The Eagles were one of the biggest and most influential bands of the seventies, often being referred to as a “hit-making-machine”. Founders Don Henley and Glenn Frey wrote groundbreaking songs such as “Take It Easy”, “One Of These Nights”, and “Peaceful Easy Feeling”. Their debut album Eagles was released in 1972 and it was extremely successful, producing three top 40 singles. The band even admits getting way too famous way too fast and one of their most popular songs “Hotel California” conveys a message of compromise in fortune and fame.
“Hotel California” is considered the most famous recording of the band and the guitar solos within have been voted as “best of all time”. The song received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1978 and has sold 3 million digital downloads. The instrumental of the song is quite poppy and portrays an image of paradise. Tight drum sounds and melodic bass lines represent a reggae influence and soaring guitar parts and sweet vocal melodies give the song its signature Eagles sound. The lyrics are what make the song most iconic and interesting. The song has had attempts at being deconstructed and people claim to have found deeper meanings, some even satanic, but co-writer Don Henley assures the song is about “a journey from innocence to experience…that’s all…”
Henley has said that the song is supposed to be a “symbolic piece about America in general” and also that “lyrically, the song deals with traditional or classical themes of conflict: darkness and light, good and evil, youth and age, the spiritual versus the secular… a loss of innocence.” Some themes discussed in the song include American decadence and burnout, having way too much money, corruption, drugs, arrogance, etc. The Eagles were very imperative on owning the rights to their music and often fought record companies on the greed of the music industry in the late 70’s. The song speaks of the dark underbelly of “the American dream” and about consumerism, excess material, and the illusion that is “making it in California”.
The main theme of this song is to display how being famous and selling one’s art has a dark side. We often think that being celebrities is the ultimate standard of living and this song exists to tell the exact opposite. “Hotel California” is not only a very catchy and has achieved legendary musical acclaim, but the lyrics tell the harsh reality of being in the spotlight and the greed of the music industry.
