On The Eagles ‘Greatest Hits’ 50th Anniversary, Pondering Its Country-ness
It’s pretty wild to think that the best selling album of all time in the United States is a Greatest Hits compilation, hastily thrown together after only four years of albums and singles, and with little or any input from the band itself. It’s also fair to ask if should it be considered a country album, or at least, mostly or partly country, or country-inspired.
We’re of course talking about The Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), which was released 50 years ago today, February 17th, 1976. The popularity of this album is really something that is difficult to impossible to comprehend. It’s officially been Certified 40 Times Platinum by the RIAA. “Diamond” is the distinction they give albums when the go 10X Platinum, and enter an elite level of sales and cultural impact. Their Greatest Hits has done that four times over.
The second closest album is Michael Jackson’s Thriller from 1982, which sits at 6 million in sales behind Their Greatest Hits. For a period after Jackson’s death in 2009, Thriller overtook The Eagles for the #1 all-time spot. They regained it again in 2018, speaking to the continued appeal and relevancy of Their Greatest Hits. Today, we barely think of Greatest Hits releases. Streaming and playlists have made them pretty obsolete. But not this one from The Eagles.
It was Eagles manager Irving Azoff who decided to throw the compilation together. The band was pissed about it. They saw it as a cheap cash grab, and were unhappy that their songs were being selected out of album sequence, especially “Tequila Sunrise” and “Desperado” that felt like non-sequiturs outside of their album cycle, and weren’t really hits anyway. “Desperado” hadn’t even been released as a single.
Rest assured, none of the surviving members of The Eagles, or the deceased members estates are crying now. The release also played a important role in the history of the band. By releasing Their Greatest Hits, it gave the band extra time to refine what they were doing for their next album, 1976’s Hotel California, also known as the 3rd highest selling album in United States history (28X Platinum) behind Thriller.
Hotel California is commonly portrayed as The Eagles’ departure from their California country roots to a more rock-oriented sound, facilitated in large part by the permanent addition of rock guitarist Joe Walsh to the band, and the departure of Bernie Leadon, who was really the band’s biggest tie back to its country roots.
Bernie Leadon was one of the original members of the Eagles when they started in large part by backing Linda Ronstadt as the Corvettes during her country phase. Leadon was also in the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons, and Dillard & Clark with former Byrds member Gene Clark and banjo player Doug Dillard. Bernie Leadon came from a bluegrass background himself, and was a multi-instrumentalist who played banjo, mandolin, dobro, guitar, and some steel guitar in The Eagles.
All this tracing back of roots and considering Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 here on its 50th Anniversary begs the question, should it be considered a country record? What we can say almost conclusively is that if the compilation was released here in 2026, it most certainly would be considered country, if not traditional country, firmly ensconced in Classic California Country for sure, or #510.7 of the Country Dewey Decimal System.
Really, it comes down to how those first four albums that fed into the compilation were marketed, not how they sound, or the singles from them. “Lyin’ Eyes” from 1975 was actually released as a country single, and became a Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (No.8). The only reason “Peaceful Easy Feeling” from 1972 didn’t appear on country charts is because it was never released to country.
“Tequila Sunrise” is another song that’s so obviously country, and is only considered rock because The Eagles are considered a rock band. Same goes for “Desperado,” with the strings giving it strong countrypolitan vibes. If any of these songs had been released as country at the time, nobody would have batted an eyelash. And all the songs of Their Greatest Hits have country leanings at the very least.
When Their Greatest Hits really took on a second life was in the early ’90s in the wake of country music’s explosion behind the “Class of ’89,” a.k.a. Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and Brooks & Dunn. Four of these five performers participated in a tribute album to The Eagles in 1993 called Common Threads: The Songs of The Eagles. In fact, it was Travis Tritt working with Eagles manager Irving Azoff and trying to make a video for his take on “Take It Easy” that resulted in The Eagles getting back together.
At the same time, Clear Channel’s very popular classic rock radio format was playing songs from Their Greatest Hits incessantly. This was helping to fuel the appeal for country music’s neotraditional resurgence of the ’90s era, thus also feeding appeal back to the early catalog of The Eagles, all interconnecting in a cross cultural, multi-generational, and nationwide resurgence of interest in country music and the country-influenced music of The Eagles.
Is it still more relevant to consider The Eagles a rock band, and Their Greatest Hits a rock album? If only out of respect to the band’s original artistic intent and stated opinions of what to be called, it probably is.
