And now Glenn Frey.

What is it with this year? Is this a big cull of superstars? I've never seen anything like it and now I hear that Glenn Frey has died. He co-wrote "Hotel California" that has to rank up there with "Stairway to Heaven" as one of the most heavily played rock songs ever and the guitar solos are sublime.
Planet Rock this morning said that one hell of a supergroup is forming in heaven and they're not wrong.
I like the Eagles, who didn't? Even the Sid Vicious liked the Eagles, "We are better than anyone, ain't we? Except for the Eagles, the Eagles are better than us,"
They were crossover before crossover was really accepted, taking the harmonies of Crosby, Stills and Nash, running it through a Country filter and creating those laidback, gentle classics and later, rocking it up, both ways worked for me.
This has always been one of my favourite Eagles tracks and I only just found out that Glenn Frey sang it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCoFc661GZU

A sad loss and I shall dig out some vinyl tonight and play some Eagles to remind myself how great they were.

It does appear as if a generation is disappearing and I suppose it is. They are all around the same age, which seems a little young to me but I guess we are witnessing the first generation of rock stars departing the stage. previously generations of teenagers listened to the music and wore the fashions of their parents but rock 'n' roll changed that. The Beatles changed that again and so rock 'n' roll became something else and the stars of that earlier generation died young such as Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent etc or they were forgotten. Only 1 star really survived the Beatles and that was Elvis. In the '60's the Who, the Stones, the Kinks, Hendrix, Mountain, Led Zep, the Doors, Janis Joplin, etc, moved music towards the rock we know and love today but so many of them died along the way, creating the "27 club" but some of the music and the bands were seminal. Often overlooked and forgotten is the Band, the group that helped create Americana and I can hear shades of that influence in the Eagles, a hidden depth that transforms a band into something mythical. Very quickly we appear to be losing them and it is a shock to us because these are the rebels of a previous age, the generation our parents or grandparents grew up with and they seem to have maintained their influence on music over the decades and may of them are undergoing a resurgence, coming back into fashion and producing some of the best music of their lives.

Glenn Frey was a superb songwriter and being part of a band meant that he possibly didn't get the credit he deserved but then the same goes for all the Eagles, they each bought something special to the mix and it is a shame that a large part of that is now gone. It is a pity that they came back together so briefly but I am glad that hell did freeze over because we were at least left with some great songs at the end of times.