Don Henley still hasn’t gotten over the fact that Frank Ocean sampled his music on his 2011 Nostalgia, Ultra mixtape. Ocean sampled the Eagles’ “Hotel California” on his “American Wedding” song, and it wasn't that bad. Forget about Ocean’s possibly exposing new listeners to Henley’s music; in a recent interview with The Guardian, Henley’s still angry about it.
“I didn’t think he was cool,” Henley told The Guardian. “I thought he was a talentless little p—ck. And I still do.”
Millions of Ocean fans patiently waiting for new music would probably disagree.
Henley used the interview as an opportunity to complain about today’s youths and their lack of understanding of copyright laws.
“Some of these young kids have grown up in a world that doesn’t understand or respect copyright material or intellectual property,” he said. “They look at songs as interactive playthings.”
But apparently Henley doesn’t understand U.S. laws with regard to copyright because a musician doesn’t have to ask permission to cover a song, as long as the original music isn’t altered.
The Guardian interviewer asked Henley if he would have been OK with a more popular artist, like Kanye West, covering his music. And that didn’t go well at all.
“I don’t like him, either,” he said. “He’s either incredibly arrogant or incredibly insecure, or some combination of the two.”
Well, you can’t argue with that. Tell ’em why you mad, Henley. Tell ’em why you mad.