But it is the country appeal of The Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 that has helped bolster the album’s unprecedented popularity and longevity now across generations. This is the album that seeded the appeal for country sounds and country sounds to millions of people.
Country music deserves some credit for being foundational to the most popular album in America of all time.
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February 17, 2026 @ 9:36 am
My dad always called the Eagles fake country or valley country. I think you can lump a few other bands at the time in this boat too, America, Allman Brothers, CCR, Canned Heat, Marshall Tucker Band, Brewer and Shipley etc. The issue with the eagles of course is they were so much connected to California (and not bakersfield) that it really becomes extra blurred with them
I will say, you are spot on trigger about their overplay, they were oversaturated by far in the 90s to the point they havent aged as well as some of their contemporaries. You can say the same about the Who. But either way eagles are highway driving staples regardless of genre
February 17, 2026 @ 10:10 am
Given you include Marshall Tucker, would you also throw Charlie Daniels in that group of “fake country”?
February 17, 2026 @ 10:42 am
Alas its not my term. My dad’s a big fan of tje eagles despite his “fake country” moniker. For whatever reason Charlie Daniels gets much more lumped in with country than others
February 17, 2026 @ 1:50 pm
MTB, CDB, AB and Skynyrd were all southern rock. Skynyrd was straight rock, Allmans blues based and Charlie Daniels was closer to country. Harder to pin Marshall Tucker down since they spanned everything from blues to country to jazz etc.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:40 pm
I’m curious, what’s the distinction that makes Skynyrd straight rock and not southern rock to you? Most people hold up Skynyrd as the prototypical southern rock band. I don’t know that I could define what makes southern rock different from straight rock, so I’m just wondering how you’re drawing the line.
February 17, 2026 @ 5:19 pm
Matt,
I called all 4 bands Southern Rock. Within that subgenre I think Skynyrd was the closest to straight rock. Few, if any, fiddles, jazz swing, blues notes, etc.
February 17, 2026 @ 11:07 am
I’m 50. Growing up I heard Charlie Daniels more on the rock stations than country stations sans “Drinking My Baby Goodbye” (that one I recall on the country stations).
Living in SW PA – south of Pittsburgh, but surrounded by West Virginia to the immediate south and west – WDVE (the classic rock station out of Pittsburgh) played Charlie Daniels regularly. I’d only hear Daniels on country radio out of Wheeling, WV when it was Jamboree in the Hills time of the year. When I lived in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, I never heard Daniels out of the 2 Nashville country stations, but that was the early 90’s.
As for the Eagles, WDVE played Eagles music post the GH package. I had the GH album on record and cassette and at the time never thought of it as country. But like Trig wrote, if released today it would be country.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:52 pm
Hey hoptowntiger,
In Pittsburgh, WEEP-FM (later WDSY, Y108) played the Eagles before the Greatest Hits album. In the early 70’s, WEEP-FM played what they called “Progressive Country”, all the country rock bands that we’re talking about in these comments. It didn’t last that long but it was good.
February 18, 2026 @ 7:15 pm
Interesting. I’m very familiar with Y108 growing up, but I never knew what it was prior to mainstream, top 40 country format. We lived a little south west of Pittsburgh and listened mostly to the country radio station out of Wheeling, Weirton and Steubenville which was later rebranded a Froggy. The call letters escape me right now. It was a little looser with the format, but never played The Eagles.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:19 am
That is a strange grouping, the Eagles, America and the Allman Brothers. I’ve never thought of the Allman Brothers, who I’m a big fan of, as grouped with either of the other two.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:34 am
Allman brothers and Marshall Tucker are “southern rock” while the Eagles are “country rock”. If you were to plot genres on a linear line souther rock, and country rock would be pretty close together.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:14 pm
The Allman Brothers always found the “southern rock” categorization problematic. Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts may not have agreed on much after Duane Allman died, but they both agreed that they were NOT a “southern rock” band. Gregg famously said that saying southern rock was like saying rock rock – meaning that all rock music evolved out of southern roots music. The Brothers were inclined to think of Lynyrd Skynyrd as a southern rock band. It’s extremely ironic that their only real hit was the extremely country sounding “Ramblin’ Man.” That song (with Les Dudek playing the harmony guitar parts) and the harmony guitar parts that Duane and Dickey made famous were extremely influential in mid to late ‘70’s country music, sometimes with two guitars and sometimes with guitar(s) and pedal steel. The Allman Brothers were an extremely nuanced band, embracing blues, jazz, rock and country influences. Dickey’s “Blue Sky” was one of the last songs recorded with Duane and was a harbinger of his out and out country masterpiece and first solo album “Highway Call.”
