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

Correction:
Lots of my friends who are metal fans (including me) LOVE Steely Dan! A lot of times metal fans are into the music because of the technicality and virtuosity of the music being played which is why they also appreciate stuff like Steely Dan.

 

Maybe their most commercial single was Haitian Divorce. If they don't like that, I'd give up.

 

Yep, one of the biggest Steely Dan fans I know is a metalhead. Definitely some overlap there.

 

For a single song, I would recommend Peg or Josie, but this greatest hits set is by far my favorite greatest hits compilation from any artist.

 

Peg.

 

Walter leaves a very brainy easter egg at the very very end of this performance....

 

What a wizard! I wonder if he's making fun of himself for some teal or imagined mistake.

 

If your friend is serious about learning to appreciate different genres of popular music, I would offer up the album Aja, and suggest that he or she read Pitchfork Media's 10/10 review.

" . . . Aja—Steely Dan’s sixth album, from 1977—turned everything around for me:
It’s a thoroughly convincing argument against my notion that aggressive or discordant music was inherently real and rebellious, whereas virtuosic or studied songs were always limp and bloodless.
Aja is as bold as records get. It’s full of strange, unprecedented, disorienting moves. It is braver, more idiosyncratic, and more personal, in some ways, than any other record I own."

Steely Dan: Aja

 

Yeah, I find it odd that some think people into technical and complex metal music would not like Steely Dan. Is this stereotype thinking, like we’re all knuckle-dragging morons?

 

Do It Again or Reelin', because it's one of the closest to sort of West Coast rock and I think it's easier for some people to get a handle on that - and the latter has that big guitar solo for guitar boys to pore over. The ones that got me hooked were Kid Charlemagne and Haitian Divorce. Having said that, my favourte albums now are Katy and Aja

 

That's the one I would pick. Not just a great song, but also great life advice.
Plus it shows that beneath all the layers of cynicism & in-jokes, there is a lot of heart in Steely Dan.

 

"Any Major Dude"--#1 on my list of the Dan's missed A-side single opportunities. (If there are more than one.)

 

Yes it is!

 

Reeling in the Years

that'll reel them in for sure...

 

Haha I wonder? Also wondered if he also had been doing that often in live performances on tour during that time...?

My theory was that it was his personal homage to CBS, the Tiffany Network, who often used to air The Wizard of Oz annually. I could see little Walter Becker gathered around the TV as a youngster watching the annual tradition with his family.

 

I grew up with all the Top 40 hits, but this was the song that hooked me.

 

I don't think they're 'difficult' through their first 4 albums. Royal Scam is a bit of a bore for me, despite a couple good songs. Things get fairly harmonically complicated after that, 'Aja' and 'West of Hollywood' as complex as most jazz. 7 note chords! Augmented 13ths! Their genius is they make it mostly accessible.

If I were trying to make a case for them to someone who liked mainstream rock, I'd say start at at the beginning and proceed chronologically (skipping 'Through with Buzz')

If I were trying to make a case for them to someone who liked jazz, I'd say start with "Two Against Nature" and proceed reverse chronologically (skipping 'Through with Buzz') through "Countdown".

 

Green Earrings. Funky groove that makes you wanna move.

 

You think "Through with Buzz" is the worst song on the first eight Dan albums?

 

Almost tied with 'Everything You Did' and 'Change of the Guard'. But at the end of the day, TWB wins!

 

Unfortunately, I'm that friend who just cant get into them.

I had "Deacon Blues" come on random, and skipped it. I'm okay with a few songs though.

 

Wow! It's somewhere in the middle of their catalog for me. But I could name entire Dan sides and even whole albums I prefer it to (the latter being from their second go-round).

 

'Mr Steely Dan' has a special message for you, courtesy of their former MC 'Jerome'

 

While I gave my reasons as to why a Dan fan isn't necessarily the best person to find an "accessible" song for a non-fan to take to heart, my choice is "Time Out Of Mind". Moderately-familiar, and "benign" of the traits of the band that would normally turn a non-fan off from the very characteristics a fan would want you to embrace. But, "accessibility" being the route to acceptance, "Time-" offers a smoothness, a lack of snark, and a nice rhythmic hook. This could work.

 

I've always liked the version on Alive in America.