I have been huge fans of both bands for almost 40 years. To suggest the Eagles would be nothing without Hotel is like saying the Beatles would have been nobodies without Let It Be. Both bands had huge successes before those hits. I will admit similarities in We Used To Know and Hotel California, but even Ian stated that you are bound to re-trace chord progressions in writing ANY song. The Eagles were and are huge without Hotel. No reason to dog them over this one song. Right George H?
Just a thought but ........ what would the Eagles be without Hotel California?
A great group without a doubt but they are so heavily identified with that song, it's kind of like their anthem really. It is superb and awesome but after discovering this I think Jethro Tull do seriously need to be publicly credited.
I now honestly believe if there had been no Jethro Tull (or if the Eagles hadn't been their backing band) then there would have been no Hotel California.
Americans have never come up w/anything new in music??? Have U not heard of R&B, jazz, Blues, Rockabilly, or Rock & Roll? Lennon, Jagger, Zeppelin, all built their careers on the shoulders of American artists. The 1st 2 admit it, why can't y'all believe them?
The similarities to Hotel California do not lie in the lyrics and HC is a better song, bigger hit. However the similarities between the songs chords and tempo are too obvious to ignore or deny. Felder had to have heard it or had it pointed out to him by other Eagles. I have played JT's song for others and they immediately react by saying HOTEL CALIFORNIA !. There you have it.
I can hear this song in Hotel California the same way I can hear Vivaldi in Mozart. Same idea too. Eagles more successful than Tull. Mozart out did Vivaldi. (but Vivaldi & Mozart weren't contemporaries as Tull & Eagles are) Still the influences of the earlier are the seed, the acorn to the huge oak. Mozart came down a few notches from the god he's built up to be once I realized I was hearing Vivaldi in his masterpieces. My favorite Eagles song is this one that I've known for >40 yrs. :-)
The observation makes sense given Don Felder's admission that he initially wrote Hotel California in "Em" but later transposed it to "Bm" when Don Henley sounded more like the Bee Gees when he sang the verses in "Em" .. Felder doesn't have to be a member of the Eagles, at that time, to hear this song ... This is just my opinion though .. no offense meant ...
This is in no way a masterpiece....its rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive ...its rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive....its rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive....its rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive...Oh sorry..i think i was trying to have my own masterpiece by being rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive...oh yeah did i mention that this song like most tull songs are rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive??? lmao oh yeah The Eagles suck ass too
Wow , I just didn't believe it !!! but having heard this I am amazed at ther similarities . Not being a musician I cannot compare the chord progressions .
The Eagles should give at least 50% of all royalties earnt from Hotel California to Ian and Tull
whoever thinks JT's version is a better song has a tin ear aqualung has a similar passage as well many of the tull songs use this progression and they are quite repetitive and boring..Sorry but the Eagles took it and actually made it into something palatable..Tull and the Eagles both suck anyways so who cares haha
@toobmaniac Typical pathetic yank reaction . Your countrymen have rarely innovated , just accept it man you have no history , no traditions and are a morally and fiscally bankrupt socoety
@toobmaniac Just proves that atypical American bands have no innovative spririt in them.
LOL OK both songs are great , I object to your repititive crap .
Where are the Eagles nw ??
Tull still touring , saw them in 68 in London and Dubai in 2005 . Longevity , just brilliant . Just hope the Eagles thank Anderson and Tull EVERYDAY for their best song
@garrington120 I don't like the Eagles either..They are ok i guess boring as hell the same as Jethro Tull is..All bands derive inspiration from multiple sources..The blues started here and all the english bands were quick to admit that our blues men were a big reason they are where they are today..I know Tull is still touring and damn that's got to be a miserable way to live in a band like that..They never improvise at all ..so who are the innovators..The real music always came from the states
@toobmaniac From a morally and fiscally bankrupt society I suppose you have to claim that something originated from you sickening country .. Music from an enslaved nation of blacks who originated from Africa so again you're wroing .
