Converting a non-fan: the most accessible Steely Dan song?

Don't misunderestimate me, I do like them, but this post was about empathizing with those who don't, and why those that do, fall on deaf ears.

 

Black Friday is the first Steely Dan song that secured my interest in them, after already being familiar with Do It Again and Reeling In The Years.

The Fez, however, was the song that made me buy an album of theirs for the first time (The Royal Scam).

 

Yep, I get it.

 

All of them.

 

Well, hearing "Do It Again" and "Reelin' in the Years" on the top 40 did it for me. Their first album remains one of my favorite Dan records; while I followed them where they went, I missed some of that album's spirit.

If we're to avoid overexposed songs like "Rikki," then I'd probably go with "Dr. Wu" first.

 

"FM" is pretty accessible Steely Dan for sure but they might be disappointed after conversion because to my ears FM is kind of atypical SD and way more mainstream sounding.
I'd go with "Reeling in the Years" maybe just because it was the first song I heard by them that just grabbed me and pulled me in.

 

Huge "Fez" fan here.

 

Bodhisattva. Between the rock cliche opening and jazzy guitar and piano interludes, it’s far less subtle but just as musically accomplished as many of the other tracks mentioned.

 

My Old School

 

fwiw, set list from new tour: Night By Night!

1) Phantom Raiders (Stanley Wilson cover, Intro)

2) Night By Night

3) Hey Nineteen

4) Black Friday

5) Aja

6) Kid Charlemagne

7) Home At Last

8) Green Flower Street

9) Time Out of Mind

10) Babylon SIsters

11) Green Earrings

12) Black Cow

13) Dirty Work (sung by the Danettes)

14) Bodhisattva

15) That Same Old Feeling (Crusaders cover, with band intros)

16) Peg

17) My Old School

18) Reelin' in the Years

19) A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry (Joe Williams cover, Outro)

 

Agree, Rikki.

 

I think you need to define what resonates with your friend or friends before you try to indoctrinate them. If they like classic rock, you're probably best served by Reelin in the Years or King of the World.

 

Perhaps, but it couldn't be less connected aesthetically to "Old Time Rock 'n Roll" to these ears...

 

Do It Again, or (if they would like something livelier) Reeling in the Years

I don't have any LPs but I did buy a greatest hits collection and listen to it

 

for those who missed it the first time....

Kid Charlemagne - YouTube

 

Thats what makes it so great.

 

Peg, Josie, FM

 

Songs from The Royal Scam haven't really been mentioned in this thread, but at least a few have appealed to and drew in some people, including myself. "Don't take Me Alive" in particular is pretty catchy to some coming at it from a rockier direction.

 

Pretty flawless. Don sure knows what the fans came to hear.

 

Time Out of Mind. (Tell them what “chasing the dragon” means & tell them Mark Knofler plays on the record)

 

But all due respect, Reelin' isn't the greatest melodically. It's just descending notes on a scale, which makes it super easy and accessible. The vocal harmonies in the chorus are evoke CSNY and other pop of the time. And the guitar solo really rocks. It's their least jazzy thing, very basic harmonically, melodically and rhythmically. That will appeal to lots of rocker types. Also the lyrics are super straightforward about a guy interested in a girl who's not into him back, which is bread and butter of rock lyrics, universally appealing.

 

All right. I need to step in here for a minute. I doubt conversion will work in music for the same reasons it doesn't work in other areas of life. But we all know there's a difference between "I don't like it" and "It sucks". There's food that tastes bad to you (you dislike it) and there's food that was cooked wrong (it sucks).

I haven't had these kinds of discussions in many years, but I usually concluded that although music is subjective, it's not totally subjective. Is American Idol still on TV? If you want examples of suck, there you go. There are people who can't sing. There are people who can't play their instruments. These people should be doing something else with their time. But for whatever reason, they keep plugging away.

People listen to music for different reasons. I doubt Steely Dan would appeal to

1) A thirteen year old girl whose boyfriend dumped her
2) A high school dance after a football game
3) Students at a college party
4) People who dance to house music (or whatever it is now) in New York clubs
5) Country music fans
6) Rap fans
7) Metal fans

That's going to be a long list. It might be easier to suggest that because Steely Dan has jazz influences, it's unlikely to be popular, given that jazz sells fewer records than classical—and that's a tiny percentage.

I guess someone who understands music theory could explain to non-fans about jazz chords and why something is clever. But that would be appear to intellectualize the subject, and probably most people are motivated more by feeling than intellect.

I think my sister appreciated Steely Dan more after watching the documentary on the making of Aja. That film shows how much time, effort, and thought Becker and Fagen put into their work. Sure, there's an element of OCD and neurosis. But they are also putting much more into their work than most people do in any occupation. I can accept "I don't like it." But Steely Dan certainly doesn't suck.

 

Well I didn't have a specific friend in mind per se. One friend is more a rootsy, earthy type who likes a more gritty sound, another friend generally sits in the power-pop world who doesn't really like jammy music. I realize these two elements greatly contradict Steely Dan in general...

 

If you find that sort of lite funk enjoyable, and that kind of humor funny. Though I must say I'm surprised anyone find that "great." Mildly entertaining to some maybe. But great? That's a great piece of music or a great work of art? I'm not even sure Donald Fagan would make that case. In fact, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't. That's the thing though about why a Steely Dan fan can't really necessarily "convert" a non-fan -- the very qualities in the band's work that seem to turn the fan on are the things that turn off the non-fan.