February 17, 2026 @ 10:23 am
The Allman Brothers Band is one of the most important bands in rock history. They most certainly were not ” valley country” or ” fake country”. Blues based rock and roll is what they were. The term southern rock became a thing and The Allmans were included in that category as were many other artists. It is true Dickey Betts loved country music and his first solo album was country in sound, though no one has ever made a case that he was a country artist. It is true Ramblin Man was written with Haggard in mind, but Hag declined it. Majority of ABB music is undeniably rock with pentatonic and hexatonic scalular soloing patterns performed on Les Pauls plugged into Marshall’s. Certainly not country. Marshall Tucker band did a few country songs along the way but never claimed to be country or even country rock for that matter. MTB played a lot of blues and even dabbled in jazz scales and western swing beats at times. Not a country band. Southern rock is where their legacy resides.
As for the early Eagles, id call them California country rock, and I’d include Flying Burritos, Poco and Parsons in that description. Truthfully at the time none of them were even recognized by country music. Later on, many country music fans and artists would cite The Eagles as highly influential.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:26 pm
For the record, my dad was only referring to the Eagles as “Fake Country” not the Allman Brothers (which he liked and I’m a TTB fan nowadays) but I’m saying in the days of radio stations lumping them all together, the Allman Brothers certainly get lumped in all of that.
February 17, 2026 @ 8:27 pm
Who ever said Canned Heat , the Allman Bros, or Marshall aTuckechrisr were country,???? Yur an idiot!!!!!
February 17, 2026 @ 9:47 am
Perhaps for the Eagles, genre is not important. I think it is a great album with great songs and performances that have stood the test of time. I have never seen them as country or country rock, just good. I can understand their wide and enduring appeal.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:48 am
Good article. I don’t think the impact of the Eagles’ mid-1990s reunion can be overstated on their longevity. They went from being semi-mythical history (“Classic Rock”) to a living, breathing, touring, releasing musical act, opening them to new fans who weren’t even alive when they broke up.
February 17, 2026 @ 9:54 am
In the moment growing up in the late 70’s/early 80’s in Northeast Ohio I would never have thought of the Eagles’ music as country mainly because the local AOR radio station, the mighty WMMS, would play “Take it Easy” right in the middle of a 10-song run of Rush, Bowie, Pink Floyd, and Mott the Hoople. It certainly sounded different to me than the other stuff, but it was rock to my ears. Flash forward decades later after I finally found bands like Reckless, and Turnpike, and Boland and yep you can plant just about any song from this record except “Hotel CA” into a Red Dirt playlist and it sure doesn’t sound out of place. Cool topic Trigger.
PS – If you want to hear a great cover of a country rock song turned on its head into a full-blown Gospel/Soul mind-meld check out Etta James’ version of “Take it to the Limit.”
February 17, 2026 @ 9:56 am
I do think this is one of the most influential albums of all time on country music. The common thread album was a hit because the connection was so obvious. Yes all the biggest stars of 90s country (besides George strait) are clearly heavily influenced by the eagles and these songs. My dad told me he became a country fan around the time I was born specifically because country music was where he heard the music he loved when he was younger (the eagles/Grateful Dead).
I think this is definitely a country album and a great one
February 17, 2026 @ 9:58 am
In the 80’s when CD players were becoming more common place in households, this was the first CD I bought for myself. I still have it. I guess I was a trend setter and didn’t even know it
February 17, 2026 @ 10:00 am
Not to pick nits….
I would think Chris Hillman would get a mention with the Flying Burrito Brothers.
I thought it was Bernie Leadon on a B-Bender Telecaster doing the steel sounding solo on Peaceful Easy Feeling.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:20 am
When I was writing this, it started turning into a Bernie Leadon biography, which I would love to write in the future, but is not what I wanted to write here. So much more could have been explored there, and hopefully I will do so in the future.
You very well could be right about Bernie playing the B-Bender. I couldn’t find any good details credits for that song. But clearly the guitar there is meant to emulate steel.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:44 pm
The performances on YouTube show Frey on acoustic and Leadon making the slide/steel sound.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:01 am
The underrated Ray Scott had a fun song released about 20 years ago (My Kind of Music) wherein the singer’s romantic interest attempted to defend her musical taste by saying that she “sorta likes The Eagles.” The implicit derision about the band’s countryness in that song lines up with mine.
