The songwriters (for the single Hotel California) were Don Felder from Florida, Glenn Frey from Detroit and Don Henley from Texas. Despite the Eagles sounding like a California band, only Bernie Leadon was originally from The Golden State.
Coming in on the dark desert highway full of excitement and expectation and leaving, broken and burnt out sailing off to lahaina. The album takes the listener on a journey. Like the welcome to a hotel that promises much, “Welcome to Hotel California” could be “Welcome to the Music Industry.” The band, mostly California outsiders arrived in Los Angeles, along a dark desert highway to be welcomed into the music industry. The meaning of Hotel California can be assumed as the record industry. Don Henley (long before he wrote songs about New York) came up with the concept and title into which the other band members added songs. Between their arrival on the scene, and the writing of Hotel California – the band wrote, released and toured four major albums and delivered a Greatest Hits album that remains one of the all time best sellers.īetween 1971 and conceiving the album in February 1977 the band wrote, recorded, toured and partied relentlessly! Money, parties, and drugs all took their toll. The album can be seen as a metaphor for their lives in the 1970s. The story behind Hotel California is the band’s rapid rise to fame. Every interpretation will be subjective, not definitive. There will also be a difference between what it means to me, the listener and what the writers want you to think they are singing about. The great thing about any music is that every listener will take something different from it. I have spent many hours listening to the album and plenty trying to decode the themes and truly understand the meaning of Hotel California. My annual top ten of most played songs includes as least 5 of the 9 album tracks. For the past 5 years it has been my most played album on Spotify.
Released in 1976, Hotel California rapidly became one of the world’s best selling albums.