How Eagles’ “Desperado” Became a Classic Without Ever Being a Hit Single

Most people assume that today's song from one of the biggest bands ever was a #1 hit because it’s such a classic radio standard...played all the time. In reality, it missed the charts entirely. Desperado by Eagles is one of their biggest songs ever. But Desperado wasn’t a hit because it was never actually released as a single. Written by Don Henley when he was a teenager. The 70s classic has quite a history from starting a fire at a photo shoot that required the fire department to save them to the band having no budget for recording which only gave the Henley a few takes in the studio to try to nail down the vocal with a renowned orchestra playing behind him. No pressure. But the song would have its revenge as it appeared on a future album and was a big reason why that album would sell 40 million copies.. the story is NEXT on the Professor of Rock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .