Bad Girls

Hey there Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew is spinning "Bad Girls" off Don Felder's 1983 album Airborne, and man does this one hit with that pure early eighties rock energy. Felder, the guy who co-wrote the music for Hotel California and laid down those dual guitar lines with Joe Walsh, stepped out on his own while the Eagles were on their long hiatus. He produced the whole record himself, pulling in friends like Timothy B. Schmit on background vocals, Kenny Loggins who co-wrote another track, and a whole crew of session players including Carlos Vega on drums for the opener. The cover even plays on his love for Fender guitars, with his name styled just like that classic logo. Bad Girls was the lead single and it climbed to number 34 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart while bubbling under the Hot 100 at 104. That video, directed by Tim Newman, opens with a flying guitar landing in the desert just like the album art, then follows these girls strutting through town, teasing everyone from bar patrons to an ice cream truck driver and even Cheech Marin, before they end up joining Felder. It's got that straightforward performance feel with his solos front and center.

The lyrics paint a picture of Mary Lou out late, sweater swinging high, looking for a double shot of trouble and holding love till the sun comes up. She's the kind who can cripple a man in record time, those bad girls who look so good and keep you playing their games. Felder has talked in interviews about bringing in reels of ideas for every project, some finished and some just tracks, and this album was his chance to step forward as a frontman after years in the band. The record features synthesizers from Jeff Lorber and Albhy Galuten, percussion from Paulinho da Costa, and even horns on one cut from Chicago guys James Pankow and Lee Loughnane. It was cut at places like Radical Studios in Malibu and Rumbo Recorders in L.A., with Felder handling a lot of the engineering too. Fans still dig the guitar work that carries the same fire he brought to the Eagles, even if the production has that polished eighties sheen.

You can catch more from the man himself over at his official site Don Felder, where they talk about his journey including that debut Airborne record. He's also on Facebook at Don Felder, Instagram at donfeldermusic, and X at @donfelder. There's an active Facebook group for fans called Fans of Don Felder at Fans of Don Felder where folks share stories and keep the music alive. And of course all this is coming at you from THE ZOO.

Speaking of how he got started, Felder was born in Gainesville, Florida back in 1947 into a family that didn't have much. He saw Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show and knew he wanted in on that rock and roll life. Around age ten he traded a friend a handful of cherry bombs for his first guitar, then taught himself by ear, slowing down tape recordings to half speed since lessons were out of reach. By thirteen he was in his first band, the Continentals, which at times included Stephen Stills and later Bernie Leadon after Stills moved on. They became the Maundy Quintet and cut a single that got local airplay. He worked in a music shop, picked up theory there, and gave lessons himself. One of the biggest breaks came when he learned slide guitar from Duane Allman, who grew up in the same town. Felder has said he stole most everything he knows about slide from Duane, and if you're going to steal, steal from the best. They jammed at the Allman family house, and that fluid style became a signature, the kind that smears notes like watercolors instead of hard fretted lines.

After the bands broke up he headed to New York with a group called Flow that put out a jazz-rock fusion record on CTI. Then Boston for studio work, and finally Los Angeles in 1973 where Bernie Leadon had already landed with the Eagles. Felder did session gigs, toured with David Blue opening for Crosby and Nash, and jammed with the Eagles in their rehearsal space. In early 1974 they called him in to add slide to Good Day in Hell and some solos on Already Gone for On the Border. He played it live with the rhythm section, and the next day Glenn Frey rang him up to join the band. That was the start of the dual guitar attack that helped push the Eagles into full rock territory. Felder sang lead on Visions from One of These Nights, co-wrote Victim of Love and those Hotel California lines, and always brought in stacks of demos. From a dirt road in Florida to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he has said his story is how a kid from real poverty winds up in one of the biggest bands ever. That same drive shows up in Bad Girls, the guitarist stepping out front with his own songs and that unmistakable tone.

The album sat as his only solo outing for nearly thirty years until Road to Forever came along, but Airborne captured that moment when the band was apart and he could chase his own ideas. Tracks like Winners and Haywire sit alongside it, with Never Surrender featuring Loggins. The whole thing clocks in around thirty-seven minutes of that arena-ready rock. Zoo Freaks know the feeling when a deep cut or a solo gem hits just right on the freeform airwaves. Felder kept going with film work too, writing the Heavy Metal theme from an unfinished Eagles track that had the working title You're Really High Aren't You, and scoring other projects. His later records brought in guests from Slash to Alex Lifeson, but it all traces back to those early days trading bombs for strings and learning from the best in Gainesville. So turn it up, let those bad girls walk that way, and keep the rock rolling.