129-443: " Hotel California " is a song by American rock band Eagles , released as the second single of their album of the same name on February 22, 1977. The song was written by Don Felder (music), Don Henley , and Glenn Frey (lyrics), featuring Henley on lead vocals and concluding with an iconic 2 minute and 12 seconds long electric guitar solo performed by Felder with a Gibson Les Paul Gibson EDS-1275 double neck and Joe Walsh with
258-521: A Fender Telecaster , in which they take turns playing the lead before harmonizing and playing arpeggios together towards the fade-out. The song is one of the best-known recordings by the band, and in 1998 its long guitar coda was voted the best guitar solo of all time by readers of Guitarist . The song was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1978 . The meaning of the lyrics of
387-401: A San Francisco hotel that was purchased by Anton LaVey and converted into his Church of Satan . The song also allegedly contained backwards messages purportedly referring to Satanism : "Yes, Satan, he organized his own religion... It was delicious... He puts it in a vat and fixes it for his son and gives it away." Don Felder denied any such allegations in a 2019 interview, maintaining that
516-720: A Canadian supercar proposed by HTT Automobile in Quebec, Canada UCLouvain Faculty of Architecture, Architectural Engineering and Urban Planning (LOCI) of the University of Louvain in Belgium See also [ edit ] Locust – Grasshopper that has a swarming phase Loki – Trickster in Norse mythology Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
645-410: A G#, which isn't usually found in the key of B minor), gives a hint of B Dorian mode . The chords are played as follows: The eight-measure sequence is repeated in the intro, for each verse and in the outro , providing the harmonic framework for the entire extended dual guitar solo at the end of the song. One explanation of the progression is that it is a common flamenco chord progression called
774-496: A July concert at Disneyland , but all four appeared on her self-titled album . It was later proposed that JD Souther should join the band, but Meisner objected. The four were signed in September 1971 to Asylum Records , the new label started by David Geffen , who was introduced to Frey by Jackson Browne . Geffen bought out Frey's and Henley's contracts with Amos Records, and sent the four to Aspen, Colorado , to develop as
903-522: A Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front Locus (magazine) , science fiction and fantasy magazine Locus Award , presented to the winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll Locus (video game) , a 1995 video game by Zombie Studios Locus (Chicago Underground Duo album) , 2014 Locus (Satyr album) , 2020 Other [ edit ] HTT Pléthore (Locus Plethore),
1032-429: A Mexican reggae or Bolero", which gave the song its first working title, "Mexican Reggae". Record World said that "a mild reggae flavor pervades the tune". Frey and Henley were both interested in the tune after hearing the demo, and discussed the concept for the lyrics. In 2008, Felder described the writing of the lyrics: Don Henley and Glenn wrote most of the words. All of us kind of drove into L.A. at night. Nobody
1161-600: A Ride) " (with Henley and Schmit providing backing vocals) and "All of You". He also had a minor hit, "Bad Girls", off his solo album Airborne . Schmit had a prolific solo career after the band's initial breakup. He had a hit song on the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack with " So Much in Love ". He contributed vocals to the Crosby, Stills & Nash album Daylight Again on the songs "Southern Cross" and " Wasted on
1290-499: A West Indian flavor" and "the multi-tracked guitar harmonies...end the cut with melodrama". In 2003, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame . The song is rated highly in many rock music lists and polls. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 49 on its list of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time " in 2004 and #311 in 2021. It was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. At
1419-687: A band. Having not settled on a band name yet, they performed their first show in October 1971 under the name of Teen King and the Emergencies at a club called The Gallery in Aspen. The idea of naming the band "Eagles" came during a peyote and tequila -influenced group outing in the Mojave Desert . However, accounts of the origin of the name vary; Don Felder, who had yet to join the Eagles and
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#17327913048991548-499: A bonus audio CD with three new songs that were to appear on their upcoming studio album: "No More Cloudy Days", "Fast Company", and "Do Something". The initial U.S. release of Felder's book was canceled after publisher Hyperion Books backed out in September 2007, when an entire print run of the book had to be recalled for cuts and changes. The book was published in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2007. The American edition
1677-538: A duet with Stevie Nicks ( Fleetwood Mac ), " Leather and Lace ". In 1982, he released I Can't Stand Still , featuring the hit " Dirty Laundry ". The next album, Building the Perfect Beast (1984), featured " The Boys of Summer " (a Billboard number 5 hit), " All She Wants to Do Is Dance " (number 9), "Not Enough Love in the World" (number 34) and " Sunset Grill " (number 22). Henley's next album, The End of
1806-520: A façade of legitimacy". In February 2024, Henley testified that he never gave the lyric sheets away and repeated his claim from 2012 that they were stolen from his barn in Malibu, California decades prior. Henley also acknowledged that he granted writer Ed Sanders , who in 1979 began working with The Eagles on a biography which was never published, some access to them, but stated that he never allowed Sanders to have permanent possession of them. Though Sanders
1935-475: A greater influence on the band. For their next album, On the Border , Henley and Frey wanted the band to break away from the country rock style and move more towards hard rock . The Eagles initially started with Glyn Johns as the producer for this album, but he tended to emphasize the lush side of their double-edged music. After completing only two usable songs, the band turned to Bill Szymczyk to produce
2064-419: A guy on the highway, a picture of the hotel, the guy walks in, the door opens, strange people". Frey continued: "We decided to create something strange, just to see if we could do it." Henley then wrote most of the lyrics based on Frey's idea, and sought inspiration for the writing by driving out into the desert as well as from films and theater. Part of the lyrics, such as "Her mind is Tiffany -twisted, she got
2193-539: A higher percentage of the band's profits ...," whereas the money had previously been split in five equal portions. Felder accused them of coercing him into signing an agreement under which Henley and Frey would receive three times as much of the Selected Works: 1972–1999 proceeds. On behalf of Henley and Frey, attorney Daniel M. Petrocelli responded by saying "[Henley and Frey] felt—creatively, chemistry-wise and performance-wise—that he should no longer be part of