@garrington120 We seem to have had this same convo once before...But think again...there were no slaves after the civil war here..The music of the delta bluesmen spoke of going out and scratching out a meager living after that all stopped..You speak of MORALS lol omg dude your whole country is about as morally bankrupt as it can be..Look at the way your kings and queens basically kept the population in poverty and despair for hundreds of years..we are nowhere near fiscally bankrupt
@garrington120 our country spends more at mcdonalds in a day than your whole country brings in over the course of a year..I don't know of anyone here that's having a rough time financially ..plus no band from there ever went anywhere till we accepted them here in the states..so nice try...this whole thing is about a jethro tull song based on the circle of fifths...who has the patent on that...no one...so sorry that progression has been around as long as there have been instruments
This is the first time I've heard this song by Jethro Tull. I'm kind of embarrassed because I'm a big fan. I don't really believe their was any real plagiarism on the part of the Eagles because I really don't hear Hotel California in this song.
@gee4ce36 You can take any melody from anyone and as long as you make four out of twelve bars different then it is seen as a revamped or improved upon theme "roughly based " on an accepted theme...Glad all the great classical composers are unable to weigh in because i'm sure they would be fuming at how " their concepts " have been ripped off
Chill people, chord progressions are copied all the time intentionally or not. The truth is that there are so many songs out there that its damn near impossible to be truly original. The fact that they were both playing rock music only increases the chance of similar chord usage. I mean, search for the 100 song progression, some guy plays 100 songs with 4 chords. It happens guys.
Oh man, I am shocked...what to say? Felder, shame on you...gosh!!! People shouldnt do this...that really affects most heavilly my thoughts about The Eagles...what a pitty...I like(ed) them so much...Anderson has been a true gentleman on this embarassing ripoff by the way.
Okay...To Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson's credit. Yep, The Eagles definitely uh...copied this song when they wrote the song "Hotel California." Yet in the "Eagles" defense, Hotel California isn't nearly the best nor the most important song on the album "Hotel California." Listen to songs like "The Last Resort" or "Pretty Maids All In A Row" or "Try And Love Again" to sample the BEST music on the album "Hotel California." Bullet The Blue Sky vs Stranglehold same as We Used To Know & Hotel Cali
I don't think it's a copy at all. That said, Jethro Tull is a way way way way way way way way way way way WAY greater and better band than this one hit band, Eagles
@Rudra108 As much as I'm disappointed finding out Hotel California is a ripoff of this song, it is laughable to call the Eagles a one hit band. They are currently at 100 million in US album sales have have a couple dozen charted songs with 5 #1's. That being said, I think am going to check out Jethro Tull's back catalogue because I'm just learning how really good they are.
@Rudra108 As much as I'm disappointed finding out Hotel California is a ripoff of this song, it is laughable to call the Eagles a one hit band. They are currently at 100 million in US album sales have have a couple dozen charted songs with 5 #1's. That being said, I think am going to check out Jethro Tull's back catalogue because I'm just learning how really good they are.
when i listen to this..it doesnt remind me of hotel california.. i also dont think felder who came up with guitar solos for hc was influenced while supporting with the eagles back in 70/71 era, as he didn't join the eagles until 1974.
however when i do listen to the song it seems to me as though this is a very similar song to "nights in white satin"(moody blues) especially the structure of the song lyrically...so who's to say they didnt rip off their song from the sixties.????. listen again
@bigbrotherjacoby Felder was with the Eagles in 1973-1974. I'm not sure what year the Eagles opened for Jethro Tull but Felder was well aware of the song because he copied it from beginning to end.
@bigbrotherjacoby Believe it or not I am good friends with Don Felder and we commuinicate through myspace quite often. He was not part of the band when they opened for Jetro Tull. And like I said Hotel California was written in late 1975.
