Goodbye to Glenn Frey, A guitar hero for all the ages
Glenn Frey, founding member of the Eagles, died at the age of 67. Frey was a master guitarist and writer of some of the most well known guitar rock anthems of all time, his songs will live on forever.
Family and friends communicated the death of the guitar hero via the Eagles website on the 18th of January. Frey had been battling severe ill health for several weeks. Eventually he succumbed to the symptoms of Pneumonia, rheumatoid arthritis and Acute Ulcerative Colitis. Glenn’s manager, Irving Azoff said that some of the complications were due to the medication he had been taking to combat his arthritis.
The Eagles are rightly considered gods in the Rock world. They are one of the best studio bands ever, releasing their first album “Eagles” that contained the hits, “Take It Easy”, and “Desperado”. The album had great commercial success but their second album catapulted them into the stratosphere.
“Hotel California” is probably the soundtrack of the 70s for anybody that was 18-30 years old in this decade of change. The biggest hit of the album, that shares the name of the album, is a six minute epic treatise on the excesses of the American dream and addictions. The studio wanted to cut the length of the song but the Eagles refused, the album won the “Record of the Year” Grammy.
Frey left the band in the 80s and struck out on his own artistic adventures, including a foray into cinema. Frey never left the Eagles completely behind and in 1994 the Eagles reunited to give a live concert using classical guitars.
The live concert was recorded and issued as an album with the title "Hell Freezes Over". Since that concert and subsequent album, the Eagles did many global tours and released compilation albums such as, “1972-1999: Selected Works”, “The Very Best of the Eagles”, and a studio album of new material in 2007, “Long Road Out of Eden”.
Frey and the Eagles were drenched in a variety of musical styles from Rock, reggae and, of course, the classical Spanish guitar that you can hear interwoven into nearly all their songs. Goodbye Glenn, you will be missed but always listened to.