2322-456: A literal and symbolic focal point of their lives at that time. Henley said of their personal and professional experience in LA: "We were getting an extensive education, in life, in love, in business. Beverly Hills was still a mythical place to us. In that sense it became something of a symbol, and the 'Hotel' the locus of all that LA had come to mean for us. In a sentence, I'd sum it up as the end of
2451-483: A live concert staple for the band. It was written by Steve Young in an arrangement created by Iain Matthews for his Valley Hi album in 1973. The song reached number 21 on the charts in 1980, becoming the Eagles' last Top 40 single until 1994. After the Eagles broke up, the former members pursued solo careers. Elektra, the band's long-time record label, initially owned the rights to solo albums created by members of
2580-549: A new single, the September 11 attacks -themed " Hole in the World ". Also in 2003, Warren Zevon , a longtime Eagles friend, began work on his final album, The Wind , with the assistance of Henley, Walsh, and Schmit. On June 14, 2005, the Eagles released a new 2-DVD set, Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne , featuring two new songs: Frey's "No More Cloudy Days" and Walsh's "One Day at a Time." A special edition 2006 release, exclusive to Walmart and affiliated stores, includes
2709-400: A number of explanations about the song, ranging from "a journey from innocence to experience" to "a sociopolitical statement." In an interview with Rolling Stone , Henley said that the song was meant to be "more of a symbolic piece about America in general," and added, "Lyrically, the song deals with traditional or classical themes of conflict: darkness and light, good and evil, youth and age,
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#17327913048992838-480: A service provider or social media network, or when exiting cloud computing . The same analogy has been used by various commentators considering scenarios for Brexit , with the term "Hotel California Brexit". A book titled Operation Hotel California: The Clandestine War Inside Iraq was written about the clandestine operation named after the song title by CIA–US Special Forces teams in Iraqi Kurdistan in
2967-566: A solo artist; he was also managed by Azoff and used Szymczyk as his record producer. There was some initial concern as to Walsh's ability to fit in with the band, as he was considered too "wild" for the Eagles, especially by Henley. After the departure of Leadon, the Eagles' early country sound almost completely disappeared, with the band employing a harder sound with the addition of Felder and Walsh; however, Felder also had to play banjo , pedal steel , and mandolin on future tours, something that had previously been Leadon's domain. In early 1976,
3096-504: A trial date for September 2006, and the single case was dismissed on May 8, 2007, after being settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. In 2003, the Eagles released a greatest hits album, The Very Best Of . The two-disc compilation was the first that encompassed their entire career from Eagles to Hell Freezes Over . It debuted at number 3 on the Billboard charts and eventually gained triple platinum status. The album included
3225-414: Is a plant that grows in the desert that blooms at night, and it has this kind of pungent, almost funky smell. Don Henley came up with a lot of the lyrics for that song, and he came up with colitas." Other interpretations of the song range from drug addiction to cannibalism . On the various interpretations, Henley said: "Some of the wilder interpretations of that song have been amazing. It was really about
3354-540: The 45rpm single released was a reworked version of the Hotel California LP cover art, which used a photograph of the Beverly Hills Hotel by David Alexander, with design and art direction by Kosh . As "Hotel California" became one of the group's most popular songs and a concert staple for the band, live recordings of the song have therefore also been released. The first live recording of
3483-558: The Criteria Studios in Miami. They first recorded a riff, but when it came to recording the vocal, it was found to be in too high a key for Henley's voice, so Felder progressively lowered the key from E minor, eventually settling on B minor. The second recording, however, was judged too fast. In Miami, the band fine-tuned the instrumentation and the lyrics and recorded numerous complete takes. Five or six best ones were selected, and
3612-662: The Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on December 28 and 29, 1999, followed by a concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on December 31. These concerts marked the last time Felder played with the band and the shows (including a planned video release) would later form a part of a lawsuit filed by Felder against his former bandmates. The concert recordings were released on CD as part of
3741-456: The Mercedes bends / She got a lot of pretty pretty boys she calls friends", are based on Henley's break-up with his girlfriend Loree Rodkin . According to Frey's liner notes for The Very Best Of , the use of the word steely in the lyric "They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast" was a playful nod to the band Steely Dan , who had included the lyric "Turn up
3870-573: The RIAA . Henley told CNN that "This is probably the last Eagles album that we'll ever make." The Eagles made their awards show debut on November 7, 2007, when they performed "How Long" live at the Country Music Association Awards . On January 28, 2008, the second single of Long Road Out of Eden was released. " Busy Being Fabulous " peaked at number 28 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and at number 12 on
3999-881: The lead-up to the Iraq War . Although the Eagles were noted for their reluctance to license their songs for use in shows, the song has been used in a number of films and television shows, such as The Big Lebowski (performed by the Gipsy Kings), Absolutely Fabulous , American Horror Story ( Hotel ), The Sopranos , and the end credits of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings . On July 13, 2022, three individuals – rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz and rock memorabilia specialists Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski – were charged after allegedly conspiring to sell Henley's handwritten lyrics to
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4128-626: The " Spanish progression " (i–VII–VI–V in a Phrygian context) that is interspersed with consecutive fifths . With its descending ostinato pattern, it could be considered a fandango , a forerunner of the Baroque chaconne form. This chord sequence is not commonly used, and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull has pointed out its similarity to his song "We Used to Know" from their 1969 album Stand Up , an international hit which reached No. 1 in UK album chart and No. 20 in U.S. Billboard album chart, suggesting
4257-497: The "Long Night at Wrong Beach". The animosity between Felder and Frey boiled over before the show began, when Felder said, "You're welcome – I guess" to California Senator Alan Cranston 's wife as the politician was thanking the band backstage for performing a benefit for his re-election. Frey and Felder spent the entire show telling each other about the beating each planned to administer backstage. "Only three more songs until I kick your ass, pal," Frey recalled Felder telling him near
