The Eagles are one of the most influential American bands of all time. The easygoing California sound they perfected in the Seventies can still be heard decades later on classic-rock radio and in a new crop of rock and, especially, country artists. But the group is also known just as much for its internal discord and personnel changes as it is for hits like “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Take It Easy,” and their guitar opus, “Hotel California.”

Formed in 1971 in Los Angeles by singer-guitarist Glenn Frey, singer-drummer Don Henley, guitarist Bernie Leadon, and bassist Randy Meisner, the Eagles released their self-titled debut album a year later and introduced songs like “Take It Easy” and “Witchy Woman” into the rock & roll canon. But the album’s country and folk elements were undeniable. The band explored those textures further on the 1973 follow-up Desperado, and even played cowboy on the cover image shot by photographer Henry Diltz. Their 1974 album On the Border gave the group its first Number One song — “Best of My Love” — and paved the way for the addition of guitarist Don Felder, who played on the album. By the release of 1975’s One of These Nights, Felder was a full-fledged member of the Eagles, and Leadon was growing disenchanted with the band drifting away from country and folk toward a more brash rock sound. By the end of the Eagles’ tour behind One of These Nights, Leadon had flown the nest and Joe Walsh, the proudly eccentric frontman for the James Gang, replaced him on guitar.

The Eagles were at a commercial peak as they approached 1976 and the band’s compilation album, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), became a must-own: The RIAA created its Platinum designation, for a million copies sold, in light of the album’s success. Now armed with the dual guitar power of Walsh and Felder, the band set about recording the best-selling studio album of their career, Hotel California, released at the tail end of 1976. The LP spoke to the bloated excess and addictive consumerism of the era in songs like “Life in the Fast Lane,” “The Last Resort,” and especially the six-and-a-half-minute title track. “Hotel California” the song became the band’s signature, driven by Henley’s eerie, scene-setting vocal (“on a dark desert highway/cool wind in my hair”) and the ferocious, climactic guitar duel between Walsh and Felder. Henley, Frey, and Felder wrote the song from a guitar idea that Felder had. “Felder had submitted a cassette tape containing about half a dozen different pieces of music,” Henley told Rolling Stone. “None of them moved me until I got to that one… I remember thinking, ‘This has potential; I think we can make something interesting out of this.”

The creation of “Hotel California” would come back into the news decades later when three men were arrested in July 2022 and charged with trying to sell Henley’s handwritten lyrics to the song, along with lyrics and notes related to other tracks on the album. The case went to trial in February of 2024, with Henley testifying that the lyrics were stolen. “The lyric pads constitute work product,” he said in court. “They are basically the detritus, if you will, that is left over from songwriting and those are the things nobody is supposed to see.”

Despite the success of Hotel California in 1976 and on the subsequent tour that followed, the Eagles were coming apart at the seams. Henley and Frey, who wrote most of the band’s songs, sometimes with writers like J.D. Souther and Jackson Browne, were the strong-willed rulers of the group and it chafed other members. Bassist Meisner was exhausted and quit the band in 1977 following an altercation with Frey over Meisner’s refusal to perform his song “Take It to the Limit.” Timothy B. Schmit replaced Meisner and the group entered the studio to record what would become the final album of the Eagles’ Seventies tenure, 1979’s The Long Run; it took 18 months to finish.

Tensions in the band simmered over in 1980 when Felder, still smarting over the duo’s decision to remove his vocal from “Victim of Love” on Hotel California and replace it with Henley’s, objected to the group playing a political fundraiser for Democratic California senator Alan Cranston. Onstage at the concert in Long Beach, California, in 1980, Felder and Frey threatened each other in between songs. Alison Ellwood’s superb 2013 documentary, History of the Eagles, captures the audio of the fight and the aftermath — the Eagles had played their last concert. Frey and Henley both launched successful solo careers (Henley also dabbled in acting) and it appeared that the group was finished.

But 14 years later, the Eagles — Frey, Henley, Walsh, Felder, and Schmit — reunited for 1994’s Hell Freezes Over live album and a wildly popular tour. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and performed with former members Meisner and Leadon. But this being the Eagles, drama followed shortly after: Felder was fired in 2001 and sued the band for wrongful termination. It was settled out of court. The group carried on with its four core members and released the double album Long Road Out of Eden in 2007. They continued to tour regularly until Frey fell ill. He died in 2016 at age 67. For yet another time, the Eagles seemed over, but Frey’s son Deacon and country singer-guitarist Vince Gill joined the band. They remain on the road — on their “Long Goodbye” farewell Tour — to this day. — Joseph Hudak