The late Glenn Frey could be very touchy about people who didn't like The Eagles – "we used to have a punch-'em-on sight list of critics who hated us," he once said – but what really got his goat was when the band were mocked in a scene in the Coen Brothers' film The Big Lebowski.

In the film, The Eagles' song Peaceful Easy Feeling is playing on a radio in a minicab, and as the lyrics "And I wanna sleep with you in the desert tonight/With a billion stars all around" are being sung, Jeff Bridges's hippie character, The Dude, pleads with the cab driver to change the radio station. The Dude says: "I had a rough night and I hate the f---ing Eagles, man."

The driver swerves the car, pulls over and throws the Dude out of his cab (You can watch it below, but be warned, the clip does contain swearing).

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When he was interviewed by Rolling Stone, Bridges was asked whether he disliked the Eagles, and replied with a laugh: "I love Creedence Clearwater and, you know, as far as the Eagles, I don't hate the Eagles like the Dude hates them. I remember I ran into Glenn Frey, he gave me some s--t. I can't remember what he said exactly, but you know, my anus tightened a bit."

Glenn Frey playing with The Eagles credit: Rex Features

The actor also later told radio.com that Don Henley didn't have a problem with the Dude's attitude towards the Eagles, adding: "I wouldn’t say I'm a good friend of Don’s, but we know each other. Glenn Frey, I run into him at parties, he’ll always bust my chops and make me squirm a little bit. That was my character that hated the Eagles, not me."

Glenn Frey in 2014 credit: Rex Features

In addition, there were reports that Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein originally wanted $150,000 for the Coen Brothers to use the song Dead Flowers in the film but so adored the scene in which the Dude slates The Eagles that he waived the licensing fee.

The Big Lebowski is not the only instance where The Eagles have been mocked in popular culture. In a 1996 episode of Seinfeld called The Checks, Elaine's oddball boyfriend, Brett is obsessed by the song Desperado and insists she is silent whenever it plays. In the closing joke to the episode, a surgeon is distracted by another Eagles song, Witchy Woman, and allows Brett to die on the operating table.

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Eagles songs have caused problems in real life, too. In 2013, a 54-year-old woman in North Charleston, South Carolina, became so irritated with her 65-year-old roommate playing Eagles songs that she stabbed him several times.

Glenn Frey tribute by rock critic Neil McCormick