Day 227: Eagles – Hotel California
Some years back, I wanted to see Robert Plant and I saw that he was opening for the Eagles. I thought why not, I’ll see the Eagles too, might be fun. Obviously I’d heard a few of their songs here and there (I’d have to have been deaf to never hear “Hotel California”) but my expectations weren’t very high. But I came away thinking they were great, I had such a good time that I think I enjoyed it more than Robert Plant, and I say that as a Led Zeppelin fanatic. Today I was thinking I don’t listen to the Eagles enough, so Hotel California it is.
Album cover courtesy of Asylum Records
The group started off as Linda Ronstad’s band but pretty quickly decided to try to make it on their own, with full support and encouragement from Linda. They were nameless for a while before going to the desert to enjoy some peyote and tequila in the desert when singer Glenn Frey saw an eagle flying by and yelled “Eagle!” – I love when you hear trite band naming stories like that, “well, rock history was forged when one of us saw a bird”. Sure, why not.
Hotel California was released in 1976 as a concept album about disillusionment with fame the music industry and coming to terms with the end of the countercultural movement of the ‘60s, with California as a representative of the state of the whole country and a message that was described by the band as “We've been okay so far, for 200 years, but we're gonna have to change if we're gonna continue to be around.”
It’s an album of quintessential ‘70s rock that pretty much sounds like the textbook example of it for someone who wasn’t there, which goes to show how ubiquitous they are. And “Hotel California”, while arguably a little bit overplayed, is such a good example of rock storytelling. And come on, it’s just a killer song anyway! There’s a reason why it’s played everywhere, it’s a well deserved classic. It’s like when people say “Stairway to Heaven” is overhyped, some things are hyped for a reason.
Every time I hear an Eagles song I think “man, they’re good” and then I just don’t listen to them – what the hell is my problem? Manyfold, I think, but Eagles-wise they’re probably just somehow not in active rotation because I’m categorically not their target audience and they’re usually not my type. I haven’t cultivated a lifestyle where I think, hey, maybe this moment would be better if I’d put on “Peaceful Easy Feeling”. I think that’s partially where I’m going wrong in life.
I was listening to “Try and Love Again” and I remembered that listening to the Eagles makes me happy, which is about the best thing that music can do. Maybe my third favourite fictional male character Jeffrey Lebowski dislikes their corporate stadium rock, but I can’t help it, they spark joy. 9/10. I’m going to try to have what I will now coin as an Eagles Summer of ’26.