How would you categorize Steely Dan?

Certainly not prog, but consider the source!

What are they? It depends on the album. Can’t Buy a Thrill is rock; Aja is Jazz-educated R&B.

 

I guess jazz rock or yacht rock, but honestly, even those don’t quite fit.

To me, the coolest thing about Steely Dan is how they’re able to be accessible in any way, yet still feel so unique and subversive.

 

There’s a shock.

 

Sunday morning music.

 

According to Wikipedia (for what it’s worth), they are:

• Jazz fusion
• Soft rock
• R&B
• Ska
• Pop Rock

Most of those make sense, though I don’t really hear ska (reggae perhaps, but not ska).

 

Donald says "wam nua owalam mnam Koko."

 

That's what I thought, they have a little bit of everything one can enjoy.
We always thought of them as a slick funky rock band that where very well produced so the sound quality was always there.

 

I'd categorize their music in two phases. In the early years their music had more of an edge (I'm thinking right off the top of my head Bodhisattva and Black Friday) but then they became more .... is sophisticated the right word? Definitely more refined in their sound, with light jazz flourishes. I saw them in concert twice. Great performance both times.

 

Anyone who could write lyrics that deal with hookers, dirty drug deals, and pedophiles with a breezy jazz feel deserve their own category.

 

She might be the closest comparison. Who else even goes in whatever category this is? Edit : as others mentioned, maybe some Doobie Bros and Toto?

 

Christgau got it right: MOR and anti-MOR at the same time.

 

They formed in NY and where both born there, California was doing a whole different thing at that time, but we embraced what they put out. Everyone had some SD in their collection of records, Aja, Greatest Hits, and The Royal Scam would be big players.

 

Good one! I'd go for subversive MOR!

 

A very good pop group.

 

All the while naming the band after a steel dildo.

 

At the time they where stoner music, put some cartoons on with the sound off and play their records. Don't ask me how I know of this Pre-MTV past time

 

One of my Top 5 bands, that’s how I categorise them.

 

Essentially they are a rock band .... whatever subcategories get thrown at them are kind of redundant to me.

Perhaps fusion-lite lol

 

Jazz influenced rock.

 

I would say they were classic rock early then went more into jazz rock. Anyone saying they're prog either has no idea what prog is or hasn't listened to them much.

 

100%.

And calling them prog means you’ve either never heard Steely Dan before, or you have no idea what prog is.

 

Big fan of both. Steely Dan are nothing like TMBGs.

Sort of agree. I think Colbert doesn't know much about Steely Dan music. To me, prog rock are 70s Genesis, Yes, and bands like that. The Dan I would say are very jazz influenced rock band. They sort of have 3 periods IMO. The early period from debut album to Royal Scam. The FM MOR records .. Aja to Gaucho. And their return in 2000.


RIP Walter Becker

 

Contemporary jazz, jazz funk, similar to Lee Ritenour but with a laid back groove and less fusion.

This kind of music was popular at the time, even without vocals it was soundtrack type music like we would have on TV shows and movies. Come to think of it, I think that's what got them started and writing for others.

 

They made music that is somehow relaxing and challenging at the same time. So that's pretty dang cool.

 

Disagree there as well. I think people are confusing 70s artists. The Doobies have a link to the Dan (Mike McDonald and Skunk Baxter) but they were nothing like the Dan. Doobie's were more R&B and soul influences in the later Mike McDonalds years. The Dan were more Jazz. Mitchell moved from folk deeply into jazz territory, but she stayed away from straight rock.