Don’t mistake me – The Eagles are great. But they’re ‘70s light rock. One of the definitive bands of that subgenre.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:57 pm
That song is great. Too country for country radio.
February 18, 2026 @ 10:54 am
I always interpreted that line less as a dig at the Eagle’s countryness and more of a dig at the fact that the person’s only frame of reference for country was from a band with one foot in both worlds that had sold millions and millions of copies of their albums (i.e. aggressively mainstream in a way that most country isn’t). Splitting hairs, of course.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:22 am
Country tinged as a band overall. But the greatest hits album was from everything before Hotel California, I’d say it’s more country adjacent and influenced…like Trigger said, it introduced country sounds to millions of people.
Pretty sure by their own admission they moved more towards rock when they added Joe Walsh and wanted to rock more…that’s what I recall from the documentary, anyway.
I like the Eagles a little bit, but what always struck me as weird about them is that Frey and Henley were big assholes and wannabe tough guys but most of their music was anything but.
February 19, 2026 @ 8:04 am
I could not agree more about wannabe tough guy vibe from Frey. It always turned me off. He was very difficult to deal with in the studio and caused a lot of issues. Later on he just became financially greedy to the point of it being absurd.
February 19, 2026 @ 3:26 pm
The Eagles have been one of my favorite bands since high school. I never wanted to meet Henley or Frey and agree they are total assholes. I wouldn’t call any of their music an attempt to be “tough.” – same with Fagan and Becker in Steely Dan. I do view their assholery as a pursuit to put out perfect music.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:30 am
First two Eagles albums were definitely country sounding. Songs like peaceful easy feeling, Train Leaves Here This Morning and Tequilla Sunrise. They actually led me into listening to country music.
February 20, 2026 @ 4:43 pm
Yup. Those albums were county sounding. But I dont think Take It To The Limit or One of These Nights are country at all.
I saw the Eagles with Linda Ronstadt and Dan Fogelberg in ’77 or ’78 for about $12. Times have changed.
February 17, 2026 @ 10:33 am
If you brought me the Eagles as a brand new band to promote, the tagline would be “featuring Bernie Leadon (ex-Burrito Brothers, Dillard & Clark, Hearts & Flowers)”
February 17, 2026 @ 11:00 am
For me, the Eagles had a country rock edge, and growing up in New England in the 70’s with not much exposure to real Country music, it introduced me to this wonderful sound. Love this album with such great songs.
February 17, 2026 @ 11:10 am
I think I am the only person in the world who does not enjoy The Eagles. Nope. I don’t. I cannot stand Hotel California. They are talented for sure, but I just do not connect.
Sure, they had a country feel. However, I don’t think of them as a country act and their music is not country. They are a rock band. But the guys were simply making music – music of the time – and it appealed across the board.
I think the entire band grew to hate each other? And then to have the #1 selling LP of all time is hilarious.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:47 pm
The Dude abides except when the Eagles come on.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:46 pm
Man, I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin Eagles, man.
February 17, 2026 @ 5:02 pm
With you on “Hotel California.” It’s one of my least favorite radio standards. Always made me reach for the dial. Overall, the Eagles were good, but overrated and overplayed — in my opinion.
I always classified them as country rock. When I lived in the Washington DC area in the 80s as a kid, they got heavy play on the country radio station. Back in small town Midwest, not nearly as much. So, I guess more urban people heard them as country, or at least preferred to hear them as country.
February 18, 2026 @ 10:59 am
I’m not really a fan, either. I appreciate how they influenced a generation (or two) to give country a chance, but they’re just boring to me. They’re not hard enough for my rock ear and not country enough for my country ear, and Henley and Frey’s singing voices are technically accomplished but bland. There are very few songs by them that I haven’t liked better as covers, and they might be the only band with that distinction for me. That the members all feuded over who got what cut of the money and the pile of cocaine, in addition to setting new heights for ticket prices, just kinda seals the deal for me. But they’re from the ‘70s, so it’s okay. If a band from the ‘90s or 2000s had done that it’d be a shitshow.
February 19, 2026 @ 5:41 am
Yea, the reports of the egotism of Frey and Henley didn’t help, and the slickness of their production, especially the vocals, said they weren’t “authentic.” But the songs! They are monsters. For me Desperado is one of the great concept albums of all time.
A question I’ve asked before: Is it possible to love both George Jones and the Eagles? For me the answer is yes.
