New to Me: Steely Dan (part 1)

by hiram lucke

“It is a curious emotion, this certain homesickness I have in mind. With Americans, it is a national trait, as native to us as the roller-coaster or the jukebox. It is no simple longing for the home town or country of our birth. The emotion is Janus-faced: we are torn between a nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known.”--Carson McCullers

“I don’t like nostalgia unless it’s mine.”--Lou “I’m not your grandma, kid” Reed

Every once in awhile I realize there’s a band in the canon of rock that I’ve passed over. In the case of Steely Dan, it’s less a passing over as much as it is a I-know-what-they-sound-like-because-I-listened-to-radio-as-a-kid-in-the-80s-and-always-loved-that-De-La-Soul-song-they’re-sampled-on-but-have-yet-to-listen-to-an-entire-album sort of thing. So, what the hell, I figured I should listen to an album of theirs. I know that I should like them since they’re known for high-falutin’ chord structures and carefully crafted lyrics. And then there's something about the fact that they brought irony to rock. I don't know about that, since I could never figure out if the irony was inherent in the lyrics of "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" or the music that's being played. Or is the music supposed to be the selling point? And they're supposed to be an urbane person's band, right? What to do, what to do? I need to listen to an album.

But which album should I start with? Does that make a difference? I went to All Music Guide and checked out what they had for the band. They had the usual, but nothing that helped me to decide on which album to start. Then it hit me: I know a lot of people who know enough about music that I could just ask them. I sent out an e-mail to about 40 people all across North America from roughly varying age groups (although, I did keep in mind that my grandmother would neither know nor care about Steely Dan—sorry Donald, my grandma sticks with her own classics). I also didn’t ask anyone under the age of 25, but that’s mostly because I don’t know that many people under the age of 25 and those that I do know probably wouldn’t have answered the questions anyway. Lastly in my nonscientific survey, I noticed I talked to an inordinate amount of musicians/people who play music. I think that also has a lot to do with the sort of people I know.

Here’s what I asked:

*1) Do you like Steely Dan?

2) If you do, why do you like them? If you dislike them, why? (Go into detail, is it their use of chords, Fagen's voice, the lyrics, nostalgia, the irony?)

3) If you like them, what's your favorite album? What album (besides a greatest hits collection) should a Dan noob start with?*

The answers were interestingly split between praise and hatred and, as you'll see, there tended to be a lot more hatred. A lot of the hatred sprang from memories of horrible car rides and well-meaning friends.

One of the only truly positive reviews came from Paul, a very nice PhD student/musician from Canada. I actually had a chance to talk to Paul in person (he’s a great guy). His love of Steely Dan is nostalgia/memory free for the most part, interestingly enough:

*1. F’ yes!

2. I remember that Steely Dan was something that I was aware of - the big box store where I worked away my youth was tuned to a satellite station that played "lite hits" - which meant a steady stream of Steely Dan hits, though I wasn't exactly aware of it at the time. "Ricky Don't Lose That Number", "Do it Again", "Peg" - for whatever reason these songs really stuck out to me. Actually, that job is where I got most of my 70's rock education - Elvis Costello, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac.

My first foray into seeking out Steely Dan albums came from the first blog I ever followed in the late 90's, which was the blog of Braid/Hey Mercedes frontman Robert Nana. He was a music obsessive that turned me onto a lot of good music (I owe my Guided By Voices and Jeff Buckley obsession to him as well).

I remember the first time that I became fanatic about Steely Dan - the intro to "Reelin' in the Years" - that guitar riff, the drumming - the whole thing sounds so tight that I totally got obsessed with it, listening to it over and over again. I think that is what I look for in a Steely Dan, no matter how cheesy the songs are, they are always so tight, played and arranged with a mastery I could only dream of.

3. Aja. Pour yourself a scotch, skip ahead to "Deacon Blues"; listen to that song five times in a row, get a little buzz on, and then let the album play out. I often remark that "Deacon Blues" is the greatest rock song ever written - aural perfection.*

Steve, editor/music fan/writer/language nerd/all around great guy, had this to say (with the added, "If anyone wants to call me a boomer/hipster/poseur, fuck 'em."):

*1. Yes.

2. Good tunes and harmonies, clever lyrics -- Christgau's "chewy perversity" sums it up nicely. Don't care about his voice (or tasty licks), and the hell with nostalgia. I like my pessimism served up with joyous flair, and that's what they provide at their best.

