Being a member of a rock band isn’t exactly fair to each of its musicians when compared to most workplaces. Even though some people make a great effort to portray their group as a true democracy in every sense of the word, there are just as many people who appear to have one leader or two co-captains who, in the end, make the other members of the group look like glorified backing musicians. Glenn Frey was undoubtedly one of the Eagles’ key leaders. However, he thought Don Felder was far too negative at every stage of the team’s history.
However, Felder’s arrival to the group in the middle of the 1970s almost seemed like a complete coincidence. Only a few days after Felder attended an Eagles session and contributed to the song “Already Gone,” the band asked him to join. Felder had spent years working as a session musician. And how does one turn down a legendary rock band when you’re a session musician trying to make ends meet?
It is also not as though Felder was merely an employee. His riffs inspired many of the band’s most memorable moments. This includes when he laid down the well-known bassline that kicks off “One Of These Nights.” Felder came up with the original chord progression for what would become “Hotel California,” even though the song ended up becoming Frey and Don Henley’s masterpiece.
However, Felder was never entirely comfortable with his position within the group, as evidenced by their past interactions. After “Victim of Love” was taken right out of his hands, he felt betrayed. In the early 1980s, he and Frey fought on stage over a benefit show performance. They eventually drove off at the end of the gig.
Though that ought to have been the end of it, the band eventually worked out their differences when recording Hell Freezes Over, releasing several new tracks in the process. But as the tour progressed, Frey recalled Felder experiencing the same issues once more.
According to their account in History of the Eagles, Frey and Henley would receive a larger salary than anybody else as part of the agreement. They said, “We are the ones that have been keeping the Eagles name alive in record stores and on the radio.” Don Felder wasn’t happy with the agreement we came to, but I was, as was Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmitt, and Don Felder. [He] could never be content. Never, ever content. Always more focused on my income than anything else.
Not that the money division isn’t equitable; after all, Frey wasn’t without a point or two. He and Henley were the Eagles members with many solo career hits. Performing their solo hits live during the reunion justified their higher pay.
Frey went so far as to acknowledge that it wasn’t intended to be unfair, comparing it to a sports team. Though not everyone gets to touch the ball, we all contribute. Felder, who refused to sign the contract and was eventually fired from the group before the 2000s, didn’t think that was a strong enough argument.
However, that doesn’t mean that each time they’ve performed, his spirit hasn’t persisted. He will always be present at the show as long as the opening notes of “Hotel California” are playing. Regardless of how much the Eagles try to deny that he is no longer a member of the team.
