Eagles popularity in the UK

[UndertheWire]

This follows on from a discussion in the Underrated songs survivor thread. Essentially, the Eagles are generally underrated in the UK and have been for most of their existence. One point made in the other thread was that in the UK we didn’t have classic rock radio. However, it turns out that there is a digital classic rock radio station and they play Eagles music a few times a day. I had some fun looking at the statistics for the family of stations in the group. I’ve included numbers for a few other groups for comparison. All are plays in the last 30 days and across all their channels.
565 Fleetwood Mac
376 Led Zeppelin
153 Tom Petty
293 Eagles
19 Glenn Frey
7 Joe Walsh
3 Don Henley
1 James Gang

(no matches for Poco, Randy Meisner, Don Felder)
The Eagles breakdown (and the numbers don’t quite add up to the total above)
51 Life in the Fast Lane
44 Heartache Tonight
41 Take It Easy
38 Hotel California
34 One of These Nights
33 Lyin’ Eyes
22 Take it To the Limit
17 New Kid in Town
6 Desperado
6 Tequila Sunrise
5 Best of My Love
For the solo work
17 The Heat is On
6 Life's Been Good
3 Boys of Summer
2 Smuggler's Blues
1 Rocky Mountain Way
1 Walk Away
www.absoluteradio.co.uk (http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk)

I also heard the list of upcoming Fleetwood Mac dates in the UK and it seems they're playing roughly double the number of dates as the Eagles did last year in the same venues. I'd never thought about relative popularity, probably because I had no idea that the Eagles were so successful before I watched the doc.

[Brooke]

Wow! Thanks for sharing those numbers, UtW!

I'm so surprised at the Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty popularity! :cool:

[NightMistBlue]

Thank you for that info. Don't the Eagles play big venues in the UK when they tour? I know they've played the O2 and various arenas. They certainly seem to get major media interest when they tour "over there." And one of the first television shows they ever did I believe was that BBC mini-concert.

[UndertheWire]

They play venues with a similar capacity to those they play in the US (eg around 14,000) but often play multiple dates. Fleetwood Mac are playing at the same venues just playing more dates.

[Funk 50]

Good stuff UnderTheWire, I think the fact that Fleetwood Mac are half English has a bearing and they've had far more hit singles than the Eagles in the UK.

Apparently, at the start of his career, Tom Petty was bigger in the UK than he was in the US. Got some kudos from The Travelling Willberys and Jeff Lynne too.

The Eagles would get a bigger profile in the UK if they worked harder at it but they seem to be quite happy filling the major arenas with very little promotion.(I think they stopped doing open air stadium concerts a couple of tours ago because of the unreliability of the weather).

The very early BBC show they did would have been while they were recording the Desperado album in London in 1973. They've only done a tiny amount of TV, together or solo, since. I've been waiting for a Joe Walsh solo tour since about 1977. I've seen Henley once, in 1989. Schmit once, in about 2009. Missed Frey once in 1992.

The Eagles I've seen many times since HFO. It's quite astonishing how many major venues have spouted up around the country since the first time I saw them at Huddersfield Football Stadium in 1996.

http://www.examiner.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/eagles-flew-mcalpine-stadium-huddersfield-7671974

Quite a number of my family attended that gig. My younger brother's girlfriend only recognised one track from the greatest hits, set list. Glenn's, The Heat Is On.

[Freypower]

As someone who lived through the punk/New Wave era, admittedly from a distance, it was hard for a band like the Eagles who were labelled 'dinosaurs' along with Zeppelin, Floyd, Genesis etc. Fleetwood Mac weren't because the British press seemed to think Rumours was more edgy because of its dissection of the band's relationships. I don't even think the Eagles toured in the UK after 1975 (please correct me if I'm wrong). There was a very nasty article in Q Magazine which ripped them apart a couple of years before they reformed. It must be said that Q changed its tune in 2001 when they were about to tour there again.

The general distrust of melodic, tuneful music with lyrics that weren't automatically anti-authoritarian & political in the UK lasted until New Wave had subsided somewhat & bands like the Police and (yes) Dire Straits came along. I am generalising of course.

