The song that moved the Eagles into the top tier of bands

(Credits: Far Out / The Eagles)

Thu 4 December 2025 20:33, UK

In a sense, rock and roll isn’t a genre; it is an amalgam of traditional guitar-based genres blended together in wildly varying ratios. When it comes to country rock, few bands have become more significant than the Eagles, the group formed in 1971 by Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey.

Fleetwood Mac’s most successful iteration as a five-piece with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham was a worthy contender for the Eagles’ country rock throne. However, their sound was more varied, and releases like Rumours likely wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Eagles. “The Eagles were very inspirational to both Lindsey and I because we loved their singing,” Nicks once remembered. “And we loved their ability to bridge country and rock and roll so beautifully.”

Being influenced by everything from country to Motown, the songwriting partnership between Glenn Frey and Don Henley produced some of the biggest radio hits of the time. With each passing album, the band always pulled from different influences to suit their sound, from adding in traditional folk instruments to eventually drafting in Joe Walsh and Don Felder as their resident guitar heroes.

While the music may have been about escaping the stress of life, the band dynamic was anything but breezy, with Henley and Frey ruling with an iron hand culminating in the band’s demise after a charity gig. Despite the many fights they had on and off the stage, the music always brought them back together.

Eagles were indeed innovators in their field but couldn’t be described as the founders of country rock. Speaking to Uncut in 2017, Henley remembered three crucial bands that inspired his move to California and his plan to blend country and rock. “In our small town in Texas, we’d read about The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Poco and bought their albums,” he remembered.

Don Henley with his Grammy. (Credits: Far Out / Alamy)

As a Texan, Henley had listened to country music in its natural habitat throughout his youth. With his early band, Shiloh, he performed soul-infused cover sets “all over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana”. By the end of the 1960s, Henley and his Shiloh bandmates decided to combine country and rock like their favourite bands. “We thought, ‘Why not combine the two like these guys?’” he added. 

The Eagles’ combination was a remarkable hit with fans around the world, and by 1975, they had become the biggest name in country rock in the US. Released in June 1975, One of These Nights proved to be the Eagles’ breakthrough album following three prior studio records of comparatively modest success.

Despite the band’s unmitigated success following 1975’s One of These Nights, Leadon decided to leave the band, allegedly dissatisfied with the band’s embrace of pop-rock. This was undoubtedly the end of an era for the Eagles, but with Joe Walsh joining soon after and the runaway success of Hotel California on the horizon, the band was still far from finished.

Given that Eagles remain active today, it seems strange that they released a Greatest Hits album after just four years of existence. “I never expected it to do five million,” Frey said, reflecting on the surprising success of Greatest Hits: 1971-75 in a 1976 conversation with Melody Maker. “The numbers this year are staggering, and I try not to look at them anymore. It’s a different kind of person that buys ‘Greatest Hits’ albums. I think you reach more people with them… you reach the over 25’s and the under 15’s a lot.”

After joking that the Eagle skull on the album cover was how he and his bandmates looked after finishing work on all the songs, Henley recognised the turning of a leaf. “I didn’t feel bad about putting a Greatest Hit album out was that it definitely marked the end of a phase for us.”

Continuing, Henley said the band’s then-new album Hotel California opened up a whole new era for the Eagles. Despite this assertion, he opined that their global success started in 1974 with the third single from their third album, On the Border. “Ever since ‘Best Of My Love’ kicked off a whole big thing for us, moving us from the top 90 per cent of bands in America to the top 10 per cent,” he claimed.

Henley wasn’t wrong in his assertion. Whether you’re a fan or not, Eagles remain one of the best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 200 million records worldwide, with 100 million of those sold in the US.

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