{"id":616937,"date":"2026-08-02T17:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/616937\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T17:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:26:13","slug":"51-years-ago-today-the-eagles-hit-no-1-with-the-song-glenn-frey-called-a-quantum-leap-for-the-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/616937\/","title":{"rendered":"51 Years Ago Today, the Eagles Hit No. 1 With the Song Glenn Frey Called a \u201cQuantum Leap\u201d for the Band"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formed in Los Angeles in 1971, the Eagles got their start with breezy, country-tinged ballads like \u201cTake It Easy\u201d<\/a> and \u201cAlready Gone\u201d. At that time, the band\u2019s lineup consisted of guitarists Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon, drummer Don Henley, and bassist Randy Meisner, with all sharing vocal responsibilities. <\/p>\n

After two albums in the same laid-back vein, Frey and Henley were looking to remove the \u201ccountry\u201d from the quartet\u2019s country-rock sound. For this, they enlisted lead guitarist Don Felder.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n

Felder was more than capable of delivering the heavy shredding style that the band sought. Thus, the Eagles\u2019 third album, On the Border, signaled a shift to harder material.<\/p>\n

That direction persisted on its successor, 1975\u2019s One of These Nights. On this day (August 2) in 1975, the album\u2019s title track gave the group their second number-one U.S. single.<\/p>\n

How The Eagles Shed Their \u201cBallad Syndrome\u201d on \u201cOne of These Nights\u201d<\/p>\n

With its obvious R&B and disco influences, \u201cOne of These Nights\u201d is about as far away from the lazy strains of \u201cPeaceful Easy Feeling\u201d as it\u2019s possible to get.<\/p>\n

That was intentional, according to the Eagles\u2019 Don Henley, who co-wrote the song with Glenn Frey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like to be a nice little country-rock band from Los Angeles \u2026 about half the time,\u201d\u00a0Henley told Rolling Stone<\/a> in 1975. \u201cWe wanted to get away from the ballad syndrome with \u2018One of These Nights.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

Henley continued, \u201cWith Don Felder in the band now, we can really rock. He\u2019s made us nastier and done a great guitar solo on the single.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specifically, Frey said he drew inspiration from R&B\/soul acts like the Spinners and Al Green. \u201cWe wanted \u2018One of These Nights\u2019 to have a lot of teeth, a lot of bite\u2014a nasty track with pretty vocals,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Glenn Frey\u2019s Favorite<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of These Nights\u201d gave the Eagles their second chart-topping song on the Billboard Hot 100. It followed 1974\u2019s \u201cBest Of My Love\u201d.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the title track\u2019s success helped propel the album to number one. One of These Nights marked the first of four straight chart-topping albums for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: 3 Eagles Songs That Everyone Knows (Even if You\u2019re Not an Eagles Fan)]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Before his death at age 67 on January 18, 2016, Glenn Frey declared \u201cOne of These Nights\u201d his all-time favorite Eagles track.<\/p>\n

In the liner notes for the Eagles\u2019 2003 Very Best Of album, Frey called the song \u201ca quantum leap\u201d for the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a breakthrough song. It is my favorite Eagles record,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I ever had to pick one, it wouldn\u2019t be \u2018Hotel California\u2019; it wouldn\u2019t be \u2018Take It Easy.\u2019 For me, it would be \u201cOne Of These Nights.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured image by Watal Asanuma\/Shinko Music\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formed in Los Angeles in 1971, the Eagles got their start with breezy, country-tinged ballads like \u201cTake It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[71796,46914,18,117,19,17,337,157162],"class_list":["post-616937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1970s","tag-classic-rock","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-the-eagles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117027090466053405","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}