Life in the Fast Lane
The Eagles’ Reckless Ride Down the Rock & Roll Highway
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Life in the Fast Lane
Buy Now for $27.83
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Narrated by:
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Al Kessel
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Written by:
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Mick Wall
About this listen
"Surely make you lose your mind . . ."
So the Eagles warn us about the outrageous and ruthless lifestyle of the ambitious rock-n-roller. In fact, Don Henley could barely listen to the track "Life in the Fast Lane" when they were recording it. He was so high that it made him sick.
The band that embodied the American dream with globe-straddling success, impossibly luxurious lives, and almost supernatural talent also descended into nightmare with bloodletting betrayal, hate-filled hubris, the skeletons of perceived enemies, brutally discarded lovers and former band mates left unburied in the road behind them. The Eagles' story is a truly gothic American fable: one of ultimate power and rivers of money; of sex and drugs at a time when both were the lingua-franca of sophisticated So-Cal living; of a band who sang of peaceful easy feelings in public while threatening to kill each other in private.
Now, legendary rock journalist Mick Wall delivers definitive insight into America's bestselling band of all time, exploring their meteoric rise to fame and the hedonistic days of the '70s music scene in LA, when American music was taking over the world.
©2023 Mick Wall (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksBook Review: Life in the Fast Lane by Mick Wall
As a big fan of the Eagles’ music, I was excited to read Mick Wall’s Life in the Fast Lane. The book certainly delivers on the drama and gives a lively overview of the band’s rise, the clashes of personality, and their place in rock history. Wall captures the intensity and the excess of that era well.
That said, after reading Don Felder’s Heaven and Hell, this account does feel a little one-sided at times. The treatment of Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, and Felder himself raises questions about fairness and respect within the band. Of course, every story has multiple sides, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle — but as a fan, it’s hard not to feel conflicted about how things played out.
What doesn’t change, though, is the music. The harmonies, the songwriting, the sheer timelessness of the Eagles’ catalog are what brought me to these books in the first place. For anyone who loves the Eagles, Wall’s book is an entertaining read, but pairing it with Felder’s memoir gives a much fuller, more balanced picture.
Gerry Scott
Vancouver, B.C
Success, excess drugs, the story is played out in all my favourite bands.
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