Originally I was just going to post a quick link to this astounding live bootleg of Steely Dan in London in 1974, where the band cranks up for performances of tunes like “Bodhisattva” and “My Old School” that are so raw and totally wired they’re almost punk. (You know, in the context of Steely Dan.) Though it took me awhile to set aside my own pubescent punk prejudices against Becker and Fagen’s whole aesthetic, I now want Katy Lied played at my funeral, and while you know my blogging partner and I agree on most things, here we part ways, because the last time Steely Dan were even mentioned to Maura, she informed me that they made her “teeth ache.” (Something she felt so strongly about that she had to repeat herself.) Needless to say that I haven’t quite looked at her the same since, but now the question is whose side are you on: the team that would be happy on that proverbial desert island with a copy of Citizen Steely Dan, or the team that reaches for the Orajel at the sound of smooth ’70s jazz-pop?
Steely Dan Live at the Rainbow, London, England, May 20, 1974 [BigO; HT: LPTJ]
Steely Dan - “My Old School” [YouTube]
@edgyspice: Hey, I shaved today, I’ll have you know.
So there! We’re pretty much in agreement.
@joshservo: Hahaha!
@dennisobell: Agreed. Hatred of / like for SD and hatred of a ridiculous Grammy call can be mutually independent. They are for me as well [mostly], tho I come down on the “hate” side of both.
I could listen to “Stan” a dozen times a day for the rest of my life. I can’t listen to anything by SD. And that ridiculous call makes me hate them even more.
Off-on-a-tangent — I’ve always wondered whether Em’s Oscar win two years later for “Lose Yourself” was in part a way for Oscar to poke Grammy, as well as to try to look hip. In any event, still a deserving win.
“Any World (That I’m Welcome to)” would be an *excellent* choice for a song to be played at one’s funeral.
“Black Friday.”
“Doctor Wu.”
“Deacon Blues.”
“The Fez.”
Yeah, The Dan are The Shit.
Back in the 70s, I listened to Steely Dan quite a bit. But even then, they were always just a bit too self-consciously hip and smarmy. Now I just find their music bland and boring; they’re in the ‘change the channel fast’ category.
@DHMBIB: The Motion Picture Academy could give a crap about what the RIAA does. Ever since The Great Phil Collins Debacle of the early 80s, when the producer of the Oscars didn’t even know who the million-selling artist was who wrote/sang “Against All Odds” and got a Broadway vet to sing it on the show, earning ridicule of Jethro Tull-metal Grammy proportions, the Oscars have bent over backwards to be nice, giving awards to the likes of Eminem and Prince, and nominating Aimee Mann, Elliot Smith etc.
@DHMBIB: And as a Dan fan, I thought it was funny when their just-OK album beat Eminem. ‘Cause that’s how misanthropic Dan fans are.
I would never blog comment without my fez on.
@clarknhilldale: “Against All Odds” was nominated the same year Prince won (1984).
@clarknhilldale: Holy cow! I just looked up the other AOTY nominees for that year:
Midnight Vultures, Beck
Kid A, Radiohead
You’re The One, Paul Simon
I don’t have a brilliant or snarky point. I just wanted to remind everyone of the “competition” in that category that year.
The epitome of Dad Rock. I mean that as a negative.
On the Dad Rock tip - my entire childhood, my dad played Steely Dan non-stop, and i detested every single second of it.
for some reason though, fast forward to my freshman year of college (’99) - and i found myself falling in love with it. Somehow, Steely Dan moved to an eternal favorite of mine. Blame the father/son connection, sure, but hey, it works.
I liked them as a kid in the ’70s when their songs were all over the radio, then hated them in the late ’80s/early ’90s when I got into “college rock” and then rediscovered them around 1997 and have pretty much been Down with the ‘Dan ever since. I can see being turned off by the slickness and the solos but they’re just too strange a band, and have such amazing melodies to be dismissed with the wave of a hand.
@cassidy2099: I thought Dad Rock was best epitomized by Homer Simpson extolling the virtues of Grand Funk Railroad.