[Jonny Come Lately]

With Fleetwood Mac it must also be remembered that the original line up was entirely British and it was only later when Lindsey and Stevie joined that they were Americanised. During the punk/new wave era I think they benefitted from being having a very poppy sound and therefore were not perceived as being rock dinosaurs like the Eagles and the other acts Freypower mentions (pretty much any prog band you care to name can be added to the list too).

The critical perception of Rumours being somehow edgier than the later era Eagles is odd to me, as much as I love Rumours I think a huge part of its appeal lies in how light it seems on the surface for the majority of its runtime, meaning it can be enjoyed while all but ignoring the break-up tinged lyrics. This isn't true of the more overtly dark Hotel California and The Long Run, and neither Eagles album possesses a song as carefree and upbeat as Don't Stop.

I think Lindsey's experimentation with a new wave-type sound on some of the tracks on Tusk also helped them, although frankly I'm not quite sure why as most of these songs (The Ledge, Not That Funny) simply aren't very good.

According to Wikipedia the 10 best-selling albums in the UK as of February 2014:
1. Greatest Hits - Queen
2. Gold: Greatest Hits - ABBA
3. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club - The Beatles
4. 21 - Adele
5. (What's The Story) Morning Glory - Oasis
6. Thriller - Michael Jackson
7. The Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
8. Brothers In Arms - Dire Straits
9. Bad - Michael Jackson
10. Greatest Hits II - Queen

Rumours ranks just outside the top ten, certified 11x platinum. The Eagles are nowhere to be seen in the top 40.

You can see the full list
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_Kingdom

Of the top 10 albums, only two take pride of place in my music library - these being, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Dire Straits and Pink Floyd albums. I can't say I'm that proud of our nation's music taste as a whole based on this list however - IIRC in the US list there are 2 or 3 Led Zeppelin albums in the top 40, they're not in the top 40 over here, and unlike the Eagles they're British!

The list is quite strange in that features a lot of albums from 2000 onwards, which seems to go against the reports of declining album sales in recent times. I'm really not quite sure how Adele's 21 has managed to climb into the top four so rapidly - I know the album itself was a huge seller but the fact that it sold so many CDs is surprising. The top ten could be worse (I love PF and DS, while Queen and The Beatles are worthy of recognition even though they aren't personal favourites) but below that much of it seems pretty mediocre to me, the sort of album that everyone bought at the time but no one really remembers as a classic. There are also a couple of fads (Lady Gaga's position will look strange a few years from now I suspect but there's worse with the Spice Girls at no 28 :censored: - the sales of that album must have put a couple of beer mat manufacturers out business by now :p) and some real surprises - who would have thought that Keane's Hopes & Fears would outsell U2's The Joshua Tree?

[Freypower]

Not to get further off topic but I adore (What's The Story) Morning Glory & I love Queen. Of the rest of it, But Seriously is a good album but it isn't Collins' masterpiece, which is & always will be Face Value. I found the rest of that list rather strange.

[sodascouts]

Wow, Oasis? They were one hit wonders in the US!

Fleetwood Mac's popularity doesn't surprise me; as has been said, 3 of 5 members are English. People tend to forget that because Stevie and Lindsey are so much more visible, and their songwriting transformed the Mac from English blues to the "California sound" of the White Album* and Rumours (although technically the Americanization began when Bob Welch joined in 1971).

*Fleetwood Mac's eponymous 1975 album, informally dubbed the "white album" by the band to differentiate it from their eponymous 1968 album due to its white cover. Nothing to do with the Beatles. :)

[UndertheWire]

When I think of Fleetwood Mac, I think of Albatross.

With the Eagles, timing was bad. They didn't really break through until One of These Nights (1975) and by 1977 the UK music scene was all about Punk. In 1977, the Sex Pistols had three top ten singles.I'm not sure the Eagles were ever cool, but my mother bought Hotel California.