February 18, 2026 @ 11:16 am
The Monkees, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Carpenters, Bread etc… they were all just as country as The Eagles. They also made better music overall.
February 20, 2026 @ 10:23 am
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But I’m with The Dude on this one.
I was in a cafe in Pokhara, Nepal getting plastered on bang lassie in 99. The bartender put on an Eagles cd and all I could think of was The Dude. “Not the fucking Eagles man!”
I still remember explaining the joke that day. They couldn’t understand the irony. The Eagles are clearly so great that we’re listening to them in Nepal but then they suck so bad that he has to change the music.
I made him change the music.
Pushy foreigner, to be sure, but he agreed there was other better stuff to listen to.
February 17, 2026 @ 11:15 am
As a 20-something in Southern Californiai n the ’70s, Haggard was the lodestone but songs like “One of the These Nights” and “New Kid in Town” weren’t far off.
February 17, 2026 @ 11:32 am
I grew up in the 70s and was never a huge fan of the Eagles, nor am I now. Interestingly though, I just finished reading Cameron Crowe’s autobiography “The Uncool” in which he writes a bit about the Eagles have been around when they started. This led me to going back and listening to some of their early albums and I pretty quickly I realized why I never liked them.
It’s not about country or not country, it’s about good and not good. Their music, to me, is the worst type of nothing. Their most rocking songs don’t and many of their hits sound like something Burt Bacharach left on the floor.
I remember being a freshman in college and a friend told us Wings tickets were going on sale the next day. We got excited, grabbed our sleeping bags and things we needed to get through the night and headed down to Rupp Arena to get in line. When we got there we found out it was Eagles. I believe I was the only one who headed back to the dorm.
February 17, 2026 @ 11:41 am
I seen Eagle open for Mott and the Hooples.
He was rock.
February 17, 2026 @ 2:48 pm
Who in hell are Mott and the Hooples? I remember Mott the Hoople. I’ll check out Mott and the Hooples. If they were asked to open for The Eagles, they must be worth a listen. Thanks!
February 18, 2026 @ 11:24 am
I think he meant Mutt and the Hopeless.
A trio of shaggy leftovers from the hippie era, playing a hybrid of acid-disco laced with speed metal guitar solos. Think ABBA with blue, needle-scarred arms, black, bleeding nostrils and yellowish red eyes.
Sometimes they managed to finish a song before one or all of them collapsed in a pit of green vomit after pissing and shitting themselves.
February 17, 2026 @ 11:48 am
I put my thoughts on the Eagles into a post a while back. Seems relevant here:
It is de rigueur in the hipper circles of Americana music to shit on the Eagles at every opportunity. After all, the icon of all that is hip and holy — Gram Parsons — once described the Eagles as “a plastic dry-fuck.” Well, I love Gram Parsons’ music and we are forever in his debt for his introducing Emmylou Harris to the world — but he was a nasty drunk and mean-spirited quotes from an artist who flushed his potential down the toilet shouldn’t be taken as holy writ.
Anyway, I ain’t here to defend the Eagles per se. I’ve known enough people who have worked with Don Henley to know that he’s a jackass with a titanic ego. The ambition and infighting revealed in the long and very good documentary History of the Eagles ain’t a pretty picture (particularly of Glenn Frey), either — though it’s entirely unexceptional in the 1970s rock world.
No, my ambitions are modest: Simply to pay tribute to Desperado. I love that album, and I don’t care if it costs me my Americana aficionado card.
https://frontierpartisans.com/appreciation-of-desperado/
February 17, 2026 @ 4:20 pm
I always liked Linda Ronstadt’s version of “Desperado” better. Of course, HER piano player was Dewey Linden (Spooner) Oldham, so…
February 18, 2026 @ 5:01 am
Am with you on Graham Parsons. Of my parents music that was “passed down” to me I’ve found Graham Parsons and Flying Burrito brothers to be among the least accessible and not particularly enjoyable experiences.
February 18, 2026 @ 6:40 am
This is pretty much how I feel about The Eagles. I like them, but wouldn’t say I love them. But I don’t relate to the knee jerk distaste for them in some circles And I do LOVE the Desperado album. I bought the Greatest Hits album sometime in the late ’70s because it did have a bunch of songs that I liked and a couple (like Take It Easy) that I loved. It also had a couple that I could do without (like Best of My Love). In ’80 or ’81, a friend turned me on to Desperado and then I borrowed it and taped it. I think it’s stunningly good pretty much all the way through and chock full of great deep cuts.