Yeah, I've never heard this until today. Don Felder was obviously influenced to say the least. But what can you say. Paul McCartney openly admits "I Saw Here Standing There" was an absolute rip off of some Chuck Berry song. I played in a bar cover band for years, always trying to write original music , Play from the heart . But that was always my problem. I always wound up subconsciencely playing somebody else's song with different lyrics and/or time signature/or another key, Rock on regardless
I can't believe Jethro Tull or Anderson didn't take The Eagles to court. I don't think they deliberately copied them, it's the same, right down to the final lead break. Wow. Except, this is much, much better.
... and Life on Mars is really My Way as done by Paul Anka.. who borrowed the song and just re did the words ... ... there are after all only 13 notes ....
Well, hearing this just plain lowered my opinion of The Eagles altogether, lol. Joe Walsh is still a bad-ass guitarist, not the best, but very good. I lost faith in Don Henley with "All She Wants to Do is Dance," but I let it slide because it was the '80s. This is unforgiveable, especially considering that Hotel California is arguably the biggest hit they've ever had. I don't really feel any bitterness, but it just drastically affects my opinion of them. They're still okay, but JT is better
@mussman717word The chord progression may be the same, but I don't think it was actually a conscious rip off. The two songs are in different meters, different styles, different contexts, enough differences that the two songs should be different works. Just because there is a similarity of chords does not mean one is a copy of another. Even Ian Anderson himself has acknowledged in interviews that he does not consider Hotel California a rip off of this song.
True, I wrote this a long time before I realized it was Don Felder who wrote "Hotel California," and he wasn't with the band when they toured with Jethro... whatever, you get my point. Sorry, guys.
The 2 songs still sound very different to me.
Gus9763 6 days ago
I have been huge fans of both bands for almost 40 years. To suggest the Eagles would be nothing without Hotel is like saying the Beatles would have been nobodies without Let It Be. Both bands had huge successes before those hits. I will admit similarities in We Used To Know and Hotel California, but even Ian stated that you are bound to re-trace chord progressions in writing ANY song. The Eagles were and are huge without Hotel. No reason to dog them over this one song. Right George H?
marcusmoon22 1 week ago
Just a thought but ........ what would the Eagles be without Hotel California?
A great group without a doubt but they are so heavily identified with that song, it's kind of like their anthem really. It is superb and awesome but after discovering this I think Jethro Tull do seriously need to be publicly credited.
I now honestly believe if there had been no Jethro Tull (or if the Eagles hadn't been their backing band) then there would have been no Hotel California.
AvrilLavignesDad 2 weeks ago
oh yea
tjw3999 2 weeks ago in playlist Right Too Blues
Americans have never come up w/anything new in music??? Have U not heard of R&B, jazz, Blues, Rockabilly, or Rock & Roll? Lennon, Jagger, Zeppelin, all built their careers on the shoulders of American artists. The 1st 2 admit it, why can't y'all believe them?
BabyPuma124 3 weeks ago
@BabyPuma124 Sure in the early days of rock and roll and the blues/jazz era, but since then nothing really has come about.
meowandmeow 3 weeks ago
sounds more like Parisienne Ways than Hotel C to me
guitarguy3502 3 weeks ago
no doubt in my mind the Eagles copied Tull, it is so obvious to the trained ear.
saynotodarwinyeah 2 months ago
What I find interesting is the flute solo and gauitar solo also have hints of Walsh on Hotel C.
MrRossovan 3 months ago
Betcha Hotel California doesn't have this killer drums lines!
LbritoGT 3 months ago
Same tune, different words. Almost identical guitar riffs. Like them both but give credit where credit is due.
merlinzipp 3 months ago 2
The similarities to Hotel California do not lie in the lyrics and HC is a better song, bigger hit. However the similarities between the songs chords and tempo are too obvious to ignore or deny. Felder had to have heard it or had it pointed out to him by other Eagles. I have played JT's song for others and they immediately react by saying HOTEL CALIFORNIA !. There you have it.
