Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXXIX--Eagles: Hotel California

I had a hard time coming up with an intro for this week's tune--at first, I thought about noting that I'm 229 songs into Friday Night Jukebox and this is the first Eagles song I've featured even though I've been a fan of theirs since a year or two after I fell in love with rock and roll (and could probably find at least a dozen songs from them that would make a nice post).  I also thought about how some songs--and I was reminded of Bob Seger's "Night Moves," probably because the two songs were released within a year or so of each other--musically, instrumentally, vocally, and lyrically come as close to perfection as one could hope for in a pop song.  And I thought about mentioning that this week's tune would probably make my all-time top ten.

So I just went with all three.

As with a number of other bands featured here on FNJ, it's a bit hard to fit the Eagles storied career into a synopsis of a paragraph.  They formed in 1971 when Glenn Frey and Don Henley met and were kinda/sorta part of Linda Ronstadt's backing band, and were eventually joined by Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner (Leadon and Meisner would eventually depart, Don Felder would join the band as a fifth member and Joe Walsh replaced Leadon) .  The band had a hit album right off the bat, followed it with somewhat of a dud, and then went stratospheric, with their next album cracking the top twenty, and their final four studio LPs reaching #1.  The band had a hell of a heyday from 71-80, but success and familiarity eventually bred contempt and they went through an ugly breakup.  Against all odds (Henley at one time had said the band would get back together when hell froze over), the band reunited in 1994 for arguably the most successful reunion ever and has been together ever since.  The Eagles have sold over 100 million records (all the more impressive when you realize they've only released seven albums in their history), have the number one and the number three best selling albums of all-time, had seven #1 albums and five #1 singles on the Billboard charts, have won six Grammy Awards, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.  Sadly, original member Glenn Frey passed away in 2016 due to a number of health issues, but the band continues apace and is still touring.

Fun Fact:  In 1999, the Eagles were honored by the Recording Industry Association of America for having the best selling album (Their Greatest Hits, 1971-1975) of the century.  Really kind of makes those weekly best selling music lists pale in comparison....

"Hotel California" was released in 1977 on the oh-so-aptly titled LP, Hotel California.  The single would reach #1 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and win a Grammy Award for Record of the Year (Single).  The album would eventually become the third best selling album of all-time.

To be perfectly honest, I could write a recap paragraph of "Hotel California" based just on the over two minute guitar solo that closes the song (at six and a half minutes, "Hotel California" is a bit longer than your average number one single).  The guitar play between Don Felder (who wrote the music) and Joe Walsh is, in my humble opinion, the greatest guitar solo in the history of rock and roll, and fulfills what Jimi Hendrix once claimed about rock and roll:  that it was about the filling the holes in the elbows and the knees.  Throw in the foreboding lyrics (idea from Glenn Frey, actual words by Don Henley), Henley's knowing vocals, its theme of a journey from innocence to experience (Henley's take on the song), and its melody that has been described as "Mexican Reggae" and you have a glorious journey into the heart of American decadence.  In the end, it is a masterpiece of American rock and roll, and a stunning representation of the boundaries of pop music being pushed to their absolute edges.

Lyric Sheet:  "And still those voices are calling from far away/Wake you up in the middle of the night/Just to hear them say...Welcome to the Hotel California..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee