Nov. 19 marks the 40th anniversary of Don Henley's sophomore solo album, Building the Perfect Beast, the follow-up to his 1982 solo debut, I Can't Stand Still.
The album, which had the Eagles rocker working with guitarist Danny Kortchmar, as well as Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Stan Lynch of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, peaked at #13 on the Billboard 200 chart. It spawned four top-40 singles, including "The Boys of Summer," which hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and earned Henley a Grammy.
Craig Marks, co-author of I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, tells ABC Audio that despite the video's success — it won Video of the Year at the 1985 MTV VMAs — Henley was "a reluctant participant in the music video revolution."
Thanks to "The Boys of Summer" and the album's other hits — "All She Wants To Do Is Dance," which went to #9, "Not Enough Love in the World" and "Sunset Grill" — the record was a huge commercial success for Henley and has been certified three-times Platinum by the RIAA.
Henley recently celebrated Building the Perfect Beast's anniversary with a new remastered edition of the album, available digitally and as a two-LP set.