Bernie Leadon of the Eagles spoke with Rock History Music about the beer-pouring incident and its impact on the band.
Leadon admitted he never expected the act to get so much attention. “I didn’t realize that pouring the beer on his head though was going to be this giant thing in social media essentially too,” he said. He also mentioned that his Wikipedia page later stated he left the band because of this incident, which he found surprising since it focused only on the beer and not his guitar playing.
Leadon’s apology opened the door for him to reconnect with the band. After a documentary pre-production showed footage of him talking about the incident, the band’s manager, Irving Azoff, called Leadon about a possible reunion tour. “I was asked the question, ‘What about pouring the beer on Glenn’s head?’ and I said, ‘Well I made an amends to him. I sent him a letter and I regret it. I said it wasn’t a cool thing to do and I regret it and I’ve apologized to him.'”
“So, shortly after that footage was seen by them in pre-production for the documentary, I got a call from the manager Irving saying, ‘Hey, we’re thinking about doing a history up tour and wonder if you’d be interested, and Glenn would like to talk to you,'” he recalled. “I said, ‘Yeah, I would be interested. I don’t know what the parameters are but let’s talk about it. So, then Glenn called me and in the course of that conversation he said, ‘I got your letter and appreciated it.’ The fact that he was calling me was evidence that he felt better about things.”
“So, the fact that I cleared that up with him and apologized was the reason that be became possible for them to consider having me and ironically they wouldn’t work with Felder because he’d sued them. So, they weren’t going to work with him and Meisner wasn’t really physically up to it so I became the only one that was available to come back to from the past,” he added.
When the band first started, Leadon was a country guitarist, playing banjos and country guitar on their first album and ‘Desperado.’ But as the band’s music changed, Leadon’s style clashed with the new direction. Glenn Frey explained in ‘History of the Eagles‘ that Leadon was the lead guitarist for country songs, while Frey had to play lead on rock songs, something he wasn’t comfortable with.
The tension grew, and during one recording session, Leadon walked out because he didn’t like the song. Eventually, after a heated backstage moment where he poured a beer on Frey’s head, Leadon left the band.
Leadon later apologized, but it was clear he wasn’t happy with the band’s new direction. Frey quickly replaced him with Joe Walsh and they went on to create ‘Hotel California.’
