This Iconic Producer Refused To Record Eagles, Until He Heard One Crucial Element of Their Sound

Just because a band wants to work with a producer doesn’t mean that producer will be willing to work with the band, which was a tough lesson that Eagles had to learn the hard way in 1972, the year famed producer Glyn Johns turned down their request to collaborate.

That Eagles wanted to work with Johns on their first album wasn’t all that surprising, considering Johns’ track record with other highly influential bands, like The Who, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin. However, that reverence was not mutual.

Until Johns heard one crucial element of Eagles’ sound.

What Finally Convinced Glyn Johns to Work With Eagles

On paper, Eagles were doing everything right when they first reached out to producer Glyn Johns. They had a manager, David Geffen, who was well-connected with a star-studded client roster. The band opted for Geffen to reach out to Johns, further validating the group as a serious, professional ensemble. And when Johns agreed to watch Eagles perform at Tulagi in Boulder, Colorado, the band probably thought they were one step closer to landing their producer.

But they were wrong. Johns had a less-than-stellar review of Eagles’ performance, later saying, “When I first saw The Eagles, they were doing Chuck Berry stuff, and they were blatantly, bloody awful. It was a complete cacophony. You had Glenn Frey, who was a good little rock ‘n’ roll guitar player, on one side, and Bernie Leadon, a great country picker, on the other, and a rhythm section in the middle being pulled in two directions. There was no cohesion. I thought they were bloody awful. Though I knew they could sing, I turned it down.”

Still, Geffen and the band kept trying. Johns kept saying no. Finally, he agreed to come to a rehearsal, which he also described as “awful,” per Marc Eliot’s To The Limit: The Untold Story Of The Eagles. It wasn’t until the band took a break that Johns saw a glimmer of promise.

While on break, a band member started playing the acoustic guitar and singing, and other bandmates joined in with vocal harmonies. “I said, ‘This is what this band is all about,’” Johns said. “From then on, I had a picture of what the band should be or could be.”

The Tension Didn’t Stop There, Though

Glyn Johns produced Eagles’ eponymous debut, and it’s easy to see how he kept the spirit of that impromptu vocal performance alive throughout the album. Songs like “Take It Easy” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling” established Eagles as a formidable country-rock group, emphasis on the country. But when the band decided to move forward in a more rock-centric direction two years later with On The Border, they ran into pushback from Johns yet again.

This time, it was even worse, because Eagles had already established themselves as a successful act. Glenn Frey and Johns began butting heads more regularly about the direction of the band, with Don Henley describing the two as “oil and water.” Unsurprisingly, this working relationship folded before On The Border was complete. The band scrapped all the work they did with Johns except for one track, “Best Of My Love”, which became their first No. 1 hit.

So, you know…maybe Johns wasn’t totally off base.

Photo by Gems/Redferns