![\"Don](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Don-Henley-Musician-2026-The-Eagles-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: YouTube Still<\/p>\n
Thu 2 July 2026 19:30, UK <\/p>\n
By the time Eagles split, Don Henley<\/a> was the one everyone had their eyes on. <\/p>\n He was by far the greatest singer in the band, and if anyone had what it took to spin the whole breakup into a solo career, it was him. But when looking at the first few years of every one of their solo careers, Henley seemed to be the one person who was the most reluctant about the idea of making an entirely new project without his old friends.<\/p>\n Those times with his fellow California crooners were certainly fun, but Henley didn\u2019t feel like he needed to become one of the biggest stars in the world or anything. The beauty of being in any band is getting to share the credit or the blame for one of your records with the rest of your bandmates, and Henley wasn\u2019t ready for that kind of judgment from the critics, but Glenn Frey at least gave him some incentive to kick things into high gear<\/a> once he started hearing what he was doing with his solo career.<\/p>\n The fact that Frey already had an album in the can right after the band broke up was what set Henley\u2019s career into motion, but it took a while before he felt like he had a firm basis to work off of. I Can\u2019t Stand Still is a fine album for what it is, but when you listen to it in conjunction with the rest of his records, there\u2019s something missing. Henley was still figuring out what his solo career was going to be, and if one thing was for sure, it was that \u2018Johnny Can\u2019t Read\u2019 didn\u2019t really have a shot <\/a>at the big time.<\/p>\n Henley admitted to screwing that one up in retrospect, but \u2018Dirty Laundry\u2019 didn\u2019t stand out as a song that would launch him to stardom or anything. If anything, this was the kind of album cut that could get more than a little bit vicious whenever he played it live, but it turned out there were a lot more people out there in the world who were ready to hear Henley talk about his issues with journalists.<\/p>\n He had already gone through the wringer after the band\u2019s breakup, but Henley admitted that if it weren\u2019t for that song, he may not have had a career at all, saying<\/a>, \u201cThat first album was difficult. Then some program director or DJ \u2013 I can\u2019t remember who \u2013 heard \u2018Dirty Laundry,\u2019 called [Eagles manager] Irving Azoff and said \u2018That \u2018kick \u2018em when they\u2019re up, kick \u2018em when they\u2019re down\u2019 thing? That\u2019s hit material. You should release that.\u2019 So they did, and that was really the kickoff of my solo career.\u201d<\/p>\n But becoming one of the biggest stars circa 1982 wasn\u2019t really what Henley was looking for at the time. He wanted to continue making music just like he had always done, but if he was going to continue releasing new material, he was going to need to make some adjustments once MTV became a major part of his career. <\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n Most artists of his generation weren\u2019t going to be able to survive without doing a few videos, and Henley was willing to play along with whatever the network wanted. He had more than a few moments where he had to make meagre attempts at dancing, but looking back on that aspect of his career, Henley said numerous times that he would rather have done without<\/a> having to make a fool of himself every time he got on MTV.<\/p>\n Given what those songs gave him, though, Henley knew that it was a small price to pay for becoming one of the biggest stars in the world. So in a way, \u2018Dirty Laundry\u2019 is one of the few Henley songs from his early years that didn\u2019t have to cower to the pressures of what the rock press needed. MTV hadn\u2019t come in yet, so he could stick to the one thing he knew how to do best: writing songs.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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