Growing Up with the Eagles

The Eagles were my generation's Beatles. You might argue the point, but if you look back, both groups started out doing a lot of cover songs, and their real talent emerged in writing and performing their own material. With the Eagles, there were two guys who definitely and unquestionably were the leaders: Don Henley and Glen Frey. With the Beatles: John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Over the years, certain members of the Eagles would wrestle with who were in charge. But the fact remained, and the dissenters always lost the struggle to eventually go their own way.

Now, in 2011, There are several books telling the story of the birth, flight, death, rebirth and continued flight of the Eagles. Folks my age (too young to remember the Beatles on Ed Sullivan but teenagers in the early 70s) would see similarities with the Fab Four. With both groups, the "song" was king and the record production--clean and perfected. Though exuding a casual, laid-back persona as country rockers, the Eagles helped set a high bar for any other group to dare follow. They made enemies early on with east coast rock critics when some members of the Eagles spoke negatively about certain New York bands of the period. The Eagles found disdain by critics for decades but obviously have weathered the storm and have, like the Phoenix, risen out of the ashes to fly again, and again.

A great book by Ben Fong-Torres, "Eagles," presents a first-hand, "been there" perspective of the band in a well-written, photo-laden, "coffee table worthy" but well-worth-the-read, history. Fong-Torres, a former writer and editor with Rolling Stone magazine, is one of my favorite writers, and he himself interviewed the Eagles back when they were willing to give them. I've read most, if not all, of the Eagles books available, including Don Felder's "Heaven and Hell." This new offering starts with a baseball game in the late 70s between the Rolling Stone magazine staff and the Eagles (Rolling Stone lost). The Eagles would see their own demise soon after the magazine did an Eagles cover story in 1979. Fong-Torres' book weaves through all of the phases of the group's life and line-up through today. I never tire of reading about the Eagles' fascinating story!

A few interesting facts about the Eagles that may surprise you:

--Their first gig was at Disneyland as a back-up band for Linda Ronstadt. Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon were the more experienced members of the group. But by the second record, Don Henley and Glenn Frey quickly became the front-runners as lead writers and singers.

--Though touted as the embodiment of the southern California country rock sound, none of the original Eagles were from southern California: Don Henley was from Texas; Glenn Frey from Michigan; Randy Meisner from Nebraska; and Bernie Leadon from Minnesota/Florida (Timothy B. Schmidt, a Meisner replacement before "The Long Run" album, was from central California in Sacramento).

--Their first record was completely recorded in England with producer/ engineer Glyn Johns, who had previously worked with the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

--Before the Eagles, Randy Meisner, the high-singing bass player, auditioned for the group Poco, beating out Timothy B. Schmidt (another high-tenor/ bass picker). When Meisner left Poco, Schmidt took his place. When Meisner left the Eagles, Schmidt replaced him there, too!