Dylan Jones: 'These days I never listen to any punk albums, but play The Eagles at least once a month'

I've received some pretty angry letters in my time, but even I was surprised by the negative attention I got after casually mentioning that I quite liked The Eagles. I'd simply said that while it was fashionable in the late Seventies to listen to Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols rather than any album by The Eagles, these days I almost never listen to any punk albums, but play One of These Nights and On the Border at least once a month. I've still got a Sex Pistols poster I ripped off the reception wall at the Roxy, but I honestly can't remember the last time I played "Bodies".

And you should have seen the correspondence. God, some people really do hate The Eagles. The only times I've had more abuse over a piece were: a) Four years ago, when I identified David Cameron as the next Prime Minister, and b) When I wrote a piece in praise of Hall & Oates in The Face. In fact I'm toying with the idea of writing a series of columns in favour of Conservative double acts, just to see what sort of trouble I can get myself into (if I do, I'm going to kick off with Hale and Pace, which should probably do the trick).

But I was right. While the punk canon is one of the most important in the 60-year history of pop, the screeching, guitar-wielding, bass-bin busting likes of the Pistols and the Ramones do not a modern soundtrack make. In 1976 I was obsessive about the Ramones – I dressed like them, spoke like them, and covered my bedroom walls with pictures of Johnny, Joey, Tommy and Dee Dee torn from the pages of the NME (and, ever keen on punk paraphernalia, still have a miniature "GABBA GABBA HEY!" banner given away at a Ramones gig at the Rainbow on New Year's Eve in 1977), but apart from "I Remember You" – one of the great forgotten punk singles – I almost never play them.

A while ago I was driving down the Pacific Coast Highway from Big Sur to LA, and while I had "New Kid in Town", "Already Gone" and "Ol' 55" (the best Eagles song, written, ironically, by Tom Waits) on heavy rotation, "Holidays in the Sun" was conspicuous by its absence.

It was just like punk never happened.

Dylan Jones is the editor of 'GQ'