@Jacana "Hotel California" is a metaphorical critique of excess, temptation, and the dark side of fame, portraying a glamorous yet entrapping lifestyle in 1970s California. (I copied this from the Internet.) AquaGent called it a metaphorical critique of the good life or excessive nightlife of rock stars in California. Once you get a taste of it, you can never leave. If you read the things that the Eagles did in their heyday while on tour it was amazing. They literally would destroy hotel suites with after, after hours parties. While drugs are a part of it itās more than drugs. Itās once you get a taste of the good life in California, you can never leave it.
Mirrors on the ceiling
With pink champagne on ice, and she said
"We are all just prisoners here of our own device"
And in the master's chambers
They gathered for the feast
Stab it with their steely knives
But they just can't kill the beast
While AquaGent believed that Hendley and Fry were referring to the total life of excess. Drugs were part of it, but he believed that they were referring to the total excess life of California.
I don't remember him making any reference to Joplin. Of course, she is referred to in the second American Pie. "I met a lady who sang the blues."