4386-631: The "spirit" that the Hotel California hasn't had since 1969 refers to the spirit of social activism of the 1960s, and how disco and the related pop music of the mid-1970s had turned away from it. The metaphorical character of the story related in the lyrics has inspired a number of conjectural interpretations by listeners. In the 1980s, the Rev. Paul Risley of Cornerstone Church in Burlington, Wisconsin, alleged that "Hotel California" referred to
4515-627: The Eagles , was released in 1993, 13 years after the breakup. Travis Tritt insisted on having the Long Run -era Eagles in his video for "Take It Easy" and they agreed. Following years of public speculation, the band formally reunited the following year. The lineup comprised the five Long Run -era members—Frey, Henley, Walsh, Felder, and Schmit—supplemented by Scott Crago (drums), John Corey (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), Timothy Drury (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), and former Loggins and Messina sideman Al Garth (sax, violin) on stage. "For
4644-806: The Eagles (Henley, Frey, Felder, Walsh, Meisner, Leadon, and Schmit) appeared on stage together for the only time to perform "Hotel California". "Hotel California" first entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated February 26, 1977, and topped the Hot 100 singles chart for one week in May 1977, the band's fourth song to reach No. 1 on that chart. It peaked at number 10 on the Easy Listening chart in April 1977. Billboard ranked it number 19 on its 1977 Pop Singles year-end chart. Three months after its first release,
4773-487: The Eagles heard it on the album or when they toured together. While the Eagles did open for Jethro Tull in June 1972, Don Felder, who wrote the music, did not join the band until 1974 and would not have been backstage at their concerts. Felder has said that he had never heard "We Used to Know", and that he was unfamiliar with Jethro Tull apart from the fact the frontman plays a flute. Anderson himself indicated that his comments on
4902-482: The Eagles on David Geffen 's new Asylum Records label. Their debut studio album, Eagles (1972), spawned two top-20 singles in the US and Canada: " Take It Easy " and " Witchy Woman ". The next year's follow-up album, Desperado , peaked at only number 41 in the US, although the title song became a popular track. In 1974, guitarist Don Felder joined, and On the Border produced the top-40 hit " Already Gone " and
5031-889: The Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in North America and are one of the world's best-selling music artists , having sold more than 200 million records worldwide, including 100 million sold in the US alone. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and were ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone ' s 2004 list of the " 100 Greatest Artists of All Time ". Founding members Glenn Frey (guitars, vocals), Don Henley (drums, vocals), Bernie Leadon (guitars, vocals), and Randy Meisner (bass guitar, vocals) had all been recruited by Linda Ronstadt as band members, some touring with her, and all playing on her self-titled third solo studio album (1972), before venturing out on their own as
5160-493: The Eagles' first number-one song in the US and Canada, " Best of My Love ", which made the top 15 in Australia, their first hit overseas. In 1975, the album One of These Nights became their first number-one album in the US and a top ten album in many countries. It included the US number-one hit " One of These Nights ", which was their first top ten hit outside of North America, and US top-5 songs " Lyin' Eyes " and " Take It to
5289-424: The Eagles' third number-one single. The second single was the title track , which topped the charts in May 1977 and became the Eagles' signature song. It features Henley on lead vocals, with a guitar duet performed by Felder and Walsh. The song was co-written by Felder, Henley, and Frey. The mysterious lyrics have been interpreted in many ways, some of them controversial. Rumors even started in certain quarters that
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5418-401: The Eagles, making them international superstars, it was the first in a string of four consecutive number 1 albums. The dominant songwriting partnership of Henley and Frey continued on this album. The first single was the title track, which became their second consecutive chart-topper. Frey called it his all-time favorite Eagles tune. The second single was " Lyin' Eyes ", which reached number 2 on
5547-491: The Eagles, the neighbors are listening" in their song " Everything You Did ". Frey had also said that the writing of the song was inspired by the boldness of Steely Dan's lyrics and its willingness to go "out there", and thought that the song they wrote had "achieved perfect ambiguity." The Eagles recorded the track with Don Henley on lead vocal three different times, twice at the Record Plant in Los Angeles and finally at
5676-622: The Eagles. Walsh had established himself as a solo artist in the 1970s, but it was uncharted waters for the others. Walsh released a successful album in 1981, There Goes the Neighborhood , but subsequent albums throughout the 1980s were less well received. During this period, Walsh performed as a session musician for Dan Fogelberg , Steve Winwood , John Entwistle , Richard Marx and Emerson, Lake & Palmer , among others, and produced and co-wrote Ringo Starr 's Old Wave album. Henley achieved commercial solo success. In 1981, he sang
5805-460: The Edge Tour . Their second album, Desperado , took Old West outlaws for its theme, drawing comparisons between their lifestyles and modern rock stars. During these recording sessions, Henley and Frey began collaborating. They co-wrote eight of the album's eleven songs, including " Tequila Sunrise " and " Desperado ", two of the group's most popular songs. The album was less successful than
5934-520: The Innocence (1989), was also a major success. It included " The End of the Innocence ", " The Last Worthless Evening " and " The Heart of the Matter ". His solo career was cut short due to a contract dispute with his record company, which was finally resolved when the Eagles reunited in 1994. Frey achieved solo success in the 1980s. In 1982, he released his first album, No Fun Aloud , which spawned
6063-610: The Limit ". Also in 1975, Leadon left the band and was replaced by guitarist and vocalist Joe Walsh . Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) (1976) is the best-selling album in the United States , with 38 million copies sold, and primed the public for the late 1976 release of Hotel California , which would sell more than 26 million copies in the US (ranking third all-time for US sales), and more than 32 million copies worldwide. The album yielded two number-one singles in
6192-496: The North American number-one song " Heartache Tonight ", which became their biggest hit in Australia (number 13), and the North American top-10 hits " The Long Run " and " I Can't Tell You Why ". The Eagles broke up in 1980 but reunited in 1994 for the album Hell Freezes Over , a mix of live and new studio tracks, and toured consistently. In 2007, the Eagles released Long Road Out of Eden , their sixth number-one album in