“Peg” proved that Fagen and Becker are the only musicians omniscient enough to find a use for Michael McDonald. Mostly, though, I’m simply dumbfounded this thread has this many posts, and nary a Chevy Chase reference.
they practically invented the uncool cool. musical geniuses, total fuckin weirdos, what’s not to like? aja is one of the top albums of all time.
Bored to tears.
my feelings toward the Dan: ambivalent.
my feelings toward Dan fans who feel like they have to announce, defend and clarify the greatness of a band that isn’t critically underrated: annoyance bordering on hatred.
@R. Morast: Me too. It’s painfully annoying to be cornered by some well-meaning twerp who thinks, after hearing Aja or CtE for the first time, he’s discovered some obscure, forgotten cult band, and by God, he’s gonna let you in on a wonderful secret.
@StuntKockSteeev: Even more dumbfounding: nobody’s said “Steely Dan can gargle my balls.”
Anyhow, I find I go back and forth on them every few years. Back into them now after seeing the “Classic Albums” installment on Aja, which is a fantastic exploration of Fagen & Becker’s loopy creative process.
@J DTZR: Does that happen to you a lot? Like, a lot a lot? Because if it does, my next question to you would be, “Are you hanging out at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass?” If your answer is “Oh, crap, I totally am,” hop the T and head over to Central Square. There you’ll be accosted by well-meaning twerps who are really into Willie “Loco” Alexander and Mark Sandman. You’re welcome.
FUCKING AWESOME
and yes, that live bootleg is the shit. they really rip.
Not did I like Steely Dan before I realized it was cool to like Steely Dan, I liked Steely Dan before I realized it was uncool to like Steely Dan.
BTW, I want “The Creator Has a Master Plan” played at my funeral. Or maybe Kiss Alive II.
Is there room at all for someone who thinks, “Yeah, they’re enjoyable enough,” I wonder sometimes.
I never had a problem w/AOR or FM rock per se (classic rock’ll do that to you), but I was stunned by Countdown to Ecstasy when I first heard it–it might be the most nakedly cynical album of the ’70s. I also find “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” one of the most comforting pieces of music I know. (That’s the one I want played at my funeral.)
As a college youth, the low-rent discount department store had satellite radio piped in that was custom programmed for the store chain (Marshall’s) One day I realized that someone who was responsible for the programming loved Steely Dan. I would work for about 4 hours and hear like 4-5 Steely Dan tracks throughout the night. That really was the big push for me, I was hooked. Now I look back and think “Yikes, I worked at Marshalls at least I got Steely Dan out of it “
Quite possibly the most underrated band in history. Quite possibly the most overrated band in history.
Who knows. The only thing for certain is that “Home at Last” is the best song ever written by anybody ever.
Team Maura.
Also, I still have not forgiven Grammy for giving AOTY to Two Against Nature over The Marshall Mathers LP.
Put my gold teeth in for the Mighty Steely Dan!
They were really innovative in the studio and reached an Apex with Aja. Every release since that time covers similar ground.
I used to be a Dan hater but eventually learned the error of my ways. Katy Lied happens to be my favorite as well but Countdown to Ecstasy is a close second. I can understand not liking them if all you’ve heard is “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number” ad nauseum on the soft rock station. But I challenge anyone to dig deep into the Dan catalogue and not at least come away with some sort of appreciation for their unique sound.
Steely Dan tops my list for “must change the f-ing channel anytime one of their god-awful mid-tempo, uninspired, vocal equivelant of a mole rat songs comes on” band.
I can’t put my finger on it, but I really have hate in my heart for their music.
One thing I love about Steely Dan — reflected here, in the division between our two normally harmonious camp counselors — is how the Dan neatly divides the rockcrit ethos. Steely Dan: unforgivably smooth or unimpeachably smart? The blogerati/rockcrit nation will never settle it!
@DHMBIB: These are two separate, unrelated statements you’ve made.
I’m on Team Jess. Hence, Team Steely Dan.
And I have also “not forgiven Grammy for giving AOTY to Two Against Nature over The Marshall Mathers LP.”
C’mon, man, those two data points are mutually exclusive. You can be a massive Steely Dan fan (which I basically am) and agree that the 2001 Grammy was bad on the merits and too-little-too-late from a Dan-fan perspective.
