Police Were Called On Glenn Frey And The Eagles After Their Band Feud Intensified Backstage

Highlights

• A backstage scuffle led to Eagles members throwing punches and being stopped by the police.
• The infamous Eagles fight over “Take It to the Limit” involved Randy Meisner and Glenn Frey.
• Glenn Frey’s passing in 2016 saw tributes from fans and Randy Meisner despite their vicious feud.

Throughout entertainment history, there has been a long history of celebrities feuding with one another. For example, Cher called Madonna out many times. On top of that, Selena Gomez and Chris Rock had a feud that nobody would have predicted.

Unfortunately for people who work in the music business, it often seems like the most vicious celebrity feuds happen between bandmates. Perhaps the most infamous example of that is the fact that the members of the Eagles had a fight that the police tried to break up.

This article will reveal why the police tried to break up a fight between the members of the Eagles. Following that, the article will look at how Randy Meisner felt about Glenn Frey after he left the Eagles.

The Police Tried To Stop The Eagles’ Most Infamous Fight

When people look back at the Eagles’ legacy, there are two things they tend to think of; the group’s hit songs and their infighting. In June 1977, things came to a violent head between two members of the Eagles and the police tried to get involved.

During an infamous backstage fight at a 1977 Eagles concert in Knoxville, the police tried to stop Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner from trading blows. However, another member of the band, Don Henley, reportedly stopped the police from getting involved.

The Telegraph reported that according to Frey, the Eagles’ relationship with Meisner was already deteriorating before that night. As a result, Frey says he told Meisner to quit the band entirely during an argument.

“Ok, don’t sing it. Why don’t you just quit? You say you are unhappy, quit.”

According to a 2023 article from The Telegraph, Meisner threw a punch at Frey during their argument and the police who were backstage came over to intervene. However, Frey says that Don Henley stepped in to stop them by saying, “Stay out of this! This is personal and it is private, real f**king private!”

As the story goes, the fight took place because of one of the Eagles’ most popular songs.

After “Take It to the Limit” became a major hit for the Eagles, it became a big part of their concerts in 1977. That meant that Eagles member Randy Meisner had to hit his trademark high note during each of the band’s gigs at that time.

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While Meisner hitting that note became a highlight of each concert for Eagles fans, he began to feel the pressure. In fact, having to hit the high note each night became a topic of great stress and anxiety for Meisner.

The Telegraph’s article revealed that Meisner feared he wouldn’t be able to hit the high note anymore due to his heavy reliance on alcohol and substances at that time. The article also quoted Meisner talking about how scared he was of messing up the high note.

“I was always kind of scared basically. ‘What if I don’t hit it right?’ It was a pretty high note.”

The Telegraph reported that Meisner reportedly told his bandmates he wouldn’t or couldn’t hit the high note. That led to Frey and Meisner’s battle of words that became a fistfight.

However, The Telegraph reported that Frey first reacted by trying to encourage Meisner that he could hit the note. “Randy, it’s going to be okay, you can sing it, let’s just go back out and do it.”

However, Meisner reportedly didn’t accept Frey’s encouragement and reacted with anger while under stress and possibly hungover.

“No, man, I’m not going to sing the f**king song.”

Things reportedly got worse from there after Frey reportedly responded, “Well, f**k you then.” Following that, Frey told Meisner to quit and the fight broke out.

While talking about the events of that night, Frey remarked that it was clear something was going to change after the fight. “The writing was on the wall and Randy was going to leave.”

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As The Telegraph article revealed, Frey turned out to be right. Meisner quit the Eagles months later in September 1977 citing exhaustion.

The Telegraph also quoted Meisner who described the punch he threw at Frey as, “One lousy mistake.” Meisner also claimed that he was provoked into the punch after Frey insulted him. Most notably, Meisner disputed the common characterization of what happened. “There were never any fights. Disagreements, yes. Fights, no.”

Randy Meisner Mourned Glenn Frey’s Death Decades After Their Infamous Backstage Fight

In January 2016, Glenn Frey passed away after decades of entertaining the masses. After news of Frey’s passing spread online, millions of Eagles fans came forward to mourn the death of a true rock n’ roll legend.

On top of all the fans who openly mourned the loss of Frey, many of his peers also expressed their grief. One of the most remarkable examples of that is the fact that Randy Meisner spoke out about the tragic news decades after their fight.

As Meisner explained, he knew Frey had been in poor health but didn’t think it was anything serious. “I heard he wasn’t feeling well, but I didn’t think it was that serious. Then we heard he got pneumonia. I knew he had some problems with his stomach, but I figured he’d be OK and get out of the hospital and do his thing again.”

As Meisner explained, he took the news of Frey’s passing hard. Based on Meisner’s statement to the Daily News, it seems like the news was hard for him to take because he thought Frey would outlive the other members of the Eagles.

“All day yesterday, I was like a zombie. He was the last person I expected to go first. He was such an energetic guy.”

Meisner finished his statement with a reference to the song that once came between Frey and him.

“This is very sad for me. I’m sad we couldn’t take it to the limit one more time.”

Source: NewsFinale