Life in the Fast Lane: The Eagles’ Reckless Ride Down the Rock & Roll Highway by Mick Wall

“Mick Wall’s Life in the Fast Lane captures the conflicts and conflagrations that fueled the incredible rise—and endless farewells—of the Eagles, America’s best-selling rock band. Hip, wise and witty, Wall knows these beatniks out to make it rich for who they were and spares nobody in his bare knuckles account, a sordid only-in-Hollywood tale.” —Joel Selvin, author of Altamont: The Rolling Stones, the Hells Angels, and the Inside Story of Rock’s Darkest Day

Don Henley could barely listen to the track “Life in the Fast Lane” when the Eagles were recording it—he was so high that it made him sick. The band that embodied the American dream with globe-straddling success, impossibly luxurious lives, and almost supernatural talent also descended into nightmare with bloodletting betrayal, hate-filled hubris, the skeletons of perceived enemies, brutally discarded lovers, and former band mates left unburied in the road behind them. 

The Eagles’ story is a truly gothic American fable: one of ultimate power and rivers of money; of sex and drugs at a time when both were the lingua-franca of sophisticated So-Cal living; of a band who sang of peaceful easy feelings in public while threatening to kill each other in private. 

Life in the Fast Lane: The Eagles’ Reckless Ride Down the Rock & Roll Highway (Diversion Books; Paperback; $18.99; 7/11/23), from iconic rock journalist Mick Wall, is the definitive account of America’s best-selling band of all time—who have sold more records than Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones combined—exploring the hedonistic days of the ’70s music scene in LA, their ruthless, meteoric rise to fame, and the dark truths beneath their musical façade of peaceful, easy feelings.

Mick Wall is one of the world’s best-known rock writers and the author of over 25 internationally bestselling biographies and ghosted memoirs, including definitive titles on Led Zeppelin (When Giants Walked the Earth), Metallica (Enter Night), AC/DC (Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be), Black Sabbath (Symptom of the Universe), Lou Reed, The Doors (Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre), Foo Fighters, Lemmy and Guns N’ Roses (Last of the Giants). During his long career in the music business, Mick worked with Dire Straits, Thin Lizzy, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Black Sabbath, The Damned, Willie Nelson, The Band, Kris Kristofferson, Motörhead, and many more. He lives in England.

“Mick Wall treats us to a savvy, authoritative chronicle of the flight of the Eagles, immersing us in the heady world of the Laurel Canyon scene and the other aspiring musicians who would rise to fame together. The Eagles persevered through obscurity and management and recording challenges to finally realize their dream, but the brilliance of their songwriting and musicianship was juxtaposed with the menacing tide of cocaine abuse, a broken brotherhood, and too much money. Life in the Fast Lane is a comprehensive history of a band that burned so bright, yet finally succumbed to the heat.” 

—Sandra B. Tooze, author of Levon: From Down in the Delta to the Birth of the Band and Beyond

Praise for When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin

A Sunday Times “Music Book of the Year” 

“Sensational.”—New York Times 

“Entertaining, thoughtful.”—Los Angeles Times 

“His access and attention to detail make this a definitive work…an essential source for anyone eager to learn about the era when rock stars ruled the world.”—Publishers Weekly

“This is the only Led Zeppelin biography I allow in the house. Mick absolutely nailed it.”—Jason Bonham, son of Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, who replaced his father in the band after his death in 1980