Hotel California isn’t just the second-best-selling album of the 1970s, trailing Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon by a million copies. It’s one of the best-selling records in history. Featuring a souped-up lineup that included lead guitarists Joe Walsh and Don Felder, the album found Eagles downplaying their country roots and embracing a harder-hitting version of rock ‘n’ roll. The band worked on the album for eight months, re-recording many of Hotel California‘s songs multiple times at studios in Miami and Los Angeles. The painstaking process paid off, with Don Henley calling Hotel California (released December 8, 1976) the band’s finest moment. “After that, we started growing apart as collaborators and as friends,” he admitted during an interview in 1982.
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Several decades (and multiple reunions) later, Hotel California remains a captivating example of classic rock in its prime, performed by a group of songwriters at the top of their game. We’ve taken the liberty of ranking the album’s nine songs below.
9. “Wasted Time (Reprise)”
It’s lush and lovely, but as a stand-alone song, this 90-second reprise of “Wasted Time” pales in comparison to the rest of Hotel California.
8. “Pretty Maids All in a Row”
With Joe Walsh joining their ranks, the Eagles were louder, harder, and just plain cooler on Hotel California. Walsh’s guitar tone and instrumental contributions became a hallmark of the band’s sound, and his vocals found a home in the middle of the group’s multi-part harmonies.
As a lead singer, though, this isn’t his finest moment. It’s unique to hear the guitar god fronting his new band on a piano ballad, but “Pretty Maids All in a Row” is a little too elegiac, humorless, and un-amplified to be a great Joe Walsh song.
7. “Try and Love Again”
Bassist and singer Randy Meisner left the band in September 1977, just a few days after the final date of the original tour behind Hotel California. “Try and Love Again” marks his final appearance as the band’s vocalist. As a showcase for Meisner’s multi-octave vocal range, the song can’t hold a candle to “Take It to the Limit,” which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 several months before Hotel California‘s release. “Try and Love Again” does serve as another example of the unique relationship between Walsh and Felder’s instruments, though, particularly during the intro’s guitar-monized intro.
[RELATED: Top 10 Eagles Songs]
6. “The Last Resort”
During their Hotel California 2020 Tour, Eagles performed “The Last Resort” with help from local symphonies in each city, turning Don Henley’s song about environmental destruction into a soaring, string-filled power ballad. Those orchestral sounds are played by a synthesizer on Hotel California, though, which robs the studio version of the transcendent power it might’ve had otherwise. Even so, “The Last Resort” is one of the first songs about climate change to ever grace a multi-platinum album, and it’s hard to find fault with Henley’s attempt to engage his audience in a little activism.
5. “New Kid in Town”
With its laidback tempo and yacht rock-adjacent arrangement, “New Kid in Town” nods to earlier Eagles songs like “Tequila Sunrise.” The song was Hotel California‘s first single, and its focus on the perils of fame served as an introduction to one of the album’s main themes. Listening to Eagles—surely still one of the wealthiest bands on the planet—complain about their own success might be a difficult pill to swallow for some listeners, but Glenn Frey’s serene vocals help the message go down smoothly.
4. “Life in the Fast Lane”
Anchored by a signature guitar riff that twists and turns like a freeway, “Life in the Fast Lane” has become synonymous with classic rock radio. The riff came from newcomer Joe Walsh, while the song’s title—inspired by a highway joyride in the shotgun seat of a drug dealer’s car—was Glenn Frey’s idea. Eagles sang about the dangers of fame and excess before Hotel California, but they’d never done so with such funky, amplified bombast behind them.
3. “Wasted Time”
The 1970s may have been a time of excess, but this gorgeous ballad showed remarkable restraint. Partially inspired by Henley’s breakup with Loree Rodkin, a jewelry designer who’d go on to create pieces for Michelle Obama, “Wasted Time” blended soft-rock swoon with blue-eyed soul. The combination proved to be a great backdrop for Henley’s voice, turning “Wasted Time” into one of the album’s slow-burning highlights.
2. “Victim of Love”
Several songs from Hotel California could’ve earned the No. 2 spot on this list, but “Victim of Love” wins out. Why? Because the song’s thudding rock ‘n’ roll stomp makes it not only the hardest-hitting moment on Hotel California, but also the precursor to the heavy songs that followed, including “Those Shoes.” For a band longing to explore new ground, “Victim of Love” sounds like progress.
1. “Hotel California”
Don Felder wrote an instrumental version of “Hotel California” at a rented beach house in Malibu, and then gave demo tapes to Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Inspired by the song’s unique blend of Latin textures and reggae grooves, the two frontmen began working on lyrics, quickly developing a storyline about love, excess, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and California’s mythic appeal.
Described by Henley as “a journey from innocence to experience,” “Hotel California” captures Eagles at their commercial and creative zenith. The harmonies are lushly stacked, the hooks are direct, and the interplay between Felder and Walsh during the extended guitar solo is truly one of rock’s finest moments.
Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns
