How would you categorize Steely Dan?

It's early Pink Floyd.

 

Frank Zappa said this about Steely Dan:

Downer Surrealism.

This was a hyper sticker on the Gaucho album cover in 1980.

 

I think it's more indifference than hate, there were plenty of women at the two SD shows i've attended. The first being on the 94 reunion tour, which to this is one of the most musically satisfying shows i've ever been to.

 

In record shops they're filed under Pop and Rock.

Not sure why anyone needs to go any further than that.

Yes, they use instrumentation (brass, reeds, vibes) and instrumentalists (Vic Feldman, Phil Woods, Wayne Shorter, John Klemmer, Tom Scott) that take them close to jazz but the music is too varied over every album and over time to call them a "jazz rock group." Don't forget they played around with country, blues and Latin as well as jazz.

And Prog Rock? Dear God, no. Just no. Where on earth did that idea come from?

How about "Intelligent pop/rock band"?

 

The East Coast Atlanta Rhythm Section

 

I can imagine Fagen & Becker cracking a wry grin and nodding to themselves when they heard that.

 

Yikes, that's a bigger insult THAN Colbert calling them a progressive rock band.

 

Slick production, great groove. Indispensable.

 

... as my 9th favorite all time band / artist.

 

Categorisation: SHF forum favourite I have yet to understand why.
Why I am wrong: They sold a lot of records, for to me unknown reasons = see STYX
Possible reason why I am wrong: I'm in Europe

 

jazzed rock

 

Steely Dan are an enigma wrapped in a riddle polished with a question mark

They are also Timeless


The sardonic yet gentleman loser wiz kids

 

My wife absolutely loves SD, probably her favorite band. They are the only band that she saw live with me. Wait... did I marry a transesexual?

 

Dildos as progressive sex maybe?

Not how I'm characterizing the band by the way.

 

Indispensable

 

Perfection and grace.

 

Dad rock.

 

The smile on my face.

 

Peculiar.

 

Incredible judges of talent, meticulous to a fault, too smart by half, created seven albums that sound as fresh today as they did 40 years ago.

 

Proto Sophisti-pop

 

Smoothjazz-Rock, even though the term "Smoothjazz" was commercially coined in the 198Os it can be retroactively applied to what SD were doing in the '7Os. It might also be called Yacht-Rock, Ivy League-Rock, or Glitz-Rock (not to be mistaken for Glitter-Rock or Glam-Rock).

 

The best band of the 70s, and among the best composers of the 20th century.

 

Mall elevator music.

 

Well, their music is derived from early modern jazz when it comes to their harmonic devices and voice leading. But their lyrical approach comes from Bob Dylan.
So, how about Dylanesque jazz rock pop?