesting, and the Eagles seemed to lawyer-up at about the right time amid their tale of woe. Many bands did a lot worse.

I thought that plenty of warts were covered using the Glyn Johns quote, "you can have them," as the all-encompassing line for scapegoating resentment toward the dynamic duo. Similarly, "there were a lot of drugs around in the seventies" covered a lot of unspecific ground. For awhile there I though it was all about women and bathtub Budweiser. I never did learn much more than that. They did coke in the late seventies. Okay. And that makes them different than _____ in what way?

I agree that Joe Walsh came out smelling like a rose, so long as room-trashing doesn't bother you. Walsh may be fun to watch on TV but imagine living on a bus with him. Excuse me, try living on a jet with him. Gracious guy though. Likeable.

My favorite parts were the stories of the etymology of "Lyin' Eyes" and "Life in the Fast Lane."

The best was that the entire family watched the show together and I found three Eagles albums, a couple of James Gang LPs and Walsh's But Seriously Folks to show my wife and kids. By the way, my wife Googled current images of Linda Ronstadt. Don't do it.

One question: What's with part II? I don't see that listed. Am I missing something?

[Skully]

The best was that the entire family watched the show together and I found three Eagles albums, a couple of James Gang LPs and Walsh's But Seriously Folks to show my wife and kids. By the way, my wife Googled current images of Linda Ronstadt. Don't do it.

I like to do that and show the results to Getbent. Good fun!

[KokoTele]

Originally Posted by Uncle Joe

One question: What's with part II? I don't see that listed. Am I missing something?

Depending on your listings, it might also just be called "A History of the Eagles." I think that's how it was on my programming. Part 2 ran on a 2nd night and was shorter. It details all of the circumstances surrounding their reunion(s) and the business deals.

I grew up with the Eagles on classic rock radio, so it was really cool for me to see the context surrounding the songs and the albums. I'm definitely a bigger fan of their earlier material, when they sounded more like their country roots.

I thought Frey came off like the biggest of pricks in part 2. He may have had a valid point that he and Henley had done more to keep the songs alive than anyone else, though they did so with their own solo recording careers, for which they were also handsomely rewarded. Classic rock radio did the rest.

At that point, Frey and Henley decided that the Eagles were no longer a band, just a commercial enterprise, and I'm sure that's part of what put Felder off so much.

[mbennettbrown]

I dug it - caught both. I was surprised how much old footage they had. David Geffen comes off like a dick. Glen Frey comes off like an entrepreneur - not too many CEO's of companies that big who aren't arrogant.

[Farfel]

Here's an interview with Henley that talks about their upcoming "History of the Eagles" tour that may include a reunion with Bernie Leadon.

Clicky

[Joe Baggadonitz]

I used to like the Eagles in the 70's but they haven't done much since then to keep me interested. What's that line? "All we hear is radio goo-goo radio ga-ga!" That sums up the Eagles for me after the 70's.

[Doug 54]

Both
plastic surgery

.

[gmann]

Originally Posted by KokoTele

Depending on your listings, it might also just be called "A History of the Eagles." I think that's how it was on my programming. Part 2 ran on a 2nd night and was shorter. It details all of the circumstances surrounding their reunion(s) and the business deals.

I grew up with the Eagles on classic rock radio, so it was really cool for me to see the context surrounding the songs and the albums. I'm definitely a bigger fan of their earlier material, when they sounded more like their country roots.

I thought Frey came off like the biggest of pricks in part 2. He may have had a valid point that he and Henley had done more to keep the songs alive than anyone else, though they did so with their own solo recording careers, for which they were also handsomely rewarded. Classic rock radio did the rest.

At that point, Frey and Henley decided that the Eagles were no longer a band, just a commercial enterprise, and I'm sure that's part of what put Felder off so much.

Bands at that level are a commercial enterprise, it's just the way it is. It's like pro sports, you're not in high school anymore.

[rand z]

I haven't seen the "show", but will if it comes out on dvd. Always a big fan of great harmonies, it's hard not to like and respect them.

Their songwriting has been spotty since Leadon and Meisner left. Walsh picked up the torch (and spotlight) when Frey and Henley falter(ed). He's a much more affable character, but also has a serious side, too.

Frey's solo albums lack... Henley's are better but he throws in a lot of filler. IMO, they are much better together. And, I don't really care about their personal/personnel problems. I've pretty much seen them as perfectionist's and somewhat egocentric. Made for a few memorable songs, though.

Having said that, I was playing a gig in Hbg, PA in the late 70's when a guy came up to me afterwards and claimed to have written "Fool For Love" while in the service in Texas. A buddy liked it and urged him to send it to Asylum Records. He heard nothing from them for almost a year and dismissed the incident. Finally, he received an offer of around $1000 (a significant sum then) to sell the song outright, and leaped at it... a year later, at a party, he heard it in a slightly different form on the new Eagles album. He said he immediately grabbed the album cover to look at the songwring credits... it was Frey/Henley etc.

I don't know if I believe the story. But... kinda makes you wonder about a lot of bands with big hit songs under their names, as the writers.


rz

[Skully]

Their songwriting has been spotty since Leadon and Meisner left. Walsh picked up the torch (and spotlight) when Frey and Henley falter(ed).

Er... I would argue that their songwriting peaked after Leadon left, and Henley actually peaked as a songwriter on the title track to "Hotel California" and later and more consistently on his solo albums "Building the Perfect Beast" and "The End of the Innocence." No matter when Henley and Frey did peak as tunesmiths, it was probably incidental to the presence of Leadon and Meisner, who weren't substantial songwriters in their own right.