RadOWon

July 27th, 2023 at 9:08 PM ^

He did have an amazing voice, when he could hit the notes. I saw in a documentary that essentially, he left the band because he could not deal with the pressure from Glen Fry to hit the notes on Take it To The Limit.

 

But when he did it was pretty amazing. RIP.

mooseman

July 27th, 2023 at 9:48 PM ^

There was a live version online not too long ago (I can't find it anymore) where he was hitting all the notes and the other band members were obviously loving it.

Frey did kind of torture him with it and I don't doubt he could be an asshole (Frey) but he kind of had a point when he told him, "You think I like singing Take it Easy every night? That's what the people pay to see."

RIP Randy

Fishbulb

July 27th, 2023 at 11:28 PM ^

Frey and Henley, though very talented, were very controlling. When they resumed the Eagles in the 90’s, they essentially wanted the other guys to be hired hands and to get the lion’s share of the money. Felder objected to this, rightfully claiming he was made an equal partner when he joined. Instead, they ‘fired’ him and had to work out a royalty arrangement. Frey and Henley were sarcastically referred to as “The Gods” during the band’s heyday. It’s no coincidence that Leadon (poured a beer over his head), Meisner (fighting over Meisner’s anxiety over singing) and Felder (epic fight on stage between and during songs at Long Beach, then the money dispute) all had issues with Frey before they left. That said, they were incredible singers and players; maybe just too business-minded. 

RadOWon

July 31st, 2023 at 11:58 AM ^

Love this band. They opened for the Pixies a few years back.

Also, this was the band playing in Paris when the gunman opened fire at the Bataclan killing 90 fans.

Jesse Hughes is a whack job (see ,The Redemption of the Devil documentary).

I met him at a bar in Palm Desert before EODM, the story goes, Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age saved him from being bullied in high school and took him under his wing. Eventually Josh started EODM with Jesse as a side project.

They may not be your cup of tea but take a look at the musicians who have played with EODM.

It's no joke.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagles_of_Death_Metal

PopeLando

July 28th, 2023 at 2:28 AM ^

There was a Reddit thread a while back about “if you had to put together an all-asshole band, who would be the drummer?” Came down to Henley v. Ulrich.

For me, Henley by a landslide. Lars is a supreme asshole, but at least he kept the band together and he’s on speaking terms with his bandmates. Actually, if stories are to be believed, Lars wasn’t even the biggest asshole in Metallica.

Michigan Realist

July 27th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^

Bummer to see this. The dude was underrated. Played a great bass and had a killer unique voice.

rob f

July 28th, 2023 at 10:38 AM ^

RIP Randy Meisner

Although I've generally never been a very big fan of the Eagles and didn't know Meisner sang lead vocals on it, "Take It to the Limit" has always been one of my favorites from that band.

mooseman

July 28th, 2023 at 3:08 PM ^

I always perceived it as Frey's band. As time went by, he and Henley took more and more of the songwriting duties and Henley more and more of the vocals. But I think Henley was more than happy though to have Frey be the band leader particularly the more asshole parts of that job.

Edit: As an example, Felder wanted to do the vocals for Victim of Love and Frey was like "why do we want this guy doing it when we have Don Henley? Even I'm singing less and less." I think Frey was  seen as the heavy in that scenario but I don't think Henley had a problem with it.

Kevin13

July 28th, 2023 at 2:43 PM ^

Sad day. Half of the eagles founding members are gone. Sad to see my favorite band have members die. Looking forward to seeing them one last time on their farewell tour. RIP Randy