Classic Album Review: "Hotel California" Quiz

Answer: One of These Nights

"Hotel California" (1976) was the fifth studio album of their career and one of the biggest selling albums of all time with over 26 million copies sold in the U.S. and over 42 million copies sold world-wide. The first two singles "New Kid in Town" and "Hotel California" both reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and "Life in the Fast Lane" reached number 11 on the same chart. On "Rolling Stone"'s 2003 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", the album came in at number 37.

Answer: The San Francisco hippie scene

The song "Hotel California" was the first song written for the album and became the focal point for the entire album. Don Henley, drummer and vocalist, in a 2016 interview with "Rolling Stone" magazine stated, "They're the same themes that run through all of our work: loss of innocence, the cost of naivete, the perils of fame, of excess; exploration of the dark underbelly of the American dream, idealism realized and idealism thwarted, illusion versus reality, the difficulties of balancing loving relationships and work, trying to square the conflicting relationship between business and art; the corruption in politics, the fading away of the Sixties dream of "peace, love and understanding." Subsequent material also remained close to these themes.

Answer: True

The first two lines of the song are:
"On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air".
There is no doubt where the inspiration for the opening two lines of the song came from. Factor in the dusky shot of the Beverley Hills Hotel on the album cover and the imagery is almost tangible. Additionally Don Felder said in a 2015 interview, "As you're driving in Los Angeles at night, you can see the glow of the energy and the lights of Hollywood and Los Angeles for 100 miles out in the desert. And on the horizon, as you're driving in, all of these images start coming into your mind of the propaganda and advertisement you've experienced about California. In other words, the movie stars, the stars on Hollywood Boulevard, the beaches, bikinis, palm trees, all those images that you see and that people think of when they think of California start running through your mind. You're anticipating that. That's all you know of California."

Answer: True

In an interview with British rock magazine "Zig-Zag" in 1976, Don Henley admitted "This is a concept album, there's no way to hide it, but it's not set in the old West, the cowboy thing, you know. It's more urban this time. It's our bicentennial year... the country is 200 years old, so we figured since we are the Eagles and the Eagle is our national symbol, that we were obliged to make some kind of a little bicentennial statement using California as a microcosm of the whole United States, or the whole world, if you will, and to try to wake people up and say 'We've been okay so far, for 200 years, but we're gonna have to change if we're gonna continue to be around.' Other members have described the album as a metaphor for the perceived decline of America.

Answer: Walsh

Joe Walsh was responsible for bringing the rock and roll sound to the Eagles, as well as the departure of Mr Leadon taking the country rock sound with him. Mr Walsh stamped his identity on the band with the opening riff on "New Kid In Town". With the outright rock sound created on "Victim of Love" Mr Walsh ensured his longevity as an Eagle.

Answer: Randy Meisner

Randy Meisner came from a country rock group called Poco to play bass in the Eagles. He also provided backing high-harmony vocals. He co-wrote "Take It To The Limit" (1970) and sang lead on same. This was the last album for Mr Meisner. Mr Schmit also came from Poco to join the Eagles.

His first album was the subsequent "The Long Run" (1978) where he sang the lead on the exquisite "I Can't Tell You Why". Both were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Eagles were inducted (as was Mr Leadon).

Answer: Henley

Mr Felder was allowed to record the song but the band did not believe it was up to the required standard. Mr Henley then recorded the song and even Mr Felder admitted it was better than his own version. Another feature of the song is that "V.O.L. is a five piece live" is scratched into the vinyl run out groove on side 2 of the album.

This was because of the criticism of the band being staid and lifeless in the studio. Apart from the lead and harmony vocal the rest of the music was recorded live - in a single take.

Answer: Producer Bill Szymczyk developed a fear of living on a fault line

When recording the album, producer Szymczyk needed to record in Miami as he had fear of living on a fault line in Los Angeles after experiencing an earthquake in LA. The band compromised and recorded most of it in Florida. This was difficult at times as Black Sabbath were recording in the studio next door and were so loud it interfered with the Eagles' sound in the adjacent studio. For the "Hotel California track", there were 33 edits on the master tape.

Answer: Zero

None of the five were from California: Felder was from Gainesville Florida; Henley was a Texan; Frey was from Detroit; Meisner and Walsh were both from the mid-west - Walsh from Kansas, Meisner from Nebraska.
Ironically the two other Eagles inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Bernie Leadon and Timothy B. Schmit, were both from California.

Answer: No

It won "Record of the Year" for the title track and "Best Arrangement for Voices" for "New Kid in Town". It was nominated for "Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group" and Bill Szymczyk was nominated for "Producer of the Year" but "Rumours" won "Album of the Year".
In 2003, the album was ranked number 37 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time and the song "Hotel California" was ranked number 49 on "Rolling Stone"'s list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".