History of the Eagles

An official documentary on seminal rock band The Eagles. Not sure if this is the same thing as what ran on HBO/Showtime last year or not. Clocking in at just over 3 hours, this is pretty darn great. Every band member - past, present, former, etc - participates as well as managers and music execs. Because it's done by the band themselves, they don't go into a ton of detail on internal strife or controversy but every topic IS covered. Each membership change is discussed, all the major lawsuits and controversies are covered. LOTS of talk (and photos and film) of drug and alcohol usage. Lots of great discussion on the creation of various songs. Lots of great discussion on the music histories of each member. And tons of great archival footage of past interviews and concerts as well as home video footage. Truly a remarkable amount of that kind of stuff, quite frankly. And perhaps the best little tidbit - audio of an on-stage argument between Glenn Frey and Don Felder during their last-ever performance that features Frey telling Felder he's going to kill him after the concert. Seriously great stuff there. That's all in the first part of the doc. The second part covers the reunion in 1994 and subsequent albums and tours. Interesting tidbit: a reunion was planned before 1994 and all guys had agreed to it but Glenn Frey backed out. Didn't know that. Discussion of Don Felder's removal from the band. In general, most of the guys in the group come off pretty darn well in their interviews. Don Henley, who has a reputation of having a massive ego and being tough to work with, comes across here more as confident and not overbearing. Glenn Frey comes off the worst as he's the one telling the story of getting Don Felder involved in the reunion (Frey wanted Henley & Frey to make more money than the other three guys and Felder wasn't cool with that). It's obvious Frey has a very large ego and is much aware of his role within the Eagles and the music industry. On the flip side, Timothy B Schmit comes off as really humble and likable. He joined the band late and is still very much in the "Man, this is great!" mindset, loving what he's doing. Anyway, the whole documentary is really great and a must-see for fans of the band or rock in general. Great stuff. 9/10.