Eagles frontman: Music is bad nowadays

Don Henley says the Eagles waited for the perfect time before releasing their new album Long Road Out Of Eden. Henley told Billboard, "We're a band that knows how to bide its time... We've just been sort of waiting for some of this bad music to die down, for certain trends to go away, so we can get out there on the dance floor again."

He shed some light in the creative process for the album, which marks the band's first studio album since 1979's The Long Run: "The songwriting process hasn't really changed that much. The thing that has changed somewhat is the recording process... the changes in the technology are amazing."

Despite the ease of recording digitally, something the Eagles never got to do during their '70s heyday, Henley says that the way the band goes about recording hasn't changed much, explaining, "We still play instruments and sing. There are still some of the processes that remain organic, and that's the way we want it... But what the computer still won't do is write lyrics for you. That still has to come by the sweat of the brow."

Henley addressed his concerns about the band selling the new album exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores, and through walmart.com: "I certainly had some trepidation about it, but the business has changed so drastically. Wal-Mart is not a perfect company, but as I have said many times in print, they can't possibly be any worse than a major record label... This is just the world we live in and there aren't many places where 60 year old men, no matter how good their record is, can get this kind of promotion and widespread retail coverage. We are artists, but we are also businessmen and we try to live in the real world."

Henley says that he thinks younger generations come to the Eagles' concerts partly out of love for their songs, but also out of desperation for the lack of good new music: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "We think that music is so bad nowadays that young people are curious about what came before, and they come to see what all the fuss was about. And they've grown up with a lot of our songs, because their parents -- and even their grandparents, in some instances -- played these songs to death in their homes while they were growing up. We love to see kids come to the shows."

The Eagles and the Dixie Chicks will open Los Angeles' new Nokia Theatre L.A. Live tomorrow night (October 18th), with additional shows scheduled for October 20th, 21st, 24th, 26th and 27th.

So far, those are the only U.S. dates the Eagles have booked for this year. Additional tour dates are expected to be announced before the end of the year.

On October 31st, the Eagles will perform a one-off private gig at London's 2,300-seat Indigo venue, located inside the new O2 arena.

The Eagles' new double album Long Road Out Of Eden will be released October 30th.