Watched the Netflix documentary called the History of the Eagles Part One the other night and really enjoyed it. It's pretty long but engaging throughout. I would recommend it for all music fans.

Saw that on Showtime I think??? It would is well done.

It was an HBO special. It was cool. I did not realize how many members had come and gone.

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It was an HBO special. It was cool. I did not realize how many members had come and gone.

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Showtime, but yeah was a really good doc (from Alex Gibney, who has a pretty great track record for making good docs). I don't even like the Eagles, liked them much much less as the documentary went on, but was captivated the whole time.

I own this on bluray

Big Eagles fan. Really enjoyed the doc. Was really interesting how they came together working for Linda Ronstadt.

Was surprised Felder was willing to participate considering how his departure from the band happened. He wrote a book about his time with the band called Heaven and Hell. He comes across as a pretty good guy.

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I watched and came away thinking, "you dudes take yourselves too seriously." Especially that Glenn Frey guy. It's not like they are curing cancer or anything. In the end they are really just vibrating air.

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I agree. I have always been a huge eagles fan, but after watching that documentary I have lost much of my interest, Frey just comes off as a completely self absorbed, self important a hole.

That doc. reminded me how much I love their first 3 albums, especially their debut. Much much better than the hair and glam crap from the 80's.

I later heard that Frey jumped Jeff Bridges at a party because The Dude said, "I F-ing hate the Eagles man" in Lebowski. As if Jeff Bridges wrote the script himself. Not to mention the notion of "how dare anybody not like the Eagles" attitude makes Frey come off as a grade A jackass.

He is a jackass. Every band member who quit or was kicked out was because of Frey. He admitted that it was his band and the only other person who got any say was Henley (who just kind of shrugs and says "sure"). Their entire breakup was because of Frey's ego. He pushed the band too hard for too long and then got burned out himself and took it out on the band.

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I later heard that Frey jumped Jeff Bridges at a party because The Dude said, "I F-ing hate the Eagles man" in Lebowski.

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What a tool if true. Who the hell would dare come at The Dude?

Yeah I had no idea. Totally would (have)

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Good lord, young Linda Ronstadt...

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Yep. I wouldn't consider myself an Eagles fan, but I loved the documentary.

Here's the original texags thread if you're interested:

http://texags.com/forums/13/topics/2587656

Felder was nothing more than an excellent guitarist that wanted lead singer money. He was and is a cry baby. I couldn't stand him.

They were all alpha males, it just so happened that Frey and Walsh were the bigger alphas. They were also the most involved in the bands music (singing) so it was inevitable that those two would be controlling.

Anytime a band has an extreme amount of success, its really challenging for them to survive long term

It's a great doc and surprising how much dirty laundry they aired and how Frey allowed himself to be shown to be the ass that he is. I will give him this though, at least he recognizes it and in the end he does put the fans and the band first. He is an entertainer. I commented on the other thread about how much I appreciated his honesty about playing songs he has sung for decades even though he is tired of it because he knows that is what the fans want. So many artists just won't do that anymore, they are just "done" with old songs and when they do sing them they have to be some remix or a combination of hits where they only sing a few lines from a song.

Make no mistake, the Eagles made this doc and perform for the money but in the end who cares? It's not like they are alone in that. There are also plenty of great old bands that have made a fortune and would be so awesome to see again but can't get past their personal stuff to do it. Led Zep is a good example. Then you have bands like Depeche Mode that I went to see at ACL a couple of years ago and it was just horrific. 80% of their set were their "newer" songs that no one cared about and when they did play their old stuff it was some bizarre remix and they would sing a line or two and then just hold the mic out to the crowd. The next night The Cure came out and killed it by just standing on stage and belting out their hits for 2 hours straight, barely even took the time to intro themselves. As much as Frey and to a lesser extent Henley are *******s they at least do understand the business side of things and about making their fans happy.

In the end the Eagles hit such a high note in terms of financial and artistic success with "Hotel California" that they really could only go down from there. That album was essentially the perfect crossroads of a group of super talented guys, including 2 great singers and 2 great guitarists, at their artistic peak. They combined the folk style of their earlier stuff with the Rock edge that Walsh gave them. Best thing they could have done would have been to just take a year or two off in '78 or '79 but they pushed through with their last "real" album and it broke them apart. Just too much money, fame, drugs, and most of all ego I suppose.

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I watched and came away thinking, "you dudes take yourselves too seriously." Especially that Glenn Frey guy. It's not like they are curing cancer or anything. In the end they are really just vibrating air.

