Foam-O-Graph© - piercing the veil between reality and you!
1 As people, they're just not very nice, man. Maybe Joe Walsh is an okay guy, but the rest?
2 That LA vibe they give out? So plastic.
3 Their hair, Jesus Fucking Christ, their hair, man ...
4 Fashion sense advisory!!! Sears poncho, anyone?
5 Mainstream success cancels artistic credibility.
6 Smug superiority. Never a good look.
7 Soulless technical proficiency. If they can play and sing live exactly like the records, man, you know they suck.
8 Their audience. Excuse me? Not judging, but Eagles fans are, like ... so not cool.
9 Country rock? Pardon my mirth ...
10 Boomers lol. End of.
Any or all of the above are valid reasons to dislike, hate, ignore or dismiss The Eagles. Won't disagree with any of them. In the Rock & Roll Hall Of Shame these guys will be the first inductees, right?
Why don't you like Th' Eagles? Or hate them, or let them pass you by without getting involved either way?
ReplyDeleteWitchy Woman was my favorite song by them.their music was everywhere we sang along even when we didn't like the song.i never listened to their solo stuff.i think i may have caught them once in new jersey but i really can't say exactly how that night went down
DeleteKinda >Eh?> truthfully. I don't find them particularly exciting, but I do find a few of their songs catchy.Can learn a lot about arranging songs and harmony singing by listening to them. Can also learn how to be a jan entitled erk from most of them , also.
ReplyDeleteHappy Balance, I guess.
I wasn't expecting "jan entitled erk", but if you say so!
DeleteWell, letter juxtposition is a disease needing its own telethon.
Deletemany reasons to hate, but....at 14 I thought the verse from "Take it Easy" (I know, Jackson Browne; whatever) "Well, I'm a-standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, Such a fine sight to see
ReplyDeleteIt's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford, Slowin' down to take a look at me" was so cool (sigh) &
"Seven Bridges Road" (I know, I know--Steve Young, Ian Mathews, und so weiter--all much cooler, sure. They're thieves, sure. But in 1980, having drunk deeply of punk and sipping on "New Wave," it still caught my ear). So, happy to hate on'em, happy to pass by, but, y e a h.
The lines from "Take It Easy" you quote are the main contribution from Glenn Frey to that song (and boy, do they ever sound like Glenn Frey lines). Said Jackson: "I didn't even know what a flatbed Ford was!"
Deletelove it
DeleteRock 'n' roll crooks, poseurs, whatever. Chicken-shit music . . . When I was in college they led a handful of bands that just flat-out pissed me off. I valued the Doobie Brothers more than these guys, which just shows you something or other. --Muzak McMusics
ReplyDeleteEr ... don't most bands have crooks and poseurs in their line-up? As to chicken-shit music - okay, you don't like it, but chicken-shit implies worthless, right? Hard to call the band worthless when their music made millions happy - that's got to be worth something. They're an extremely talented bunch of professionals, and they flat out pissed you off - fine, but why? Why do they have this effect? What have they done to deserve the H8RZ? Can you add to the top ten? I'd be really interested if you (and others) tried to explain their antipathy. You don't have to convince me they're worth it, but I'd be interested to know why you feel this way.
Delete(Overdue trading card in QC as we speak)
OK, fair enough. I think my antipathy is partly irrational and very much personally idiosyncratic. I recognize their level of professionalism, etc. But their extreme popularity c. 1976-78 came to stand in for the kind of corporatized music that I was desperately searching for an alternative to. I took my music appreciation seriously then (maybe still do, but I'm more forgiving now) as only an earnest early-20s-English-major could and needed a sense of authenticity (or what I thought it was then) and grittyness to speak to me. And the Eagles were the avatar of all that that wasn't. Fair or not. And they weren't alone. And it just stayed in my head. -- Muzak McM.
DeleteFabulous explanation of exactly why you "hate" th' Eagles, which I'm sure resonates with many. I can (and do) enjoy their music much more now than I did then, because I no longer listen in that oppressive cultural context. No, they weren't as "authentic" (and the quotes are necessary) as other contemporary bands, and they did represent corporate conformism, and their lack of edge grated where it should have been smooth.
DeleteBut I played the "On The Border" yesterday, and it sounded fine.
easy to hate for me was they were. called America's greatest rock band. impossible to deny how likable they're greatest hits. the documentary about them by them is quite good. & candid.
