Creem 1977 Readers' Poll

[David]

Originally Posted by skcin

Really? Why? Were they considered too AC, even at that time?

Creem readership was essentially more aggressive, more geared to the punk, alternative & metal scenes, than to the milky white Eagles. Fleetwood Mac wasn't highly regarded by that magazine's readership, either, despite the good showing in the 1977 Readers' Poll.

As for Rolling Stone, the Eagles had a legendarily tough time there throughout the 1970s. There were ongoing feuds between the band & the staff -- quite entertaining, if you followed it in Random Notes -- that were the result of many poor reviews of Eagles albums & concerts in Rolling Stone. It really wasn't just Rolling Stone, either. The Eagles were never the critics' pets that Fleetwood Mac were in the late '70s. While the latter were considered dodgy, feisty, idiosyncratic pop craftsmen with an Appalachian country atmosphere, the former were pilloried in the rock press as being ultra-bland purveyors of dilluted modern country "product."

Only a few scattered critics wrote approvingly of some of the Eagles work, like Robert Hilburn of the L.A. Times, who were looking beyond the surface blandness into the disturbing & dark aspects of California life among the rich & famous.