Comments on: I Can’t Tell You Why

By: Pap

Pap — Sun, 04 Jun 2023 21:38:52 +0000

Damn!

By: PCL

PCL — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 04:01:47 +0000

Reading all this, I am reminded of their more laid-back songs, most of which were like watching paint dry. There was “I can’t tell you why.”, “Tequella Sunrise”, “Desperado”, and some thing about a coconut grove (with Linda Rhondstat in the background, maybe?). All very boring. But I normally don’t remember them by that stuff. “Peaceful Easy Feeling”, “Already Gone”, “Best of My Love”, “One of These Nights”, “Lying Eyes”, “Take it to the limit.” and yes, even “Hotel California” all struck me as solid pop songs, with a bit of country mixed-in here and there. I’m surprised that there are still people who wonder what “Hotel California” was about; it was about the drug culture that was slowly enveloping them at the time (“You can never leave.”). I’ve always suspected that people hated them more because of what they represented than the quality of their songs; even if they were not the worst of it, they were the epitome of the corporate rock that was slowly transforming free-form album-oriented stations into the stale echo-chamber that became “classic rock”. But I just found them too good, albeit in a bland way, to hate. Acts like Journey, Ted Nugent and Ozzie Osbourne were so much more deserving of that kind of animosity; they didn’t just fit into the classic rock cliche all too well, they were genuinely bad. I was content to take groups like the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Boston and even Lynyrn Skinnard on an ad-hoc basis; if they did something worth hearing, I was willing to listen. Sure there was a certain soullessness about an US radio culture that locked in this tried-and-true Wonder bread and kept anything that reeked of Punk or New Wave (other than the Cars) at arm’s length, but I blamed the stations themselves more than I did the Eagles.

By: ODYSSEY

ODYSSEY — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 03:27:31 +0000

I was never a fan of the Eagles. I always received strange looks (disbelief?) when I would admit this to anyone “back in the day”. There was something about their music that made me cringe. It was too catchy, too mainstream, whiny, empty… I could go on but clearly I am in good company so no need for that!

By: Sister Wolf

Sister Wolf — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:46:27 +0000

daisy – God bless you!

By: daisy

daisy — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:41:44 +0000

“Remember being young and taking music so seriously that it could be a deal-breaker if a new person in your life turned out to have bad taste? An awful record collection was nearly impossible to forgive.”

I’m Still Like That!

By: Debbie

Debbie — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:24:23 +0000

I agree. Hotel California, very creepy. I never understood that song. In the 70’s I was listening to disco, Donna Summer, Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, Tower of Power, Average White Band … the Eagles had no soul. Period.

By: Marky

Marky — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 23:13:28 +0000

I fucking hate the Eagles. They make me sad.

I once heard some guy talk about accompanying Don Henley on some mega-long mountain bike ride to raise money for the environment. He said Don Henley rode in the truck most of the time and barely touched his $4000 mountain bike.

By: thriftstorelawyer

thriftstorelawyer — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:33:24 +0000

I also visited in hopes of seeing an Oscars exegesis. And to say that Don Henley in that pic is the very embodiment of 70s hotness. Seeing that denim workshirt part over chest hair and a gold medallion almost made it worth getting “Desperado” lodged in my head.

By: ali

ali — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:23:32 +0000

The Eagles are one of those things I can’t be bothered to hate… but give it some time, maybe.

By: Iron Chic

Iron Chic — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:21:01 +0000

I sure hope you are working on an Oscar’s Exegesis. I wasn’t brave enough to watch it and I am counting on you to be the sacrificial lamb!