|
My father introduced me to their music when I was very young. I was with him at Tower records when he bought the Citizen box set in '93. He did it because he was like a Deadhead for Steely Dan -- a Danhead? -- not because he didn't already have everything they'd released. So that was a year for SD, and also Fagen's Kamakiriad.
I was Nirvana-boy at the time, and for years the music sounded positively shite to me, but the older I got the more I realized what an exception to all the rules of pop music these guys were. Almost like Nirvana in a strange, roundabout way. I mean, I can't think of any major chord Steely Dan songs... even Nirvana had a few of those. Their music didn't really make you feel good. It just resonated.
I started to respect them, then I started to enjoy them. I got into jazz, and I got into weirder stuff, and nursed my fascination with square pegs in the pop world. I thought there was something about the way Fagen and Becker wrote about life that resembled that of Lou Reed.
When I started falling for Lou and the VU, actually, my dad took notice and played Becker's "Junkie Girl" for me, and that was probably the moment of clarity. 11 Songs is an underrated album, even among Steely Dan fans.
It's rare that a band manages to be so simultaneously listenable and challenging, and still strike such a chord with people.
|