AuntDuddie 3 months ago
YESSSSSS I love Jethro Tull , so unusual
ganjigirl420 4 months ago
I would like to know what dipshit didn't like this lol
FanMusicReal 5 months ago
@FanMusicReal ...How many dipshits do you know , shitface?
TheLordMilton 4 months ago
Damn! I love Ian's voice!! =) the drummer looks like Bonzo here.
redstratocaster1942 5 months ago
I can hear this song in Hotel California the same way I can hear Vivaldi in Mozart. Same idea too. Eagles more successful than Tull. Mozart out did Vivaldi. (but Vivaldi & Mozart weren't contemporaries as Tull & Eagles are) Still the influences of the earlier are the seed, the acorn to the huge oak. Mozart came down a few notches from the god he's built up to be once I realized I was hearing Vivaldi in his masterpieces. My favorite Eagles song is this one that I've known for >40 yrs. :-)
BabyPuma124 6 months ago
WHAT ABOUT jIMMY PAGE...HE STOLE FROM EVERYONE..BUT HE'S STILL ONE OF THE BEST
toobmaniac 6 months ago
@toobmaniac
This is so true
timebandit90 3 months ago
U DO NOT FK W TULL!
cowboysfan782008 6 months ago
The observation makes sense given Don Felder's admission that he initially wrote Hotel California in "Em" but later transposed it to "Bm" when Don Henley sounded more like the Bee Gees when he sang the verses in "Em" .. Felder doesn't have to be a member of the Eagles, at that time, to hear this song ... This is just my opinion though .. no offense meant ...
attybong 6 months ago
This is in no way a masterpiece....its rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive ...its rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive....its rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive....its rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive...Oh sorry..i think i was trying to have my own masterpiece by being rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive...oh yeah did i mention that this song like most tull songs are rambling and overwhelmingly repetitive??? lmao oh yeah The Eagles suck ass too
toobmaniac 8 months ago
Comment removed
toobmaniac 8 months ago
Wow , I just didn't believe it !!! but having heard this I am amazed at ther similarities . Not being a musician I cannot compare the chord progressions .
The Eagles should give at least 50% of all royalties earnt from Hotel California to Ian and Tull
garrington120 8 months ago
whoever thinks JT's version is a better song has a tin ear aqualung has a similar passage as well many of the tull songs use this progression and they are quite repetitive and boring..Sorry but the Eagles took it and actually made it into something palatable..Tull and the Eagles both suck anyways so who cares haha
toobmaniac 9 months ago
@toobmaniac Typical pathetic yank reaction . Your countrymen have rarely innovated , just accept it man you have no history , no traditions and are a morally and fiscally bankrupt socoety
garrington120 8 months ago
@toobmaniac Just proves that atypical American bands have no innovative spririt in them.
LOL OK both songs are great , I object to your repititive crap .
Where are the Eagles nw ??
Tull still touring , saw them in 68 in London and Dubai in 2005 . Longevity , just brilliant . Just hope the Eagles thank Anderson and Tull EVERYDAY for their best song
garrington120 7 months ago
@garrington120 I don't like the Eagles either..They are ok i guess boring as hell the same as Jethro Tull is..All bands derive inspiration from multiple sources..The blues started here and all the english bands were quick to admit that our blues men were a big reason they are where they are today..I know Tull is still touring and damn that's got to be a miserable way to live in a band like that..They never improvise at all ..so who are the innovators..The real music always came from the states
toobmaniac 6 months ago
@toobmaniac From a morally and fiscally bankrupt society I suppose you have to claim that something originated from you sickening country .. Music from an enslaved nation of blacks who originated from Africa so again you're wroing .
