Glenn Frey of The Eagles Believed Most 1970s Grammy Winners Didn’t Deserve Their Awards, Except for One

In the early years of The Eagles, Glenn Frey wasn’t all that impressed by his peers who were winning Grammys. While Frey admired many artists, he didn’t think musicians who had mass appeal were creating particularly good art. Despite this, Frey made sure to point to the one Grammy winner whom he admired.

The Eagles’ Glenn Frey once said he wasn’t impressed by some Grammy winners

By 1975, The Eagles had become a successful and well-liked group. Still, they wanted to maintain “underdog status,” not wanting to be lumped in with some of their contemporaries. Frey didn’t admire many Grammy winners, though he made one exception: Stevie Wonder. At that point, Wonder had already won eight Grammys and been nominated for a host of others.

“Mass appeal is definitely suspect,” Frey told Rolling Stone. “Just look at our Grammy winners, Stevie Wonder excluded. Sometimes all that mass appeal means is that you simplified your equation down to the lowest common denominator.”

He thought some popular artists could just be trying to grab at money by appealing to the general public.

“It’s a great temptation to think, ‘Well, f*** it, they’ll buy this. No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the mass public.’”

He said that this was not a mindset he “ever” wanted to have. He did not want to cheapen his art for the sake of money.

Glenn Frey also shared artists who impressed him

While Frey derided some popular artists, he still liked many. He felt inspired by several different people.

“I’m looking to Joni [Mitchell], Paul Simon, and Randy Newman as living proof to us that you can still be doing it in your 30s,” he said. “I get my confidence by watching them. I realize I can still do it when I’m 32, if I keep my perspective. If I don’t overamp and die from success poisoning.”

Still, he noted that he didn’t think he should compare his career to theirs. He thought this was a mistake for anyone to make.

“This business is like walking through a mine field,” he said. “They’s [sic] why people who envy me look foolish. They don’t see me at the Record Plant, trying all night to get one vocal. As far as they know, I’m just a guy who’s drunk down in Tana’s one night a week.”

How many Grammys have The Eagles won?

In 1976, The Eagles won their first Grammy. They went on to pick up five more wins and have a total of 18 nominations. When they won the coveted Record of the Year award in 1978, however, they were not there to accept. 

The band had been receiving some bad press, and their manager, Irving Azoff, said the only way they would attend was if they knew for sure they would win. As this was not allowed, the band did not attend, and nobody accepted the award. In 2016, they finally accepted the award after playing a tribute to Glenn Frey at the ceremony.