Band Of The Week - The Eagles

Once you see the title 'Band Of The Week', I'm sure those who know about my blog sure will be very happy now because it's going to weekend! Hurrrayyyy~~~~!!! This weekend classic rock band is "The Eagles". I think most of you very familiar with this band right? Still don't know who? Okok... ever heard "Hotel California" this song before? Still don't know? One last chance la... click on 'play' and listen to it. If you still don't know... you can go 'long piak' (hit wall) now, kekekeke...

The Eagles - Hotel California

The Eagles are an American rock music group that was formed in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s. With five number one singles and four number one albums, the Eagles were among the most successful recording artists of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 and Hotel California, ranked among the ten best-selling albums according to the Record Industry Association of America.

Band Members:

(1974) from left: Bernie Leadon, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Don Felder

The Eagles, from left: Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Don Henley, Don Felder, Glenn Frey

Overview:

Their early music was a hybrid of country and bluegrass instrumentation grafted onto the harmonies of California surfer rock, producing tender ballads and soft top-down country-flavored pop-rock about relationships, cars, and the wandering life. The originators of this genre were gifted singer/songwriters, among them Gram Parsons, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, and Warren Zevon. The Eagles took the singer-songwriter ethos to a group setting with increased emphasis on arrangements and musicianship, and the group's early sound became synonymous with the southern California country rock. On later albums the band dispensed with bluegrass instrumentation and gravitated to a more straight-ahead rock sound.

History:

Formation

1971 - 1974
Glenn Frey - guitar, piano, vocals
Bernie Leadon - guitar, banjo, mandolin, vocals
Randy Meisner - bass, guitar, vocals
Don Henley - drums, vocals

1974 - 1976
Glenn Frey - guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals
Don Felder - guitar, vocals
Bernie Leadon - guitar, banjo, mandolin, pedal steel guitar, vocals
Randy Meisner - bass, vocals
Don Henley - drums, vocals

1976 - 1977
Glenn Frey - guitar, keyboard, vocals
Don Felder - guitar, vocals
Joe Walsh - guitar, organ, vocals
Randy Meisner - bass, vocals
Don Henley - drums, vocals

1977 - 1980
Glenn Frey - guitar, keyboard, vocals
Don Felder - guitar, vocals
Joe Walsh - guitar, organ, vocals
Timothy B. Schmit - bass, vocals
Don Henley - drums, vocals

1980 - 1994
Band not active

1994 - 2001
Glenn Frey - guitar, keyboard, vocals
Don Felder - guitar, vocals
Joe Walsh - guitar, organ, vocals
Randy Meisner - bass, vocals
Don Henley - drums, vocals

2001 - present
Glenn Frey - guitar, keyboard, vocals
Joe Walsh - guitar, organ, vocals
Randy Meisner - bass, vocals
Don Henley - drums, vocals

Awards:

The Eagles have won four Grammy awards:

• 1975 Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus: "Lyin' Eyes"
  
• 1977 Record of the Year: "Hotel California" (single)
  
• 1977 Best Arrangement for Voices: "New Kid In Town"
  
• 1979 Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group: "Heartache Tonight"
  

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
On December 7, 1999 the Recording Industry of America honored the group with the Best Selling Album of the Century for Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975).
The Eagles were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001.


Break-up

The tour ended on July 31, 1980 in Long Beach, California, when tempers boiled over into what Bill Szymczyk memorably described as "The Long Night At Wrong Beach." Frey and Felder spent the entire show describing to each other the beating each planned to administer backstage - "Only three more songs until I kick your ass, pal," Frey recalls Felder telling him near the end of the band's set. Felder recalls Frey making a similar threat to him just as they began to sing "The Best Of My Love." As soon as the show was over, mayhem broke out. Frey launched an assault on Felder, who protected himself with his guitar. Within seconds, the rest of the band had joined in. It took a dozen roadies to pull the warring factions apart.

It was the end of the Eagles, although the band still owed Warners a live record from the tour. Eagles Live (released in November 1980) was mixed by Frey and Henley on opposite coasts - the two decided they couldn't bear to be in the same state, let alone the same studio, and as Bill Szymczyk put it, the record's perfect three-part harmonies were fixed "courtesy of Federal Express." After credits that listed no less than five attorneys, the album's liner notes simply said, "Thank you and goodnight."


Resumption

In 1993, an Eagles country tribute album Common Thread was released. Travis Tritt insisted on having the Long Run-era Eagles in his video for "Take It Easy."

After the "Take It Easy" video was completed the following year, the band reunited, after years of public speculation that it would. The personnel was the five Long Run era members, supplemented by additional players on stage. "We never broke up, we just took a 14 year vacation" announced Frey at the taping of their first live performance in April, 1994. The ensuing tour spawned a live album entitled Hell Freezes Over (named for Henley's statement that the group would get back together only when hell froze over), and two singles -- "Get Over It" and "Love Will Keep Us Alive".

Controversy followed on September 12, 1996 when the band dedicated "Peaceful Easy Feeling" to Saddam Hussein at a United States Democratic Party fundraiser held in Los Angeles.

In 1998, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During the induction ceremony, Frey, Henley, Felder, Walsh, and Schmit performed together, and former members Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner rejoined the band for the performance, where the band played "Take it Easy" and "Hotel California". Several subsequent reunion tours would follow, notable for their record-setting ticket prices. In February 2001, Don Felder was fired from the group; Felder and the Eagles filed lawsuits against each other. In 2003 the Eagles released a new single, the September 11th-themed "Hole in the World".

On June 14th, 2005, the Eagles released a new DVD entitled Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne featuring two new songs: Glenn Frey's "No More Cloudy Days" and Joe Walsh's "One Day at a Time". The band will tour Europe in the summer of 2006.

Don Henley has recently said a new Eagles album is on the way and they are aiming for it to be out by this Christmas. The new album is reportedly titled The Long Road To Eden.

Photos:

The Eagles... a well-known legendary classic rock band!!!

p/s: who want to see I play the 'Hotel California' guitar solo part please click here
I'm not a professional musician, I played damn bad in that video clip. kekekeke...