I love the airtight melodies of Steely Dan

I love Steely Dan — the quintessential anti-heroes of 70s rock, as I think they were once called.

They seem like they are (or were) pretty awful people though.

They do take you on a musical journey. I love all their insider references.

r1, how so?

Not half as awful as their fans.

R3, they’re horrible. They hate their fans, they are rude, they abuse session musicians, they sue at the drop of the hat.

If you want a small taste, watch the Yacht Rock documentary. Everyone involved is in on the fun. It was such a long time ago. Why not be big about it? So it’d really enjoyably to watch.

Everyone but one person. Guess who. It’s so typical of Fagen. (Becker is dead of course.)

All that said, they’re one of my favorite bands of the 70s, in terms of the music. In fact Doctor Wu may be my favorite song of the decade.

Steel Dan are an abomination

What does airtight mean in this context?

Joe Sample played on the Aja album. He was a wonderful musician and an absolute gentleman.

Airtight as in lack of oxygen?

My favorite group also. You can listen to a song hundreds of times and still hear something new. It’s uncanny.

Good god he was ugly in all those 70s clips in Yacht Rock.

Donald Fagen is oddly alluring in a vampire kind of way. Wasn't he arrested for abusing his wife?

Aja was the first record my dad gave me, he had written his name on the label. Josie was the first song I learned on the bass.

I guess what I’m saying is, “thank you, Steely Dan.”

For a while in my teens I studied their music in order to learn those complex, snazzy, and precise chord progressions.

By all accounts they’d have been horrible people to actually spend time with. But you could learn a lot from listening obsessively and trying to replicate.