In a couple of places, I've read that Glenn Frey blamed the sale of Asylum to Warner Bros for a lack of attention from their UK distributor. He may be right as he was hearing it from Paul Ahern whose job was to get the songs played on the radio. The first album had been distributed in the UK by EMI but the expectation was that Warner Bros would decide to distribute future albums. This made the band less attractive to EMI as they would have the effort and cost of breaking the band and Warner Bros would reap the rewards.

In 1972, another Asylum act, Jo Jo Gunne, had a top ten hit in the UK with their first single Run, Run, Run and as a result, they were flown over to London to appear on the tv show "Top of the Pops" (I remember it but in that era, everyone watched the show every week). And that's about as far as it went. It didn't do them a lot of good, long term, but it shows what could have happened with the Eagles. Take It Easy was probably the wrong first single for the UK (too country) but Witchy Woman should have been a sure thing.

[NightMistBlue]

Wasn't there a host - Whispering Bob was his nickname - of the Old Grey Whistle Test who really loved country-influenced music and was able to invite guests like Emmylou Harris and Little Feat? I remember he was frustrated by all the incoming punk/new wave stuff and eventually ended up moving to America.

[UndertheWire]

Bob Harris. He interviewed David Geffen on The Old Grey Whistle Test - there's even a clip from it in the documentary. Apart from the tv show, he also had a late night radio show.

During the day, the DJ who was the biggest advocate of the California sound at the BBC was Johnny Walker. Supposedy, he had battles with the BBC hierarchy over what he played and he quit in the mid-seventies and went to the US. He's now back on the BBC with a weekly "Sounds of the Seventies" show and has interviewed members of the Eagles for it.

[Freypower]

It could also be said that the 'California sound' didn't translate well in the UK because they have their own folk music genre. My husband says it was impossible to relate to a song about driving down a freeway in a convertible if you were stuck in a flat in Manchester in winter. I understand that but the UK did take to Bruce Springsteen who is even more 'American' than the Eagles. Perhaps he sounded more 'working class' to them although he wrote about American cars & freeways as much as not more than the Eagles.

Soda, just regarding Oasis very quickly, I first heard them when I was there in 1996. They were a breath of fresh air. I took to them straight away. The Eagles had reformed but weren't visible (although I had seen them the previous year) and my previous favourite band REM had proved a huge disappointment. It was good to follow a British band again. The fact is that the vast majority of the music I listen to is British. The Eagles are the great exception in terms of bands. All other American/Canadian acts I like tend to be singer-songwriters.

[NightMistBlue]

And the British took to the Beach Boys too, the originators of the California sound. The 1980 Knebworth concert DVD is special and worthwhile, even if it is bizarre to see Mike Love leading the audience in a cheer for California.

[Jonny Come Lately]

It could also be said that the 'California sound' didn't translate well in the UK because they have their own folk music genre. My husband says it was impossible to relate to a song about driving down a freeway in a convertible if you were stuck in a flat in Manchester in winter. I understand that but the UK did take to Bruce Springsteen who is even more 'American' than the Eagles. Perhaps he sounded more 'working class' to them although he wrote about American cars & freeways as much as not more than the Eagles.

Soda, just regarding Oasis very quickly, I first heard them when I was there in 1996. They were a breath of fresh air. I took to them straight away. The Eagles had reformed but weren't visible (although I had seen them the previous year) and my previous favourite band REM had proved a huge disappointment. It was good to follow a British band again. The fact is that the vast majority of the music I listen to is British. The Eagles are the great exception in terms of bands. All other American/Canadian acts I like tend to be singer-songwriters.

Funnily enough, I think the difference between my world and the one described in Eagles songs, particularly earlier songs such as Take It Easy, Peaceful Easy Feeling and Doolin-Dalton, is a significant part of the appeal to me - I don't need to be able to relate to music to enjoy it and in fact the ability to be transported to a different part of the world while listening to this music is great, meaning you can imagine being on a warm, sunny highway in Southern California or Arizona rather than on a cold, wet street in Manchester to further develop your example.

