On The Border<\/a>. Neither of those songs did much on pop radio. That\u2019s when they decided to go with a ballad. Smart move. \u201cBest Of My Love\u201d, which showed off both Don Henley\u2019s silky solo vocals and the incredible blend of voices from the entire band, shot the band into the stratosphere.<\/p>\n\u201cOne Of These Nights\u201d from \u2018One Of These Nights\u2019 (1975)<\/p>\n
Don Henley and Glenn Frey showed great savvy throughout their career in following musical trends to see what would work at radio. They also wanted to branch out from the country rock that defined their early records. \u201cOne Of These Nights\u201d found them trying on slick R&B moves and pulling them off better than most thought that they could. They also added just enough rock heft to keep their core audience happy. Give credit for that to Don Felder, whose smoking guitar solo tears through the proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Kid In Town\u201d from \u2018Hotel California\u2019 (1976)<\/p>\n
Because the title track has received such acclaim, it might be surprising to some to realize that the band chose \u201cNew Kid In Town\u201d as the lead single of Hotel California. Don Henley and Glenn Frey received help from their songwriting ace in the hole, JD Souther, on this one. On the surface, it\u2019s a song about the way that romance can fade when the luster has worn off and people start to take it for granted. But The Eagles were also commenting on the fickle nature of the music scene and how stars come and go.<\/p>\n
\u201cHotel California\u201d from \u2018Hotel California\u2019 (1976)<\/p>\n
Yes, we understand that \u201cHotel California\u201d just might be the most overplayed song in the classic rock pantheon. (No offense to you, \u201cStairway To Heaven\u201d.) For that reason, some people might have turned on it. We\u2019d advise you to sit down one day and listen to it as if hearing it for the first time. Maybe that will help you realize what the band pulled off here. Have you ever heard an epic so seamless and yet so elusive? Think of how many lines from the lyrics have entered the lexicon. And ponder whether you\u2019ve ever heard a more iconic guitar part than the dual lines of Joe Walsh and Don Felder.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeartache Tonight\u201d from \u2018The Long Run\u2019 (1979)<\/p>\n
The Long Run, weakened by its tortured creation and bitter outlook, couldn\u2019t hold a candle to Hotel California. But at least The Eagles reached back for one more sing-along classic. There\u2019s nothing too hefty behind the meaning here, which is how \u201cHeartache Tonight\u201d was intended. Glenn Frey and JD Souther started writing it as a play on a Sam Cooke song. Frey\u2019s buddy Bob Seger came up with the iconic chorus, and Don Henley pitched in on the lyrics. A lot of cooks, but this broth came out tasting quite fine anyway.<\/p>\n
Photo by Fotos International\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Normally, we like to do articles that spotlight the five biggest hits of an artist or band\u2019s career.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":223700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[976,9150,171,975,4185,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-223699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-classic-rock","9":"tag-eagles","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-rock-music","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115197322442724258","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}