How is it possible that 40 years have passed since the birth of The Eagles?
You know – “Hotel California,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Desperado,” “Lyin’ Eyes, “New Kid in Town, “Life in the Fast Lane” – those guys. Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, Don Felder, Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh. By the way – why does everyone list Walsh last? Is he the Ringo Starr of the band?
BEN FONG-TORRES podcast excerpt: "The Eagles came along at a time when country rock had been established, that more confessionalized, personal music. Music that encompassed some social commentary and the time in which they lived. Eagles music still talks to some of those concerns. And there were the straight-forward harmonies. The Eagles were expert at that."But I digress. I know The Eagles story is a remarkable one, but I’d be lying if I said I was a huge fan. I’m not. I respect their incredible output and enduring success, but the music never grabbed me. So why are we here today? Well, the new coffee table book celebrating the band’s lengthy career was written by Ben Fong-Torres, one of America’s most successful magazine writers, a man who got his start in the 1970s with Rolling Stone. I wanted to talk to him and if it meant the subject had to be The Eagles: Taking It to the Limit, then so be it.
(For the record, when I hosted Rolling Stone writers David Wild and Parke Puterbaugh over the years, it wasn’t because I was a Neil Diamond or Phish fan, either.)
Ben Fong-Torres Blog • Buy Eagles: Taking It to the Limit
