Why the “Eagles” are the most overrated band
Purpose: To convince all within the timbre of my voice that
the Eagles are not nearly as good as people think they are.
Thesis: The Eagles are the most overrated band in the world
because:
1.
They cease to be relevant as musical influences,
but won’t go away.
2.
All the songs on their first “Greatest Hits”
album, the highest-selling album in North America, are essentially the same
boring song.
3.
They have become the big corporate sell-out that
they used to despise.
Introduction
(Attention Getter) On a cold, miserable
day in February of 1976, a subpar country-rock group called the Eagles received
an unfitting yet notable distinction. Their first greatest hits album, which
was also called “Their Greatest Hits,” became the first album to sell one
million copies and was the best-selling album of the 20th century. [Liscu] To date, this 10-song
compilation has sold 42 million copies worldwide and remains the single
best-selling greatest hits album ever to be released by any recording artist in
the world, and the seventh best-selling album of all time.
(Relevancy) This distinction, of having one of the greatest-selling
album ever, is understandable for some in the list: Whitney Houston is up there
as well, and Michael Jackson, the king of pop, with his classic “Thriller” is
number one. But the Eagles? How did that happen? It is undeniable that the
Eagles have talent. Their lineup has included Joe Walsh, a distinguished and
virtuosic guitarist, and Don Henley, who had a rather successful solo career in
the 80’s.
(Reveal Topic) But I submit that the Eagles are the single most
overrated band in the history of popular music.
(Credibility) As an avid fan, listener, and reviewer of music and
especially of the classic rock of the 60’s and 70’s….
(Thesis) I make this claim based on these three reasons: they cease to be a significant musical influence and yet are
still heralded by fans and critics as one of the greatest rock bands to ever
take the stage; the songs on “Their Greatest
Hits” are all boring and all essentially the same song; and they epitomize the money-hungry corporate machine to
which they used to be so opposed.
(Preview) In fortifying these claims, I will compare this group with
other contemporary acts as well as explore the history of the band.
Body Paragraph I
The
Eagles are often branded as classic rock – are played on classic rock stations
and listed by fans as one of their favorite “classic rock” groups – but the
truth is that however much they wanted to rock on numbers such as “Life in the
Fast Lane” and “Those Shoes,” they were something much less fierce. If
anything, they can be considered “country-rock,” as evidenced by their mellow
hit “Desperado” as well as their liberal use of banjo, slide guitars, and relentlessly
consistent shuffling quasi-cowboy beats. Perhaps what may make them hesitant to
be labeled as country-rock is that it is a genre that has absolutely no
relevance in more recent music. Many country acts have adopted a more “rock”
oriented sound to appeal to the masses, perhaps, but those are acts already
rooted in country and influenced by straight country artists. The fact is, the
Eagles stopped influencing bands a long time ago, probably since they were
still together, which was only between 1971 and 1980. Musicians are inspired by
inspiring musicians, and despite scoring hit after hit and having a wildly
successful couple of albums, their bland harmonies, their uninteresting songs,
and the hypocrisy of their bitter infighting against a backdrop of songs like
“Take It Easy” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling” all prove to be terribly
uninspiring.
And yet
fans and critics still adore them. At least, most critics. The words of
renowned music critic Robert Christgau reviewing the band’s debut album in 1972
speak to me: “Another thing that interests me about the Eagles is that I hate
them. "Hate" is the kind of up-tight word that automatically excludes
one from polite posthippie circles, a good reason to use it, but it is also
meant to convey an anguish that is very intense, yet difficult to pinpoint. Do
I hate music that has been giving me pleasure all weekend, made by four human
beings I've never met? Yeah, I think so. Listening to the Eagles has left me
feeling alienated from things I used to love. As the culmination of rock's
country strain, the group is also the culmination of the counterculture
reaction that strain epitomizes.” [Christgau]
While
it is true that a distaste for a band can sometime elude exact words and
description, I think it is appropriate to claim that the Eagles, despite being
wildly popular, have ceased to inspire current musicians.
Body Paragraph II
In
December of 1975, the Eagles made an excellent decision in adding
well-established guitarist Joe Walsh to their lineup. [DeRiso] In addition to penning and singing on some of their later
hits, such as “In the City,” he added a rocking flair which was notably absent
from the country-rock flavor of the band up to that point. There would have
been no “Hotel California” without Joe Walsh, or at least it wouldn’t be to
version we know it today. More than likely, it would have sounded just like any
of the other songs the Eagles had made up to the point of the 1976 “Hotel
California” release, because every one of those songs – all included on “Their
Greatest hits” – sound exactly the same.
To understand what exactly I mean, I would encourage you to listen to brief
clips of these four songs: “Tequila Sunrise,” “Take It Easy,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” and
“Peaceful Easy Feeling.”
A lot
of people, both fans and nonfans alike, really hate the song “Hotel
California.” I proudly dissociate myself even amongst people who can’t stand
the Eagles by saying that this is the one song that I most likely won’t skip
over if I hear it on the radio. Yes, it is overplayed, and yes it seems a
little pretentious, but the fact of the matter is for once it is something different. It is still the Eagles, but
it is not that same boring, dry-toast flavor they’d been playing for five
years. It took me a while to come to terms and admit that I could see some
appeal in that song. But that is basically the only exception I have made,
after hearing numerous of their songs, and not just the hits.
