![\"Don](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Don-Henley-Musician-Eagles-2023-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Don Henley)<\/p>\n
Mon 9 February 2026 19:25, UK <\/p>\n
The best Eagles records ever made were never going to make it without Don Henley<\/a> looking over everything. <\/p>\n He may not have been the perfectionist that everyone claimed he was behind the scenes, but when they were slowly inching towards becoming the biggest band in the world, he was never going to sit around the studio and settle for good enough whenever they started fine-tuning their masterpieces. He wanted to make sure that they gave everything whenever the tape started rolling, and he had no time for the kind of musicians who were in it for the glory over everything else.<\/p>\n The main reason why Eagles got together in the first place was to have the perfect California rock band, and Henley and Glenn Frey were already handpicking everyone in the group. No one was going to get into the band if they couldn\u2019t play some of the best rock and roll that anyone had ever heard, and it wasn\u2019t out of the ordinary for them to swap out different people if the time called for it, either.<\/p>\n Bernie Leadon never wanted to be a part of a rock and roll outfit, so trading in his country licks for Joe Walsh\u2019s roaring guitar was bound to be a shot in the arm. Even when Frey tragically passed away, bringing in Vince Gill to carry his tunes is the best choice they could have made, especially for someone who could give Walsh a run for his money in the shred department whenever he performed live.<\/p>\n But after the band broke up, Henley was much more interested in turning his voice up. He could be a bit more critical every single time Eagles came out with a new record on tunes like \u2018The Last Resort\u2019 and \u2018The Sad Cafe<\/a>\u2019, but the fangs were bound to come out after making tunes like \u2018Dirty Laundry\u2019 and \u2018The Garden of Allah\u2019. He wanted to call out the injustices of the world, and that also applied to some of the plastic people at the top of the food chain.<\/p>\n After all, the band got back together with a tune all about the phoniness of Hollywood on the song \u2018Get Over It\u2019, so it wasn\u2019t out of the question for Henley to continue going down that road. It was important to balance a song like \u2018Frail Grasp on the Big Picture\u2019 with a few lighthearted tunes, but as the music world entered the 2000s, Henley felt that there was a point in dwelling on what pop starlets like Britney Spears were doing.<\/p>\n