I can sort of relate to your comments about mainly listening to British bands. The American bands I do listen to mainly tend to have a very 'American' sound - whether it be the California sound of the Eagles or the Southern Rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd. I think North America definitely has had the better solo artists though, with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix etc.

The Beach Boys are definitely pretty culturally significant over here, most people would recognise a good number of songs I think, much more so than the Eagles. Having said this though, a lot of people in the UK only really listen to them during the summer months - when the BBC did the recent God Only Knows cover my Dad commented that it seemed rather out of season, for instance, and they seem to be more likely to come on the radio in the warmer (or if you prefer, less cold) parts of the year.

Of the top of my head, overall I'd say that the following bands or groups are the most culturally significant in the UK and have the most widely recognised songs:
- The Beatles - I think this goes without saying.
- The Beach Boys - See earlier explanation
- The Rolling Stones
- Led Zeppelin
- Queen
- ABBA
- Fleetwood Mac - The version of the band most people recognise though is clearly the Rumours lineup, at least amongst my age group (who generally aren't interested in the Eagles apart from maybe Hotel California, but a lot of people my age do really like Rumours). From the Peter Green era, Albatross is quite well known but that's about it.
- Oasis - The first song that seemingly every rookie guitarist learns to play over here is Wonderwall, while Don't Look Back In Anger is widely seen as an era-defining song for the 1990s.

There might be others I have glibly forgotten. Pink Floyd have a certain level of cultural significance but do not get played on radio that much and so while most people are aware of The Dark Side Of The Moon, the number of widely known PF songs is relatively small, all of these coming from the three best known albums - Dark Side, Wish You Were Here or The Wall. By contrast a band like Coldplay has received virtually continuous airplay since their first album came out a decade and a half ago, but their songs, with the possible exception of Viva La Vida, have generally had little cultural impact - while they have undoubtedly been very successful they don't seem to formed much of a legacy and not quite managed to produce a truly iconic album. I'm not quite sure how they will be remembered when they call it a day.

[Funk 50]

I think you'd have to include The Sex Pistols, Jonny Come Lately.

The whole punk thing came and went in a couple of years and didn't really affect the popularity of the dinosaur bands that they were the antithesis of, although they did create a lot of negativity towards them within the industry.

The Pistols were certainly culturally significant.

Bob Harris is one of the pre-punk, UK's broadcasters from the 70s, who still show a fondness for the Eagles. Often plays and declares his love for King Of Hollywood. post punk journalist and broadcaster, Stuart Maconie, says he initially hated the Eagles, now he says he loves them.

There was a lot of tribalism in the music media in the past. It's much more all embracing now but unfortunately the Eagles don't seem to have any desire to reach out to the new audience.

[bluefeather]

I might add The Who as well but that's just a personal impression, any thoughts about them?

I understand the difficulty of translating the Californian sound to the UK very well and identify with it because it's just as hard or harder when you're stuck in a poorly heated student flat surrounded by snow and with no daylight to speak of
I like the Californian sound because the songs give me a dream to escape to and I like the attitude in them

[Funk 50]

I think after 50 rockin' years, The Who are a worthy shout. My personal favourite would be Genesis.

It's quite amazing how many great bands have originated from the UK. Through a shared love of the american blues/pop pioneers, the iconic sixties groups were formed and since then there has been a steady flow of fantastic bands. In the last few years I've got an affinity for Elbow, that I don't seem to get from hearing U.S. bands.

The sport is ultra tribal, although diminishingly so, but the music has no geographical bias. The UK seems to accept acts equally from all regions and has embraced many foreign bands without prejudice, especially Abba.

Even so, I'd say, from America, only The Beach Boys and The Eagles match up to the Great British bands (and I'm not keen,on The Beach Boys).

Learning that the Eagles made their first few records in England with an English producer and spent their early years supporting British bands on tour would suggest that they always aspired to be a global act.

I never really got hugely successful local bands, The Smiths, The Stone Roses and Oasis, not keen on Queen or Led Zep either but I am a big fan of Status Quo, who apparently stiffed in the U.S.A..