ReplyDeleteThe documentary is the best rockumentary (if you will) ever made. Warts and all, no bullshit, no whitewash.
DeleteI know we're all talking about Vol. 1, which really was great. It also showed Frey and Henley in all their asshole glory. They really aren't likeable guys, and they know it, so at least they don't pretend...
DeleteNice guys in the band:
Randy Meisner
Tim Schmidt
(two of the sweetest and friedliest people in the business by all accounts)
Joe Walsh
(jovial when not drunk or coked out of his mind)
That's about it.
Vol. 2 for everything from 1994 onwards should have been a fifteen minute epilogue, not an 80 minute "documentary" (infomercial), but hey, watched it once, don't need to go back, whereas Vol. 1 I will certainly revisit sooner rather than later...
Yup. The Old Testament has all the good stuff.
DeleteSaw them live here in Perth Australia well before fame hit them.They were great Out of Control suited crowd mood and most of their first Album I really liked. Harmony,melody,great musicians.
ReplyDeleteThe first album is just a click away, just a click away ...
DeleteStealthLink™ embedded for your security and convenience.
ReplyDelete1) They pretended to be more than Linda Ronstadt's backing band
ReplyDelete2) They are accountants, bookkeepers.
3) No humour
4) My brother and family wanted to go to a concert till they saw the prizes. $1000 for five.
5) I don't know Joe Walsh, is he the one with a bandana, is he a gang-member?
6) They are part of the Neu-Konservativ Cuntry music scene
7) Do they believe a word they are saying themselves?
8) Hate every second of Hotel C (they should make a demetia version You-will-check-out-any-time-of-day-but-you-will-forget-to-leave, Welcome to the Hotel De-Men-Ti-A)
9) I am not going to ten, crap, you. If music is just inspired by the desire to make money, how interesting could it really be.
1) You're thinking of the Stone Poneys?
Delete2) They were unusual in learning the business of the music business and refusing to get ripped off by the accountants, who hated them.
3) Took themselves seriously. Not a comedy act.
4) Well, er, I ...
5) He doesn't know you, either. He's an accountant.
6) Just because they played at Dick Cheney's Celebrity Face Shoot one time, they're Neo-Cons. Give me a break.
7) Yes. They have no sense of humor and take themselves very seriously.
8) You hate it, we get it. Perish the thought you should try to explain why.
9) Pretty darn interesting. There are easier ways to make money than being in a rock band.
Sorry I can't hate them.
ReplyDeleteBut great Foam-O-Graph© graphic above, I nearly missed the hotel.
It's why people hate them that I'm trying to get an answer to. Poco never came in for such a kicking.
DeleteIf we rejected every band containing can entitled unt we'd only have Cliff Richard to listen to. Is that what you want? Is it?
ReplyDeleteThe world would be a better place. Getting tent-pegged by a Scout Master while dressed as Little Bo Peep does not make you a bad person.
DeleteI wouldn't see them if they played in my pub across the road. Seeing them in an enormodome with Maga-bros yee-hahing? Slit my wrists. They used to be double-denim cocaine cowboy safe soft rock dross listened to by people who found Fleetwood Mac a bit too "heavy", but they now appeal to folks even squarer than that; to like "The Eagles" marks you out as a po-jama person. I like Joe Walsh, and he probably needs the money. The rest is wet Americana with the brains coked-out. Give me Little Feat and Ry Cooder any day.
ReplyDeleteThis is as close as we've yet come to an explanation of the boiling vitriol spewed by otherwise reasonable folk on the ubject, but it's still a little wanting in the reasoned crit dept. If what you say is true (and it's a broad generalisation I broadly disagree with), and they only produce the rock equivalent of Easy Listening music - then so what? Do you loathe all melodically well-crafted pop? And I'm very unsure their audience is the writhing serpent's nest of racistrumpers you imagine.