I’m accustomed to there being no middle ground with Steely Dan– people seem to either worship them or despise them. Seeing a couple of people comment here with what amounts to “Oh, yeah, they’re all right,” has me saying, “Wow, weird.”
Personally, I hated them with every fiber of my being until my early twenties. Now I fucking love them. I also love Donald Fagen’s “Nightfly” album.
Similar to Maura, my wife has a similar, “You’re kidding, right?” attitude towards Steely Dan. Now although I have encountered women who enjoy them, and men who think that they’re just f’ing awful, I am going to make the blanket statement that Steely Dan were and are a dude band through and through. There is something about SD’s laid back nihilism that just makes the fellas want to spark a dart, and escape in their head to the airbrushed conversion van in their soul. Conversely, they seem to make most women roll their eyes, plug their ears, and withhold favors. It’s just nature’s way.
Fact: “Good Eats” Alton Brown is a huge Steely Dan fan.
Fact: “Kid Charlemagne” is one of the all time great examples of trap music.
Everything through Katy Lied. After that not so much. Countdown To Ecstacy and Pretzel Logic are masterpieces (someone should make a Youtube clip of the Clintons and their surrogates talking about Obama with “Barrytown” playing in the background). The Nightfly is great, too, though it doesn’t quite reach the level of those two.
@joshservo: Speaking as a woman, this comment makes me do several things:
a) roll my eyes
b) try to think of other chicks I know who listen to Steely Dan
c) realize that I seem to listen to a lot of stuff that’s usually the domain of beardy dorks
d) curse stereotypes
i have only recently reached a level of maturity to fully appreciate steely dan. found this same gig on another site a couple of months ago and it’s totes rocking dudes.
mrs carsmile can’t stand them, by the way.
@Lou Banjawi: It’s worth the price of admission for the part where one of them (Walter Becker, if I recall correctly” starts rapping the verse from “Deja Vu”, by Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz.
From Caddyshack…
Kid: “that’s a check for $80,000!”
ChevyChase: “keep it.”
Steely Dan is a library of intelligence, wit and humor, first class musicianship and priceless nuance.
Eminem is a worthless piece of garbage that should be taken out in the yard and beaten with chains. His, “who the f*ck is Steely Dan” spoke volumes of the taste and sophistication of himself, his audience and his time.
The fact that Steely Dan won the Grammy for 2vN - 30 years after they hit the scene - shows that there still is a beacon of taste and musicianship at the Recording Academy.
Steely Dan Rules, and if you don’t get it, you need to check yourself in somewhere safe and padded.
Steely Dan Rules!
For 20 years now, everytime I spend anytime with my parents, there is a Steely Dan record on. Personally, I love them. My sister however, despises them. Thinks everything sounds the same. I enjoy the fact that I can go to Disc or Dat in Bethel, CT and pick up Aja on vinyl for $2
I went to go see them a couple of years ago. Michael McDonald opened (rock N Fucking Roll!). @ 23, I may have been the youngest person there. I didn’t realize how great Becker really was on the guitar.
Plus, the Kanye sample puts them over the top.
Steely Dan can gargle my balls. Lowell George and Little Feat smoke their weak asses any day of the week.
Maybe my own guilty pleasures aren’t so bad after all. I agree with Lou Banjawi about Classic Albums’ Aja segment. It was more interesting than I thought it would be.
Odd bit o’ trivia: Steely Dan is the name of a dildo mentioned in William Burrough’s novel Naked Lunch.
My favorite awesome/dorky high school teacher gave me one of his treasured early-’70s Steely Dan flats (featuring just Becker and Fagen, both sporting long-ass hippie hair and “rapist” sunglasses) for my college dorm room, and one day another girl on my floor walked in and said, “Ew, why do you have that picture of two creepy old dudes on your wall?” That was the moment I definitively realized that Steely D was the band for me. Although sometimes I wonder if I’m the only SD-lover who really can’t stand “Bodhisattva”…
Also, the exchange they had with Owen Wilson a couple of years ago in re: “Cousin Dupree” ([www.steelydan.com]) was kinda priceless in that signature ambiguous, “are they serious? wait, oh, ha…haha” way.