Hotel California

"Comprehensive and lively, "Hotel California" offers a front-row seat on the wild ride--fueled by drugs, sex, and lots of cash--that took Southern California singer-songwriters from hot tubs and local bars to sold-out stadiums, private jets, and the bestselling album of all time."
--Alan Light, author of "The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys""Through hundreds of interviews conducted over the last dozen years, Hoskyns methodically chips away at the era's artifice and ego-driven mythologizing, revealing a creative landscape that was less stardust and golden than it was green with greed and white with cocaine residue."
--Erik Himmelsbach, "Los Angeles Times Book Review"This book is a remarkable look at one of the most dramatic, creative, and revolutionary settings in American popular culture: the Los Angeles popular music scene from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. Drawing on extraordinarily candid firsthand interviews Barney Hoskyns has conducted over more than three decades, "Hotel California" takes you on an intimate tour--from the Sunset Strip to Laurel Canyon--of the creative and personal lives of the legendary songwriters, superstars, and producers who made the music that everyone listened to. You'll read things you've never read before about such fascinating, complex people as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Glenn Frey, Mama Cass Elliot, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, David Geffen, and many others. Packed with riveting anecdotes and sharp musical insights, "Hotel California" captures the amazing results of brilliant creative collaboration and the dark side of fame, wealth, and unbridled ambition. It is a story of rise and fall like none other, and you won't be able to put it down.

Preface. 1 Expecting to Fly. 2 Back to the Garden. 3 New Kids in Town. 4 Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women. 5 Escape from Sin City. 6 A Case of Me. 7 With a Little Help from Our Friends. 8 The Machinery vs. the Popular Song. 9 After the Thrill Is Gone. 10 Go Your Own Way. Coda: Like a Setting Sun. Notes. Suggested Reading. Credits. Index.