Got any gum?

July 26, 2010 11:19 AM

Screw this song, and screw this band. Back when Coors was still a mystery east of the Mississippi, this fellow sounded like what Colorado looked like.
posted by timsteil (25 comments total)

I wonder how this will go in comparison to the recent Dylan discussion. I'll start! I don't like The Eagles, but my parents like them well enough, and I loved them as a little kid (especially "Witchy Woman," which I thought was wonderfully spooky and probably predisposed me for a lifetime fascination for, well...witchy women), and listened to them until I got completely burnt out on them, which is why I don't like them now. If pressed, I'll probably admit to still enjoying "Witchy Woman" and "Take It Easy," but certainly not "Hotel California."

Now Joe Walsh I admit to liking unreservedly, from the folk and country-tinged early stuff like the gorgeous "Birdcall Morning" to the unabashed rock comedy of stuff like "Life's Been Good" and "Ordinary Average Guy," which are slight but fun.
posted by infinitywaltz at 11:56 AM on July 26, 2010

Wow, that nifty embedded YouTube player sure has its downsides, sometimes.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 12:02 PM on July 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

Oh, amen. This mellow Colorado myth's soundtrack plagued every weekend road trip I ever had to take with the Rocky Moutain-roamin' parents. It could only come from rich Aspen twerps (like John Denver), exoticizing dimbulbs weary of city life (like Long Beach's own Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band), and burnouts who mistook Boulder for the rest of the state. Oh, and people who realized the number of bucks to be made off the peaceful easy bullshit. Congratulations, The Eagles.
posted by Kylio at 12:05 PM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Don't think you included my favorite JW song, Turn To Stone. Dirty dirty dirty. The guitar sound of the James Gang is one of the defining sounds of 70s hard rock to my ears.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:19 PM on July 26, 2010

While we're complaining about stuff . . . the "this" link - if there's anything worse than the Eagles it's a top ten list that spans three pages. I don't like Joe Walsh any better, but I respect the depth of your post, although I can't bring myself to listen.

If anyone missed it I highly recommend this video where Ben Stiller seduces "Glenn Frey"
posted by chaff at 12:42 PM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ahh, the Eagles. Canonical Example # 1 of why you never, ever give the drummer a microphone.
posted by namewithoutwords at 12:44 PM on July 26, 2010

Is this one of those posts you had to live through the 70's to understand? Or be a huge Lebowski fan?

I've never associated Joe Walsh (or the Eagles for that matter) with Colorado.

What am I missing?
posted by madajb at 12:50 PM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've never associated Joe Walsh (or the Eagles for that matter) with Colorado.

What am I missing?

There's the song (and compilation album) Rocky Mountain Way.
posted by Challahtronix at 12:56 PM on July 26, 2010

I've never associated Joe Walsh (or the Eagles for that matter) with Colorado.

They did major "woodshedding" in Colorado. Pretty much developed their sound there. Before that, they were LA barflies. . .Frey and JD Souther were Longbranch Pennywhistle, Meisner was briefly in Poco, Leadon was a studio musician and they were briefly Linda Ronstadt's backup band (although for the dozens of times I went to see Ronstadt in clubs, I never saw THEM).

But apparently they went to Colorado and came back with a sound and an album's worth of material. And the shark jumped for me when they started playing arenas and stadia. And it turned to loathing when they re-formed.
posted by Danf at 1:03 PM on July 26, 2010

Not a fan of mystery-meat YouTube posts. Please don't force me to read the comments to have some idea who/what you're talking about. Just say the guy's name.

Also, nice use of the jowalsh and rockymtns tags.
posted by straight at 1:04 PM on July 26, 2010 [3 favorites]

Reading the hatin' comments, I am reminded of the Mojo Nixon song, "Don Henley Must Die".

Don Henley must die/
Don Henley must die/
Don't let him get back together/
With Glen Frey....

The Eagles don't really bother me, though I don't ever listen to them on purpose. But it's news to me that there's a Colorado tie, as I always thought of them as an LA band.
posted by richyoung at 1:34 PM on July 26, 2010

Fuck man. I was reading the feed of my phone on the way home and I thought. Who the hell taints the blue with a FPP about the Corrs?

But now I see this post is golden.You make me hate living in a place where I can't crank up the clips to really, really loud. That cinnamon girl clip is amazing, what's up with the dude with the thumb though?

