I have a theory about the massive outpouring for Bowie and Prince - the main "drivers" of mainstream media content (writers/editors/owners) are around my age i.e. 40 - 50. Bowie and Prince are '80s acts. Their active periods/hits were from when I was in middle school and high school - I was just a little kid in the '70s and already in college in the '90s. I didn't do things to the Eagles, I did things to Prince - that's this age group that is currently at the helm of media outlets.
Also, both were weird guys, and I think that weirdness and innate creativity and refusal to conform - really blazing their own trails - make people realize they were truly one of a kind. The Eagles' music is often lumped in with/described as similar to bands of the Laurel Canyon scene - J.D., Jackson, Poco, etc...they have a genre. Bowie and Prince have no genre, and nobody similar to them. This is not an effort to say Prince is worth more than the Eagles, that's not what I'm at all saying. Just that he was DIFFERENT, real different!! In a good way!
Also, did you see the gifts Prince's family and close friends handed out to fans outside of the gates? At least hundreds and hundreds of really nice boxes with memorabilia inside - just gave them to all of the fans there. There's one picture that shows them unloading just boxes and boxes from a truck, they bought all of this stuff to give to Prince's fans - how awesome is that?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-elevator.html