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Frey and Henley come off as small, greedy beep

posted 11 years ago by hoz49
8 replies | jump to latest

I've seen this whole film at least 3 times so far. I love the music and behind the scenes looks. Frey and Henley come off as small greedy *beep* They say the fights didn't happen but Felder sued those two and they manager for his fair share after he was "fired" from the Hell Freezes Over Tour, and they settled out of court. Lucky he never relinquished his share of the Eagles Corporation or those two egomaniacs would have got away with their "we're worth more than the rest of the Eagles" crap.

I guess Schmidt and Walsh are hired hands, session and stage players working for wages. Schmidt acts like a pussy but if I were Walsh I'd drag up he let his buddy Felder down by sucking up to Henley and Frey.

[–] PhineasAppleby 11 years ago

Walsh god bless him seemed out of it. I don't think he wants to rock the boat and is okay making good money touring with Frey and Henley. Schmitt just seemed grateful he was a member of the Eagles.

[–] kjones1067 11 years ago

Frey came off as the biggest jerk in the documentary. I remember in 1993 Frey had this TV show that was about to come out, was giving interviews to classic rock stations all over the USA. In St. louis, this one DJ/media TV reporter, tried to squeeze in a few questions about The Eagles, Frey got ticked off, didn't want to talk about the Eagles, didn't want to talk about a reunion, etc... His TV show was cancelled before it even aired.

Then less than a year later, The Eagles did a reunion tour and charged mega-bucks for people to see it.

[–] Aim-JE 11 years ago

Schmit was grateful to be a member of the Eagles, but he was also a member of Poco and the Coral Reefer Band. He coined the term "Parrotheads." He just wants to play music and be able to support his family. I liked him; especially his lack of ego.

"I'm filled with Scotch, bitterness, and impure thoughts!"

[–] JackSparrow92 8 years ago

I noticed something interesting after watching this a few times.

Henley and Frey nearly always speak directly to the camera, while the others - to a man - always seem to be speaking to an interviewer off camera. The impression I got from this is that those two are trying to say "this is our story, our version is the authoritative one, everybody else is just giving their opinions." They're almost lecturing the viewer, and thus seem to be placing themselves on a pedestal, above the others. To me thus made the others seem more sympathetic and more relateable.

Just my $0.02....

[–] Flexon 8 years ago

The choice of how to film the interviews was the director's.

I did notice that Henley and Frey are filmed against a dark background and speaking straight to camera, whereas the settings and angles vary with most of the other interviewees. My interpretation is that this is the director saying this is primarily the Henley/Frey story in their own words and it's up to us to decide if they are reliable narrators.

I don't see it as lecturing or putting themselves on a pedestal - they are just telling their own story and the story of the band. For me, that works better than a disembodied narrator (probably some actor) who we might assume to be authoriative. They are probably all telling the truth as far as their own memory, experience and interpretation allows and sometimes their truth will be different to that of others who were present.

[–] ThingyBlahBlah3 8 years ago

Henley and Frey (RIP) do come off as selfish, egomaniacal jerks, and this isn't the first time that charge has been leveled against them. That said, they are spot-on in saying that you can't run a band as a democracy... if the band is ever going to get anywhere, someone has to be in charge and everyone else needs to fall in line under them. It's sad but true; even with the Ramones, if Johnny hadn't been an aggressive jerk who could manipulate everyone else, most of us would probably have never heard of them.

Regarding the money-splitting issue during the reunion, my take is that Frey knew that it would piss Felder off, and probably hoped that it would drive him to quit.

_________
It's a mess, ain't it, sheriff?
If it ain't, it'll do til the mess gets here.

[–] dawnbaxter34 8 years ago

It was the same with KISS, where Gene and Paul did all the work, especially with business, while Peter and Ace played the instruments. When they did a reunion tour, Gene and Paul received a share of the gross revenue while the other two were paid a salary. Gene Simmons was especially hard-nosed that way.

It was also the same with the Rolling Stones, where the 'Glimmer Twins' received most of the money. Charlie Watt was paid a smaller percentage and Ron Wood was paid a salary for quite a few years after he joined.

[–] cinles 8 years ago

my take is that Frey knew that it would piss Felder off, and probably hoped that it would drive him to quit.

That makes no sense. Why would he ask Felder back if he wanted him to quit? I think Felder's problem was not money as much as it was the same problem everyone else had - wanting to be in control. They were all that way but Meisner. The only reason there have been no problems with Joe and Timothy is because Timothy was just glad to be in the band and Joe was too messed up to really care and he wouldn't even be in the band if it weren't for Glenn and Don Felder. He might not even be alive. I think like Timothy, he's happy to be working. Felder made a bundle and didn't even have to work. It was never about the money - it was about who was in charge. Glenn obviously respected Felder's guitar playing, but he was right - Felder can't sing worth a sh!t.

Frey and Henley come off as small, greedy *beep*

Frey and Henley come off as small, greedy beep