DeleteI am sure you are right, but trauma is trauma. To be told they are "good" when there is so much better music out there was downright gaslighting. Thankfully, being raised a Catholic, I am resistant to brainwashing. The Eagles lack swing and natural rhythm, and sold the west coast laid back sound and the 70s to the endless US suburbs. A similar thing happened in the UK with Dire Straits. I quite like a bit of melodic or easy listening type music, Japanese "City Pop" fuzak, for example. And I will be buried to Steely Dan's "Deacon Blue". Don't mind Johnny Cash at all. The Feat and Ry, as mentioned. But The Eagles are to American traditional musics what Eric Clapton is to the blues, or later UB40 is to reggae. In all cases, there are far more serving cases for the fame and fortune. Please don't call me "reasonable". We don't have to descend to insults.
DeleteWhat you're doing is very close to MIT-level empirical observation. Braveaux!
Deletestrewth
DeleteKinda liked the first lp, but country rock was never my thing. Little too slick for my taste. Sorta equivalent to the Kenny G of jazz.
ReplyDeleteHold my tequila!
DeleteYou never, NEVER, let someone hold your tequila, amigo.
DeleteThe British equivalent of tequila is Bailey's - a sickly-sweet syrup that's like drinking a cheap chocolate center - or a tequila.
DeleteI've had Bailey's - no thank you. Tequila, one cube, and a squeeze of lime. Even better, mezcal.
DeleteMexican food is basically dog gristle wrapped in cardboard, with some chili thrown in to aid rapid digestion. Tequila is not a man's drink, no matter how many worms you add.
Deleteyou sucked at school nobody liked you your parents said get a real job you learned to play an instrument got up in front of folks and played you got paid you now had a job girls and dope ...of course it was fun while it lasted.
ReplyDeletenow you're an armchair quarterback...shame
weirdest pairing i ever saw was the first incarnation Eagles opening for Yes. they started to slip when Bernie quit. i find the ease with which people HATE the Eagles disconcerting ...
ReplyDeleteThey got Chris Squire into cocaine, which led to some of Yes's problems when Alan White got involved, too.
Deletethat was bound to happen Eagles or not ...
DeleteWell, now this is enough to make me hate Them Eagles.
DeleteThe poor boy! Little Christopher Squire, only just out of short trousers, that bass guitar way too big, living the dream! Who would crush a butterfly on a wheel? Où sont les neiges d'antan? [up Squire's nose - Ed.]
DeleteI have most of their earlier stuff. Desperadoes is a fave. I think most of the hate is jealousy. Their 1st Greatest Hits LP sold more copies than the Bible. They may be white bread, but MOR music makes the radio go round. And, as an old buddy once said, they've got the best "ooohs" in the biz.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy everything up to and including Motel California, but that's the kind of happy fool I am.
DeleteI think their evident misogyny would be a top ten reason, and I do have a Y chromosome myself.
ReplyDeleteSaw them when their first album was just out, as the opening act to Jethro Tull(?). They were proficient enough, the songs were sorta catchy, they played spiritedly-- and it was all just meh.
Misogyny is one of the prime influences in rock music, which is mostly about guys showing how tough they are. But you can still appreciate the Venus de Milo for her swell breasts.
DeleteI was a big Flying Burrito Bros fan when the 1st lp came out. Seeing Bernie Leadon's name in the credits piqued my interest enough to buy the record. The three singles were catchy and the band showed promise. Each successive album got worse and worse while their popularity (and radio play) grew and grew which is, to me, a valid reason to hate a band. Joe Walsh's "But Seriously Folks" is their best record and Tequila Sunrise their best song, but I still try to sing the harmonies on Peaceful Easy Feeling whenever I hear it on the car radio.
ReplyDelete"If you came here to get mellow just turn right around and GTFO." Ted Nugent ... Lol. Some of the Beagle Boys used to show up and jam under the stairs at TruTone Guitars in Santa Monica a few times a week. Truly horrible. My valve was forever sealed.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, my dad took me to a Manassas concert ( Meadowlands, DC 1972). He was a closet country fan and dug the group. But the opener really got his attention: guess who? No, not "The Guess Who", the Effin' Eagles. I thought they were ok when they sounded more like Manassas. After a few years in record retail, I came to despise them more for their ubiquity than their talents. And after a few years as a musician, any appreciation for their songs was tempered by the slavish fandom that caused folks to enjoy even the worst cover versions ( a critical fault of mine that extends to this day regarding fans of popular song in general. I'd rather hear originals done adequately than covers done poorly.). So, I'm a snob, that's my only excuse for not screaming "Tequila Sunrise" whenever an acoustic guitar appears.