6321-604: The U.S. The band subsequently embarked on a tour in 1994, which was interrupted in September because of Frey's serious recurrence of diverticulitis , but it resumed in 1995 and continued into 1996. In 1998, the Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . For the induction ceremony, all seven Eagles members (Frey, Henley, Felder, Walsh, Schmit, Leadon, and Meisner) played together for two songs, "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California". Several subsequent reunion tours followed (without Leadon or Meisner), notable for their record-setting ticket prices. The Eagles performed at
6450-511: The U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. The Eagles won their fifth Grammy in 2008 , in the category Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "How Long". On March 20, 2008, the Eagles launched their world tour in support of Long Road Out of Eden at The O2 Arena in London. The Long Road Out of Eden Tour concluded the American portion of
6579-455: The U.S. alone and more than 32 million copies worldwide. The album won Grammys for "Record of the Year" ("Hotel California") and "Best Arrangement for Voices" ("New Kid in Town"). Hotel California topped the charts and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 1978 Grammy Awards , but lost to Fleetwood Mac 's Rumours . The huge worldwide tour in support of the album further drained
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#17327913048996708-516: The US and Canada, " New Kid in Town " and " Hotel California ", the latter of which became their only top-10 hit in the United Kingdom, while also reaching the top ten in New Zealand and many European countries, including number two in France. Meisner was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit in 1977. The Eagles released their last studio album for nearly 28 years in 1979 with The Long Run , spawning
6837-613: The US, and in 2008 launched the Long Road Out of Eden Tour . In 2013, they began the extended History of the Eagles Tour in conjunction with the documentary release, History of the Eagles . Following Frey's death in January 2016, the Eagles re-formed in 2017, with Glenn's son Deacon Frey and country singer Vince Gill sharing lead vocals for Frey's songs. Deacon left the band in 2022, but returned in 2023 to participate in
6966-724: The Way " when that band needed an extra vocalist due to David Crosby 's drug overindulgence. Schmit sang backup vocals on Toto 's Toto IV album, including the song " I Won't Hold You Back " and appeared with the group on their 1982 European tour. He spent three years (1983–1985) as a member of Jimmy Buffett 's Coral Reefer band. He had a Top 40 solo hit in 1987 with "Boys' Night Out" and a top-30 Adult Contemporary hit with "Don't Give Up", both from his album Timothy B. Schmit appeared with Meisner and Walsh on Richard Marx 's debut single " Don't Mean Nothing ". In 1992, Schmit and Walsh toured as members of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band and appeared on
7095-611: The Year. The group was featured on the cover of the September 25, 1975 issue of Rolling Stone magazine and on September 28, the band joined Linda Ronstadt , Jackson Browne , and Toots and the Maytals for a show in front of 55,000 people at Anaheim Stadium . One of These Nights was their last album to feature founding member Bernie Leadon. Leadon wrote or co-wrote three songs for the album, including "I Wish You Peace", written with his girlfriend Patti Davis (daughter of California governor Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan ); and
7224-543: The air") has been interpreted as a sexual slang or a reference to marijuana . "Colitas" means "little tails" in Spanish ; in Mexican slang it refers the flowering buds of the cannabis plant . According to Glenn Frey, the "warm smell" is "colitas ... it means little tails, the very top of the plant." The Eagles' manager Irving Azoff appears to lend support to the marijuana hypothesis; however, Felder said, "The colitas
7353-567: The album topped the charts and sold seven million copies. In addition, it included three Top 10 singles. " Heartache Tonight " became their last single to top the Hot 100, on November 10, 1979. The title track and " I Can't Tell You Why " both reached number 8. The band won their fourth Grammy for "Heartache Tonight". " In the City " by Walsh and "The Sad Cafe" became live staples. The band also recorded two Christmas songs during these sessions, "Funky New Year" and " Please Come Home for Christmas ", which
7482-414: The appeal of an attractive "Hotel California"-type host country to foreign investors may be countered by the cost of exit on leaving the country. A term "The Hotel California Effect" was then used to refer to the negative effect of financial regulations on investment, and the problems foreign investors faced when getting their money out of China. It has also applied to other ideas such as problems when leaving
7611-413: The artist's death in 2009. The album cemented the group's status as the most successful American band of the decade. The following album, Hotel California , released on December 8, 1976, was the band's fifth studio album and the first to feature Walsh. The album took a year and a half to complete, a process that, along with touring, drained the band. The album's first single, " New Kid in Town ", became
7740-499: The band ... They removed him, and they had every legal right to do so. This has been happening with rock 'n' roll bands since day one." Henley and Frey then countersued Felder for breach of contract , alleging that Felder had written a "tell-all" book, Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974–2001) . On January 23, 2002, the Los Angeles County Superior Court consolidated the two complaints, set
7869-403: The band into "the country-rock band with those high-flyin' harmonies". Released on June 1, 1972, Eagles was a breakthrough success, yielding three Top 40 singles. The first single and lead track, " Take It Easy ", was a song written by Frey with his neighbor and fellow country-folk rocker Jackson Browne. Browne had written the first verse of the song, but got stalled on the second verse after
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#17327913048997998-504: The band members and strained their personal and creative relationships. Hotel California is the last album to feature founding member Randy Meisner, who abruptly left the band after the 1977 tour. The Eagles had been touring continuously for eleven months; the band was suffering from the strain of the tour, and Meisner's stomach ulcers had flared up by the time they arrived in Knoxville in June 1977. Meisner had been struggling to hit
8127-412: The band released their first compilation album, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) . The album became the highest-selling album of the 20th century in the United States, and has since sold 38 million copies in the U.S. (excluding streams and tracks) and 42 million copies worldwide. It stayed the biggest seller of all time until it was taken over by Michael Jackson 's Thriller following