Similarly, I’m not much for Don Henley’s solo career, but I do love his country album Cass County.
February 17, 2026 @ 11:59 am
71-75 is definitely the same vibe as the Burritos, Stone Canyon Band, et. al. Once we get to “Hotel California” and “New Kid in Town,” the Eagles are mostly a different thing, not a lot different than Fleetwood Mac.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:17 pm
The Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975),if put out today, yes.I love this album. My Dad was definitely not a rocker, a pedal steel player, Ray Price & George Jones type. He loves this album. If I worked in a music store, I’d put it in the rock area. I typically eye roll when people say “it just sounds good, it transcends genre,blah,blah.” This one does for me.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:32 pm
The most undeniably country song the Eagles ever released was on Hotel California: “Try and Love Again,” written and sung by Randy Meisner.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:54 pm
I saw The Eagles on their first tour in Atlanta. They were the opening act for headliner Procol Harum and second act The Booger Band, Not sure I would call them a country band. Maybe a country rock band with their first two albums and a few country songs after those.
February 17, 2026 @ 12:54 pm
I saw The Eagles on their first tour in Atlanta in 1972. They were the opening act for headliner Procol Harum and second act The Booger Band, Not sure I would call them a country band. Maybe a country rock band with their first two albums and a few country songs after those.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:18 pm
This album was part of the soundtrack to my coming of age, the top 40 part, before I found and moved on to the Rock and Metal arena. I had many of the 45s and spun them endlessly. Best Of My Love was my favorite, but absolutely loved playing the drums to One Of These Nights and Take It Easy in the basement as I was learning to play. Great songs are great songs that stand the test of time generations later.
February 17, 2026 @ 1:47 pm
I feel like “the Eagles were pissed about it” is a pretty commonly uttered sentence. Glen Frey in particular seems like he’s pissed about things pretty often given all the lawsuits and takedown notices about anyone having anything to say about their music in the last few years.
February 17, 2026 @ 3:31 pm
Glenn has been dead for 10 years.
February 17, 2026 @ 5:26 pm
And, Deacon Frey did an admirable job of “filling in” for his father, at the concert in Cleveland on Oct. 2018.
Was a Great concert.
February 18, 2026 @ 6:27 am
Don Henley and the late Glenn Frey are two of the best examples you’ll find of ‘love the art, not the artist’. Two insufferable pricks who were probably the two least talented individuals in that band and were the most responsible for their later, shitty, saccharine sound. Give them sodium pentathol and I guarantee they’d say they were in it for the money and the pu**y, not the music.
February 17, 2026 @ 2:10 pm
I once saw an interview with Don Henley, and he admitted he never understood the Eagles impact upon country music, until he was on the CMA show in 1992. Trisha Yearwood should be given some credit to the thread of their lasting career, because she was granted that opportunity to sing ‘Walkaway Joe’ with him. He said people constantly came up offstage and praised the Eagles influence on their music. So regardless of what box, one may place them in, they were just music for anyone who wanted to hear them and appreciate what they had to offer. Thats where I put them as a lifelong country fan, because I missed their commerical success, but I grew up in the 90s, and I can hear it in that era and it’s output.
February 17, 2026 @ 2:28 pm
I remember seeing The Eagles, with Jimmy Buffet opening, on, I think, The Long Run tour in a stadium. A great show. My friend and I went to our bass player’s house on the way because his folks were not home. His dad kept beers in the garage fridge, so being underage, we pilfered some. We drank a few in the parking lot and jocked the rest to bring them in with us, but I digress. I loved the Eagles and Greatest Hits played often, but I never thought of them as country. I grew up on country, my mom often had WSM on “skip” at night. Years later, I recognized the countryness of them. Thanks for the well written article, Kyle.
February 17, 2026 @ 2:28 pm
““Tequila Sunrise” is another song that’s so obviously country, and is only considered rock because The Eagles are considered a rock band.”
This is so true back then. I discovered this some years ago – about 75% of the Eagles songs could have been right at home on country radio back then, and because I would not ever consider turning on a rock station (today i wouldn’t even consider turning on a country radio station, let along a rock one) we all missed out on some great stuff.
February 17, 2026 @ 2:36 pm
Always thought the term “Country Rock” was silly, and I still don’t understand why people are so hell-bent on putting music and bands in goofy categories. Eagles were (are? were) a rock band, plain and simple. Whether you liked them or not, whether you respected them or not and whether your thought them successful in “rocking” or not. They had country, blues and americana influences. Pretty much every rock band from the beginning of rock has country, blues, americana and/or jazz influences.
