The 1980s were pretty good to Don Henley, as he overcame the disappointment of the Eagles’ dissolution to become a massively successful solo artist in his own right. That doesn’t mean that he treated the era with kid gloves, as he came out swinging at political and social issues of the day on his 1989 album The End of the Innocence.
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His fire and anger didn’t scare away his listeners, as the album soared just as his previous one had. Let’s look back at The End of the Innocence, an era-defining singer/songwriter album.
Taking the Time to Get It Right
In 1984, Don Henley released Building the Perfect Beast, his second solo album after the end (temporary end, as it turned out) of the Eagles. His first solo release (I Can’t Stand Still in 1982) had produced a big hit single (“Dirty Laundry”), but found him wavering between finding new sounds and going back to his country-rock wheelhouse. By contrast, Beast fearlessly embraced synthesizers and other prevalent sounds of the day and turned Henley into a kind of thinking person’s pop star.
And then, nothing on the recording front from Henley for five years. Some might have argued he was wasting his newfound momentum. But Henley’s perfectionism refused to let him rush out something that didn’t live up to the lofty songwriting and recording standards he had set.
Henley was at work on The End of the Innocence for a few years, working with a number of different collaborators. Some were quite familiar to him. Danny Kortchmar had been intimately involved with Henley’s solo records from the start, while JD Souther’s writing partnership with him produced some of the Eagles’ biggest hits.
But there were also some new faces as well in the picture. Stan Lynch, then the drummer for Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, came aboard as both a co-writer and producer. And Bruce Hornsby, fresh off his chart-topping solo success with “The Way It Is” in 1986, contributed the somber piano changes that turned into the title track once Henley added his lyrics.
Despite the political undertones of the song “The End of the Innocence” and several others on the record, Henley didn’t seem to turn off any listeners. The album went to No. 8 on the Billboard charts and produced three Top-25 singles in the process. But if fans were expecting a speedier follow-up, they were disappointed. Henley’s next solo record wouldn’t arrive till 2000, although he stayed busy in the ’90s putting the Eagles back together.
The Music of The End of the Innocence
The title track sets the tone for The End of the Innocence, as it manages to marry Henley’s concerns over the state of the country with the kind of heartfelt, wistful romantic musings that had always been his stock-in-trade back in the Eagles’ days. Other atmospheric ballads like “The Last Worthless Evening” and “New York Minute” follow suit.
But Henley also marries the fiery nature of his lyrical assault to songs that might rock a lot harder than you remember if you haven’t checked into this album in a while. After all, this is a record that features a searing guest vocal from Axl Rose (on “I Will Not Go Quietly”). “Gimme What You Got” and “If Dirt Were Dollars” also pack a mean wallop.
The End of the Innocence also leaves room for some humor in its social commentary, especially on the song “Little Tin God,” which takes aim at fast-talking but dubious political and religious leaders. Best is saved for last on this record, as “The Heart of the Matter,” with music by Heartbreaker Mike Campbell and lyrics from Henley and Souther, takes a mature but no less devastating look at the slow healing process of broken hearts.
Taken together, the one-two punch of Building the Perfect Beast and The End of the Innocence is arguably the artistic high point of Henley’s career, with only the Hotel California record (which was obviously a group effort) comparable in ambition and execution. After those dual masterworks, you can kind of understand his solo career slowing down to a near halt. He’d pretty much said it all, and he said it so well.
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