Henley Hangs Tough on Social Concerns
Author: Mitch Potter
Publication: Toronto Star
Date: May 25, 1990
Abstract: Don discusses what to expect at his show and the new songs he and Glenn are working on (wonder what happened to those?)
Caution: Environmentalist working.
That, promises Don Henley, will be subtext of things Sunday night at Kingswood Music Theatre, when the once and probably future Eagle kicks off the Wonderland venue's summer concert series.
"If you want a lot of hysteria and prancing around this is not the show to come see," Henley laughs during a telephone interview yesterday from Hartford, Conn.
(Madonna, on the other hand, will handily cover pop's prancing requirements, as she begins the first of three shows at SkyDome that same night.)
At 42 and, by his own admission, just barely mature ("Men don't grow up until 40, I find"), the singer/songwriter/drummer says he's only now finding an audience for a solo stance that doggedly probes the dark side of the curdled American dream.
But if the troubled ruminations of his three solo albums, including 1989's Grammy-winning The End Of The Innocence, find a cozy balance between a cynical mind and optimistic heart, his rising fame has also taken its lumps.
Good on him, critics say, for standing out as one of the few dissenting voices in a smug generation of pop stars content to harvest nostalgia. But couldn't he at least smile once in a while?
"Well, I try to include a bit of humor into the show, as dark as it is," says Henley.
"It's a fine line you have to walk to connect with lyrics like these, and sometimes you have to hit them in the groin before you can get to their hearts and their heads.
"The fact is, I've always been pretty hopeful, but I just like to talk about the other side of life more. I see rock 'n' roll as an extension of folk music, which has a tradition of addressing social ills.
"Besides, I hardly think people are starved for entertainment. They've been entertained into a complete stupor, so there's no reason why you can't write a song that has content, but can be danced to as well."
Henley is almost beyond bristling at The Question - whether or not the Eagles will re-form. With news that he and co-founding Eagle Glen Frey have been writing songs together to add to a greatest hits collection due near the end of the year, the queries are part of his daily regimen.
"We started writing in March," Henley recites without pause or irritability, "and we'll continue in August when I get back home.
"Glen and I are trying to make things funky and mean, because times are different and it calls for a different approach to the music.
"The new songs won't be completely different, but don't expect a rehash of what the old Eagles sounded like. Other than that, I can't tell you about touring because I don't know. We're taking it day-by-day."
A member of the Texas chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Henley has spent much of the past 15 years focusing on environmental causes, from battles against toxic waste incinerators to preservation of lakes, forests and most recently, a drive to save Thoreau's Walden Woods from the hands of developers.
If those beliefs happen to fall into popular trend at the moment, Henley is nonetheless unwavering in his commitment.
"We get criticized for it, but in defense of a lot of my Hollywood cronies, most of them are quite knowledgeable and sincere about their charitable work. In fact, we've started a lot of movements on the west coast that trickle back to other parts of the country, and we've been unfairly maligned for our efforts.
"There will always be cynics who doubt one's good intentions, but my advice to anyone who wants to make a difference in the world is to ignore it.
"Ignore it totally, do your homework, know exactly what you're talking about, and if you get involved in causes, make sure they're root causes, not faddish ones."
