Tunes: Life In The Fast Lane (2023)

“Why don’t you come to your senses?”

Life In The Fast Lane: The Eagles’ Reckless Ride Down The Rock & Roll Highway is a very decent read. The author, Mick Wall, is notorious for his sometimes scathing looks at some of the biggest acts in rock and metal. This book plays nice for the most part with its subject, the Eagles. Wall focuses primarily on Don Henley and Glenn Frey, two of the founding members of the band. The other founding members, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, are often treated as an afterthought. Wall will wax poetic about the greatness that is Henley and Frey and then occasionally mention Meisner and Leadon. This is somewhat justified, as Henley and Frey did call most of the shots for the band, but I really would have liked to hear more about Leadon and Meisner.

Wall spends about a third of the book setting the tone for the creation of the band. You’ll read about Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons, Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, J.D. Souther, the Troubadour, and a lot of other California-centric people and places before arriving at the point where Frey and Henley meet one another and David Geffen sets them on their way….with Bernie and Randy along for the ride. Then you’ll read about their albums, the addition of Don Felder (another afterthought in Wall’s writing), the exits of Leadon and Meisner, and the addition of Joe Walsh (the somewhat notable afterthought) and Timothy B. Schmit (the last afterthought). You’ll also read about Irving Azoff’s master plan to make the Eagles even bigger stars.

Eventually you learn of the band’s somewhat quiet split, Frey and Henley’s attempts at solo careers, a brief mention of Hell Freeze’s Over, an even briefer mention of Long Road Out Of Eden, and the current state of the band in which Henley is the lone founding member.

It’s all wrapped up in a litany of adjectives and asides courtesy of the pen of Mick Wall. He could have gotten to the point a lot quicker, but it was often very fun to read his meandering style of writing.

I know that many music snobs will wince when I say this, but the Eagles and KISS have a lot of parallels. Both feature two core, controlling members (Henley/Frey, Paul Stanley/Gene Simmons), a wizard is brought in to inject new life into the band (Walsh, Vinnie Vincent), and eventually a quiet guy who tows the line keeps the band afloat (Schmit, Tommy Thayer). Also, both bands were very successful and are beloved by their fans but never seem to get the credit they are due from music critics. On top of that, Frey became disenchanted with the Eagles much like Gene Simmons did in the early 80s with KISS, and like Simmons, he pursued a brief acting career. Henley, much like Stanley in KISS, is considered the heart of the Eagles. In addition, both bands are still on the road in what seems to be an extended farewell tour. None of this is mentioned in the book. In fact, KISS is never mentioned at all, but being a member of the KISS Army, I found it kind of cool how the two groups parallel one another.

If you’re an Eagles fan, this might disappoint you since it spends A LOT of time on Henley and Frey. If you’re a fan of 70s music, however, it’s pretty cool to read the many interludes and path-crossings that Henley and Frey have with a number of major rock stars and future rock stars.

Thanks for checking out my post. I hope that you enjoyed this review of Life In The Fast Lane. I know that it isn’t my normal type of post, but I felt that this book was worth mentioning. See you soon!