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I agree. I have always been a huge eagles fan, but after watching that documentary I have lost much of my interest, Frey just comes off as a completely self absorbed, self important a hole.

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Wow, take it easy dude.

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It's a great doc and surprising how much dirty laundry they aired and how Frey allowed himself to be shown to be the ass that he is. I will give him this though, at least he recognizes it and in the end he does put the fans and the band first. He is an entertainer. I commented on the other thread about how much I appreciated his honesty about playing songs he has sung for decades even though he is tired of it because he knows that is what the fans want. So many artists just won't do that anymore, they are just "done" with old songs and when they do sing them they have to be some remix or a combination of hits where they only sing a few lines from a song.

Make no mistake, the Eagles made this doc and perform for the money but in the end who cares? It's not like they are alone in that. There are also plenty of great old bands that have made a fortune and would be so awesome to see again but can't get past their personal stuff to do it. Led Zep is a good example. Then you have bands like Depeche Mode that I went to see at ACL a couple of years ago and it was just horrific. 80% of their set were their "newer" songs that no one cared about and when they did play their old stuff it was some bizarre remix and they would sing a line or two and then just hold the mic out to the crowd. The next night The Cure came out and killed it by just standing on stage and belting out their hits for 2 hours straight, barely even took the time to intro themselves. As much as Frey and to a lesser extent Henley are *******s they at least do understand the business side of things and about making their fans happy.

In the end the Eagles hit such a high note in terms of financial and artistic success with "Hotel California" that they really could only go down from there. That album was essentially the perfect crossroads of a group of super talented guys, including 2 great singers and 2 great guitarists, at their artistic peak. They combined the folk style of their earlier stuff with the Rock edge that Walsh gave them. Best thing they could have done would have been to just take a year or two off in '78 or '79 but they pushed through with their last "real" album and it broke them apart. Just too much money, fame, drugs, and most of all ego I suppose.

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Spot on

I thought Led Zeps primary issue was the drummer being dead. That seems hard to overcome.

Glem Frey does seem like an a$$ but I loved when he called the guitar players manager and basically said "Tell your ungrateful client that Don and I are the only ones who've done JACK since we broke up. We wrote all the damn songs. Tell him to sign the contract by midnight or he is fired."

Truthful? yes. But damn!!!

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I watched and came away thinking, "you dudes take yourselves too seriously." Especially that Glenn Frey guy. It's not like they are curing cancer or anything. In the end they are really just vibrating air.

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I'm laughing. Strong post.

I don't know. I really wish Zz Top would play something live besides their hits. I've only seen them twice but won't be back.

ZZ Tops best songs are their non hits

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Felder was nothing more than an excellent guitarist that wanted lead singer money. He was and is a cry baby. I couldn't stand him.

They were all alpha males, it just so happened that Frey and Walsh were the bigger alphas. They were also the most involved in the bands music (singing) so it was inevitable that those two would be controlling.

Anytime a band has an extreme amount of success, its really challenging for them to survive long term

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Frey being a selfish dick probably cost himself a crapload of money, I looked it up and his net worth looks to be about $70M. If they had stayed together, made a few more albums, gone on tour for another decade or more, etc. how much more would he be worth now? Even if they split that one contract evenly? It's not like Frey couldn't have pursued other opportunities on his own at the same time. Depending on what source you go by, Bono is worth $600M-$900. Mick Jagger is worth ~$300M. That's what staying part of a group that likes each other for 30+ years apparently gets you.

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Felder was nothing more than an excellent guitarist that wanted lead singer money. He was and is a cry baby. I couldn't stand him.

They were all alpha males, it just so happened that Frey and Walsh were the bigger alphas. They were also the most involved in the bands music (singing) so it was inevitable that those two would be controlling.

Anytime a band has an extreme amount of success, its really challenging for them to survive long term

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Frey being a selfish dick probably cost himself a crapload of money, I looked it up and his net worth looks to be about $70M. If they had stayed together, made a few more albums, gone on tour for another decade or more, etc. how much more would he be worth now? Even if they split that one contract evenly? It's not like Frey couldn't have pursued other opportunities on his own at the same time. Depending on what source you go by, Bono is worth $600M-$900. Mick Jagger is worth ~$300M. That's what staying part of a group that likes each other for 30+ years apparently gets you.

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Henley is worth 200 million. Shows where the real talent was.

I wonder how much of that was his solo career.

Henley was the Eagles.

Without his voice they would have just been a Jackson Brown ripoff

Bono is worth more than Mick Jagger???? That's insane.

Not sure if it's counted here but Bono was part of an investment firm that had a really good return, they had pre IPO shares of Facebook among other holdings.