#36: Hotel California
23 Points (On 1 of 9 lists)
Highest Vote: (#3 by Compound )
The Story:Dude, turn that off.
No, I like classic rock, but not that song.
Yeah, I know it's The Eagles, but see, that song? It's evil.
See, back in the late 60s and 70s, there were a bunch of Satanists running around California. They bought this deconsecrated church and turner it into a hotel, and called it the "Hotel California." They even incorporated themselves under that name, to keep themselves underneath the public's radar. Well, the Eagles got all tangled up with the Satanists and especially Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan. And the song's all about Satan. "And I called up the Captain, said 'Please bring me my wine.' He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.'" Wine's the blood of Christ. And in 1969, LaVey founded his Church and Time magazine declared that God was dead. And if you play the song backwards, you can hear clear as day "My sweet satan."
You ever see the album cover? The photo was taken at LaVey's house. And he's in the background of the picture, watching over everyone there.
Plus, there's a shot on the album cover of a man standing in a doorway. The thing is, when they took the shot, there was no one there. And when they developed the shot, no one was there. He only showed up after the album cover was pressed.
Oh, geez. Turn it off.
No, there's nothing Satanic about it. I just can't stand "Call Me Maybe." Gah.
Well, Is It True?Well, no.
It's possible that the Eagles were involved with Satanism. There's certainly evidence that Don Henley sold his soul at some time or another. But most of the legends about the song are just false.
Meaning-wise, the Eagles claim that the song is about hedonism and self-destruction and the dark underbelly of the American dream. It's certainly something they had familiarity with.
There was a "Hotel California" in existence when the song was written, but none of the Eagles seem to be aware of it, nor have visited there. (There have been a number of them opened after the song was written though.)
As for the Anton LaVey rumors- Well, the photo was taken at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which isn't a satanic hotspot. And the person rumored to be LaVey on the balcony? Well, Blender magazine took a look at the images from that photo shoot a few years back, and the person in the shadows moves out of them at various points. It's a her. She's black, and according to some folks at the shoot, she was pretty damn drunk and/or high and just wandered away from the shoot and headed upstairs. Plus she has hair, which LaVey doesn't.
If you think the song about drugs though, well, it kinda is. "Colitas" was what the band thought marijuana was called in Spanish. It wasn't.
Random Notes Fun fact- the reference about "steely knives" was, according to Glenn Frey, a nod towards Steely Dan, who referred to the Eagles in one of their songs. Granted, this was years later, so Frey may have just decided that the rumor was cooler than the actual story behind the lyrics and just ran with it.
Another fun fact- Wine? Not a spirit. If you point that out to Don Henley, he'll get rather snarky. "Thanks for the tutorial and, no, you're not the first to bring this to my attention—and you're not the first to completely misinterpret the lyric and miss the metaphor. Believe me, I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what the proper nomenclature is. But that line in the song has little or nothing to do with alcoholic beverages. It's a sociopolitical statement. My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes."
Up Next They're not going to show that, are they?
Topic: LoC 65: Top 50 Urban Legends (Read 32827 times)
