The original members of the Eagles were Glenn Frey (guitars, vocals), Don Henley (drums, vocals), Bernie Leadon (guitars, vocals) and Randy Meisner (bass guitar, vocals). Their all from LA, California. They met through Linda Ronstadt, some touring with her, and all playing on her third solo album, before striking out on their own with David Geffen's new Asylum Records label. Why the Eagles? They all say in numerous interviews after having not settled on a band name yet, they performed their first show in October 1971 under the name of Teen King and the Emergencies at clubs. The idea of naming the band "Eagles" came from a peyote and tequila-influenced group outing in the Mojave Desert. I’m not kidding!

This song was written by Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey. The original recording of the song features Henley singing the lead vocals and concludes with an extended section of electric guitar interplay between Felder and Joe Walsh. On the title Hotel California, Henley said "The word, California carries with it all kinds of connotations, powerful imagery, mystique, etc., that fires the imaginations of people in all corners of the globe. There's a built-in mythology that comes with that word, an American cultural mythology that has been created by both the film and the music industry. All of us drove into L.A. at night. Nobody was from California, and if you drive into L.A. at night... you can just see this glow on the horizon of lights, and the images that start running through your head of Hollywood and all the dreams that you have, and so it was kind of about that... that's what we started writing the song about."

Eagles was their debut album released in 1972. The singles from this album were Take It Easy, Witchy Woman. And Peaceful Easy Feeling.

Take It Easy was written by Jackson Browne and Frey, who also provides lead vocals. It was the band's first single as well as the first track on the album. Over time it has become one of their signature songs, included on all of their live and compilation albums. It is listed as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Witchy Woman is a song written by Henley and Leadon. Its is the only single from the album to feature Henley on lead vocals. Leadon started writing it before he was a part of the band. After joining the Eagles, he and Henley then finished the song together, and it would be the only song on the Eagles' debut album where Henley had a writing credit. Henley said of the song: "Its such an important song for me, because it marked the beginning of my professional songwriting career."

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for Eagles Part 2!