This is
not to say that all Eagles songs
sound the same: but the ones that made them famous all sound the same and are
all huge snoozers. And that is another reason why they are overrated.
Body Paragraph III
One
accusation I could never lift against the Eagles is that of their excess. Not
to say that it wasn’t true, but as the comedian Bill Hicks said in a much more
comedic way than I, most of those groups we love from the 70’s were really high on drugs. [Hicks] The Eagles’ excess bothers me
in a distinct way: in the fact that as they grew in popularity, the pompousness
in each of them came out (by the way, drummer Don Henley insists that their
group is called simply “Eagles” as opposed to “the Eagles,” a detail I realize
I have paid absolutely no attention to during this speech [KSHE]), there was bitter infighting amongst the band that led to threats,
comically dramatic encounters and confrontations, and eventually the breakup of
the band in 1980 [Rolling Stone].
But, unlike most breakups, this didn’t mean the end of the cockroach-like
Eagles: after reuniting for their popular “Hell Freezes Over” tour in 1994,
they have constantly been coming back for reunion tour after reunion tour,
releasing little new material and nothing as popular as their older stuff, and
charging their fans $150 for tickets [Daily
Vault] to see this band that gives, in my opinion, a lackluster, bored,
uninspired performance every time. Additionally, band members have filed
lawsuits against one another, accusing each other of withholding royalties, and
overall squabbling relentlessly over money and power and breaches of contract [Leeds]/[Rolling Stone]. To me this
utterly decries the nature of their country-comfort, return-to-roots credo from
their original years as a band: which can be summed up as “life is good so
relax and enjoy it.” Again in the words of Robert Christgau: “Brillaint stuff –
but false.” [Christgau]
The
Eagles therefore epitomize what they once used to oppose: “the man.” For
however else I feel about them, especially the tracks that appear on their
absurdly popular greatest hits album, the Eagles were at first a sincere group
of guys who wanted to make music together. They found a sound that they liked
and they wrote songs in that vein, they shared songwriting and singing
responsibilities, they were tight-knit, and their songs were typically
easygoing. They fulfilled the American rock star fantasy dream, in writing a
bunch of songs, releasing albums, playing shows, and getting paid to do what
they loved. But as is so often, and infuriatingly so in the case with the
Eagles who remain inexplicably popular, they lost touch with those humble
beginnings and became “the man.” I don’t want to preach about conformity and
non-conformity, selling out and staying true, but I will apologize to the
post-hippie demographic by saying that these guys are no longer the guys you
listened to and loved in the 70’s. It started then and has become starkly
evident recently: they are only in it for the money. They play the same boring
songs over and over because that’s what brings in the money. They sue each
other for millions of dollars in damages, usually emotional. They charge
outlandish prices for tickets because they know their fans are more sincere
than they are and will pay that much to see them. The Eagles are not at all
what they used to be, and that is another reason they are overrated.
Conclusion
So in
summation, this is how I see it, that the Eagles are overrated for three
overarching reasons: they cease to be a significant
musical influence and yet are still heralded by fans and critics as one of the
greatest rock bands to ever take the stage;
the songs on “Their Greatest Hits” are all boring and all essentially the same
song; and they epitomize the money-hungry
corporate machine to which they used to be so opposed. And on a more
personal note, I just simply do not like their music. Perhaps in another
lifetime, being a kid during their heyday I might appreciate them a little
more, but the fact remains that now, I feel no inspiration from them, I am
bored by the repetitive nature of their songs, and am put off by the hypocrisy
with which they have conducted themselves against the backdrop of their
peace-loving credo. And to the passive listener, enjoying the Eagles is really
just fine, but I think it important for all within the sound of my voice to
understand that they perhaps are good, but they are not great. They may be
talented, but they are not among the most talented to come out of that era. And
they may have inspired, but they and their music are no longer inspiring. Just
know that not everything that used to be wonderful still is, and the musicians
that were so incredible to us once upon a time are not frozen in time. Thus it
is with the Eagles, and that is why they are the most overrated band.
References
“The 10 Messiest Band Breakups.” Rolling Stone. 14 February, 2013.
“10 Things You Might Not Know About The Eagles.” KSHE. 22 June 2015.
Christgau, Robert. “Trying to Understand the Eagles.” Newsday, June 1972. Retrieved October
20, 2015.
DeRiso, Nick. “39 Years Ago: Joe Walsh Joins the Eagles.”
Ultimate Classic Rock. 20 December
2014. Retrieved October 20,
2015. http://ultimateclassicrock.com/joe-walsh-joins-eagles/
Deusner, Stephen. “Quit Defending the Eagles! They’re
Simply Terrible.” Salon. 8 August
2013. Retrieved
19 October 2015.
DV Staff. “Why the Eagles Suck.” Daily Vault. 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
Hicks, Bill. “Drugs Have Done Good Things.” Relentless. Warner Brothers, 1992. MP3.
Leeds, Jeff (December 8,
2002). "Reborn
Eagles Lose Peaceful, Easy Feeling". Los Angeles Times. p. C–1.
Retrieved November 18, 2012.
Wile, Rob. “11 Reasons Why The Eagles Will End Up In The
Dustbin Of Musical History.” Business
Insider.
15 August 2013. Retrieved 19
October 2015. http://www.businessinsider.com/11-reasons-why-the-eagles-are-overrated-2013-8
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