[Jonny Come Lately]

Agreed about The Who - I knew there was at least one obvious one I'd missed. They were prominently showcased in the Olympic closing ceremony back in 2012, playing My Generation (as an aside, they still sung 'I hope I die before I get old' - too late now guys! Thankfully the Eagles haven't used Twenty-One as Bernie's showcase on the HOTE tour...)

From a cultural point of view The Sex Pistols are, for better or (in my opinion) worse, extremely significant in the UK. However the brevity of their career means that they are essentially remembered for a handful of singles and one album. Then again, Rumours is definitely the most widely recognised Fleetwood Mac album (although a fair few songs from the other Buckingham/Nicks albums, especially Tango In The Night, do get airplay) and Oasis are mostly remembered for their first two albums. For those unfamiliar with the Oasis story, they released two much loved albums and after the monster domestic success of Morning Glory in particular there were great expectations for the third album, which was widely view as a disappointment.

I'm not quite sure how we have managed to produce as many great bands as we have considering how small we are as a nation compared to the US, which also means there isn't the geographical separation that there is between different cities in the US which in part led to development of different types of music, such as country or R&B.

One thing I will say about British rock is that I feel we own hard rock, with most of the best bands in this category - Led Zeppelin, The Who, Deep Purple and so on - all being British. Progressive rock is almost exclusively British, especially if only true prog bands are considered - by this I mean bands like Yes and ELP who not only deviated from conventional song structures and instrumentation but had genuinely virtuoso musicians, rather than the likes of Kansas. Even Pink Floyd aren't quite true prog (Waters and Mason were clearly not virtuosos). Heavy metal too is clearly a British invention.

I love Out Of Control on the Desperado album and when I think about it that song is a very British style of hard rock, rather than the American version. I am not a great fan of American hard rock in general and with a few notable exceptions (Blue Oyster Cult and Lynyrd Skynyrd, for instance) I find it uninspiring compared to its UK brethren and the American artists I prefer tend to be a mellower flavour of rock, often leaning towards folk-rock.

When it comes to The Beach Boys, I think they are a great group (their harmony vocals are superb and while I consider Pet Sounds to be somewhat overrated Brian Wilson was/is clearly an extremely gifted songwriter) but not a great band, as they were heavily reliant on session musicians to make their more sophisticated works, and I think this included core instruments like guitar and bass. I might just be a bit biased but I definitely think the Eagles are better than The Beach Boys - they are on the same level vocally, tend to have better lyrics (less 'teenager in love' in style) - the Beach Boys cannot touch songs like The Last Resort or Waiting In The Weeds in this regard as far as I'm concerned - and have had much better musicians.

[Freypower]

I just wanted to mention that I hope Dire Straits are a bigger part of British consciousness than Abba. Abba wrote great pop songs but had no depth, with a couple of exceptions.

[UndertheWire]

I never thought I'd see Abba and Dire Straits in the same sentence. They appeal to different markets but Abba were and still are huge. I didn't like them and yet I could still sing along to any of their hits. Beyond "Sultans of Swing", I couldn't name a Dire Straits song. (Correction: "Money for Nothing" and I'm done).

The Sex Pistols were the most visible part of a big shift in music.

The Police/Sting were pretty significant, though I'm not sure how much they influenced other bands/singers. Maybe it's too soon to consider the impact of 80s artists.

I read an old quote from Don Henley yesterday along the lines that in the future, maybe 70s music will be seen as culturally significant as the 60s was at the time. We've seen that happen, so will we soon be talking about Duran Duran, The Eurythmics etc?

[Jonny Come Lately]

I wish Dire Straits were bigger than ABBA in this country but sadly this simply isn't the case. Funnily enough the two Dire Straits songs which I would have said were the most famous in the UK are the exact same pair that UtW named. I think the huge sales of Brothers In Arms are partly a result of it being one of the first major CD releases and therefore many copies were bought by people who had just bought their first CD player and needed something good to play on it. Brothers In Arms, an album that not only contained quality songs but was very well produced, was therefore the ideal choice at the time. I don't think any of their other albums have sold anywhere near as many copies.