Oh, @namewithoutwords. If your rule had been a law of nature (which it should) we all could have lived pristine lives without listening to Phil Collins. Could you imagine that? A world without any knowledge about Phil Collins whatsoever?
posted by ouke at 2:03 PM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

> Ahh, the Eagles. Canonical Example # 1 of why you never, ever give the drummer a microphone.

Can I assu-su-sumio that Example #0 is Phil Collins?
posted by chavenet at 2:08 PM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

exoticizing dimbulbs weary of city life (like Long Beach's own Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band)

I humbly submit that the various incarnations of the NGDB are probably allowed an annoying Christmas track here or there.

I saw Doc Watson on Saturday at Rockygrass. To the extent that the Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken projects have anything to do with why the 20-somethings there treat him and artists like him with so much respect, or why you can hear so many of those songs played by kids at campfire jams at festivals all over the country, I think they probably deserve a little better than "exoticizing dimbulbs".

(Also, I still think "Fishin' in the Dark" is a pretty brilliant country pop song, and I can report that teenagers in places like the no-stoplight Nebraska town where I grew up sure think it's expressive of something authentic. Granted, they think that about the geopolitical stylings of Toby Keith, too, but in this instance they may be on to something.)
posted by brennen at 2:38 PM on July 26, 2010

What's up with the John Denver hate? OK, maybe his music can be a little saccharine or new agey at times, but he seemed like a generally good guy, a hard worker, and a promoter of progressive causes. No?

Don't blame the guy just because Colorado politicians like his music.
posted by mrgrimm at 3:49 PM on July 26, 2010

I didn't even comment on John Denver. Can't say I've ever been a huge fan, but I agree, he did seem like a generally good guy, and "Take Me Home, Country Road" isn't a bad song at all. I've always kind of wanted to hear Mike Ness sing a cover of it, though.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:56 PM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was going to link to Joe's "I.L.B.T.'s" but (a) I can't find the audio for it on the innarnets, (b) I see this post is more about Colorado than Joe Walsh, and (c) eggs benedict tits, what it is.

Question: was Coors ever any good?
posted by not_on_display at 3:58 PM on July 26, 2010

I've got two word's for Don Henley: Joe Fuckin' Walsh
-Dennis Leary (can't find the clip anywhere, sorry!)
posted by KingEdRa at 4:42 PM on July 26, 2010

Joe Walsh is awesome. It seems he burned out his brain pretty good, though. If you saw him on the ABC version of Whose Line, you'll know what I mean.
posted by wierdo at 6:41 PM on July 26, 2010

Ahh, the Eagles. Canonical Example # 1 of why you never, ever give the drummer a microphone.

As opposed to The Band, which is the canonical counterexample.
posted by hippybear at 6:42 PM on July 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Needs more James Gang, but worth it just for the Caribou Ranch links.
posted by GeckoDundee at 6:50 PM on July 26, 2010

The jocks in high school and the ex-jocks in college loved Hotel California and The Long Run (and "Already Gone," which was their anthem) but worshipped Joe Walsh.

I don't have any particular vehemence one way or the other about the Eagles. I like "I Can't Tell You Why" (that Timothy B. Schmit song on The Long Run that everybody's supposed to hate with a passion) more than the songs you're generally supposed to treasure. It's got that same sort of drugged-out, after-the-cocaine-runs-out-in-Coldwater-Canyon late-70s-depresso vibe that Nicolette Larson's cover of Neil Young's "Lotta Love" and Linda Ronstadt's cover of Little Anthony's "Hurts So bad" do.
posted by blucevalo at 5:27 AM on July 27, 2010

UH-OH HERE COMES A FLOCK OF WA-WAs LOL
posted by drowsy at 8:40 AM on July 27, 2010

Interesting how no one questions the implicit premise here that Colorado = Rocky Mountain.
The Rocky Mountains span 7 of the United States and 4 Canadian provinces.
posted by spock at 10:25 AM on July 27, 2010

Interesting how no one questions the implicit premise here that Colorado = Rocky Mountain.

Think that's because "Rocky Mountain High" explicitly names Colorado on, like, the next line of the chorus and because Walsh was living in CO when he wrote Rocky Mountain Way and because Caribou Ranch is/was in CO.

Personally, I have no idea what Rocky Mountain Way is about at all, so I'll happily look at the evidence that it's about somewhere else.

(Now, I don't think there are any caribou in Colorado, so maybe the real question is where'd they get that name for the ranch.)
posted by Kylio at 11:59 AM on July 27, 2010