18 responses to “Glenn Frey, Eagles Founder, Dead at 67”

1. 

   C. Clavin

   January 18, 2016 at 6:23 pm

   Alan Rickman, Bowie, and Frey makes 3.
   The Eagles, JD Souther, Jackson Browne, Emmy Lou Harris, Rondstadt…
   the California country- rock scene was really something at the time.
   May he RIP
2. 

   Mr. Prosser

   January 18, 2016 at 6:38 pm

   No more “runnin’ down the road.” Take it easy.
3. 

   Hal_10000

   January 18, 2016 at 8:19 pm

   Is it too late to return 2016 to the store?
4. 

   Guarneri

   January 18, 2016 at 8:21 pm

   Unfortunate, as is the passing of anyone. Some of the iconic old rockers are starting to fall away. One wonders just what kind of Superman genes Keith Richards possesses.
5. 

   appleannie

   January 18, 2016 at 9:13 pm

   This is turning out to be one heck of a bad start to the year.
6. 

   Franklin

   January 18, 2016 at 9:18 pm

   I liked the Eagles. I know some didn’t, or protested against their excesses or whatever (like any good rock band was immune from *that*). It was just a bunch of talented guys making music.
7. 

   Ron Beasley

   January 18, 2016 at 11:41 pm

   We watched my Hell Freezes Over DVD in memory Of Frey. Few know that he co-wrote several songs with J.D. Souther that became classics.
8. 

   Ron Beasley

   January 19, 2016 at 12:18 am

   @Franklin: I liked them too. Many of my rock friends from the 70s thought they were too country but at the time I was also listening to Willie Nelson before he became popular among that crowd.
9. 

   Pch101

   January 19, 2016 at 12:39 am

   @Franklin:

   Critics are fond of castigating stadium rock and prog rock bands, believing that rock music is supposed to be raucous and rebellious; heavy production or technical skill is only acceptable when the music is odd or exotic, i.e. David Bowie or David Byrne.

   Well, to hell with those critics. Frey-Henley-Souther wrote some great pop music together and the musicianship was solid. Although I always preferred the songs with Henley on lead vocal and didn’t care for Frey’s solo work, the Eagles wouldn’t have been the Eagles without Frey.
10. 

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 19, 2016 at 8:29 am

    @Guarneri: He can’t die. Neither heaven nor hell want him.
11. 

    James Joyner

    January 19, 2016 at 9:45 am

    @Pch101: I particularly loved this Frey observation in the documentary: “If you look at my vocal participation over the course of the ’70s, I sang less and less. It was intentional. We had Don Henley.”
12. 

    sam

    January 19, 2016 at 10:29 am

    @Ron Beasley:

    Many of my rock friends from the 70s thought they were too country

    Y’all ever notice how much some modern C&W sounds and looks like a lot of 70s rock? I’d bet that that’s why a lot of kids like it.

    On the Eagles and country, see Travis Tritt and The Eagles, Take It Easy. (Sweet shot of Glenn looking back at the camera.) Tritt did a whole album of Eagles songs, Common Thread.

    But, hell, isn’t that what rock and roll began as: a synthesis of country and R&B?

    RIP Glenn.
13. 

    Kylopod

    January 19, 2016 at 4:03 pm

    But, hell, isn’t that what rock and roll began as: a synthesis of country and R&B?

    Only if you date rock and roll to the mid-’50s, when rockabilly emerged. And then you have to wonder why you have a word suggesting a fusion of rock and country (or “hillbilly music”). The fact is that rock and roll grew out of R&B, period, and only after it was an established genre did it start to be fused with country. There was a strong racial component to this, as the rockabilly artists were all white. (Black rockers like Chuck Berry were never defined as rockabilly even when they did countryish records like “Maybelline.”)
14. 

    sam

    January 19, 2016 at 4:24 pm

    @Kylopod:

    Well, I’m 75 and that’s not my memory of what happened. In those days, as you may know, R&B was called “race music”, and was pretty much confined. It broke out of the musical ghetto it had been consigned to and became a force of its won when white musicians began to incorporate its tropes.
15. 

    Pch101

    January 19, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    @Kylopod:

    The first rock ‘n’ roll record was arguably Bill Haley’s 1952 version of “Rock the Joint.” (“Rock Around the Clock,” which came out two years later and put Haley on the map, bears a striking resemblance to it.) Haley was playing country and swing before he transitioned to what we call rockabilly.

    Rock is a derivation of bebop (which came out of swing) and rockabilly (which is derived from country) as well as white guys riffing off of blues (which had been labeled as “race records” or R&B, and was not yet crossover music.) Rock n roll is a melding of the three main popular musical genres of the time, not just one of them, but with smaller combos than were typical during the swing/ big band era.
16. 

    Pch101

    January 19, 2016 at 10:41 pm

    @James Joyner:

    Glenn Frey had a solid singing voice. It’s just that he ended up doing the lead on a lot of the cheesier material such as “Chug All Night” and “Already Gone,” while Don Henley ended up with the better songs such as “The Last Resort” (which was lyrically heavy-handed but musically very well put together.)

    But Frey was in fine form in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtmAHq0TKHI This is evidence that the Eagles were a talented band — unlike many rock acts, they were tight and in tune on stage, and didn’t need Autotune in order to hit a note properly. Not many bands have been blessed with multiple songwriters and good vocal harmonies as were the Eagles.
17. 

    Paul Hooson

    January 20, 2016 at 5:02 am

    I’ve been battling Rheumatoid Arthritis as well for many years, narrowing surviving death from pneumonia once before myself. Joint deterioration is what most people think about with this disease, which is annoying enough, but it’s the deterioration of the eyes, heart and lungs are far more serious complications of the illness where many sufferers only live to be an average age of 59 to 69. As the lungs and heart deteriorate, exposure to cigarette smoke, the common cold and the flu become increasingly dangerous to deadly for some sufferers where pneumonia and death could result.
18. 

    Kylopod

    January 20, 2016 at 9:32 am

    @sam: My post came out more garbled than I intended, but the point I was making was this: rock and roll had existed as a self-conscious genre for a while before musicians began mixing it with country. This is implied in the very term rockabilly, which is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly.

    In those days, as you may know, R&B was called “race music”, and was pretty much confined. It broke out of the musical ghetto it had been consigned to and became a force of its won when white musicians began to incorporate its tropes.

    True enough, but it was a more gradual process than you’re implying. Most of the music to first be called “rock and roll” was by black musicians. Pch101 mentions Bill Haley’s “Rock the Joint” (1952) as arguably the first rock and roll record, but I think “Rocket 88” (1951) is a stronger candidate.