Throughout much of their long career, The Eagles have been decidedly uncool. While the sad news of Glenn Frey’s death has left many of us (myself included) focusing on the positive aspects of the the band’s music, it seems worth noting that they were rarely remembered as hip. This was perhaps never more clear than the famous scene in The Big Lebowski, when The Dude tells his cab driver exactly how he feels about the country-rock legends:
It makes too much sense, doesn’t it? In a movie that started out as a cult hit, and became one of the most beloved comedies of all-time, of course there’s a bit making fun of The Eagles. For years, they were one of the easiest bands in the world to make fun of. Hatred for them never rose quite to the level of, say, Nickelback, but almost since their inception, they’ve been as much of a perpetual punchline as, say, Coldplay, Nickelback, or Maroon 5 are today.
But did they deserve that reputation? Even the biggest detractor of The Eagles’ work could acknowledge that they could write a catchy tune; “Already Gone,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” “Witchy Woman,” “Take It Easy,” and pretty much every song off Hotel California have their way of burrowing in your head. So, why did The Eagles get so much hatred? Perhaps it’s because liking them was a little too easy.
With the rare exception of The Beatles, the most popular band in the world is never going to be the coolest band to sing the praises of. In a world where people expect points for citing the most obscure, unheralded bands as their favorites, what’s the joy in saying you like the band everyone else likes? That’s why even among people who were fans of the country-rock style that The Eagles popularized were rarely willing to acknowledge the power of The Eagles. They would tell you that Gram Parsons, who referred to their music as a “plastic dry-f*ck,” was really where it’s at, and the songwriting duo of Frey and Henley was really just producing schlock for the masses.
The logic behind that Parsons line was one of the ideas that haunted The Eagles throughout their career; that their music was somehow less genuine than their immediate, less popular contemporaries. Frankly, I’m calling B.S. Maybe The Eagles’ music isn’t for you, but I could never for the life of me figure out what made it so disingenuous. What precisely was fake or insincere about “Desperado” or “Tequila Sunrise” or anything else? There was always this nebulous, undefined quality within The Eagles’ music that just seemed to rub people the wrong way, but it never seemed to have much of a basis in reality. If someone accuses a given artist of not being “real” country/metal/hip-hop/punk/etc., chances are they really mean either “this music is not to my personal taste,” or “this music is too popular, so I won’t get any credibility for saying I like it.”
A personal opinion, yes, but I could never shake the feeling that’s what was secretly going on in the minds of the biggest Eagles haters. The notion that the band’s music was artificial is something only argued in the court of public opinion, but the band’s mass appeal was undeniable, and it’s hard not to think that turned some people against them. The Eagles became one of the biggest bands of all-time because, time and time again, they demonstrated the ability to write songs that would stick with you for life after just a few listens. The authenticity of The Eagles can be debated to the ends of time; their knack for creating memorable music cannot.
It would be foolish of me to suggest that anyone who doesn’t like The Eagles is automatically a cranky, smarmy hipster. I’m saying the most extreme negative reactions to the band often struck me as a bit overblown. More importantly, accusations of The Eagles’ fraudulence were seemingly based on some unknown truth floating around in the air. I could never figure out where that truth was located.
In the wake of Frey’s passing, the number of people bashing The Eagles will probably decrease considerably. There will be plenty of articles just like this one defending the band, and the band’s biggest detractors (aside from a loud minority) will likely stay silent out of good taste. Then, after the appropriate grieving period has past, The Eagles’ critical and social reputation will be restored to the mixed bag it was before we heard the news about Frey earlier this month. And truthfully, that’s fine. But when the time comes to go back to telling everyone how much you hate The Eagles, try to recall why you feel that way in the first place. And if you still do, just because you don’t particularly care for a band, that doesn’t make their music — or the joy that people got from it — any less valid.
