Well, to begin, each member of the original lineup hailed from a different region of the country and brought different regional influences to the music.
The Michigander in the group, co-lead vocalist and lead guitarist Glenn Frey from Deeeetroit city, was hot stuff, and he knew it. He brought all the swagger the group would need to snatch a major label deal away from all of the other needy bands forming in L.A. in the early '70s. Musically, Frey was influenced by Motown and polished his guitar skills alongside Bob Seger (Frey contributed guitar and backing vocals to Seger's 1969 album Ramblin' Gamblin' Man). Frey gave the Eagles an edgier rock sound that set them apart from more mellow guy groups like America, Bread, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. My favorite songs with Frey on lead vocals are "Already Gone" (written by Jack Tempchin and Robb Strandlund) and "Lyin' Eyes" (written by Frey and Henley).
Drummer (and Stevie Nicks hookup number one) Don Henley nearly shoved Frey out of the picture, thanks to his golden vocals, revered among the best in rock. A southerner at heart, Henley's upbringing in the small, agricultural town of Linden, Texas exposed him to the ragtime of Scott Joplin, Western swing, and classic country along with the popular music of The Beatles and Elvis. My top two songs with Henley on lead vocals are "Desperado" (written by Frey and Henley) and "Best of My Love" (written by Frey, Henley, and J.D. Souther). The brains of the group, Henley majored in English Literature at North Texas State University and adopted a quote from Emerson's Self-Reliance as his call to arms: "Beware what you set your heart upon. For it surely shall be yours."
Bernie Leadon, banjo enthusiast and former member of country rockers The Flying Burrito Brothers, was raised on Minnesota bluegrass. Leadon put the "country" in "Eagles" and contributed important harmony parts until leaving the band in 1975.
Randy Meisner, the high-harmony singing boy next door, was a founding member of Poco before joining the Eagles as a bassist. He was famously replaced by a dog on Poco's debut album cover, which can be observed in the linked video. Meisner co-wrote 9 Eagles songs including "Take it To the Limit," on which his unbelievable high note at the end (skip to 4:23) was the reason for his departure in 1977.
Together, the founding four met in Linda Ronstadt's backing band once they were all settled in L.A. Once they asked her opinion, Ronstadt encouraged them to form their own group. The Eagles were established in 1971. There were arguments and lineup changes along the way, but whenever the Eagles toured, they were a force of nature.
When the sessions for the 1974 Western-themed concept album On the Border required a slide guitarist, Bernie Leadon's friend Don "Fingers" Felder joined the group as a second lead guitarist. Felder traded guitar licks with Frey on "Already Gone".
Bernie Leadon left the band in late 1975 and was last recorded on 1975's One of These Nights. Citing differences in musical taste (Leadon much preferred country to the harder rock direction the Eagles were headed in) as well as a personal desire to find time to exercise and get healthy, Leadon still managed to go out with a bang after breaking a beer bottle over Glenn Frey's head following an argument on the night of his departure.
The same day of the announcement that Leadon had left the band, the band gained a firecracker in lead guitarist Joe Walsh (Stevie Nicks hookup number 2).
Walsh had already attained some mainstream success as lead guitarist and vocalist for The James Gang as well as with 1973 solo jam "Rocky Mountain Way". Walsh took Frey's edginess and kicked it up about fifty notches with an aggressive guitar tone and imaginative riffs and solos. Walsh influenced the band immediately, earning them a hit with the fast-paced "Life in the Fast Lane" from the 1976 album Hotel California. Constantly battling drug and alcohol abuse, it was a miracle Walsh could hold up for an entire show on some nights. Healthy competition between Walsh and Felder developed on tour as they took part in live guitar duels on the song "Hotel California.".
During the Hotel California tour, Randy Meisner was having health issues related to exhaustion, which he felt affected his ability to hit that high B at the end of "Take it to the Limit." The song was an undeniable crowd pleaser, and Frey attempted to pressure Meisner into performing it one last time for an encore (to literally "take it to the limit one more time," I guess you could say...), which pushed Meisner to his breaking point as far as dealing with The Eagles was concerned.
It would seem like finding another high harmony singer who played bass would prove difficult, but Poco was able to provide another. Enter Mr. Timothy B. Schmit, Meisner's successor in Poco (he wrote a hit for that group with "Keep on Tryin'").
Harmony extraordinaire Schmit has recorded with CSN, Firefall, Andrew Gold, and Steely Dan. So he was definitely up for the challenge when he was called upon by The Eagles in 1977. As another member who made an immediate impact on The Eagles, Schmit wrote and sang lead vocals on "I Can't Tell You Why" a song from 1979's The Long Run. The song reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the Eagles entered the era of glossy rock. Timmy B. is a personal favorite. I'm not exactly sure why--maybe because his hair looks like mine, or because he's just kind of adorable. Plus, he must be an eternal optimist, because after surgery for throat and neck cancer in late 2012, he already has his singing voice back.
The Eagles broke up for the first time in 1980, which was inevitable given the amount of time these people spent together on a daily basis. The event occurred on a fateful night in Long Beach. The band was performing at a benefit for senator Alan Cranston, but Don Felder hated performing for free. Felder and Frey's relationship had been on the rocks since recording The Long Run, but when Cranston individually thanked each member of the band prior to the concert, Felder replied with a "you're welcome...I guess," which infuriated Glenn Frey. During the performance, Felder and Frey were giving each other death threats, which were captured on tape. Felder was then fired from the band.
"Somebody's gonna hurt someone/before the night is through/somebody's gonna come undone/there's nothing we can do." -Heartache Tonight
All of The Eagles except for Leadon and Meisner reunited in 1994 and have released two more albums of new material and toured on and off since then. Leadon made guest appearances on the most recent tour, but has not rejoined the band full time. After everything, there is still one thing no one can take away from this band:
Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), an ambitious release for a band with only four albums worth of material at the time, will always be the best selling individual album of the Twentieth Century. And Timothy B. Schmit's hair will remain a constant.
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