Once Upon a Time in the Top Spot: Eagles, The Long Run

37 years ago today, the Eagles flew to the pinnacle of the Billboard 200 with their sixth studio album, but little did the band or their fans realize that it would be 28 years before the arrival of a seventh.

Released on September 24, 1979, THE LONG RUN was the first Eagles album to include Timothy B. Schmit as a member, stepping into the spot left empty by the departure of Randy Meisner, but Schmit quickly proved his mettle by co-writing and crooning “I Can’t Tell You Why,” one of the album’s three hit singles. The other two hits, “Heartache Tonight” and the album’s title track, have gone on to become at least as iconic, so you can see why THE LONG RUN sold several million copies.

Unfortunately, in less than a year’s time, the tensions between the various band members finally reached boiling point, resulting in the Eagles calling it a day before the end of 1980. It would be the better part of a decade and a half before the boys put their differences aside and played together again, at which point Glenn Frey joked, “For the record, we never broke up, we just took a 14-year vacation.” Whether true or not, fans took the advice offered by one of the band’s new singles and got over it so that they could enjoy the reunion.