UtW is absolutely spot on in saying that ABBA are inescapable, not only are their songs played frequently on the radio but also at weddings and other events, while the success of the musical Mamma Mia and the subsequent film hasn't harmed them either. ABBA Gold contains pretty much all of the songs the British public love, no more and no less - I think most people in the UK would recognise a majority of the songs on there if not all of them. Seemingly everyone is familiar with Dancing Queen and Waterloo in particular.

If this is any consolation, FP, the Bee Gees are quite renowned and quite a few of their songs are extremely well known, although most of these date from the 'Meaningless Songs In Very High Voices' era (sorry - couldn't resist that one :hilarious:), with Stayin' Alive and Tragedy being the most obvious.

The Police are quite important, more so than Dire Straits and I think this is partly because while they weren't a punk band, their reggae-influenced sound and approach fitted in quite well with the post-punk scene whereas Dire Straits with their love of the blues (JJ Cale) and folk (Bob Dylan) sounded much more like the 'dinosaur' rock bands.

My earlier comment about The Who got me thinking about the Olympic Games closing ceremony in 2012, as I think the songs played, if not necessarily the choice of performers, tend to give some indications as to the best known bands and songs.

The full order of the Olympic closing ceremony, including the non-musical segments, is listed here:
http://www.gigwise.com/news/75414/Olympic-Games-closing-ceremony---the-full-setlist

Overall I think the selection is a decent representation of what the most popular music in the UK is, with quite a few Beatles songs plus Lennon's iconic Imagine, a couple of songs by Queen and The Who along with familiar songs by the likes of Oasis, The Kinks and Pink Floyd, while there was a David Bowie montage and even a song to represent our unique British sense of humour with Eric Idle's Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, originally from Monty Python's Life Of Brian. Had ABBA been British doubtless they would have been represented too. From that list, out of the bands, I reckon Led Zeppelin and the Stones are the two biggest absentees. Also notably absent are Coldplay, who had virtually the whole of the Paralympics closing ceremony to themselves. The Sex Pistols would never have been selected as playing their songs at such an event would have been seen as disrespectful and in any case would not have fit the mood of the event (the God Save The Queen on the list is the actual national anthem, not that other version).

Some names stand out as lucky to have hit their fifteen minutes of fame at the exact right moment to get showcased in the closing ceremony (*cough* One Direction *cough*). Feel free to insert whichever lyrics from New Kid In Town you think fit best here. I also once again have to apologise for my nation's bizarre love of the Spice Girls and also Take That (yes, Gary Barlow has written some of his boy band's songs. Doesn't mean they're good). Also, shame on George Michael for using the ceremony to promote his then new single - not cool. :thumbsdown:

[Funk 50]

Love is blind JCL. The Spice Girls came and went but certainly made an impact and left a mark, Take That have stuck around long enough to earn some respect. Apparently Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire called TT's Patience, the greatest comeback single ever, better than Hole In The World then.

I'm quite proud that the UK has showed a great affection for Eagles obscurity, Journey Of The Sorcerer and that Fat Boy Slim turned The James Gang's, Ashes, The Rain And I into massive hit record, Right Here Right Now. I knew it sounded familiar. I welled up at HMV when I saw Joe's (and Dale Peters) name on the writing credits on the record.

I'm quite familiar with Dire Straits and Abba. I like them both. Abba can get a bit too poppy and Dire Straits, too much like a frustrated solo act but they both have a string of great songs, produced and performed impeccably.

Much like the Eagles, Journey Of The Sorcerer, I love the Abba instrumental, Arrival too.


I agree about George Michael, JCL. Definitely un-British.

[NightMistBlue]

How did Lynyrd Skynyrd go over in the UK? I imagine that would be an even wider cultural divide than the Eagles had to cross :) I'm from Florida, same as Skynyrd, and considered them too redneck and embarrassing to listen to willingly. I've since reconsidered and have a greater appreciation for their music.