ReplyDeleteGood comment, resale value cratered by anonymity.
DeleteSo far, only "over-familiarity" gets added to the top ten, which you, as the beady-eyed type you are, will have noticed does not include any musical reasons. Hatred of anything is mostly down to prejudice, which in this context is excusable and even enjoyable (dungarees? *SNORT*) but not something to be celebrated. I sez - "LEAVE TH' EAGLES ALOOOOOONE!!!! *mascara runs* LEAVETHEMALOONE! BEW-HEW BEW-HEW!"
ReplyDeleteMy ex-girlfriend was a promoter, and she would give me tickets to see bands she thought I'd like. These were usually bands on their first tour, with one record out. I'd never heard of Springsteen when she gave me those tickets, and that was an enjoyable evening. But when Mrs. Candyside and I went to that early Eagle show we couldn't understand why everybody was singing along. We wanted to see bands that excited us. Pumped us up. This was merely pleasant listening. We left after half a dozen songs. I think it's the only concert I've ever walked out on. I didn't hate them. They just didn't get me up on my feet.
ReplyDeleteRight. They're pleasant, and that's not enough for hatred, so it's interesting finding out where that hatred springs from. Steely Dan made pleasant music that didn't get me up on my feet, yet I sang along. This whole thing is a mystery to me.
Deleteman,
ReplyDeletethere's already so much hate in the world.
ISN'T IT GREAT!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib-Qiyklq-Q&list=RDib-Qiyklq-Q&start_radio=1
DeleteDon't know their music, but there's a band called Don Henley Must Die...
Deletethat song triggered my first axe murdering spree.
Deletesweet memories.
Perhaps other readers have similar fond memories of how pop music turned them into pathological axe murderers? Do tell!
DeleteAs a heathen Brit weened on beat, psych, heavy, glam, and punk to whom the delights of country music in general have largely been elusive, I clearly missed the furore around the Eagles (you might say I'm a bit of a 'johnny come lately' to all this), I have little to add to this discussion cept to say that despite their apparently heinous infractions against popular musical sensibilities I'd rather listen to them playing 'One Of These Nights' than listen to Mawie Osmond masticating 'Paper Woses'.....
ReplyDeleteThat is a legitimate compromise.
DeleteIt must have been 1973, Country Gazette at the Nashville Rooms. The singer made a "humorous" announcement that he stole from the Dillards live album from 1964, and the Eagles, all 4 of whom were standing anonymously and quietly at the back of the hall, turned to each other knowingly. That's a plus.
ReplyDeleteDat's muh boys!
DeletePlay yer harmonica, Rodney!
DeleteNever bothered with them. I gave up halfway through 'The Big Lebowski' too.
ReplyDeleteThe fellow at the far right side of the photo has a Lindsay Buckingham sort of nasty countenance.
I fell asleep during The Big Lebowski at Tinselstown's iconic Cinerama movie house. I never understood the love this movie gets, and the two "great quotes":
Delete- "that's just your opinion, man"
- "that rug really tied the room together"
Ye-e-e-e-es? Is that all you got?
Maybe it's because we all love Jeff Bridges, but that ain't enough. "Fearless", and of course "The Fabulous Baker Boys", and many others, but Lebowski is a low point for him.
Did you say Lindsey Buckingham?
https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2021/09/worlds-most-slappable-man-releases-new.html
How could I have forgotten the Third Great Quote?
Delete- "The dude abides."
*silence*
That LB picture you selected reminds me of the alien interlopers in 'This Island Earth Is Chock-full Of Drugged-up Ageing Lesbians'.
DeleteYes, 'Fearless' absolutely walloped me at the time - not seen it properly since though.
DeleteWell, I was a 16-year-old Trotskyist Revolutionary when I fell in love with the Eagles. Their Greatest Hits Album was amongst the first 20 CD's I ever bought in 1994.
ReplyDeleteThe Eagles, then the Doors then U2 then Bruce Springsteen were the first Discographies I ever completed. I'm surprised someone thinks I'm MAGA for liking the Eagles LOL.
Boomers will never get Lebowski
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on making just about the dumbest comment ever put up on the internet. I'm going to leave you to try to understand why it is just about the dumbest comment ever put up on the internet, because it'll do your brain good to get some exercise.
Delete(Well done remaining "anonymous", though - very cunning!)