Steely Dan: "Steely Dan's name has been popping up as a hip musical crush. Remember, this glossy bop-pop was the indifferent aristocracy to punk rock's stone-throwing in the late 70's. People fought

Grateful Peg…? is that anything?

Something between two adventurous Deadheads making sexytimes in a tent or VW bus during a wild "Dark Star" I'd surmise.

GABBA was created by Stig Honda, the eccentric Japanese professor at the Osaka Rock n' Roll High School. In search of the formula for pop perfection, he came upon the idea of fusing the raw energy of New York punk (Ramones) with pretty melodic harmonies of Scandinavian pop (ABBA) and GABBA was björn.

His young proteges Geeky, Anneky, Bjoey, Bee Bee & Abby were taught the 3 chords and 4 rules of Rock n' Roll, and despatched with a pocketful of songs on a quest for worldwide discopunk domination. On their journey, the band are ably assisted by tough talking ex-SAS road manager Monte Malmönik.
Celebrated paranoid genius producer Phil Smegma was enlisted to fine tune their tunes and turn them into the discopunk sensation they are today...

...TOMORROW THE WORLD!

No I'm never gonna do it without the Phil zone

Doin' That Boston Rag

Uptown East St. Louis Mississippi Half Step Toodle-oo

Deacon Blues for Allah

I watched one of their live videos for 30 seconds in the name of science and they were trying to pull off some bogus shakedown street > bodhisattva bullshit

Grateful Peg…? is that anything?

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl)

That's a, uhhm, different thing altogether.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TAzn2Vdkns

Watched a couple vids, and I have to say, I like the Dan and the Dead, but this is a marriage that didn't need to happen.

And oddly enough, I went to a street fair some years ago in Santa Monica, and they had a few music stages, upon which a GD related band (Cubensis) performed, and a SD cover cover band (Dr. Wu, iirc) performed. I liked both.

Other stages had a Neil Young tribute guy (acoustic Neil) and an Allman Bros cover band.

📹

The first episode of the new 33 1/3 podcast series is Prince Paul and Posdnuos talking about Steely Dan. So, yeah...that works! https://t.co/cFtKWZmFcD

— Charles L. Hughes (@CharlesLHughes2) September 10, 2021

Only made it through 15 minutes. Maybe too familiar with the material but also Life is too short to sit through amateur podcast hosts trying to find their way

Tablet Magazine: A Conversation With Donald Fagen.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/conversation-with-donald-fagen

Tablet Magazine: A Conversation With Donald Fagen.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/conversation-with-donald-fagen

This was a great read, thanks!

A few months before the lockdowns I got an email from someone calling themselves “Donald Fagen.” Surely this was one of my friends gaslighting me

Gaslighting officially means everything now

Flame is the game
The game we call gaslighting Tablet

http://sdarchive.com/2vngibson.html

William gibson appreciation essay

Lots of interesting stuff in that Tablet interview.

The vibe of the LA music scene must have been very different compared to New York. Even just the players in LA must have been a different feel entirely.

It was different. LA musicians didn’t play as hard, and there was maybe something secondhand about it, in that they were playing R&B, but it was mostly white guys trying to play like Black guys. In New York you had actual Black guys [laughs].

Lots of interesting stuff in that Tablet interview.

The vibe of the LA music scene must have been very different compared to New York. Even just the players in LA must have been a different feel entirely.

It was different. LA musicians didn’t play as hard, and there was maybe something secondhand about it, in that they were playing R&B, but it was mostly white guys trying to play like Black guys. In New York you had actual Black guys [laughs].

Oops. Phone issue

JBL alerted me to this via Instagram...

Paul Giamatti: What do you think I'm yelling for?
Oscar Isaac (as the Bodacious Cowboy): *stands there in a spangled leather poncho* https://t.co/i7VURxge6A

— Good Steely Dan Takes (@baddantakes) October 8, 2021

lmao

“no fun” police here but im honestly tired of the baconing and memjng of the dan. stop making them wacky.

illegal fun, eh?

They... were wacky.

“no fun” police here but im honestly tired of the baconing and memjng of the dan. stop making them wacky.

― brimstead, Friday, October 8, 2021 11:38 AM (fifty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Someone needs some Cuervo Gold and some fine Colombian

definitely doesn't make sense to take them too seriously, so many of their lyrics boil down to things that made Don and Walt laugh

they took composition and performance extremely seriously though

yeah fair enough, i get it now. they are ridiculous. it’s like making fun of croz or michael mcdonald. I just love their sweet sweet harmonies so unironically.

I mean, how can one *not* have a little giggle at the phrase "spangled leather poncho"?

the steely dan meme is p great and the opposite of baconing imho

Steely Dan's meme has been popping up as a wacky musical bacon

The only one that comes to mind is the dog in the car with the windows up - "The AC is on, he has water, and is listening to SD" - which I still like.

i find the meme to be surprisingly true to the subtle things that idiosyncratic greatness of the band. baconing would be like "Steely Dan write harmonies so rich Elon Musk can't afford them". instead it's stuff like this

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/002/199/808/cae

lmao

also the lyrics to Gaucho are one of the funniest things in the world to me. i'd love to be a fly on the wall the day when they brought all those session singers into the studio and see their expressions when they read that they were asked to sing 'bodacious cowboys such as your friend will never be welcome here/high in the custerdome'

Tbf, a good bit of the baconing comes internet shirt publishers flogging clever clever SD fan art tees, like all the 'Dan as Punk' ones (Goo, Bedtime For Democracy, and Never Mind The Bollocks, alongside more generic Black Flag and Big Black designs I have seen) on social media.

FWIW, I used to have a 'Is There Gas In The Car...?' tee, would love one or two of those aforementioned Punk ones, and wish the designer had picked a better lyric for the Goo tee.

i agree they could've picked a better lyric but the drawing of them on the goo t-shirt is hilarious

i really want a t-shirt with the gaucho album art on it

i def got myself a black flag/black cow shirt and i am not ashamed

Have the "Goo" shirt and am slightly ashamed.

definitely doesn't make sense to take them too seriously, so many of their lyrics boil down to things that made Don and Walt laugh

― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Friday, October 8, 2021 2:46 PM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

But also there's a deep core of melancholy that I sometimes feel like Fagan and Becker always tried and never quite succeeded to keep at a distance by being clever

They cried when they wrote these songs

You have to have a sense of humor about your favorite artists (or at least I do). That's part of the fun is laughing at/with them.

On the subject of Steely Dan themed clothing, Cara Delevingne's overalls in the picture up above are actually her subtle tribute to Denny Dias.

i'd love to be a fly on the wall the day when they brought all those session singers into the studio and see their expressions when they read that they were asked to sing 'bodacious cowboys such as your friend will never be welcome here/high in the custerdome'

Then come back 15 hours later to see their expressions when they're recording take 237 of those same words.

Japanese issue of Steely Dan's 1978 'Greatest Hits' album pic.twitter.com/ubXhZ0YFfy

— Barney Hurley (@barneyhurley1) October 9, 2021

Have the "Goo" shirt and am slightly ashamed.