8256-415: The band so that other band members like Henley, whose forte is in writing lyrics, might work with him on finishing the songs they liked. The demos he made were always instrumental, and on every album project he would submit 15 or 16 ideas. The demo he made for "Hotel California" showed influences from Latin and reggae music, and it grabbed the attention of Henley who said he liked the song that "sounds like
8385-400: The band's ongoing final tour. Meisner died in 2023. The Eagles had their origin in early 1971, when Linda Ronstadt and her manager John Boylan recruited musicians Glenn Frey and Don Henley for her band. Henley had moved to Los Angeles from Texas with his band Shiloh to record an album produced by Kenny Rogers , and Frey had come from Michigan and formed Longbranch Pennywhistle ;
8514-680: The band, and he decided to leave the group at the end of the tour and return to Nebraska to be with his family. His last performance was in East Troy, Wisconsin , on September 3, 1977. The band replaced Meisner with the same musician who had succeeded him in Poco , Timothy B. Schmit , after agreeing that Schmit was the only candidate. In 1977, the group, minus Don Felder, performed instrumental work and backing vocals for Randy Newman 's album Little Criminals , including " Short People ", which has backup vocals by Frey and Schmit. The Eagles went into
8643-455: The band. The third and final single from Hotel California , it reached number 11 on the charts. The ballad "Wasted Time" closes the first side of the album, while an instrumental reprise of it opens the second side. The album concludes with " The Last Resort ", a song that Frey once referred to as "Henley's opus", but which Henley described as "fairly pedestrian" and "never fully realized, musically speaking". The run-out groove on side two has
8772-402: The best parts were then spliced together to create the released version. According to the producer Bill Szymczyk , there were 33 edits on the two‑inch master. The final section features a guitar battle between Joe Walsh (who had replaced Bernie Leadon after Leadon's departure from the band in 1975) and Felder, which took the two of them sitting together working for around three days to achieve
8901-458: The captain / 'Please bring me my wine' / He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969'" because wines are fermented while spirits are distilled. Henley responded: Thanks for the tutorial and, no, you're not the first to bring this to my attention – and you're not the first to completely misinterpret the lyric and miss the metaphor. Believe me, I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what
9030-423: The charts and won the band their first Grammy for "Best Pop Performance by a duo or group with vocal". The final single, " Take It to the Limit ", was written by Meisner, Henley, and Frey, and it is the only Eagles single to feature Meisner on lead vocals. The song reached number 4 on the charts. The band launched a huge worldwide tour in support of the album, and the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of
9159-415: The criminal case against Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski midtrial, stating to the presiding judge that prosecutors believed that newly released emails backed defense arguments which questioned the trial's fairness. Partial credits from Richard Buskin and Bill Szymczyk. Hotel California has been performed at least 2,204 times by 167 different artists as of the end of 2021. This includes 1,057 performances of
9288-471: The crucial high notes in his signature song, "Take It to the Limit", and decided to not sing the song as an encore at the Knoxville concert because he had been up late and caught the flu . Frey and Meisner then became engaged in arguments about Meisner's reluctance to perform, which turned into an angry physical confrontation backstage. Meisner left the venue. After the incident, Meisner was frozen out from
9417-479: The end of the band's set. Felder recalls Frey telling him during "Best of My Love", "I'm gonna kick your ass when we get off the stage." It appeared to be the end of the Eagles, but the band still had a commitment with Elektra Records to make a live record from the tour. Eagles Live (released in November 1980) was mixed on opposite coasts. Frey had already left the band and would remain in Los Angeles, while
9546-473: The excesses of American culture and certain girls we knew. But it was also about the uneasy balance between art and commerce." The intro and verses' chord pattern counts eight measures, each one assigned to a single chord . Seven different chords are used in the eight measures . As the song opens, it is not until the eighth measure that a chord is repeated. The song is initially in the key of B-minor. The presence of E major (a borrowed chord that contains
9675-550: The festival featured Black Sabbath , Emerson, Lake & Palmer , Deep Purple , Earth, Wind & Fire , Seals & Crofts , Black Oak Arkansas , and Rare Earth . Portions of the show were telecast on ABC television in the United States, exposing the Eagles to a wider audience. Felder missed the show when he was called away to attend the birth of his son; Jackson Browne filled in for him on piano and acoustic guitar. The Eagles released their fourth studio album, One of These Nights , on June 10, 1975. A breakthrough album for
9804-514: The first year after the album's release, it was available in the U.S. only via the band's website, at Walmart, and at Sam's Club stores. It was commercially available through traditional retail outlets in other countries. The album debuted at number 1 in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Norway. It became their third studio album and seventh release overall to be certified at least seven times platinum by
9933-516: The first, reaching only number 41 on the US Billboard 200 and yielding two singles, "Tequila Sunrise", which reached number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Outlaw Man", which peaked at number 59. With Henley and Frey co-writing the bulk of the album, the album marked a significant change for the band. The pair also began to dominate in terms of leadership; the early assumption had been that Leadon and Meisner as veteran musicians would have
10062-864: The four-disc Selected Works: 1972–1999 box set in November 2000. Along with the concert, this set included the band's hit singles, album tracks and outtakes from The Long Run sessions. Selected Works received platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2002. The group resumed touring in 2001, with a line-up consisting of Frey, Henley, Walsh, and Schmit, along with Steuart Smith (guitars, mandolin, keyboards, backing vocals; essentially taking over Felder's role), Michael Thompson (keyboards, trombone), Will Hollis (keyboards, backing vocals), Scott Crago (drums, percussion), Bill Armstrong (Horns), Al Garth (sax, violin), Christian Mostert (sax), and Greg Smith (sax, percussion). On February 6, 2001, Don Felder
10191-490: The 💕 [REDACTED] Look up locus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Locus (plural loci ) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Mathematics and science [ edit ] Locus (mathematics) , the set of points satisfying a particular condition, often forming a curve Root locus analysis , a diagram visualizing the position of roots as a parameter changes Locus (archaeology) ,