3. Can't Buy a Thrill, Pretzel Logic, and Katy Lied. It's all downhill from there. If only one, I guess Pretzel Logic.*

Good friend and real estate dude, Adam, had this to say:

*1. From what I have heard I enjoyed them. But, when I say enjoyed them I'm mentally referencing my only memorable exposure to them. This being in a skateboard video that I watched a thousand times in high school. Otherwise, I believe that I would think of them just another 70's band that went from the charts to the produce section and ended in the dentists office. From the songwriter stand point they intrigue me. And it is their use of chords and chord patterns. Never really went beyond that though.

2. see above

3. I only have one and would you believe it, it has the song from the aforementioned skate video. The album is titled: Aja and the song I like is “Peg”.*

Adam's comment about the dentist's office struck me as true, almost as much as Paul’s comment about hearing it in the big box store while working.

Friend Chris (editor/Golden Girls aficionado) remembers them as “jazzy and very 70s,” but mostly he remembers this:

*Have you ever seen "Reno 911!" on Comedy Central? In one episode, a character who's been fired from the police department decides to become a full-time Steely Dan roadie. So, I tend to equate Steely Dan with comedy. Hmm, I don't know if true Dan fans would appreciate that.*

Is it because I don’t have a memory associated with Dan that I’ve never listened to them closely before? Also, I know that I don't have to grow up with a band to like them, but is the fact that I grew up in the 70s/80s hearing "hits" from Steely Dan the reason I haven't paid attention to them? Can marketing have too much to do with how we view art? Can Steely Dan be marketed (yeah, definitely… duh)? Can a long-standing joke about a band cause me to skip over them (answer: no, I like prog rock... although I can’t stand Rush). Maybe, but then again I like Fleetwood Mac, so that doesn't hold too much water. Fleetwood had a runaway hit followed by the experimental Tusk. Steely Dan… weren’t they always sort of experimental in their use of jazz and language? But wait, I was a kid in the 70s and remember hearing the Mac on the radio. I do have memories associated with them. Hmm.... Anyway, we've got Aja and Pretzel Logic so far.

Randall, internet funny man/writer, also thought about nostalgia and memory and what it can do to a listener:

*As a teenager of the late 70s and early 80s who was very into seemingly divergent musical scenes like hard rock (now "classic rock" and "adult contemporary rock," as opposed to "heavy metal" - some of which I also liked), art rock (now "prog rock"), jazz-fusion (NOT "smooth jazz"), funk (NOT disco) and punk rock, you'd think Steely Dan would have been right up my alley. Which they were, in the sense that they were everywhere I turned, and I wished I could have rolled them in an alley. Okay - maybe that was a bit hyperbolic. Truth is, they weren't my thing, precisely because I avidly listened to their various influences and found that Steely Dan came up lacking by comparison. Not jazzy enough, rocking enough, funky enough, etc. More a watered-down version of all of the above. Also, Fagan's voice irritates me after about one song.

Nevertheless, I do have 2 Steely Dan songs on my MP3 player. 2 out of 3367. The songs are “My Old School” and “Reelin' In The Years”, which I believe are off of their first two albums. I have the songs primarily for the nostalgic laugh when they pop up in random shuffle mode right after “Smack My Bitch Up”, although “Kid Charlemagne”, “Deacon Blues”, “FM, Bodhisattva” and “Hey Nineteen” could just as easily have taken their places in the line-up, as they're essentially interchangeable songs, anyway.

As far as albums are concerned, I remember that I was forced to listen to Aja many times by well-meaning (and seriously stoned) friends who assumed that my love of prog rock and jazz-fusion would obviously translate into a love of Steely Dan. And I do have fond memories of those occasions (or maybe "flashbacks" would be a better word), but I never really learned to love 'em. If forced to describe Steely Dan to otherwise musically-knowledgeable aliens, I would say that it's like listening to Billy Joel over-sell a song over-composed by Disney-era Sting.*

For the most part, though, most of my closest friends said that I would be insane to try and listen to an entire Steely Dan album. The non-committal Bill (lawyer/great music man) wrote me this response:

*1. NO.

2. PUSSIES.

Wow, that looks weird up there. It appears that I wrote, "NO PUSSIES." But that's out of context, since they are answers to your questions. And, really, if you know me, you know I would never, ever seek to ban pussies.

Plus you requested details. I don't have too many of those. But here's a shot:

2. Because they're annoying.

OK, that's probably not enough either.

2. Because a Steely Dan cover night at the Granada [club in Lawrence, KS] made me want to kill the guy pretending to be the lead singer. I mean, really kill him, by strangulation. Strangulation by mic. And yes, I do not know the lead singer's name, that's how much I hate them, and for how long.

