Dude...as someone who seriously hates The Eagles, I take issue with that analogy. The Eagles really did write easy listening with overwrought, idiotic lyrics. Steely Dan has levels of texture, both musically and lyrically, that Don Henley could never dream of attaining. And Steve Miller band? They're musical melba toast...no one really gets too passionate about them either way because they don't really do anything interesting enough to have an opinion about. If you want to compare them with Warren Zevon...I'll buy it.

Lyrically the comparison for Steely Dan is more like Talking Heads when they do songs like Big Country and Nothing But Flowers. Obviously a different era of course.