10320-510: The group's name is simply "Eagles". Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts initially managed the band; they were later replaced by Irving Azoff while the Eagles were recording their third album. The group's self-titled debut album was recorded in England in February 1972 with producer Glyn Johns . Johns was impressed by the harmony singing of the band, and he has been credited with shaping
10449-480: The high life in Los Angeles ," and later said, "It's not really about California; it's about America. It's about the dark underbelly of the American dream. It's about excess, it's about narcissism . It's about the music business. ... It can have a million interpretations." In the 2013 documentary, History of the Eagles , Henley reiterated: On just about every album we made, there was some kind of commentary on
10578-494: The induction of the Eagles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, all seven former and present members of the band reunited to perform "Hotel California" and "Take It Easy." The song's guitar solo was voted the best solo of all time by readers of Guitarist magazine in 1998, and was ranked 8th on Guitar Magazine ' s Top 100 Guitar Solos. The song was also included in the music video game Guitar Hero World Tour . It
10707-443: The innocence, round one." Frey came up with a cinematic scenario of a person who, tired from driving a long distance in a desert, saw a place for a rest and pulled in for the night, but entered "a weird world peopled by freaky characters", and became "quickly spooked by the claustrophobic feeling of being caught in a disturbing web from which he may never escape". In an interview with Cameron Crowe , Frey said that he and Henley wanted
10836-591: The instrumental " Journey of the Sorcerer ", which would later be used as the theme music for the BBC 's radio and television versions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . Leadon was disillusioned with the direction the band's music was taking and his loss of creative control as their sound was moving from his preferred country to rock and roll. His dissatisfaction, principally with Frey, boiled over one night when Frey
10965-470: The instrumental was developed by Don Felder in a rented house on Malibu Beach . He recorded the basic tracks with a Rhythm Ace drum machine and added a 12 string guitar on a four-track recording deck in his spare bedroom, then mixed in a bassline , and gave Don Henley and Glenn Frey each a copy of the recording. Felder, who met the Eagles through his high school bandmate Bernie Leadon , said that Leadon advised him to make tapes of songs he wrote for
11094-480: The lead vocal on "Victim of Love", for which he had written most of the music. After many unproductive attempts to record Felder's vocal, band manager Irving Azoff was delegated to take Felder out for a meal, removing him from the mix while Don Henley overdubbed his lead vocal. Hotel California appeared at number 37 on Rolling Stone ' s list of the best albums of all time, and is the band's best-selling studio album, with more than 26 million copies sold in
11223-464: The line "I'm standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona ." Frey completed the verse, and Browne carried on to finish the song. The song reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 , and was followed by the bluesy " Witchy Woman " and the soft country rock ballad " Peaceful Easy Feeling ", charting at number 9 and number 22 respectively. The group were one of the support acts for Yes on their Close to
11352-610: The live video from the Montreux Jazz Festival . Schmit released two solo albums, Playin' It Cool in 1984 and Tell Me the Truth in 1990. He was the only Eagle to appear on the 1993 Eagles tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles , singing backing vocals on Vince Gill 's cover of "I Can't Tell You Why". Meisner hit the top 40 three times, including the number 19 "Hearts on Fire" in 1981. An Eagles country tribute album, titled Common Thread: The Songs of
11481-599: The music business, and on American culture in general. The hotel itself could be taken as a metaphor not only for the myth-making of Southern California, but for the myth-making that is the American Dream , because it is a fine line between the American Dream, and the American nightmare. In a 2009 interview, The Plain Dealer music critic John Soeder asked Henley if he regretted writing the lines "So I called up
11610-467: The necessary precision. Walsh and Felder initially started improvising but Henley insisted that the recording should follow the music as first recorded in Felder's demo. However, according to Szymczyk, Walsh and Felder's improvisations did make the final cut of the song, with the producer splicing different Walsh and Felder licks together while he, Walsh, and Felder arranged harmonized guitar parts together in
11739-543: The number 15 hit " The One You Love ". The Allnighter (1984) featured the number 20 hit "Sexy Girl". He reached number 2 on the charts with " The Heat Is On " from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. He had another number 2 single in 1985 with " You Belong to the City " from the Miami Vice soundtrack, which featured another Frey song, " Smuggler's Blues ". He appeared as "Jimmy" in the episode titled after
11868-472: The other band members each worked on their parts in Miami . "We were fixing three-part harmonies courtesy of Federal Express," said producer Bill Szymczyk . Frey refused to speak to the other Eagles, and he fired Irving Azoff as his manager. With credits that listed five attorneys, the album's liner notes simply said, "Thank you and goodnight." A single released from the album – " Seven Bridges Road " – had been
11997-461: The proper nomenclature is. But that line in the song has little or nothing to do with alcoholic beverages. It's a sociopolitical statement. My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes. In his Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 1 , Steve Sullivan theorizes that
12126-630: The record, we never broke up, we just took a 14-year vacation," said Frey at their first live performance in April 1994, one of two shows performed to record a live album and companion MTV special, both titled Hell Freezes Over (named for Henley's recurring statement that the group would get back together "when hell freezes over"); the album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard album chart. It included four new studio songs, with " Get Over It " and " Love Will Keep Us Alive " both becoming Top 40 hits. The album proved successful, selling six million copies in
12255-418: The recording studio in 1978 to begin work on their next album, The Long Run . The album took a year-and-a-half to complete. It was originally intended to be a double album, but the band members were unable to write enough songs. The Long Run was released on September 24, 1979. Considered a disappointment by some critics for failing to live up to Hotel California , it proved a huge commercial hit nonetheless;
12384-539: The rest of the album. Szymczyk wanted a harder-edged guitarist for the song "Good Day in Hell" and the band remembered Bernie Leadon 's childhood friend Don Felder , a guitarist who had jammed backstage with the band in 1972 when they opened for Yes in Boston. Felder had been nicknamed "Fingers" at the jam by Frey, a name that stuck due to his guitar proficiency. In January 1974, Frey called Felder to add slide guitar to
