Steely Dan are an American rock band founded in 1971 by core members Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagan (keyboards, lead vocals). Blending elements of rock, jazz, latin, R&B and blues and sophisticated studio production with cryptic and ironic lyrics, the band enjoyed critical and commercial success starting from the early 1970s until breaking up in 1981. Initially the band had a core lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired the band from live performances altogether to become a studio-only band, opting to record with a revolving cast of session musicians. Rolling Stone has called them “the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies.
Becker and Fagen met in 1967 at Bard College, in New York. As Fagen passed by a café, The Red Balloon, he heard Becker practicing the electric guitar. In an interview, Fagen recounted the experience: “I hear this guy practicing, and it sounded very professional and contemporary. It sounded like, you know, like a black person, really.” He introduced himself to Becker and asked, “Do you want to be in a band?” Discovering that they enjoyed similar music, the two began writing songs together.
Can’t Buy A Thrill, Steely Dan’s debut album, was released in 1972. Its hit singles “Do It Again” and “Reeling In The Years” reached No. 6 and No. 11 respectively on the Billboard singles chart. Along with “Dirty Work” (sung by David Palmer), the songs became staples on progressive radio. Because of Fagen’s reluctance to sing live, Palmer handled most of the vocal duties on stage. During the first tour, however, Katz and Becker decided that they preferred Fagen’s interpretations of the band’s songs, persuading him to take over. Palmer quietly left the group while it recorded its second album; he later co-wrote the No. 2 hit “Jazzman” (1974) with Carole King.
Pretzel Logic was released in early 1974. A diverse set, it includes the group’s most successful single, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” (No. 4 on the Billboard). Pretzel Logic was the first Steely Dan album to feature Walter Becker on guitar. “Once I met Chuck Rainey”, he explained, “I felt there really was no need for me to be bringing my bass guitar to the studio anymore”. A rift began growing between Becker-Fagen and Steely Dan’s other members (particularly Baxter and Hodder), who wanted to tour. Becker and Fagen disliked constant touring and wanted to concentrate solely on writing and recording. The other members gradually left the band, discouraged by this and by their diminishing roles in the studio.
The Royal Scam was released in May 1976. Partly because of Carlton’s prominent contributions, it is the band’s most guitar-oriented album. The album sold well in the United States, though without the strength of a hit single. In the UK the single “Haitian Divorce” (Top 20) drove album sales, becoming Steely Dan’s first major hit there. Steely Dan’s sixth album, the jazz-influenced Aja, was released in September 1977. Aja reached the Top Five in the U.S. charts within three weeks, winning the Grammy award for “Engineer – Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical.” It was also one of the first American LPs to be certified ‘platinum’ for sales of over 1 million albums.
Featuring Michael McDonald’s backing vocals, “Peg” (No. 11) was the album’s first single, followed by “Josie” (No. 26) and “Deacon Blues” (No. 19). Aja solidified Becker’s and Fagen’s reputations as songwriters and studio perfectionists. After Aja’s success, Becker and Fagen were asked to write the title track for the movie FM. The movie was a box-office disaster, but the song was a hit, earning Steely Dan another engineering Grammy award. It was a minor hit in the UK and barely missed the Top 20 in the U.S.A.
Becker and Fagen took a break from songwriting for most of 1978 before starting work on Gaucho. The project would not go smoothly: technical, legal, and personal setbacks delayed the album’s release and subsequently led Becker and Fagen to suspend their partnership for over a decade. Gaucho was finally released in November 1980. Despite its tortured history, it was another major success. The album’s first single, “Hey Nineteen”, reached No. 10 on the pop chart in early 1981, and “Time Out of Mind” (featuring guitarist Mark Knopfler) was a moderate hit in the spring. “My Rival” was featured in John Huston’s 1980 film Phobia. Roger Nichols won a third engineering Grammy award for his work on the album.