garrington120 6 months ago
@garrington120 We seem to have had this same convo once before...But think again...there were no slaves after the civil war here..The music of the delta bluesmen spoke of going out and scratching out a meager living after that all stopped..You speak of MORALS lol omg dude your whole country is about as morally bankrupt as it can be..Look at the way your kings and queens basically kept the population in poverty and despair for hundreds of years..we are nowhere near fiscally bankrupt
toobmaniac 6 months ago
@garrington120 our country spends more at mcdonalds in a day than your whole country brings in over the course of a year..I don't know of anyone here that's having a rough time financially ..plus no band from there ever went anywhere till we accepted them here in the states..so nice try...this whole thing is about a jethro tull song based on the circle of fifths...who has the patent on that...no one...so sorry that progression has been around as long as there have been instruments
toobmaniac 6 months ago
@toobmaniac you suck big time
garrington120 3 months ago
This is the first time I've heard this song by Jethro Tull. I'm kind of embarrassed because I'm a big fan. I don't really believe their was any real plagiarism on the part of the Eagles because I really don't hear Hotel California in this song.
gee4ce36 9 months ago
@gee4ce36 You can take any melody from anyone and as long as you make four out of twelve bars different then it is seen as a revamped or improved upon theme "roughly based " on an accepted theme...Glad all the great classical composers are unable to weigh in because i'm sure they would be fuming at how " their concepts " have been ripped off
toobmaniac 6 months ago
The solo is a bit similarish- ish but they are both very different and excellent songs.
pantera2716 9 months ago
i dont see the resemblence
Hotel California tells a story more like Pink Floyd
Yigadurf 9 months ago
Chill people, chord progressions are copied all the time intentionally or not. The truth is that there are so many songs out there that its damn near impossible to be truly original. The fact that they were both playing rock music only increases the chance of similar chord usage. I mean, search for the 100 song progression, some guy plays 100 songs with 4 chords. It happens guys.
spacemanasc 9 months ago 2
ITS IDENTICAL !
leonakita 9 months ago
idk, this song remind me more of Aqualung
indigopuntaalta 10 months ago
Oh man, I am shocked...what to say? Felder, shame on you...gosh!!! People shouldnt do this...that really affects most heavilly my thoughts about The Eagles...what a pitty...I like(ed) them so much...Anderson has been a true gentleman on this embarassing ripoff by the way.
osnelli 1 year ago
Charlie Daniels, Reflections!!!!! Yes this a popular chord progression indeed. Wonder if there are any more out there???
edknndy 1 year ago
Okay...To Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson's credit. Yep, The Eagles definitely uh...copied this song when they wrote the song "Hotel California." Yet in the "Eagles" defense, Hotel California isn't nearly the best nor the most important song on the album "Hotel California." Listen to songs like "The Last Resort" or "Pretty Maids All In A Row" or "Try And Love Again" to sample the BEST music on the album "Hotel California." Bullet The Blue Sky vs Stranglehold same as We Used To Know & Hotel Cali
1Rosshole 1 year ago
I don't think it's a copy at all. That said, Jethro Tull is a way way way way way way way way way way way WAY greater and better band than this one hit band, Eagles
Rudra108 1 year ago
@Rudra108 As much as I'm disappointed finding out Hotel California is a ripoff of this song, it is laughable to call the Eagles a one hit band. They are currently at 100 million in US album sales have have a couple dozen charted songs with 5 #1's. That being said, I think am going to check out Jethro Tull's back catalogue because I'm just learning how really good they are.
GOODY61 1 year ago
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@Rudra108 As much as I'm disappointed finding out Hotel California is a ripoff of this song, it is laughable to call the Eagles a one hit band. They are currently at 100 million in US album sales have have a couple dozen charted songs with 5 #1's. That being said, I think am going to check out Jethro Tull's back catalogue because I'm just learning how really good they are.