12513-405: The similarities between the songs were meant as a joke, and said: "It's not plagiarism. It's just the same chord sequence. It's in a different time signature, different key, different context. ... Harmonic progression—it's almost a mathematical certainty that you're gonna crop up with the same thing sooner or later if you're strumming a few chords on a guitar." The chorus, or refrain , uses five of
12642-609: The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing one million copies shipped. In 2009, the song was further certified Platinum (Digital Sales Award) by the RIAA for sales of one million digital downloads, and has since sold over 3 million downloads. The Eagles won the 1977 Grammy Award for Record of the Year for "Hotel California" at the 20th Grammy Awards in 1978. Cash Box said that "the luxuriant harmonies are here, of course, along with muted rhythm guitars and vocal inflections that add
12771-424: The smallest definable unit in stratigraphy Locus (genetics) , the position of a gene or other significant sequence on a chromosome Humanities and social science [ edit ] Locus (rhetoric) , another name for a literary or rhetorical topos , a method of constructing an argument Locus of control , the degree to which people have control over events Method of loci , a mnemonic system that uses
12900-458: The song "Good Day in Hell" and the band was so impressed that they invited him to join the group as the fifth Eagle the next day. He appeared on one other song on the album, the up-tempo breakup song " Already Gone ", on which he performed a guitar duet with Frey. "Already Gone" was released as the first single from the album and it reached number 32 on the charts. On the Border yielded a number 1 Billboard single (" Best of My Love "), which hit
13029-518: The song "Hotel California" and two other songs from the same album that the Manhattan District Attorney's office claims were improperly obtained. Prosecutors claim the lyrics could be worth over $ 1 million at auction. The three men pleaded not guilty and were released without bail pending trial. Eagles manager Irving Azoff said the case exposed "the truth about music memorabilia sales of highly personal, stolen items hidden behind
13158-521: The song "to open like an episode of the Twilight Zone ", and added: "We take this guy and make him like a character in The Magus , where every time he walks through a door there's a new version of reality. We wanted to write a song just like it was a movie." Frey described the song in an interview with NBC's Bob Costas as a cinematic montage "just one shot to the next [...] a picture of
13287-508: The song and contributed riffs to the episode's soundtrack. He also contributed the songs "Flip City" to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack and "Part of Me, Part of You" to the soundtrack for Thelma & Louise . Former music writer Cameron Crowe had written articles about Poco and the Eagles during his journalism career. In 1982, his first screenplay was produced as the feature-length movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High . The film
13416-531: The song appeared on the Eagles' 1980 live album , and an acoustic version with an extended intro is a track on the 1994 Hell Freezes Over reunion concert CD and video release. The Hell Freezes Over version is performed using eight guitars and has a decidedly Spanish sound, with Felder's flamenco -inspired arrangement and intro. A music video for the song, filmed at the Capital Centre in March 1977,
13545-467: The song as part of their live sets in the early to mid-1970s, but did not record it at the time because Souther wanted to reserve it for use on his first solo album. Souther had previously worked with the Eagles, co-writing some of their biggest hits, including "Best of My Love", "Victim of Love", "Heartache Tonight", and "New Kid in Town". On October 30, 2007, the Eagles released Long Road Out of Eden , their first album of all-new material since 1979. For
13674-444: The song by Eagles, 202 by Don Felder solo, and 187 by Don Henley solo. Sales figures based on certification alone. Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. Eagles (band) The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles, six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards ,
13803-507: The song has been discussed by fans and critics ever since its release. The Eagles themselves described the song as their "interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles ". In the 2013 documentary History of the Eagles , Henley said that the song was about "a journey from innocence to experience ... that's all." Since its release, "Hotel California" has been widely regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time, and has been covered by many artists. Julia Phillips proposed adapting
13932-430: The song into a film, but the members of the Eagles disliked the idea and it never came to fruition. Commercially, "Hotel California" reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top ten of several international charts. The Eagles have performed "Hotel California" well over 1,000 times live, and is the third most performed of all their songs, after " Desperado " and " Take It Easy ". A demo of
14061-485: The song was about "the underbelly industry in Los Angeles, how it can be less than beautiful." Other rumors suggested that the Hotel California mentioned in the song was actually the Camarillo State Mental Hospital , which was shut down in 1997, and redeveloped into California State University Channel Islands . The term "colitas" in the first stanza ("warm smell of colitas, rising up through
14190-540: The song was about Satanism. The rumor was dismissed by the band and later by Henley in the documentary film History of the Eagles . Henley told 60 Minutes in 2007 that "it's basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American Dream and about excess in America, which was something we knew about." With its hard rock sound, " Life in the Fast Lane " was also a major success that established Walsh's position in
14319-620: The spatial memory of a familiar place to enhance recollection Computing [ edit ] LOCUS (operating system) , a distributed OS developed at UCLA, notable for single-system image idea Locus Computing Corporation (1982–1995), commercialized the LOCUS distributed operating system developed at UCLA Locus Map , an Android navigation app using maps of various providers in online and offline mode Wang LOCI (Logarithmic Computing Instrument), an early scientific calculator by Wang Entertainment [ edit ] Locus (comics) ,
14448-429: The spiritual versus the secular. I guess you could say it's a song about loss of innocence." The song has been described as being "all about American decadence and burnout, too much money, corruption, drugs and arrogance; too little humility and heart." It has also been interpreted as an allegory about hedonism , self-destruction, and greed in the music industry of the late 1970s. Henley called it "our interpretation of
14577-460: The studio. Henley decided that the song should be a single, although Felder had doubts and the record company was reluctant to release it because, at over six minutes, its duration far exceeded that of the songs generally played by radio stations. The band took a stand and refused the label's request to shorten the song. The song was released as the second single from the album after " New Kid in Town ". The front cover art for some overseas editions of
