Songoftheday 9/14/12 - I make my livin' off the evening news, just give me somethin' somethin' I can use...

Don Henley - "Dirty Laundry"
from the album I Can't Stand Still (1982)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (three weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 14

Today's Song of the Day is by singer/songwriter Don Henley, who along with Glenn Frey led the biggest pop-rock band of the 70's, the Eagles, from 1971 to 1980. His first solo foray was a duet with his then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks on "Leather And Lace" from her first solo effort Bella Donna, which was a top-10 pop hit. Don released his first solo set I Can't Stand Still in August of 1982, but the first single from it, the scathingly political  "Johnny Can't Read", peaked just under the top-40 that fall. But instead of shifting gears and putting out something "safer", Henley rush-released "Dirty Laundry" even as the first single was still on the charts. The song went after the television media and the public's nascent obsession with celebrity and scandal as news, which compared to now was quite tame. The track was written by Henley and continuing collaborator Danny Kortchmar, and produced by Don with Greg Ladanyi, who just produced Toto IV for that band, winning him a Grammy the following year. Members of the band along with former Eagles mates Joe Walsh and Timothy B Schmit backed Henley up on the song.

The song won over fans and radio, and went to the top-3 on the pop chart, becoming the biggest solo hit by a former Eagle up to the time (Glenn would eventually surpass that). The song also topped the Mainstream Rock radio chart, and even was a minor dance hit charting at #47. "Dirty Laundry" also hit #1 on the Canadian singles chart.

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In 2005, Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley recorded a cover of the song as the first single from her sophomore album, and it hit #36 on the adult-contemporary (soft rock) chart...

And I guess ironically CNN talking head Robin Meade took on the song for her minor hit album from last year (the single stiffed)...

Up tomorrow: The "softest man in pop music" rocks out. Just a little.