"Dirty Laundry" is a song written by

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He is the drummer and one of the lead singers for the Eagles. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as " Witchy Woman", "Des ...

and

Danny Kortchmar Daniel "Danny Kootch" Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946) is an American guitarist, session musician, producer and songwriter. Kortchmar's work with singer-songwriters such as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Carole King, David Cassidy, Gr ...

, from Henley's debut solo album ''

I Can't Stand Still ''I Can't Stand Still'' is the debut solo studio album by American musician Don Henley, drummer and co-lead vocalist for the Eagles. It was released in August 1982 by Asylum Records. Henley, Danny Kortchmar and Greg Ladanyi produced the album. ...

'', released in 1982. The song hit number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Top Album Tracks chart in October 1982, prior to being issued as a 45 rpm single. Lyrically, the song describes

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informati ...

sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotio ...

. Released as the second single from ''I Can't Stand Still'', it spent three weeks at number 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in early 1983. The single was

certified Gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

in March 1983, representing sales of a million copies in the United States.

History

The song is about the callousness of TV news reporting as well as the

tabloidization Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known a ...

of all news. Henley sings from the standpoint of a news

anchorman A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet ...

who "could have been an actor, but I wound up here". The song's theme is that TV news coverage focuses too much on negative and sensationalist news; in particular, deaths, disasters, and scandals, with little regard to the consequences or for what is important ("We all know that crap is king"). The song was inspired by the intrusive press coverage surrounding the deaths of

John Belushi John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his c ...

and

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...

, and Henley's own arrest in 1980 when he was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of marijuana, cocaine, and Quaaludes after paramedics treated a 16-year-old female who was suffering from drug intoxication at his Los Angeles home. Among the musicians on the record were Timothy B. Schmit and

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr ...

, two of Henley's bandmates of the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, jus ...

. Walsh performs the first guitar solo, followed by

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

of the band Toto; the guitar basic tracks are played by

who also helped Henley compose this song. The sleeve notes also mention musicians George Gruel,

Roger Linn Roger Curtis Linn is an American designer of electronic musical instruments and equipment. He is the designer of the LM-1, the first drum machine to use samples, and the MPC sampler, which had a major influence on the development of hip ho ...

and

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff in 1992 and M ...

.Sleeve notes to ''Dirty Laundry'' in the '' Actual Miles'' CD of 1995.

Personnel

– lead vocals, backing vocals *

– keyboards, special keyboard effects *

– special effects *

– rhythm guitar, backing vocals *

– 1st guitar solo *

– 2nd guitar solo * Timothy B. Schmit – bass, backing vocals *

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working o ...

– drums * George Gruel – backing vocals

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
!-- Licensed lyrics provider --> {{Authority control 1982 singles Don Henley songs Lisa Marie Presley songs Nickelback songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs written by Don Henley Songs written by Danny Kortchmar Songs about television 1982 songs Asylum Records singles Republic Records singles Criticism of journalism Songs about the media