5 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About Eagles’ ‘Life In The Fast Lane’
CIRCA 1976: (L-R) Bernie Leadon, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Don Felder of the rock and roll band "Eagles" pose for a portrait in circa 1976. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
The Eagles were one of the greatest rock acts of the 1970s. They dominated the airwaves, performed at sold-out shows, and basically became the voice of a generation. “Life in the Fast Lane” was featured as the third single of their 1976 magnum opus “Hotel California”. Here are five interesting facts about it:
1. It’s about a man and woman who lived a life of excess.
“‘Life In The Fast Lane’ kind of expressed the stereotyped LA ‘run around in your Porsche’ 24 hour boogie mode that unfortunately is too true for a lot of people,” Glenn Frey told BBC in 1981. “It wasn’t really a statement about the guys in the band, or about anybody in particular – just it’s kind of disturbing to see the extremes that the bourgeois jet set will involve themselves in.”
2. The song helped popularize the phrase “Life in the fast lane” – a line that Frey originally heard from a drug dealer.
He was with a drug dealer who was driving on a freeway. When Frey told the guy to slow down, the latter responded: “What do you mean? It’s life in the fast lane!”
3. Joe Walsh came up with its iconic guitar riff.
It started as his warm-up exercise, and when his bandmates heard it, they made him play it again.
4. There were rumors that it was about Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
Nicks dated Don Henley after she broke up with Buckingham.
5. Heart’s Ann Wilson paid tribute to Frey by covering this song.
She featured it on her 2018 album Immortal and called it “the perfect picture of love in the ego-driven, materialistic party culture of the 1970s.”
