Full concert:
https://youtu.be/pDJvhAmiAsI
Full concert:
https://youtu.be/pDJvhAmiAsI
Do his concerts always start with that hilarious speech?
OMG yes. It's just more proof of what we can already notice - his overwhelmingly large inflated ego compared to his actual accomplishments and talents and importance, while worthy of respect, aren't as big.
Felder should be happy - he can do it all now if that's what he wants. Sing, play, run the band, and have someone record something about all that stuff you did at the beginning of every show. And call it the Don Felder band. He can play pretend all he wants to and get praise and the attention he so desires. It's all about you. Yet, I think deep down inside he's insanely regretful for his behavior in the band. I think he knows he had it better when he was a member of the band and played guitar in the Eagles. And he should be. He's also probably terribly regretting sealing the deal with his "woe is me" book. He has no one to blame but himself and I refuse to put the blame on Glenn Frey, and also Don Henley.
There should be no surprise as to why his position in the Eagles was eliminated. People say Glenn and DH were egotists. While I don't doubt they could be cocky, they could usually back it up. DF's always vastly overestimated himself. He's a great guitarist. All those other roles - not so much. He was going to try to tell DH and Glenn he was worth as much to the band as they were, not only financially (albeit his main focus), but in terms of importance and output and success. Get real Don. You're a hired gun guitarist and nothing more. Yes, you wrote the bit of music that became Hotel California. But you did NOT write it. His passive aggression combined with his malcontent personality, ego, and inability to accept the fact he's just a guitarist, and not a frontman/singer/main songwriter basically made him a royal pain to work with. And it stems from insecurities. He knows he's not all that he claims. He was never okay with the fact he's just a great guitarist and that's it and that he was never, ever going to be DH. Never, ever going to be Glenn. I'd even make the argument that while it seems on the surface his main point that got him fired was wanting the same pay as Frey and Henley, I think more than the money, he wanted them to see him as an equal in the band. Equal importance, equal say, equal output. We know how he acted when he was told he wasn't going to sing Victim Of Love. I wonder about the idea that it was never about the actual money itself, but rather by getting the same pay, he could tell himself he that he was of equal importance. When told to shove it - he did for awhile. but then started being passive aggressive and that rightly got him canned.
To me when I see Don Felder, hear him talk, etc I can't help but to feel bad for him. While almost anyone would give their left kidney to have been in his place, he never felt content. Never felt happy or truly proud of what he'd done without the need to exaggerate it. In another view, it's maddening because he never seemed grateful and always seemed entitled and acted like a baby when he was told no by Glenn Frey. To make that final call to Glenn, begging for his job back not only reeks of desperation, but also admitting that he was wrong. But I think had Glenn given him another chance, he'd do it again. Maybe not for awhile but people like that will continue to do it. And seemingly will find someone else to leech off of. No contact is the best policy. He should thank his lucky stars for seemingly walking into the life he has. So a part of me has sheer disdain for his arrogance, I also am sympathetic to a point, considering how miserable it must be to have all of that going for you, and need more and nothing is ever enough. It's just like he never truly grasped the fact that he was a great guitarist and didn't need to be anything more. He was set. He never appreciated how lucky he was. It's pathetic!
I heard this exact speech in concert and it made me cringe and the only thing popping into my head at the time was the page in the DSM about "Narcissistic Personality Disorder"...textbook case if you ask me.
Last edited by WalshFan88; 02-23-2020 at 08:02 AM.
"A four-time Grammy Award winner". I know they do say 'Eagles', but still I would have expected Don to be a bit more modest about the Grammys. Lyin' Eyes - did he sing harmony in the choruses? New Kid In Town - did he arrange the vocal harmonies or sing some of them? Did he sing Heartache Tonight? My answer to the first two is "maybe, but I don't think so". But I'm 99% positive he didn't sing HT. Glenn was a terrible guy, but at least Don appreciates the Grammy Glenn sang for him.
The following is not about Don, but every rock star who calls him/herself a bestselling author now. Number one, when you're already famous and write a book about yourself and your band, OF COURSE people are going to buy it. Number two, most (if not almost all of them) used a ghostwriter. Let's not get them confused with people who are actually writers.
That's my Felder negativity for now. I don't have much to whine about these days. 🙂 (I don't consider my lip-sync stuff whining, because there's no emotion involved there, just observation)
if it was not for don felder, the eagles would not be as big or successful as they are today. no need to bash Felder, hes already gone through enough pain with the eagles as it is.
TBH, edwardd19, he brings it on himself. He's got no one else to blame.
Any pain he got from the Eagles was something he brought on himself. It wasn't mean old Glenn. Glenn was in the right. No one likes someone who brings everyone down with their snide comments or constant whining OR malcontent nature. The straw that broke the camels back was when he asked for the same money as Glenn, got told no and he said ok. But then to make everything miserable, he kept being passive aggressive about it, and finally Glenn and probably DH had enough and Glenn told him to get lost. Don Felder is not innocent, at all. He was responsible for his demise in the band. He helped to break them up in 1980, Glenn wasn't about to let him ruin it again in 2000. Don Felder is a brilliant guitarist. But he, IMO, is an unsavory character and I get tired of his need to constantly shamelessly exaggerate his importance.
As far as the comment about success, I think that is debatable. I think his main achievement was coming up with the guitar intro for Hotel California, and giving it to Don and Glenn to write a song with. And yes, it's their biggest song. But he, while starting the process, wasn't responsible entirely for the whole song. I think that Glenn and Don are largely responsible for the bands success and lasting music. There was a hierarchy to the Eagles and while everyone works as a team and you need the other guys, not everyone gets to be quarterback. Not everyone gets to be coach. And that's ok. But Don Felder didn't think so. Bye!
I don't doubt Glenn could be cold and perhaps mean at times, but not to the extent Felder and his fans would like you to believe. And to be frank, Glenn's personality type would certainly clash with that of Don Felder, who was passive aggressive and would whine incessantly about being told no by someone who was more dominant. But Glenn wasn't this evil guy. And certainly he did get tired of Felder as time went on. But if Felder would have just assumed his role of a guitar player and not complained about not singing (which he cannot do) or having equal money and power in the band, then I'm sure he'd still be in the band. There is an interview on YouTube of Glenn in the 80s talking about Felder, praising him, and saying that he was an integral member in the second half of the 70s. He wasn't out to get him. Neither was Henley.
I used to think Don Felder was wronged, got a raw deal, and that he was the innocent man he claimed to be. Then, I woke up and realized that almost anyone would have a hard time working with Felder, especially if you were his superior. And I realized that Glenn wasn't as bad as he says, and that he wasn't the victim that he proclaimed so loudly to be. If he had owned up to his mistakes, apologized to Glenn and Don, and not wrote a nasty book trashing Don and Glenn - who knows, he may have been asked back at some point but that would have been giving him a third chance. And to me, a second chance is plenty, IMO.
My opinion of Felder will change when Felder owns up to his mistakes and cuts back on the silent arrogance and quits claiming that he "wrote" Hotel California. Then I will cut him a break. I don't see it happening!