Overplayed? Sure, but so too was every other band mentioned in this thread.
February 17, 2026 @ 3:10 pm
Just one old fools opinion in response to some of the letters. The Marshall Tucker Band deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Lyin Eyes is a country song and I am shocked none of the country bands since the 80’s has released a cover of it, and Skynyrd was a rock band with a country singer and songwriter fronting it, when Ronnie was alive.
February 18, 2026 @ 12:50 pm
In my humble opinion, nobody emulated the various “american” styles of music better than John Fogerty, through Creedence.
CCR is still the blueprint. Sadly, thereafter we got sissy pop-ish bands like the Eagles, Dr. Hook, post-Peter Green Fleetwood Mac and numerous others. Even the Carpenters could out-rock those bands, now and then.
February 18, 2026 @ 1:00 pm
P.S. Diamond Rio did a version of Lyin’ Eyes on the E tribute “Common Thread” in 1993.
It’s still neither country or rock, tho. It’s pop with a slide guitar and keyboards.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:19 pm
Conway had cut “Heartache Tonight” in 1983 and scored a top 10 with it, just 4 years after the Eagles took it to #1 on the pop/rock charts. The musical arrangement differs very slightly between the two. Of course, it was released after Hotel California, well after their shift towards a more rockish sound. Still, consider they one Grammy in the country category for Long Road to Eden, and “How Long” sounds like they picked up right where they left off.
February 18, 2026 @ 11:28 pm
But by 1983, Conway had left his country years well behind.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:30 pm
The Eagles are Great/Awesome. The high and mighty ‘country’ experts who look down their nose at them are ridiculous. Great Great songs. Call it Country, call it Rock, call it Country Rock…I do not care. The majority of those who criticize The Eagles have modern-day “Authentic Country!” Heroes whose music objectively sucks. The musicianship, the lyrics, the guitar heroes…The Eagles are one of the greatest American bands ever.
February 18, 2026 @ 12:55 pm
I think it’s about authenticity. That’s what separates Creedence from the Eagles and the other manufactured “country-rock” bands of the 70’s. The term itself is still a silly monicker to cater to both camps, and failing to do so, in the end. “Country-rock” is nothing but AOR/MOR (both silly terms) for those who sports denim and flannel.
February 17, 2026 @ 4:50 pm
Just as a note here: There is still this ongoing myth that, when they started out, The Eagles were originally intended as Linda’s backing band. This wasn’t really true, since they were featured on her self-titled 1972 album in different line-ups on different songs, and never the exact original four (Henley; Frey; Randy Meisner; Bernie Leadon). And prior to the band naming themselves, the only time the original four Eagles ever backed Linda was at a Graduation Night event at Disneyland in Anaheim in 1971. Both Linda and her producer John Boylan gave the band their full emotional support for going out on their own.
However, over the next several years, Linda and her former band would get together for several memorable get-togethers, including an appearance on “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” in March 1974 that included this “unplugged” version of “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”, with Linda on vocals, and both she and Bernie on acoustic guitars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BO4d5e5Uao&pp=ygUobGluZGEgcm9uc3RhZHQgaXQgZG9lc24ndCBtYXR0ZXIgYW55bW9yZQ%3D%3D
February 18, 2026 @ 6:01 pm
Good, informative “add-on’s”. Thank you, mr. North, that’s why I read the comments.
And of course, to read and/or to contribute in whatever silliness/mayhem/insults etc. going on among us bottom-dwellers.
February 17, 2026 @ 5:00 pm
We drank JD and coke on fishing trips as teenagers, and Eagles Greatest Hits was one of the cassettes with a bunch of others in a plastic box. We sang along to everything.
Shrug.
February 17, 2026 @ 7:10 pm
Well back in the day they were considered rock, at least a lite version of it. Probably because there was actual country music on the radio, pretty much every song. I wasnt a big fan but i did like singing take it easy outside with my friends for kicks on some nights. Today yea, they would def be considered country.
February 18, 2026 @ 7:06 pm
Pfft, even Ella Langley, Lainey Wilson and Jelly Roll are considered country today.
