Don Henley Said 1 Word Made The Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ a Hit
Some classic rock songs get famous for the oddest reasons. For example, Don Henley from The Eagles said “Hotel California” was popular partly because it used one word. That word carries a shocking amount of cultural weight.
Don Henley said The Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ built on the ‘mystique’ of a certain place
During a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, The Eagles’ Don Henley discussed why the album Hotel California was a bigger deal than The Eagles’ earlier studio records. “I’ve learned over the years that one word, ‘California,’ carries with it all kinds of connotations, powerful imagery, mystique, etc., that fires the imaginations of people in all corners of the globe,” he said. “There’s a built-in mythology that comes with that word, an American cultural mythology that has been created by both the film and the music industry. But I think the success of the album was due to a combination of things that all coalesced at that point in time.”
The “Boys of Summer” star discussed how one of The Eagles’ compilation albums helped make Hotel California a huge hit. “Hotel California was our fifth studio album of original material, so the momentum had slowly, steadily been building since 1972,” he said. “And during those years, we had become a viable touring act.
“Then, there was the enormous and somewhat unexpected success of the Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) album,” he added. “We didn’t really want that album to be released, but had allowed the label to do it in order to buy ourselves more time to work on the Hotel California album. So, when the Greatest Hits album literally exploded on the charts that really kicked the momentum into high gear.”
The Eagles’ song is 1 of many classic rock tracks lionizing the Golden State
Henley is right about the cultural understanding of California. The Golden State has been the subject of cultural fascination for nearly two centuries. It started with the Gold Rush before the film, television, and music industries later made it seem even more enticing. People often associate California with glamor, wealth, hedonism, and beautiful landscapes.
Classic rock also has a long history of making California seem like the place to be. The Beach Boys wrote multiple songs about the summer in that state, with “California Girls” being the most famous. Later on, Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” and The Mamas & the Papas’ “California Dreamin'” captured the state’s association with the hippie subculture. More recently, Lana Del Rey has mythologized the Golden State with tracks such as “Freak” and “California.” While Del Rey isn’t a classic rock star, she writes music like she just got out of a party at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.
An icon put ‘Hotel California’ on a swingin’ concept album
In 2002, rock icon and sex symbol Nancy Sinatra put out a concept album of covers called California Girl. This was a great choice, as she epitomized California in the swingin’ 1960s. The album included recordings of “California Girls,” “California Dreamin’,” and “Hotel California.” The tune’s inclusion on the album shows that, by 2002, “Hotel California” was considered one of the all-time great songs about the Golden State.
“Hotel California” is a perfect song and it might not be famous if it was called “Hotel Wyoming.”
