129: History of the Eagles (with Maggie Serota)

The writer Maggie Serota returns to the show for a deep dive into the 2013 music documentary for Showtime, History of the Eagles, directed by Alison Ellwood.

This comprehensive 3 hour documentary is the official story of one of America’s biggest rock bands, spanning their massive popularity in the seventies, their solo careers in the eighties and their reunion in the nineties, but Maggie and I think that as entertaining as the movie must be for fans of The Eagles, it’s even more fun to watch if you’re not a fan. As sanitized and flattering the film is towards the group’s two leaders Glenn Frey and Don Henley, their legendary arrogance and the shocking mistreatment of the other members of the group (in particular the guitarist Henley coldly refers to as “Mr. Felder”) bursts through the constructed image to create a very funny portrayal of toxic masculinity and fevered egos on the rampage. 

We discuss our favourite moments of hubris and chaos, compare this epic documentary to the more recent Beatles film Get Back (which also includes appearances from the great producer Glyn Johns, who clearly didn’t enjoy working with the Eagles), and praise the MVP of the band and the film, guitar god Joe Walsh.

There are dozens of premium episodes of the show available exclusively to Junk Filter patrons: some notable previous Patreon guests include Jared Yates Sexton, Jacob Bacharach, David Roth, Bryan Quinby and Sooz Kempner. More to come! Sign up at ⁠https://www.patreon.com/junkfilter

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Trailer for History of the Eagles (Alison Ellwood, 2013)

Music video for “I Can’t Tell You Why”, Eagles, 1979

“Choice of a New Generation” - Pepsi commercial featuring Don Johnson and Glenn Frey, directed by Ridley Scott, 1985