The world of rock is cleaning house. We lost Lemmy, we lost Bowie, and now we've lost an Eagle. Scott's never been the biggest Eagles fan, but he still respects the man's music and skill. Today's a five song tribute to the great Glenn Frey. RIP.
I'm starting with this because it's the first Glenn Frey song I really remember. As a kid, I heard "Hotel California" in my uncle's van (that's where I first heard Pink Floyd too) but I never bothered to learn any of the band members names, because hey, I was a kid! So the first time I heard this song I had no idea the singer was connected to the Eagles in any way. This perfectly-passable '70s love song is right up there with any radio friendly hit, and in my head it's where Glenn Frey began. Even if that's not actually correct.
More Frey talk comin' right up.
Although I'm open to being corrected, this is Glenn and the preagles working as Linda Ronstadt's backing band. But even if I'm wrong about that on this song, the Eagles were all over this particular album as session men. It's not an Eagles record, but it's certainly where their career really kicked off. After this, they wen't ever going to go hungry again.
If you asked me to pick one Eagles song, I'd probably pick this one. It's a nice mix of moody and unusual and I know it sounds nothing like any Eagles sound they had before or after, but even still, it's my pick. And this street-noir sound is something Frey would return to shortly after.
If you didn't know Glenn Frey before the '80s, you had no choice but to learn about him. This song was huge and omnipresent, practically the symbol of cool as Miami Vice changed what cop shows could do on TV. I used to listen to this with sunglasses on while driving around with a now-deceased buddy. We thought we were the greatest.
Like all artists, Glenn Frey tried some stuff that didn't pay off as well as he'd hoped, but that's okay. What's important is that he kept going. Even if he took a little turn into nostalgia (and overpriced tickets) at least he was willing to take a few risks. So that's for everything, Glenn. Let's hope I'm not back here next Monday with another one of these damn things.
Let us just remind you: some images come from the corresponding Wikipedia page and are here under fair use. See you next week.