“Hotel California” was the culmination of a lifetime ambition by the glory-seeking Eagles. With the album and the song, the group successfully pivoted to an arena rock sound and, in the process, found very few arenas they could not fill and very few U.S. radio stations unwilling to play the band’s music.
But a song tinged with such mystery and an almost otherworldly power that it was bound to raise questions, provoke scandals, and create rumours. Was it all a Satanic conspiracy that the artwork offered hints to? Was it a song about drugs?
Here’s a look at the theories that won’t escape “Hotel California,” at the album’s meaning according to Don Henley and the rest of the band, and at the enduring legacy of a rock classic.
The Country-Rock Roots of Eagles
I said before, and I’ll say it again – Eagles was set up as a business partnership. But why should’ve Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon settled for less. By the time of the band’s country-flavoured 1972 self-titled debut, they’d seen success firsthand. Sure, they’d generally been on the sidelines, not in the spotlight, but they now knew how the industry worked.
Henley and Frey, the most ambitious of the Eagles, were hand-picked to be part of Linda Ronstadt’s backing band. Ronstadt’s blend of country and soft rock made her a colossal success during the 1970s.
Meanwhile, Meinsner had been a founding member of the legendary Poco, while Leadon had been part of the no less influential The Flying Burrito Brothers. Both had also joined Ronstadt’s backing band as touring musicians.
Eagles was started with the idea of taking advantage of the burgeoning country-rock movement. Critics were cynical. Am I? No, the first records are fine. While I am sure there was less of an artistic drive as on CSN&Y or Joni Mitchell’s albums, Eagles was a highly professional band from the start.
The Arena-Rock Phase
As the 1970s wore on, modern country-pop started sliding off the charts. Instead, rock bands like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones took influence from country for their arena-topping blues rock.
Lead guitarists were the people moving the crowds, the heroes of their times. Eagles understood this. That’s why the group brought in not one but two lead guitar players to fulfil the group’s ambitions. Joe Walsh had already enjoyed a successful career both as a solo artist and with the James Gang. Meanwhile, Don Felder was a Southern rock ace who, I think, perfectly complemented Walsh’s fancy fret slaloms.
“Hotel California” Writing Process
Throughout the 1970s, Eagles released albums and toured them at a steady pace. That’s why by 1976, the group had already accumulated a considerable repertoire of hits.
But the band wasn’t yet taken seriously. Creating a concept rock album seemed like the quickest route to the critics’ hearts. But not everyone got it right. KISS, for example, would make “The Elder” in a bid to align themselves with groups like Pink Floyd, and fans would react negatively from the onset.
“Hotel California” was the first song written for the album and provided it with its theme. Henley says that he was fascinated with the contrast between the sunny image California enjoyed all over the world, and what he calls “dark underbelly of the American dream.”
Henley wanted to write about the California that he knew personally. This version of the American state had room for all sorts of glamour. But it was also made up of weirdos, drifters, bizarre spiritual gurus.
Pivoting Towards a Big Rock Sound
Musically, the sound was inspired by the band’s desire to embrace straight-ahead rock n’ roll. Walsh and Felder’s guitar-playing was the driving force.
Felder came up with the memorable song progression. Frey was particularly fond of the musical structure, noting it as having a “cinematic” quality.
Years later, Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull would notice a particular similarity between the chord structure and the song “We Used to Know” from the 1969 “Stand Up” album. Anderson, whose band had toured with the Eagles previously, however, laughed off talk of lawsuits or ill-will towards the American band.
The lyrics were written, almost exclusively, by Don Henley. The symbol of the foreboding hotel was fresh in the mind of musicians. This was, after all, their home for most months of the year.
Once the song was completed, Henley, Frey and the band realized that they’d hit upon a darker, more highly encompassing theme than originally expected. “Hotel California” was written as a script for an imaginary movie about the decline of the paradise-like American state.
Is the Artwork for “Hotel California” Really a Satanic Conspiracy? A Pro-Drugs Song?
It’s one of the simplest yet striking pieces of rock artwork. If Don Henley demanded stark, ominous-looking pictures, designers David Alexander and John Kosh provided just that.
The front album cover was shot at sunset and at the notorious Beverly Hills Hotel. It was shot 60 feet above the sign in the fading light. The neon sign “Hotel California” logo was added later. Soon, millions of copies of it would travel all over the world.
The back cover has led to the most speculation over the years. It was shot inside the lobby of the Lido Hotel in Hollywood. The picture shows the band together with a group of people. Henley demanded that these people represent a microcosm of the California he knew.
It’s been reported that some of the people in the picture could be members of Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan. Some, it’s true, even believe the song to be about Aleister Crowley’s Loch Ness mansion.
While this has not been blatantly denied, a dark, gloomy image can be seen in the shot on the balcony. Many believe that to be LaVey himself.
Another popular myth stated that the name of the song was the nickname of the Camarillo State psychiatric hospital. This is located near Los Angeles.
Urban myths also focused on the “Warm smell of colitis rising through the air.” Some have suggested that the lyrics tell the tale of the descent into addiction.
While these may be myths, it is true that the band wanted a picture that could provide to the listener, instinctively, the feeling of darkness which surrounded this seemingly perfect place.
Musical Backmasking on “Hotel California”?
“Hotel California” was an immediate, all-conquering success. The power of the music is undeniable, I think. I suspect that this is one of the reasons for all of the myths surrounding the music.
Frey later admitted to hearing many theories over the years. The song is supposed to be about heroin, cannibalism or Satanism. “Everybody wants to know what that song was about, and we don’t know,” Frey told the BBC.
Together with Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” for years, “Hotel California” was one of the principal targets of religious zealots. They claimed that playing the song backwards could reveal hidden, occult messages.
The Real Meaning of “Hotel California” According to Don Henley
Don Henley doesn’t know precisely what the song means. The songwriter understands that the music and lyrics have, luckily, taken on more weight than he would’ve expected.
However, the starting point for the song was the story of the rise of the United States of America itself. California is merely a symbol of its glory and its future problems. The album was released at the bicentennial of the country.
California is a land that has been romanticized across so many songs, movies and books. The reality, as the members of Eagles saw it, was that this place where dreams were made was also a place where nightmares were created.
The Legacy of Eagles and of the “Hotel California” Album
Eagles got their rock hit. “Hotel California” made the group one of the premier arena-rock draws. The gamble to integrate Walsh and Felder into the fold and switch to a rockier sound had paid off.
After spending 18 months in the studio, “Hotel California” immediately became a platinum hit when it was released in 1977. Soon, on the strength of the lead single, it had sold 10 million copies. “New Kid in Town” and “Life in the Fast Lane” were additional hit singles.
FM radio immediately embraced “Hotel California” and never let it go. The storytelling, clever songwriting and, especially the outro guitar duel between Felder and Walsh are staples of rock music. In fact, Rolling Stone Magazine has picked the guitar solo as the 8th best-ever recorded.
However, the success of the song and album messed up the Eagles. The extra work and strain got to the musicians and they started squabbling. It took them three years (the longest gap between albums) to record the follow up, “The Long Run.”
By this stage, each member of the quintet wanted an allocated slot on the record. But the songs weren’t quite there anymore. The album had its moments but was a failure.
And while Frey promised that the band would never get back together, in 1994, they released the aptly titled “Hell Freezes Over.” The centre-piece of the record was a re-recorded acoustic version of “Hotel California.” The song became a hit all over again. I suppose that because of the myths, as well as in spite of them, Eagles produced one of the greatest songs in the history of rock music.