GOODY61 1 year ago
Don't think the eagles gave a shit about jethro tull to even care.
walshfan2470 1 year ago
its common in music mozart copy vivaldi s melody
22clodius 1 year ago
Comment removed
22clodius 1 year ago
Listen to Charlie Daniels song Reflections. Just want to provoke thought.
asd951dsa 1 year ago
when i listen to this..it doesnt remind me of hotel california.. i also dont think felder who came up with guitar solos for hc was influenced while supporting with the eagles back in 70/71 era, as he didn't join the eagles until 1974.
however when i do listen to the song it seems to me as though this is a very similar song to "nights in white satin"(moody blues) especially the structure of the song lyrically...so who's to say they didnt rip off their song from the sixties.????. listen again
longestroadoutofeden 1 year ago
@longestroadoutofeden I don't know what to say, Hotel California obviously is a copy of this song.
GOODY61 1 year ago
@GOODY61
Hotel California was written by Don Felder who was not part of the band when they played with Jetro Tull.
It was written in late 1975.
bigbrotherjacoby 11 months ago
@bigbrotherjacoby Felder was with the Eagles in 1973-1974. I'm not sure what year the Eagles opened for Jethro Tull but Felder was well aware of the song because he copied it from beginning to end.
GOODY61 11 months ago
@bigbrotherjacoby Believe it or not I am good friends with Don Felder and we commuinicate through myspace quite often. He was not part of the band when they opened for Jetro Tull. And like I said Hotel California was written in late 1975.
bigbrotherjacoby 11 months ago
wow. very interesting.
HippieSippy 1 year ago
the first part looks like Tull footage but the music doesnt sound like them, what happened to the wah wah and very heavy
one of my favourite early Tull songs.
Rockblueser 1 year ago
looks like Tull footage but the music isnt them
Rockblueser 1 year ago
Yeah, I've never heard this until today. Don Felder was obviously influenced to say the least. But what can you say. Paul McCartney openly admits "I Saw Here Standing There" was an absolute rip off of some Chuck Berry song. I played in a bar cover band for years, always trying to write original music , Play from the heart . But that was always my problem. I always wound up subconsciencely playing somebody else's song with different lyrics and/or time signature/or another key, Rock on regardless
duk909 1 year ago
I can't believe Jethro Tull or Anderson didn't take The Eagles to court. I don't think they deliberately copied them, it's the same, right down to the final lead break. Wow. Except, this is much, much better.
Kaalec 1 year ago
... and Life on Mars is really My Way as done by Paul Anka.. who borrowed the song and just re did the words ... ... there are after all only 13 notes ....
IanRatcliffe3011 1 year ago
@IanRatcliffe3011 There are 12 notes in the chromatic scale. Sorry. You're being satirical aren't you?
mtend06 1 year ago
I love this song, and hotel california. To me the Eagles and Jethro Tull are on the same level,
icemancotour 2 years ago
@icemancotour And I'm guessing Paul McCartney and John Lennon were on the same level as well huh?
ianonfire 1 year ago
Well, hearing this just plain lowered my opinion of The Eagles altogether, lol. Joe Walsh is still a bad-ass guitarist, not the best, but very good. I lost faith in Don Henley with "All She Wants to Do is Dance," but I let it slide because it was the '80s. This is unforgiveable, especially considering that Hotel California is arguably the biggest hit they've ever had. I don't really feel any bitterness, but it just drastically affects my opinion of them. They're still okay, but JT is better
mussman717word 2 years ago 19
@mussman717word The chord progression may be the same, but I don't think it was actually a conscious rip off. The two songs are in different meters, different styles, different contexts, enough differences that the two songs should be different works. Just because there is a similarity of chords does not mean one is a copy of another. Even Ian Anderson himself has acknowledged in interviews that he does not consider Hotel California a rip off of this song.
mannon2006 7 months ago
@mannon2006
True, I wrote this a long time before I realized it was Don Felder who wrote "Hotel California," and he wasn't with the band when they toured with Jethro... whatever, you get my point. Sorry, guys.
mussman717word 7 months ago
I think about the bad ol days we used to know, Love early Tull..
chuckdd4201 2 years ago 10