The Villainy of The Eagles
“The Eagles’ musical reputation is great, but their social reputation is terrible. I know this because everyone knows this. But also because…once, I hated The Eagles too.”
—Chuck Klosterman, I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined)
The above paraphrased quote is from a 2013 book—I Wear the Black Hat, by Chuck Klosterman—that “questions the very nature of how modern people understand the concept of villainy.” (Publisher’s summary on Audible.com.) The book’s second chapter puts forth the example of The Eagles. It starts with a treatise on why, throughout most of his life, the author felt “contractually obligated” to hate the band.
That’s kinda hilarious to me. I am 53, around the same age as Klosterman, and was just as immersed in pop culture as any kid of the ’70s and ’80s. Still, I had no clue “Eagle hatred” was a thing. Frankly, I’ve always liked The Eagles. They make good music. (Not the most masculine or manly—but then neither am I!) In the ’90s, I suppose I was too busy listening to trip-hop to care one way or the other about The Eagles. So exactly how did they get to be villains and “anti-heroes”? Are we being a bit overdramatic here?
I was recently asked by a friend to spew forth my thoughts on the matter. Said friend knows I have a pretty unvarnished opinion about this kinda thing—so she thought it would be fun to get my take. By the way, she is also an avid reader, and a technical writer. As she reads this, she is secretly judging my grammar…
Love ’Em or Leave ’Em
After consuming Chapter 2, I still didn’t feel qualified to pontificate before doing some quick research. So I googled a couple online articles. (Linked below for further reading.) From them, I gleaned just enough background to get a solid sense of why The Eagles were so hated—even though, to this day, they’re still the all-time best-selling rock band in America!
The dichotomy actually makes sense. As crazy popular as The Eagles of the 1970s were, their music didn’t exactly “rock out.” By design, there was little edge, attitude, or coolness factor. That’s okay. Lowest-common-denominator music typically has the broadest mass-appeal. So, more power to ’em—they knew their audience!
But the other side of fame is infamy. When you have a lot of supporters, it’s likely you also have a lot of detractors. That’s just how haterade works.
For example, to music fans struggling to not be defined as “sheep”—for example, punksters, hard-rockers, or anyone identifying with that set—The Eagles were only popular because they’d sold out to the enemy. (Old, out-of-touch people who had nothing better to listen to than the “corporate tripe” peddled by soft-rock bands. Those damned Boomers…ruining everything!) So it’s arguable that this hatred had less to do with the music, and more to do with who was listening to it.
Additionally, anyone trying to build a reputation for coolness was obligated to view The Eagles as insincere fakesters. Posers and cash-grabbers who didn’t stand for much—musically, socially, environmentally, philosophically, or otherwise. The Eagles, it seems, were the perfect band to hate on.
But There’s Only So Much Hate to Go ’Round
Fast-forward to Klosterman’s 2013 book. His admission that, at some point, he basically ran out of hatred for musical acts that he’d once reviled, for any of various reasons—even those who might have deserved it—is, once again, kinda hilarious. Because it points out two things:
1. You can’t hold onto hate forever. (Particularly unwarranted hate.) It takes too much work.
2. Young people are assholes.
When we’re young, we feel the need to cultivate tastes that are considered edgy and nonconformist. We tend to get our feathers ruffled by things that don’t matter—and we seek to ruffle others, just to prove we’re different from them. What a waste of energy.
Think about it. If you were a young punk music lover in the ’70s, or a metal-head in the ’80s—likely hating on The Eagles to prove you weren’t a sheep—you were, in effect, still a sheep. Just on the other side of the musical pasture. You and others herded together to pronounce a common hatred for people and things who frankly did not deserve your surliness, sauciness, or vitriol. You, sir or madam, were the fakester. You were projecting onto The Eagles everything you feared becoming…and eventually became anyway.
I Am Everyday Sheeple
And who were the shepherds, per sé? The Eagles. It didn’t matter if you were a lover or hater. You got played, and Don Henley & Company were the beneficiaries. It’s okay, because music is one place where we’re all allowed to “sheep out.” It doesn’t hurt anyone. In fact, if you go back and listen to The Eagles, I guarantee, there’s something in there you’ll enjoy. Something you never gave a chance, back when you were a young, self-righteous asshole.
Even Klosterman admits the music was good…or at least well-written and exquisitely performed. Of course, other articles have come out since Klosterman’s book, condemning the author as basically falling victim to his own nostalgia—and hence now being the “sellout.”
But that’s how haterade works, right?
Further Down the Rabbithole…
This was fun! I’d love to hear your opinion in the Comments section, if so inclined. One of the best parts of TRH is the engrossing conversations that follow these little diatribes. In the meantime, below are some related links you may want to check out:
I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) on SimonandShuster.com
I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) on Amazon.com
Chuck Klosterman on Wikipedia.com
“The Eagles: Why we love them, why we hate them”, StarTribune.com
“Quit defending the Eagles! They're simply terrible”, Salon.com
Acknowledgements
Thanks to friends BFM and DLT for inspiring me to push through my writing funk, to finally publish the first TRH article of 2023. All the way into May, I know that’s nothing to brag about. But getting back to writing, over this past few months of crazy, has been a slow road. I couldn’t do this without my cheerleaders, supporters, and contributors!