Was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing sales of over 500,000 records in the US. The song is about the callousness (and callowness) of TV news reporting as well as the tabloidization of all news. Henley sings from the standpoint of a news anchorman who "could have been an actor, but I wound up here", and thus is not a real journalist. 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 and Natalie Wood, and Henley's own arrest in 1980. In November of 1980, Henley was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of marijuana, cocaine, and Quaaludes after paramedics treated a 16-year-old girl suffering from drug intoxication at his Los Angeles home. This incident was a big influence on the song. A line in the second verse, "Is the head dead yet?", actually comes from journalism lingo, and refers to the major headline story being ready to post or print. If a head is dead, it has already been set and is being printed or created, and it is now too late to make changes to the story. Among the musicians on the record were Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh, two of Henley's Eagles bandmates. Walsh performs the first guitar solo, followed by Steve Lukather of the band Toto (according to Lukather he did his solo in one take and it's one of his favorites); the guitar basic tracks are played by Danny Kortchmar who also helped Henley compose this song.The late Jeff Porcaro (also of Toto) plays the drums on this track.The sleeve notes also mention these musicians: George Gruel, Roger Linn and Steve Porcaro.