I hate Steely Dan. Sorry guys.

They're a love them or hate them band...very few people are neutral towards Steely Dan. I went from hating them when younger to loving them. The strengths are incredibly sharp, sarcastic, smarmy lyrics with a great musical counterpoint which often emphasizes the subtlety. They also have pretty...well...untraditional vocals which can grate on folks. They can also come across as soft jazz at casual listening levels. They get amazing studio muscians and their songs are a lot more complex and interesting than a casual listen might indicate.

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I've heard there's a PX-10, perfect shape, over in Barrytown. A Major Dude told me.

I've loved Steely Dan since they released Can't Buy a Thrill.

Was he a show biz kid?

I'm sorta paralleling you - I didn't like them much growing up, but now I like them quite a bit.

I've softened my stance on Disco over the years, too. Still don't like it, but I can now pretty much sublimate my rage when I hear it being played. the tic is mostly gone, too.

I Am Iron Man.

it makes sense that old folks like Steely Dan. YOu can fall asleep listening to them while sitting in your Lazyboy.

Come to think of it, Steely Dan would make a good forum handle for someone here in C&V.

+1

I spent much of the 70's getting up and changing the radio station whenever Steely Dan came on. I got a lot of exercise.

I don't hate them nearly as much as I used to, but that's only because I now live in a pretty much Steely Dan free zone.

Old? Whachu talkin' 'bout Willis?!

It would but the Innuendo might be too much for the G-rated crowd William Burroughs - Naked Lunch.


The fact that the Peugeot has a GB stem and Weinmann brakes did seem rather odd for a french thing.

It's taken. I've seen his posts in Commuting.

Exactly...they aren't what they appear to be. Their music and song writing is amazingly sarcastic...even caustic...and songs that might seem easy listening actually have a very dark heart and some very exciting stuff going on underneath the surface.

Stay right where you are, I'm gonna send someone over......... after my nap.

+2 they fall right into the same catagory with Steve Miller and the Eagles, who IMO are vastly superior to many acts of the time but equally overplayed to the point that any innovation is long lost on this listener. I probably wouldn't mind exploring some deep cuts and B-sides, but I've not the inclination to do so.

back on topic, congrats to Zaphod on obtaining other peoples trash, may it serve you well and pass from your hands to bring joy to others.

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.

Google the lyrics for Excitable Boy sometime........

Dude...I don't need to google it, I know them by heart. Zevon is in my top 5, even ahead of Steely Dan. I absoloutely LOVE Zevon.

It was not meant as an analogy, but just a personal compartmentalization of sorts, like how I lump Air Supply, REO, and Sherriff, or ASIA, TOTO, and Alan Parsons.... It probably has more to do with time & place than actual song styling. Maybe it's similarities in guitar sound, but I haven't bothered to analyze it, ... it just is. Though I never want to hear it again, Hotel California was for it's time undeniable.

I liked the quasi-cover by Nerf Herder.

Jimmy reminds me that Steely Dan wasn't the only reason I used to change radio stations fifteen times an hour. It's hard to characterize the music that was on the radio at the time without using words spelled with asterisks. It all sounded pretty much like that to me, anyway. There was great music being made at the time, but I never heard it until much later. By the time I ever heard of Big Star, or the Buzzcocks for that matter, they'd already broken up.

No doubt comparing Steely Dan to the Eagles and Steve Miller tells you more about me than it tells you about Steely Dan; yeah, whatever.

I think its interesting to hear the different takes on Steely Dan. People seem to seem to dislike them for different reasons than people like them for.

By contrast I really hate the Eagles and Steve Miller. Especially the Eagles....I think its part of the reason that scene from the Big Lebowski resonates so well with me...where he gets thrown out of the cab when "Peaceful Easy Feelin" comes on the radio.

I knew the Seldom Scene's recording of 'Train Leaves Here Tomorrow' long before I realized it was on the Eagles' first album* but somehow liking that song gave me a way to tolerate much of the Eagles' stuff even after they had moved rar from the countryish sound they had early on. I'm not defending them, here, you understand. But now I wonder, if DC area bluegrass bands had covered songs off Steely Dan records, would my taste be different. I might like Steely Dan. Or I might loathe all of bluegrass. One can only speculate....

*and it was another dozen years before I heard the Dillard & Clark original

Its also entirely possible that if my intro to the Eagles wasn't "Life in the Fast Lane" and "Desperado" I might feel differently.

Joe Walsh, on the other hand, is the man.

Interesting opinions on these groups. I know some of them are nauseating for me to listen to, as much now as they were back in the day of their popularity. Perhaps we can blame it on the excessive airplay in regional markets. I for one heard very little Steely Dan on the radio, but Eagles, Chicago, REO, even Steve Miller Band got more airtime. Eagles were overplayed. People still mock Hotel California when they hear it. Too bad, it's epic. Especially the live acoustic version, sends chills on a good/great system. As I get older, I find I have more patience to revisit these bands. I don't dismiss the Eagles like I did.
But man, Air Supply, Chicago, Alan Parsons, Michael McDonald (Doobie Bros), Kenny Loggins, these acts will always feel like nails across a chaulkboard.
:-P

Oddly enough as much as I detest Michael McDonald (yammo be there) I think he's actually tolerable when he was with Steely Dan.

Actually I think that was the only group he managed not to kill.

I'm the exact same way...love Joe Walsh, HATE The Eagles.

RHM - they aren't mutually exclusive! I love me some Chilton, Big Starr, The Sweet, Ramones, etc. I know exactly what you mean about how bad radio was then...Queen had destroyed glam, stadium rock was horrendous and overwrought...thank god for CBGBs!