Hotel California album. The now-classic album reached No. 1 on the
Billboard 200 chart on Jan. 15, 1977.
Hotel California marked guitarist and singer Joe Walsh s recording debut as a member of the Eagles. A veteran of the James Gang and a successful solo career, he replaced departing guitarist Bernie Leadon in the group, and
Hotel California found the Eagles completing their metamorphosis from a more country-leaning band to a more rock-oriented act, though some songs on
Hotel California still had an underlying country influence.
While not strictly a concept album,
Hotel California explored lyrical themes of the dark side of the music scene in Los Angeles in the 70s, likening it to the culture at large. While the California country-rock scene that gave rise to the Eagles in the early 70s had been relatively innocent and uncorrupted by commercial concerns, their massive success, along with that of Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and more, had turned it into big business. In
Remember Which Garth Brooks Hit He Wrote With His Ex-Wife?
Garth Brooks frequently collaborates with his wife Trisha Yearwood, but many fans might not know that he co-wrote one of his biggest hits with his first wife, Sandy Mahl.
Brooks collaborated with Mahl on That Summer, but only after the original idea that he had started with songwriter Pat Alger didn t quite pan out. In a 1996 television special, Brooks recalled that the original story was about a married woman whose husband is ignoring her at a party, so she goes off and has an affair with a single guy. Brooks producer, Allen Reynolds, told him he couldn t root for the characters in the song, and Brooks agreed.
The Eagles have never been a band that welcomed back former members after they departed, but they broke that rule for one night when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The legendary country-rock pioneers performed a two-song set that included every member from every era of the group during their induction ceremony on Jan. 12, 1998.
The original lineup of the Eagles included singer-guitarist Glenn Frey, drummer and vocalist Don Henley, bassist and singer Randy Meisner and lead guitarist and singer Bernie Leadon. That lineup of the group scored all of the early country-leaning hits including Take It Easy, Peaceful, Easy Feeling, Best of My Love, Lyin Eyes and more. Don Felder joined the group in 1974, adding more of a rock guitar edge, and when Leadon departed the Eagles in 1975, Joe Walsh came in to replace him, helping turn the group toward an even more rock-oriented sound that produced later hits including Hotel California, Life in the Fast Lane,