10 Artists That Went Too Far For Classic Songs
6. Victim of Love - Eagles
After going through the album cycle for One of These Nights, the entire Eagles company felt more like a machine than an actual band. Coming off of some of the biggest success of their career and now having Joe Walsh in the fold as well, Hotel California was expected to be the moment where everything went right, as everyone tried to bring the best out of each other at the sessions. There was no real room for filler, even if it meant making the rest of the band happy.
While Don Felder had a hand in creating the chord structure for the title song, he had made mention time and time again that he wanted to sing on one of the tracks, and singled out his song Victim of Love as his shining spot on the record. The band did initially roll with him at first, but when his run through the song wasn't exactly up to snuff, they did some pretty shady things to make sure everything came out right.
After telling Felder that the song was finished and ready to be mastered, the band convinced manager Irving Azoff to take him out to dinner while Don Henley and the rest of the band stayed behind to cut Henley's version of the song, which eventually made it onto the record. For all of the California sunshine that comes with this kind of music, this is about as cold as you can possibly get in the world of rock and roll.