Eagles biographer Ben Fong-Torres takes ’70s rock to the limit! PODCAST INTERVIEW

Today’s Guest: Ben Fong-Torres, author, Eagles: Taking It to the Limit

 

Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience of guys from Gainesville, Florida who claim Don Felder owes them ten bucks… in the NEW new media capital of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida!

How is it possible that 40 years have passed since the birth of The Eagles?

Eagles book jacket
Order Eagles: Taking It to the Limit by Ben Fong-Torres by clicking the book cover above!

You know – “Hotel California,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Desperado,” “Lyin’ Eyes, “New Kid in Town, “Life in the Fast Lane” – those guys.

Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, Don Henley, Don Felder, Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh. By the way – why does everyone list Walsh last? Is he the Ringo Starr of the band?

BEN FONG-TORRES podcast excerpt: “The Eagles came along at a time when country rock had been established, that more confessionalized, personal music. Music that encompassed some social commentary and the time in which they lived. Eagles music still talks to some of those concerns. And there were the straight-forward harmonies. The Eagles were expert at that.”

But I digress.

I know The Eagles story is a remarkable one, but I’d be lying if I said I was a huge fan. I’m not. I respect their incredible output and enduring success, but the music never grabbed me.

So why are we here today? Well, the new coffee table book celebrating the band’s lengthy career was written by Ben Fong-Torres, one of America’s most successful magazine writers, a man who got his start in the 1970s with Rolling Stone. I wanted to talk to him and if it meant the subject had to be The Eagles: Taking It to the Limit, then so be it.

Ben Fong-Torres Eagles softball
A 1970s softball grudge game between the Eagles and Rolling Stone magazine sets the tone of Ben Fong-Torres’ new book, Eagles: Taking It to the Limit

(For the record, when I hosted Rolling Stone writers David Wild and Parke Puterbaugh over the years, it wasn’t because I was a Neil Diamond or Phish fan, either.)

Ben Fong-Torres Blog • Buy Eagles: Taking It to the Limit


Kicking Through the Ashes by Ritch Shydner, Mr. Media Interviews
Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life As A Stand-up in the 1980s Comedy Boom by Ritch Shydner. Order your copy today by clicking on the book cover above!

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