14706-702: The top of the charts on March 1, 1975. The song was the Eagles' first of five chart-toppers. The album included a cover version of the Tom Waits song " Ol' '55 " and the single " James Dean ", which reached number 77 on the charts. The band played at the California Jam festival in Ontario, California , on April 6, 1974. Attracting more than 300,000 fans and billed as "the Woodstock of the West Coast",
14835-684: The tour at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah , on May 9, 2009. It was the first concert ever held in the new soccer stadium. The tour traveled to Europe, with its final concert date on July 22, 2009, in Lisbon . The band spent the summer of 2010 touring North American stadiums with the Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban . The tour expanded to England as the headline act of the Hop Farm Festival on July 1, 2011. locus#Noun From Misplaced Pages,
14964-416: The tour with Ronstadt, Frey and Henley decided to form a band together and informed Ronstadt of their intention. Frey later credited Ronstadt with suggesting Leadon for the band, and arranging for Leadon to play for her so Frey and Henley could approach him about forming a band together. They also pitched the idea to Meisner and brought him on board. These four played live together behind Ronstadt only once for
15093-615: The two then met in 1970 at The Troubadour in Los Angeles and became acquainted through their mutual record label, Amos Records . Randy Meisner , who had been working with Ricky Nelson 's backing band, the Stone Canyon Band, and Bernie Leadon , a veteran of the Flying Burrito Brothers , also later joined Ronstadt's group of performers for her summer tour promoting the Silk Purse album. While on
15222-558: The verse's seven chords, structured with the melody in a way that infers a key change from B minor to its relative major key of D. "Hotel California" and its lyrics have become absorbed into the wider culture around the world, and have been used by various writers and commentators to reflect on issues ranging from politics to social media and welfare, or as an observation on a particular situation. The lines "We are programmed to receive / You can check out any time you like / But you can never leave!" were used by an economist to refer to how
15351-403: The words "V.O.L. Is Five-Piece Live" etched into the vinyl, which means that the instrumental track for the song "Victim of Love" was recorded live in the studio, with no overdubs. Henley confirms this in the liner notes of The Very Best Of . However, the song was a point of contention between Don Felder and the rest of the band. In the 2013 documentary, Felder claimed that he had been promised
15480-427: Was co-produced by Eagles manager Azoff, who also co-produced the soundtrack album, released by Elektra. Henley, Walsh, Schmit, and Felder all contributed solo songs to the film's soundtrack. The band playing at the dance toward the end of the movie covers the Eagles song " Life in the Fast Lane ". Felder released a solo album, and contributed two songs to the soundtrack of the movie Heavy Metal : " Heavy Metal (Takin'
15609-464: Was fired from the Eagles. He responded by filing two lawsuits against "Eagles, Ltd.", a California corporation; Don Henley, an individual; Glenn Frey, an individual; and " Does 1–50", alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract and breach of fiduciary duty, reportedly seeking $ 50 million in damages. Felder alleged that from the 1994 Hell Freezes Over tour onward, Henley and Frey had "... insisted that they each receive
15738-696: Was first aired on the USA Network as part of the Night Flight program in August 1985. This video would continue to air on VH1. In 2013, a re-edited version of the video, as well as other footage from the Capital Centre concerts, was released as part of the History of the Eagles documentary set. In 1998, at the induction of the Eagles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , all seven members of
15867-407: Was from California, and if you drive into L.A. at night [...] you can just see this glow on the horizon of lights, and the images that start running through your head of Hollywood and all the dreams that you have, and so it was kind of about that [...] what we started writing the song about. Henley decided on the theme of "Hotel California", noting how The Beverly Hills Hotel had become
15996-439: Was not among those charged, he was acknowledged to have sold 100 pages worth of Hotel California lyric sheets to Horowitz in 2005 after alleging to Horowitz that Henley's assistant sent him the documents. Eventually, Inciardi and Kosinski would begin auctioning them in 2012. Defense lawyers have claimed Henley legally gave Sanders the lyric sheets. On March 6, 2024, Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Aaron Ginandes abruptly dropped
16125-494: Was not at the desert, credited Leadon with originating the name when he recalled reading about the Hopis ' reverence for the eagle, while Souther suggested that the idea came when Frey shouted out, "Eagles!" when they saw eagles flying above. Steve Martin , a friend of the band from their early days at The Troubadour, recounts in his autobiography that he suggested that they should be referred to as "the Eagles", but Frey insists that
16254-447: Was published by John Wiley & Sons on April 28, 2008, with Felder embarking on a full publicity campaign surrounding its release. In 2007, the Eagles consisted of Frey, Henley, Walsh, and Schmit. On August 20, 2007, " How Long ", written by JD Souther , was released as a single to radio with an accompanying online video at Yahoo! Music . It debuted on television on Country Music Television on August 23, 2007. The band had performed
16383-436: Was ranked number 1 in the list of the best 12-string guitar songs of all times by Guitar World magazine in 2015. Glenn Frey said that originally "We decided to create something strange, just to see if we could do it," and that the song was meant to mimic the imagery of the 1965 novel The Magus by John Fowles , about a man in an unfamiliar rural setting who is unsure about what he is experiencing. Don Henley has given
16512-552: Was released as a single in 1978 and reached number 18 on the charts. Frey, Henley, and Schmit contributed backup vocals for the single release of " Look What You've Done to Me " by Boz Scaggs . A different version with female backing vocals appears on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack, along with the Eagles' 1975 hit "Lyin' Eyes". On July 31, 1980, in Long Beach, California , tempers boiled over into what has been described as
16641-420: Was talking animatedly about the direction they should take next, and Leadon poured a beer over Frey's head, and said, "You need to chill out, man!" In December 1975, after months of denials, it was announced that Leadon had left the band. Leadon's replacement was guitarist and singer Joe Walsh , who had been a friend of the band for some years. He had previously performed with James Gang , Barnstorm , and as
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