#10: "Building The Perfect Beast" by Don Henley

#10—You mean he was in a band?

Favorite song: The Boys of Summer
Notable tracks: All She Wants To Do Is Dance, Not Enough Love In The World, Sunset Grill
Released: 1984
Chart peak: #13 (Billboard U.S. 200)
Popularity: Triple Platinum

I came to know Don Henley in kind of a backwards way. He had a pretty big hit in the early eighties called "Dirty Laundry" that talked about the sensationalist nature of television news; this song got played endlessly on the jukebox at the video arcade where I spent a disproportionate amount of my time. It's still a good song, one that I'll usually turn the volume up when it comes on SiriusXM's 80s channel.

So I knew who Don Henley was as a solo artist when Building The Perfect Beast came out in 1984 and spawned the four top-40 singles listed above. It was only after that that I learned he had previously been the drummer and lead singer for the Eagles. At 16 years old, my attitude about the Eagles was, "Those old dudes from the '70s my dad likes to listen to." They were a country band as far as I was concerned.

I grew up, went to college, and discovered the Eagles were a lot more than I was willing to consider in high school. I was also curious to explore their music because I loved this solo album so much. "The Boys of Summer" was at the top of my list of all-time favorite songs well into the late nineties (since then supplanted by "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure, the best song of all time).

His other singles from the album were part of my life's soundtrack through high school, especially "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" and "Not Enough Love In The World," both of which are closely attached to specific times, places, and people.

For some reason, none of the videos from this album are available on YouTube, so I'll provide a link to a third-party site where you can watch the original black-and-white mini-movie for "The Boys of Summer," one of the best videos of its day.

Click here to go to the video.