The Eagles are unquestionably the biggest mainstream American rock band to have emerged in the 1970s. Not only did they sell more records and concert tickets than their peers -- Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) and Hotel California are two of the biggest-selling albums of all time -- but they captured the shifting zeitgeist of the '70s, riding the country-rock hippie hangover at the end of the '60s until it reached the slick, expensive, and expansive pop/rock of Southern California in the late '70s. Co-leaders Don Henley and Glenn Frey met each other, along with fellow founders Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, when they were hired to support Linda Ronstadt in 1971. The chemistry was evident on-stage and in the studio, so the quartet decided to form a band, releasing their debut in 1972. Hits came swiftly but their stardom peaked in the latter half of the decade, after 1975's One of These Nights became a smash. Soon afterward, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) turned their early years into canon, and then came 1976's Hotel California, a record that defined all manners of '70s excess. By that point, the band's lineup had shifted -- Leadon and Meisner were out, as was Leadon's replacement Don Felder; guitarist Joe Walsh and bassist Timothy B Schmit were in -- and the group turned out to be ill-equipped to handle their mega-stardom. One more record, 1979's The Long Run, appeared before the band split, with Henley and Frey achieving considerable solo success during the '80s. The Eagles reunited in 1993 for an acoustic concert dubbed Hell Freezes Over, followed it with the Long Road Out of Eden album in 1997, and from that point on toured regularly, staying on the road even after the death of Frey in 2016.
