10 Rock Songs That People Have Completely Misunderstood

You’ll be hard pressed to find any adult on earth who has never heard this song. Alongside ‘Wonderwall’, ‘Freebird’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ to name a couple, ‘Hotel California’ is undoubtedly one of the most famous songs ever written. In spite of this, even the band members themselves struggle to universally agree on the meaning behind it.

Forming in 1971 with their first stint together lasting until 1980, Eagles are now one of the biggest selling bands in world history with over 200 million album sales to their name. Released in 1977, ‘Hotel California’ was the band’s fourth US #1 and their only UK top 10 single, but its legacy has extended far beyond this. Some fans believe the song is about a real life hotel which was converted into a Satanic temple, whereas others have speculated that it is a tribute to John Fowles’ famous novel, ‘The Magus’.

Meanwhile, original Eagles member Don Henley said the song was about feeling trapped in the music industry with no way of escaping, but the meaning could be expanded to describe the socio-political circumstances of the entire United States at the time. Somewhat contradicting this, music journalist Steve Sullivan suggested that the song is about the spirit of social activism in 1960s America which had slowly died out, citing the line ‘We haven't had that spirit here since 1969’ to support his argument.

Perhaps everyone is overthinking it, or maybe the purpose of the song was that there is no one true purpose, allowing it to mean whatever the listener wishes it to mean. Regardless, ‘Hotel California’ remains one of the best songs of all time.