PS: the back-up singers on Steely Dan cover night were pretty hot.

Yeesh. Try again.

2. Oh man, why are you doing this to me--making me analyze my heretofore accepted hatred of the Dan? What if I have no reasons? What happens then? Did you ever ask yourself that before setting off on this quest, Hiram? What if it all just crashes down in obstreperous adumbrations? What if I have to go back to my old SCHOOL, MAN!???

2. Crap, maybe I LIKE them. Who AM I? My hair is getting longer, but that's just because I couldn't afford the cut until pay day. And yet, it is pay day, and my hair is still not cut. Have I just been fooling myself? Do I actually want Dan hair? And look, yonder glass reflects stubble. STUBBLE!

2. Hollywood cocaine.

2. Stop whining.

2. Curly hair and tinted sunglasses.

2. People who like Steely Dan--they're lying. They don't really like the Dan. They're just waiting for you to fall for it, say you like 'em, and wham bam thank you Dan, you are snuffed. Just wait, dude, you're going to get all sorts of explanations. It's the dance of Kaa. Do not look into the eyes of Kaa, who has shed his skin and is hungry.

2. There is a purity to my dislike of SD. It's visible in the absence of specific references. You'll note that I make only one real nod to anything at all about the band--the school-going-back-to-thing. I really don't know anything about them--carbuncular quoters take note. I have chosen a life of abstinence, and so far it has been a good life.*

Good friend, manager/PhD student/drummer extraordinaire/tuna wrangler, Brent, had a little more passionate invective in his appeal for me not to do this project:

*I f’ing hate Steely Bland. Two reasons: 1) the fucking laziest mf ever, one [name redacted], would play Steely Dan non-stop in the kitchen of Rudy's [a fine, fine pizza joint in Lawrence, KS] when he "worked". Aside from the constant sing-a-long and air guitaring, he would go on ad nauseum about how every handlebar-mustached douchebag who had ever been a member or had blown a member of S.D. was God's greatest gift to musicdom (or fellatiodom). "This guy is the best drummer in the world, and if you can't hear it then you know nothing about music" or "Did you just hear the eighth-tabulature, ronny-walk Craig Weenus rolled on his skin flute?". F’ me with a rusted screwdriver. Anytime I hear S.D. now I think about the glorious time I caught Buzz in the walk-in eating an industrial-size vat of cherry goo topping with his bare hands. 2) Their mild (tepid, flaccid) success has paved the way for all the girl-jeans wearing, gin and tonic drinking, impotent, little-man syndrome wuss rock of today. The next time you hear a f’ing Death Cab for Cutie song and instantly want to find out where they all live so you can kick them in their underdeveloped nads, thank Squeely Bland. Hiram, for the love of God, don't do it.*

Last, my partner/editor/singer Melissa recounted how the Dan brings on the stomachaches and inevitable technicolor yawns for her:

*I can't believe you are walking into the nerd minefield that is Steely Dan. I also can't believe that you are actually going to listen to an entire Steely Dan record.

It's unfortunate, because I tend to really love and respect people who love Steely Dan, as they tend to be smart and well read and witty and whatnot. But Steely Dan itself makes me murderous. If the state of being passive aggressive had a sound, it would be the sound of Steely Dan. Is it the bloodless funk of it, the way they manage to take something that should groove and drown it in production mayonnaise? Is it that you can hear oh I'm a clever, clever boy in every acid lyric? Is it the smooth tapioca of Fagen's voice? I don't know and I don't want to know, because it all makes me incredibly nauseous. I used to get car sick a lot as a kid, and that's what the jazz lite changes they use in a song like "No Static at All" reminds me of. Just when I think I've got a grip the car lurches into a steep turn, or everyone lights up a Marlboro with all the windows rolled up, and pretty soon my poor aunt is wiping me down on the side of the road while I cry. Again.*

So, which one should I listen to? I went to a local record store... it was too cool for the Dan (although I did pick up an ESP sampler from ’65 or ‘66, One Life to Live by Phyllis Dillon—it’s a greatest hits of sorts, and Jackie Mittoo’s Macka Fat, so it wasn’t all bad) so I went to another. I looked at the covers. I looked at the song titles. I looked at the covers. I looked at the record store clerk’s face of disdain as I brought them up (he looked like Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons at 50—it’s a cliché but it’s as true as this writing is). Now all I gotta do is choose one.