7 Interesting Facts About ‘Victim Of Love’ By The Eagles

7 Interesting Facts About ‘Victim Of Love’ By The Eagles | I Love Classic Rock Videos

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It cannot be denied how the Eagles peaked with the release of their 1976 album, Hotel California. While the title track was undoubtedly the star of the show, standouts from the tracklisting were present like “Victim Of Love”. Dive deep into the song’s conception, which was the band’s way of moving into rock and roll territory from their signature country sound.

1. The vocal part going to Don Henley was something that resulted from the band’s dissatisfaction with Don Felder’s performance. Felder was promised a lead vocal on the album and thought that this would be the song, seeing as he was the one who came up with the idea.

2. However, they did let Felder record the vocals, but did a sneaky maneuver on him by distracting him to allow Henley to record his own version. Manager Irving Azoff took Felder for a meal while Henley recorded his vocals. Felder felt cheated, but he couldn’t argue when his vocals were put side-by-side with Henley’s own.

3. With the roles rearranged, Henley was now on lead vocals, Felder on lead guitar, and Joe Walsh on the slide. Henley thought of Felder wanting the lead vocal on the song as equivalent to him demanding to play lead guitar.

4. The run-out groove on Hotel California’s B-side has the message “V.O.L is a five piece live”, which indicated that the song was played in the studio live by the five Eagles members.

5. This was due to accusations of the lackluster spirit the Eagles had in the studio. They decided to play the song live in the studio to let people know they did it, with engineer Bill Szymczyk responsible for the vinyl engraving.

6. The primary songwriters Felder, Henley, and Glenn Frey, were joined by J.D. Souther. The singer-songwriter also contributed to “New Kid In Town” and “Heartache Tonight”.

7. Felder says that the band was moving away from their country sound to a more rock and roll style, writing around 17 song ideas, “Victim Of Love” being one of them.