I am not an Eagles fan. Then again, how many people do you meet that say "of all the bands in the world, I'd have to say the best one is the Eagles"? Some folks downright hate them:
My experience with diehard Eagles fans have been few but weird. One involves an old guy gushing to us about attending a Don Henley concert like it was a religious experience and the big moment was when he put down the guitar and got behind the drumkit. Bravo!
Hotel California was one of those record club acquisitions, meaning I effectively paid one cent for it along with 12 others, all in exchange for paying a ludicrous price for one other disc. It's sort of a college ritual. I tell people that the album is like Bourbon Street - you can knock it, but you have to walk down it at least once. The album is so central to the mid-1970's zeitgeist that to not know it sort of puts you in a position of ignorance.
Another interesting thing about the album is the addition of Joe Walsh. Even vehement haters grudgingly admit that Joe is an all-around good guy and you have to wonder what kind of money was involved in pulling him away from a decent solo career into a relatively small role in a band at the top of their game.
When Randy Meisner quit following this album, it pretty much drained what little "country rock" sound was left in the band, leaving the increasingly adversarial Glenn Fey and Don Henley to rip the band to pieces after one more caustic album. Then, many years later, hell froze over.
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