The Eagles endured one of the most acrimonious breakups of any popular band, one so bad they couldn’t possibly imagine a time when a reunion would be forthcoming. But time has a way of healing all wounds, especially when accompanies by lots of cash from record companies and promoters.
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So it was that in 1994, the five men who comprised the band when they were at each other’s throats came back together for a TV special, live album, and tour. Here is the story of how the Eagles flew again on the Hell Freezes Over album and tour.
After the Long Run
While the Eagles basked in the massive success of their 1976 album Hotel California, no one could possibly have guessed they were only a few years away from imploding. But band infighting, coupled with the stresses of recording and touring (and probably too many recreational drugs), quickly took their toll.
Things reached an ugly head when Glenn Frey and Don Felder nearly came to blows during a benefit show in 1980. Overdubs for a contractually obligated live album were done one member at a time, since none of the five men wanted anything to do with each other at the time.
When asked not long after that whether his former band would ever reunite, Don Henley allegedly told the reporter it would happen “when hell freezes over.” He and Frey enjoyed great solo success in the ’80s, while fellow members Felder, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit kept active as well.
A New Life in the ’90s
The Eagles’ brand of rootsy rock and soothing balladry might have been an uneasy fit for the ’80s anyway, so maybe it was for the best that they mostly sat the decade out. In the early ’90s, Irving Azoff, the band’s longtime manager, began touching base with the individual members to see if they’d possibly be interested in trying to play together again.
A turning point was a tribute album by a bunch of country artists (Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles) that was released in 1993. Travis Tritt did a cover of “Take It Easy” for the album, and he convinced the members of the band to appear in the video. By that time, discussions of an official reunion were well down the road.
One aspect of those discussions that wasn’t known till many years later: the financial setup. Henley and Frey only agreed to the reunion on the basis that they’d receive a greater cut of the proceedings than the other three. The groundwork was laid.
On With the Show
In late April 1994, the five members of the Eagles took the stage at Warner Bros. Studios in California for two nights to record the Hell Freezes Over live album. These performances would also make up an MTV television special. They dug into their back catalog, most memorably by doing a new acoustic rendering of “Hotel California.”
Four new songs were debuted, of which “Love Will Keep Us Alive,” originally performed and co-written by Paul Carrack, broke out and became a big Adult Contemporary hit. By the time the album was released in November 1994, the band was in the middle of the Hell Freezes Over Tour and were once again a working organization.
The performance on Hell Freezes Over proved this band had a lot left in the tank. Some of the old bitterness was in that tank as well, as evidenced when Felder was fired in 2001. Nonetheless, the Eagles’ reunion proved that even the longest odds can be overcome when rock and rollers are motivated enough to look past old differences.
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Photo by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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