A Conversation with Eagles’ Manager, Irving Azoff – HuffPost 7.3.14

Mike Ragogna: Hey Irving. What do you think it is about the Eagles that is so iconic that they can just keep going decade after decade?

Irving Azoff: Timeless songs, consistent live delivery and picking the right times and places to do things.

MR: And the Eagles became pretty popular worldwide as well.

IA: That’s a tribute to how all through their career, they were willing to go overseas and work it. But also, these songs translate. They were kings in a day when you could appeal to everyone. I think the difference now is that it’s hard for anybody to get that big because everybody appeals to a certain segment of the audience. Back in the old days when we had hits, you’d hear a Stevie Wonder and then you’d hear a Marvin Gaye and then you’d hear an Eagles. They were the beneficiaries. The songs have stood the test of time, and that, to me, explains the worldwide popularity. We just put Australia and New Zealand tickets on sale and it’s just f**king mammoth. It’s incredible.

MR: You’ve been there right from the beginning with the Eagles and artists such as the late Dan Fogelberg. What did you originally see in them?

IA: Glenn Frey arrived after we met, he handed me a T-shirt that said “Phone Power” and he was wearing a T-shirt that said “Song Power.” To me, that just summed up from the beginning what would set them apart from every other rock band. They also made a conscious effort to not be who they weren’t, in everything from the way they dressed on stage to the way we didn’t put pictures of the guys on the album cover because it was a band. Things like that.

MR: And you also made some very strategic and creative moves like adding artists such as Joe Walsh and Timothy B Schmit to the Eagles’ roster.

IA: Well, yeah. The band took its natural turn towards rock ‘n’ roll. The obvious addition of Walsh was the big rock ‘n’ roll turn.

MR: These guys also have causes that they support. Don Henley immediately comes to mind, who is very socially conscious.

IA: They all are. Walsh supports the Santa Monica Conservancy in a big way, Glenn Frey has several–mostly kids in urban city-type stuff, he teaches at NYU–Henley focuses on his conservation stuff especially through the Walden Woods Project but he has other things like Caddo Lake. They deliver in all ways.

MR: Having been with these guys from the beginning, you’ve also seen their evolution as a live act. What are your thoughts on their show these days?

IA: To me, this is the best live show we’ve ever done. Again, we still can’t put everything in the show that we want to. The fact that they’re able to dip back and tell the entire story from beginning to end; it’s the story of the Eagles. They walk out on stage with just Glenn and Don and two guitars and play “Saturday Night” from the Desperado album. We’re able to go deeper into their repertoire. To me, this show they put together–from their performance to the production–is the most satisfying of all Eagles shows. People had better see it quickly because the three hour and fifteen minute set is coming to an end. I’m not saying they’re coming to an end, but this version of their live performance is. This show was written to go around once, not twice. That’s how it’ll be.

MR: Over the years, people have loved hearing new material from the Eagles. Do they do that still? Do they still get together and write?

IA: No, mostly because I told them don’t bother, because there’s no appreciation for it anymore. Neil Diamond once said to me that he puts four new songs all together in the set because he knows they’re going to get up and go to the bathroom when he plays new songs. I’ve actually discouraged them from doing anything new because there’s such a lack of respect these days for icons of our business doing any new material. Their audience wants to hear the body of work that they live with at home, not new material.

MR: It’s amazing how millions and millions of people love and know most of the material by the Eagles, with “Hotel California” seeming to be the most revered. Irving, what advice do you have for new artists?

IA: Be born thirty years earlier. The business as it exists now is not the opportunity that it was when we all started.

MR: With the Eagles having been as influential as they were, I believe they effected music way beyond the period when they had hit singles. And they were the door opener for so many other artists.

IA: They took their friends on, whether it was Jackson or J.D. or Linda or Dan. They took an interest in their friends’ careers and they took talented friends. They don’t get nearly enough credit for all the good that they do for society and for others.

MR: And you helped put all this in motion, Irving.

IA: Thank you very much.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne