On this day (September 18) in 1979, the Eagles released “Heartache Tonight” as the lead single from their 1979 album The Long Run. Later that year, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for one week. It would be their final No. 1 on the all-genre survey. Additionally, The Long Run would be the final album released by the band before they split. They wouldn’t reunite again until the mid-1990s.
The Long Run came at a pivotal time for the Eagles. They were coming off the success of their smash hit 1976 album, Hotel California, and its trio of hit singles. They were flying high and had just swapped founding member Randy Meisner for Timothy B. Schmit on bass. At the same time, inner turmoil was slowly pulling the band apart. However, they likely didn’t realize when they released “Heartache Tonight” to kick off the new album cycle that they were less than a year away from breaking up.
Before they went on a 14-year hiatus, though, the band put together one last chart-topping, Grammy-winning single.
How Bob Seger Helped the Eagles Pen Their Final Hot 100 No. 1
Glenn Frey, JD Souther, Bob Seger, and Don Henley co-wrote “Heartache Tonight.” But it all started with a jam session between Souther and Frey.
“Glenn Frey and I had been listening to Sam Cooke records at my house,” Souther, sometimes called an unofficial member of the Eagles, told Songfacts. “So we were just walking around clapping our hands and snapping our fingers, and singing the verses to those songs. The melody sounds very much like those Sam Cooke shuffles,” he added. “There’s not much to it. I mean, it’s really just two long verses. But it felt really good.”
After hanging out listening to soul records, Souther and Frey started jamming. Before long, they had the beginnings of “Heartache Tonight.” However, it wasn’t quite finished.
“We didn’t get to a chorus that we liked within the first few days, and I think Glenn was on the phone with Seger, and he said, ‘I wanna run something by you,’ and sang it to him,” Souther recalled. “Seger just came right in with the chorus, just sang it, and it was so good. Glen called me and said, ‘Is four writers okay on this?’ And I said, ‘Sure, if it’s good.’”
After hearing Seger’s contribution to the song, Souther agreed. More importantly, listeners around the world agreed. It topped the charts in the United States and Canada. It was also a hit in Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Australia.
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