To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles

From Publishers Weekly
Veteran rock writer Eliot (Down Thunder Road: The Making of Bruce Springsteen) refuses to take it easy on the most commercially successful supergroup of the 1970s in this unauthorized, warts-and-all biography. As dons of the so-called Avocado Mafia, a loose association of singers and songwriters who first came together in Southern California in the late 1960s, the Eagles are, for Eliot, representative figures in a fascinating pop-culture drama. In tough, sometimes lyrical prose, Eliot shows how Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon and Randy MeisnerAthe original members of the groupAbecame the top-selling and most influential rock band of the Me Decade by combining laid-back attitude with self-consciously eclectic musicianship. Nor did it hurt the group's quest for fame, Eliot makes clear, to have brilliant business and PR men such as David Geffen and Irving Azoff on the side of the Eagles from the beginning. Eliot's a savvy enough storyteller not to let in-depth analysis of the aural and business dimensions of the Eagles' saga get in the way of good dish: the book brims with anecdotes about the band's now-legendary hotel-room demolition sessions, prodigious substance abuse and tireless womanizing. Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and David Crosby join more incongruous notables such as James Cagney, Kenny Rogers and Ronald Reagan's politically contrary daughter, Patti Davis, to make Eliot's account even more engaging. If the writing's purple at times, it's only because the band members' colorful excesses demand such treatment. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Considering Eliot's previous controversial biographies, including Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince (LJ 5/1/93) and Down Thunder Road: The Making of Bruce Springsteen (LJ 8/92), it's not surprising that ex-Eagle Don Henley tried to halt publication of this well-researched study of America's biggest band of the 1970s. The artist and the author eventually reached a truce, with the reticent Henley sitting for interviews, and this may explain why some unsavory details (such as Henley's 1980 drug bust) are lightly glossed over. Eliot gives little insight into what made the band tick, but he does provide an excellent contextualization of the early 1970s L.A. rock scene, and he offers fascinating character studies of Eagle compadres Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, and J.D. Souther, as well as music biz barons David Geffen and Irving Azoff. The generous appendix includes extensive notes and a detailed discography. Recommended for popular music collections.-ALloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L., CACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Ann Oldenburg, USA Today, October 1, 1998
After seven months of negotiating, Marc Eliot finally got Eagles guru Don Henley to talk to him for his unauthorized biography of the band, TO THE LIMIT, out today. Of course, says Eliot, "Henley wanted change the content," particularly such revelations as: Henley's two-year affair with Stevie Nicks, who got pregnant and aborted the baby. Joe Walsh causing $35,000 damage to an Indianapolis hotel room. "Nikon Don" Henley's propensity for carrying around a movie camera to film home movies of young groupie girls. The reasons for the band's unraveling. Eliot says he told Henley, "You can look at the book, you can comment on it, you can change facts, but you can't change the editorial." For a year they went back and forth. "I feel like I was in the ring for 15 rounds....and came out on my feet," Eliot says. "In his own idiosyncratic way, he greatly helped the book." The problem is that Henley "wanted the band to be sexless, girl-less, drugless; a hardworking band that was interested in keeping America green and showcasing a moral backbone - everything they weren't." New York-born Eliot, who has written several books about the music industry, including biographies of Bruce Springsteen and Phil Ochs, migrated to California in the '70s, much like the Eagles. He plays a little guitar, but writing is his love. He'll next tackle New York's 42nd Street and the families who shaped it. If there's one person he'd love to profile after that, it'd be Dwight Yoakam. "He is, without question, the most talented of the new country guys; he's an amazing actor; he's already got all kind of battle wounds from woman that I think would make Henley's seem like scratches," Eliot says. "And he's far more interesting that Hootie and the Blowfish or Matchbox 20 - not to put them down." As for Henley, Eliot says he still isn't happy about TO THE LIMIT and has stopped communitcation with him. "You can't please these guys." Larry Solters, longtime Eagles spokesperson, said Wednesday, "Mr. Henley is in the studio working on his solo album. However, since Mr. Eliot's book is unauthorized, it is without any validity and not worthy of comment."


From Booklist
MOR rockers the Eagles have had well-publicized leadership battles, romantic entanglements, and legal problems during a hugely successful career. Purveying every player's perspective, Eliot lays out all the complications, rehashing such things as the internal battles that pitted Don Henley against Glenn Frey (until Frey retreated in a cocaine haze) and the contretemps between Henley and Joe Walsh. It is nice to have all the recriminations recorded in one place--for research purposes, y'know. And it is also nice to note how the likes of peripatetic management suit Irving Azoff, skyrocketing deal maker David Geffen, and many another glitzy denizen of the 1970s pop music fun house meddled with the band. As important for chronicling how the pop music world changed from the hollowly idealistic 1960s to the openly crass 1980s as for chronicling one of the commercially biggest pop bands ever, the book is, however, a work of nostalgia more than of insight into a vital creative force in popular music. Mike Tribby


Publishers Weekly
"Tough, lyrical prose...the book brims with anecdotes about the band's now-legendary hotel-room demolition sessions, prodigious substance abuse and tireless womanizing."


Book Description
For the first time in paperback, and fully updated-the definitive history of the most popular rock-and-roll band of all time, the Eagles. The Eagles are the most popular, enduring rock band in America. With singles and albums hitting the top of the charts for a quarter century and a greatest hits collection that has sold more copies than any other recording in history, the Eagles have entered the pantheon of pop music. To the Limit is the unauthorized account of the group from its earliest years through the breakup, solo careers, and reunions. Blending the country and folk music of the late sixties with the melodic seductiveness of Detroit-style roots rock, the Eagles brought a new sound to a stagnant music scene. Under the brilliant management of David Geffen, the Eagles projected a public image of unshakable camaraderie-embodied by the cerebral, brooding Don Henley and the intuitive, self-destructive Glenn Frey-bolstered by the gorgeous harmonies of their songs. Behind the scenes, however, there was another story. At turns revealing, inspiring, funny, and shocking, To the Limit is the chronicle of a time, a place, and a group that succeeded in changing forever the world of popular music.


About the Author
Marc Eliot's previous biographies include Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince and Death of a Rebel: A Biography of Phil Ochs. He lives in New York City.


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