[thelastresort]

Not a punk fan but you cannot deny the Sex Pistols's impact on UK culture and paramount importance to the UK music scene: to make just one studio album and have such a lasting legacy as they have is pretty extraordinary, John Lydon in particular really stood for the voice of an entire demographic of one generation and they remain an enormous influence on a lot of people, both musically and to an extent socially (myself included). It got to the point I believe where Lydon was discussed under the Treason Act in Parliament. That's how you do music.

NMB - I cannot speak for their initial years but I would say currently less recognised than the Eagles, by quite a margin. Free Bird and Sweet Home Alabama are probably on parity with Hotel California but after that they practically vanish from any radio or media medium. Sadly for me even less renowned still are ZZ Top, you hear practically nothing of them over here and they are my second favourite US band!

[Funk 50]

I can only speak for myself NightMistBlue. I saw Lynyrd Skynyrd on TV (The Old Grey Whistle Test) performing Freebird. Very impressed. It's a highly regarded clip by all accounts.

Bought the Freebird single, which had Sweet Home Alabama and Double Trouble on the b-side (remember those? :nod:).

F*****ng hated it. I don't know why. It just sounded awful on the stereo. Couldn't listen to all the widdly guitar soloing. SHA was ok but I found the lyrics a turn off. DT I can't remember.

Decades later, I'd say I don't like Lynyrd Skynyrd. Infact I'd probably steer clear of any group wearing denims and cowboy hats. :thumbsup:

I've heard a few ZZ Top tracks on the radio. Particularly the Eliminator tracks. Came and went with MTV I suppose.

I've seen a Walsh set list with Gimme All Your Lovin' as an encore.


Did you ever have, the punk badge of honour, a safety-pin peircing, thelastresort?

[thelastresort]

I've heard a few ZZ Top tracks on the radio. Particularly the Eliminator tracks. Came and went with MTV I suppose.

I've seen a Walsh set list with Gimme All Your Lovin' as an encore.


Did you ever have, the punk badge of honour, a safety-pin peircing, thelastresort?

ZZ Top have been around longer than the Eagles and still tour extensively over in America, obviously Eliminator spawned a lot of their most recognisable work (Legs, Sharp Dressed Man, Gimme All Your Lovin' etc) but their still have an enormous discography and base beyond that.

:hilarious: Like I said, I never was into punk (I'm not even 20 yet!), more than anything I meant that I tend to agree with them, especially Lydon as an individual, socially / politically.

[Freypower]

I never thought I'd see Abba and Dire Straits in the same sentence. They appeal to different markets but Abba were and still are huge. I didn't like them and yet I could still sing along to any of their hits. Beyond "Sultans of Swing", I couldn't name a Dire Straits song. (Correction: "Money for Nothing" and I'm done).

The Sex Pistols were the most visible part of a big shift in music.

The Police/Sting were pretty significant, though I'm not sure how much they influenced other bands/singers. Maybe it's too soon to consider the impact of 80s artists.

I read an old quote from Don Henley yesterday along the lines that in the future, maybe 70s music will be seen as culturally significant as the 60s was at the time. We've seen that happen, so will we soon be talking about Duran Duran, The Eurythmics etc?

Not even Romeo & Juliet? Walk Of Life? Brothers In Arms? I suggest you at least give them a listen.

This is a great topic but I wonder if we may need another topic to talk more about the influence of some of these bands.

The only Skynrd song I have ever heard is Sweet Home Alabama. As for ZZ Top I like La Grange & I thought their huge hits were cartoonish. I am not really into Aerosmith apart from a couple of songs. I am not really into American bands. I went & listened to Poco & CSN/Y once I became an Eagles fan & both left me cold.

[NightMistBlue]

Quoth Funk50: I'd probably steer clear of any group wearing denims and cowboy hats. :thumbsup:

Except our guys!

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/tm/2008/01/Eagles_428x269_to_468x312.jpg

[Funk 50]

You've got a point there, NightMistBlue ;-) but that pic was before I became acquainted with Lynyrd Skynyrd and they were dressing up. Such a minor indiscretion, I would probably tolerate :angel: