![\"Don](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Don-Henley-Musician-2026-The-Eagles-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: YouTube Still<\/p>\n
Wed 3 June 2026 20:00, UK <\/p>\n
The entire breakup of the Eagles felt like Don Henley<\/a> was losing his best friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t ever want the group to split up, but by the time that they had resorted to settling their differences by fighting onstage, it was about time that they at least took a break from each other, but compared to every other member of the band, Henley seemed like the one person who was destined to become one of the biggest solo artists in the world\u2026 That is, if he actually wanted to release music at all.<\/p>\n Because when you look at Henley\u2019s manner of working, he didn\u2019t think he was cut out to be a solo artist. Glenn Frey was already told that he needed a band behind him if he wanted to reach the top of the rock and roll world, and even if Henley was blessed with a voice made of solid gold, it was going to take a while before he settled into his new life as a solo artist. All he really needed was the right thing to kick him into high gear, and he sure got it when he heard Frey\u2019s first solo album.<\/p>\n His partner knew how to pump out the tunes as fast as he could, and while No Fun Aloud wasn\u2019t meant to set the world on fire<\/a>, Henley wanted to show the world that he could make catchy tunes as well. But when looking at the way that he put together I Can\u2019t Stand Still, he was still working out the bugs of his old band as well. Nothing was bad, but half the record did feel a little bit clunky for him.<\/p>\n Then again, you wouldn\u2019t think that listening to the song \u2018Dirty Laundry\u2019. Henley was always great at making these condemnation songs about the scum of the earth, and after going through his own legal troubles after the band disbanded, making a song about how vicious the paparazzi could be was the perfect tone setter for what he would be doing on his other message songs later down the line.<\/p>\n The tune was a perfect first single, so why the hell wasn\u2019t it actually the first single? Sure, everyone remembers this song as being Henley\u2019s proper introduction to the world, but when looking through the original chart records, Henley felt that he was going to make his fortune by putting out the song \u2018Johnny Can\u2019t Read\u2019. And since the song is a more jaunty number about someone who was illiterate, Henley knew he dropped the ball in a major way when he first saw the charts.<\/p>\n The song was catchy enough, but the subject matter wasn\u2019t exactly what he wanted to be remembered for, saying<\/a>, \u201cWe released \u2018Johnny Can\u2019t Read\u2019 first. In retrospect, I was trying to follow the New Wave trend; that song was meant to be kind of a New Wave pop hit. Didn\u2019t work. I even recorded that song in French and Spanish! And trying to have an international audience in it didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/strong><\/p>\n Adding, \u201cThen some program director or DJ \u2013 I can\u2019t remember who \u2013 heard \u2018Dirty Laundry\u2019, called [Eagles manager] Irving Azoff and said \u2018That \u2018kick \u2018em when they\u2019re up, kick \u2018em when they\u2019re down\u2019 thing? That\u2019s hit material. You should release that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that \u2018Johnny Can\u2019t Read\u2019 is all bad, though. The song does have a decent groove to it, and the idea of Henley making a New Wave song could have been interesting for a few songs, but when you hear those biting guitars on \u2018Dirty Laundry\u2019, you can hear everywhere that Henley would be going next, whether it\u2019s the moody guitars of \u2018The Boys of Summer\u2019 or what he would do when he returned to the Eagles, like on \u2018Get Over It\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n His career didn\u2019t exactly get off to the best start, but getting \u2018Dirty Laundry\u2019 onto the charts is proof that one flop hit doesn\u2019t mean anything. Any band can have their off moments from time to time, but all it takes is the right track to help turn everything back around again. And if Henley could royally screw his own single up from time to time and still walk away clean, who\u2019s to say any other artist couldn\u2019t do the same thing?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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