How Black Sabbath Nearly Ruined Hotel California!
The Eagles’ iconic song “Hotel California” was born out of guitarist Don Felder’s beach house musings in Malibu in 1975. The song was given a working title of “Mexican Reggae” by Don Henley.The band’s perfectionism led to three attempts to record the song, with Black Sabbath causing major noise issues in the adjacent studio during the final session. The Eagles kept getting interrupted by Black Sabbath, who was rehearsing in the studio next door. Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi remembers “We were too loud for them… It kept coming through the wall into their sessions.” Despite these issues, the iconic “dueling solo” outro was eventually completed by Joe Walsh and Don Felder, and the song went on to become a symbol of 1970s American rock.