That’s why we should stick to gatekeeping. Bro-country godfather Hank jr. got his fame from becoming a rock star, copying Waylon who never was a country artist in the first place (just like his partner-in-pill-popping John Cash). Same can be said for a shitload of big country act from the last 60 years or so; John Denver, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Lynn Anderson, Conway Twitty, Crystal Gayle, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain and virtually 99% of the ones from the early 90s and onward.
They are not country artists per se, they hit big with country songs now and then, but their greatest hit(s) are seldom tried and true country, it’s pop or blues or rock or any genre but country.
And that’s fine, I love me some Waylon, Kenny, Bocephus, Twitty and Gayle. It’s good music, but it’s not country.
So perhaps we should quit labelling the artists, and rather label the songs? I don’t know, either solution will end as the same mess.
But we should always draw a line. You can only stroll so far off the beaten path before you’re crossing onto an entirely different path.
February 18, 2026 @ 3:21 am
…always perceived this album and the band in general as “something west coast” – not anywhere near the vicinity of nashville, the heart of country music, in any way. hence, i never heard it as a “country album” although the production definitely encompasses country elements to great benefits. there’s no reason trying to mould the eagles into a country format. for some they fit quite perfectly – for others they never will. they are a prime example of those fusion experiments going on out there in the west at the time. that’s absolutely fine and enjoyed greatly by me. fantastic music still.
February 18, 2026 @ 6:30 am
My Dad is/was a big Eagles fan. When that second Wilder Blue album came out, I sent it to him right away and said, “This is what the Eagles could’ve been had they not kicked Bernie Leadon out of the band.” That’s a lie though, The Wilder Blue is waaay more talented than the (quotes The Dude) ‘fucking Eagles”.
February 18, 2026 @ 7:57 am
The seldom heard but vastly underrated “Desperado,” “Tequila Sunrise” and ” Take It Easy” along with “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks,” “Life In The Fast Lane” and “Hotel California” are examples of the Eagles’ country-rock chops,which have been downplayed as most of their fans try to portray them as rock OR Country,not rock AND Country.
February 18, 2026 @ 10:44 am
Just another manufactured boyband consisting of clashing egos.
An easy sell.
February 18, 2026 @ 1:24 pm
I’m curious on anyone’s opinions on the categorization of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Bernie Leadon was even a member from about mid 1987 to about mid 1988.
February 18, 2026 @ 1:34 pm
Restless Heart was often compared to the Eagles. Curious on anyone’s thoughts on Restless Heart’s categorization as well.
February 19, 2026 @ 4:09 am
How about Southern Pacific (featuring ex Doobie Brother guitarist John McFee and ex CCR bassist Stu Cook)?
March 29, 2026 @ 6:37 pm
They are a Country Band with Rock ties. I wish they had stayed together longer. I really enjoyed their music. Saw them and met them once. Great guys!
February 18, 2026 @ 1:38 pm
Dont forget the Eagles cover of Tom Waits “Ol’55” Dripping with Pedal steel. I assume it’s Bernie but not 100%
February 18, 2026 @ 6:08 pm
It’s the legendary Al Perkins on steel. His sound has a slightly dobro-vibe, similar to Norm Hamlett’s steel picking (both of them picks some excellent dobro too, of course).
Quite rare among the steel pickers, actually.
February 19, 2026 @ 3:28 pm
Don Felder played steel guitar live after Bernie left the band
February 19, 2026 @ 8:17 am
I was crazy about the Eagles greatest hits so I grabbed a ticket when they came to my city in the summer of 1975. I had seen the ABB Band (less Duane) a week earlier at the same venue and couldn’t believe how powerful they were as a Live act. It was just incredible. The crowd was extremely quiet during their songs, some that lasted 15 minutes or longer. There was an intensity I’d never felt at a concert in terms of how people listened to the music.
The vibe at the Eagles concert was like people standing around listening to album cuts. They sounded live exactly like the studio cuts. I was bored to death and left before the the encore.
I have friends that loved going to their live gigs and singing along with the crowd. Bored me to tears.
February 19, 2026 @ 8:20 am
Might have been later in the 70’s because I think the ABB had gotten back together after breaking up. Too old to remember the year other than I was a youngster.
February 19, 2026 @ 1:02 pm
The Allman Brothers broke up the first time during the summer of 1976. They were still a viable band when you saw them in 1975.
February 19, 2026 @ 3:30 pm
I hear the Eagles influence all over 1980’s and 90’s Country.
February 19, 2026 @ 6:08 pm
And today they are old codgers draining audiences of money while they lip sync their concerts. Sad.