“I Was Driven, a Man Possessed”: The Bands Glenn Frey Was Determined To Outdo With the Eagles

The Eagles are considered one of the key players in the country rock movement. Their unique, West Coast sound helped define the sub-genre in a way no other band had done before. But, that doesn’t mean they were the first of their kind. Many bands tried to finesse this type of sound prior to the Eagles earning fame. Glenn Frey used them as cautionary tales. Find out below which bands Frey was determined to outdo with the Eagles.

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Glenn Frey and the Eagles Didn’t Want To Be Another la Band

Frey saw many bands come and go as a young musician. He saw enough failures to make a rulebook on what not to do when creating a rock band. Namely, he saw mistakes within the careers of Poco and The Flying Burrito Brothers that he vowed to stay away from.

Though the breakups of both of these bands earned the Eagles new members (Randy Meisner from Poco and Bernie Leadon from The Flying Burrito Brothers), he still commiserated their failures. Moreover, he committed them to memory, hoping not to repeat them during the Eagles’ tenure.

Frey wasn’t shy about “Wanting it all”. He wanted the Eagles to effectively be the biggest band on earth. And, thanks to his “rulebook”, Frey knew how to outdo his fellow bands.

“We had it all planned,” Frey once said. “We’d watched bands like Poco and the Burrito Brothers lose their initial momentum. We were determined not to make the same mistakes. We all felt that this was going to be our best shot. Everybody had to look good, sing good, play good and write good. We wanted it all. Peer respect. AM and FM success. Number one singles and albums, great music and a lot of money.”

“I wanted to make it really bad,” he added. “I was driven, a man possessed. In a sense I think we were all that way. We didn’t just want to be another LA band.”

The Eagles’ Success

Frey and the Eagles did get “it all”. By the mid-’70s, the Eagles were the premiere country rock group, earning both peer respect and radio play–exactly as Frey had predicted. Though the band did eventually fracture due to in-fighting, they did follow Frey’s rules to a “T”.

The Eagles had multiple vocalists, checking Frey’s “Everyone has to sing good” box. Their prowess on their instruments wasn’t too shabby either. They earned their fair share of No. 1 singles and made oodles of cash. Frey certainly learned how to not mess up a band by looking at his peers’ mistakes.

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