10 Rock Bands That Wrote Songs In Different Genres

If there was ever a set name for what the Eagles do, it would fit more or less in the sunshine rock camp. After the Summer of Love quickly exited the conversation as the '70s turned a corner, the California rock scene seemed to get a lot more mellow, with Don Henley and Glenn Frey finding themselves in the middle of a scene packed with breezy singer songwriters like Jackson Browne and JD Souther. Rock may have still been the order of the day, but every songwriter looking to improve their craft is going to find themselves in the world of country sooner or later.

Already having country player Bernie Leadon in their ranks, Glenn and Don's idea for their second album was going to be a lot more conceptual, pitching the idea of the rock star fantasy as an outlaw mindset, with every song having a dangerous undercurrent to it. There comes a time when every outlaw has their luck catch up with them though, and Desperado is the moment where everything is stripped away, as Henley delivers one of the more vulnerable vocals he has ever laid down.

While this might have been considered just a standard rock ballad, it's focus on twang turned it into a mainstay of the country rock community, from Linda Ronstadt covering it just a few years after it came out to being standouts for giants like Kenny Rogers and Johnny Cash. Country always comes back to the people on the wrong side of the tracks though, and this is the kind of story that people like Cash know all too well.