Hell Freezes Over (Geffen Records), the first
Eagles album of new recordings since 1980, is released on Nov. 8, 1994,
and debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Album chart. Hell Freezes Over has
sold more than 6 million copies in the U.S. to date (certified six times
platinum) and has remained in the Top 100 for 17 months -- and counting
(as of March 23, 1996). Hell Freezes Over is No. 4 on Billboard's 1995
year-end Top Album of the Year ranking, and the Eagles are No. 5 among
Top Album Artists of the Year.
The Eagles win three 1995 American Music
Awards: Favorite Pop Group, Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist, and Favorite
Pop Rock Album for Hell Freezes Over. Winners of four previous Grammy Awards,
the Eagles are nominated for four more Grammys: Best Pop Performance by
a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Love Will Keep Us Alive," Best Pop Album
and Best Engineered Album for Hell Freezes Over, and Best Rock Performance
by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Hotel California."
Produced by the Eagles with Elliot Scheiner
and Rob Jacobs, Hell Freezes Over features four newly penned compositions
recorded in the studio plus 11 selections culled from the live MTV performance
taped in April 1994 and premiering Oct. 26, 1994. The MTV set is the first
time Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Don Felder, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh
perform together in 14 years; it kicks off a coast-to-coast, sold-out,
critically acclaimed North American tour.
Internationally, Hell Freezes Over is a
major hit. The album reaches No. 2 and gold status in Canada, is gold in
the U.K., and is in the Top 10 from Japan (triple platinum) to Sweden (platinum),
Norway (platinum) to the Netherlands and Finland, with additional success
throughout Europe, including Germany and Italy. The album is also six times
platinum in Thailand, with an astonishing 300,000 copies sold, and has
remained in the Australian Top 100 for more than seven months.
In the U.S., the single "Get Over It" is
released Oct. 11, 1994, and reaches the Top 10 on the Album Rock chart.
In February 1995, the track "Love Will Keep Us Alive" hits No. 1 Adult
Contemporary and remains on the chart for more than seven months. In summer,
the "Learn to Be Still" track is Top 20 Adult Contemporary.
The Eagles have sold more than 90 million
albums worldwide, earning five No. 1 albums and five No. 1 singles. The
Eagles sold more albums in the 1970s than any other American band.
Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 is the second-biggest-selling
album of all time in the U.S. (more than 22 million copies, second only
to Michael Jackson's Thriller) and was the first album ever to receive
platinum certification. Hotel California has sold more than 14 million
copies domestically, The Long Run more than 4 million. Sales of each of
the band's other albums have also soared past the 1 million mark. The band's
catalog has consistently sold more than 1.5 million records annually since
1980.
"Hell Freezes Over" (Geffen Home Video)
is released Nov. 22, 1994. It has sold more than 200,000 copies in the
U.S. to date (certified double platinum) and has remained in the Top 20
of the Billboard Top Music Videos chart for 17 months -- and counting (as
of March 23, 1996). It features the MTV broadcast plus behind-the-scenes
footage, interviews with the bandmembers and two performances not heard
on the album ("Help Me Through the Night" and "The Heart of the Matter"),
as well as live versions of the four new songs on the album ("Get Over
It," "Love Will Keep Us Alive," "The Girl From Yesterday" and "Learn to
Be Still").
Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles
(1993), a compilation of Eagles songs performed by Nashville artists, sells
more than 3 million copies and is awarded the Country Music Association's
Album of the Year Award in 1994. The album is an all-star country tribute.
A portion of its royalties benefits the Walden Woods Project, which was
founded by Don Henley in 1990 to help protect the woodland area surrounding
Henry David Thoreau's Walden Pond.
