"I HATE THE F@#$IN' EAGLES!"

In The Big Lebowski - one of my favorite movies ever - "The Dude" yells at his cabdriver: "I hate the f#$%in' Eagles!" The Dude was a big Creedence Clearwater Revival fan, but the cab driver took Don, Glenn and co. pretty seriously, and unceremoniously threw The Dude out of the cab.

(I wonder how the guys in the band took that? Joe Walsh has a pretty warped sense of humor, and Don Henley once joined Mojo Nixon onstage for Mojo's classic "Don Henley Must Die," so I guess at least some of the members can laugh at their own expense.)

Anyway, I'm not a huge Eagles fan, but I don't hate them. And I'd like to offer them congratulations: their first new album in 30 years, Long Road Out Of Eden, is the #1 album in the country. The album was sold exclusively at Wal-Mart, and sold over 700,000 copies (well more than what Springsteen's Magic sold in it's first week).

This is cool for a few reasons: one, it clobbered the first week sales of the new album by Britney Spears. I hate to jump in with all the people who rip on her all the time, but she deserves it. She exemplifies America's junk culture. Another cool thing is that, like an increasing amount of older artists (and not-so-old artists, like Trent Reznor and Radiohead) The Eagles have decided to bypass the major label system. I have lots of friends at major labels, and while I think the labels do great work with reissues and box sets and stuff like that, they seem not to be too interested in artists that have been around for a long time.

Finally, Don Henley knew what he was getting into with Wal-Mart - I know he had some conditions about their enviornmental practices, and since they've become a little more "green," he was OK with going into business with them. Which is a good thing.

I like some of Don's solo music, and I usually find myself 100% with him when it comes to politics, whether he's talking about the government or major labels.

So, congratulations, guys. And thanks for keeping Britney out of the #1 spot.