Forty-six ago today, a minor musical achievement took place
Forty-six ago today, a minor musical achievement took place
But it has a bigger effect on my life than I ever previously realized
From Today in Yacht Rock’s tweet (@in_yacht):
Steely Dan’s fifth studio album, “The Royal Scam”, peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200 album chart on this day in 1976. The album’s opening track, “Kid Charlemagne”, features Larry Carlton’s incredible guitar work and is essential yacht rock.
I was going to do a long-form email about this album, but I decided against it.
I’m familiar with a lot of the songs, but doing a deep-dive into simply the first track on the album, “Kid Charlemagne,” is a world into itself.
The Internet worm-hole is strong, as I often say. An intrepid rock journalist could write a book on this album. Currently, I am not that intrepid or interested in doing the “deep-dive.”
Instead, I will relay a simple lesson.
I had, of course, heard Steely Dan music growing up. I mean, who hadn’t?
However, I can’t say I knew too much about the band or its catalog. Catchy, but definitely “not cool” as a kid growing up in the 1980s or 90s.
Some of the music from the 1970s that was considered cool in the 80s and 90s is still a head-scratcher for me.
The Steve Miller Band, for instance. Sonic poison.
I don’t know if Steely Dan was trying to be cool or uncool and perhaps it doesn’t matter.
Prior to forming Steely Dan and while at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker employed a schoolmate by the name of Cornelius Chase as the drummer in several of their early bands. When you realize that it was a young Chevy Chase playing the skins, that nugget of history turns out to be pretty cool.
The album cover for The Royal Scam was originally created for a Van Morrison album—cool.
But that Morrison album was never released—uncool.
Fagen and Becker wrote in the liner notes in the 1999 remaster of The Royal Scam that it was “the most hideous album cover of the seventies, bar none.”
Honestly, I don’t know if that claim is cool or not. And I don’t care.
When I was in my twenties, I started exposing myself to a lot more music, new and old—thanks to the reach of the Internet, mostly. More importantly, I started listening to more stuff from the 1970s that wasn’t simply “classic rock.”
It’s hard to classify Steely Dan into any category and that’s perhaps why I like them.
One classification is certain, however. With the creation of Yacht Rock as a genre—a whole other ball o’ wax to get into that I will spare us all the time right now—Steely Dan is “essential yacht rock” according to the experts over at the Twitter @in_yacht. High praise.
Now, it was a former co-worker of mine who essentially gave me license to declare, in public, that I liked Steely Dan. A few years older than me, we shared similar interests—fly fishing, baseball, and good tunes.
Steely Dan was playing on the radio one day and he started raving about how much he enjoyed them. Honestly, I had never heard anyone express an opinion that was even in the ballpark.
He made it okay for me to be a fan.
Looking back on it—near as I can calculate about 20 years ago—what that episode helped me with was being comfortable holding a rock-solid opinion that other folks may not agree with. It also gave me confidence expressing such opinions.
Liking Steely Dan is a totally reasonable position to take.
It is a good band.
The musicianship is technically superb.
The music itself is usually fun and oftentimes quite clever.
The band launched and/or propelled several musicians into greater success.
I don’t particularly care if one thinks Steely Dan is cool or not but guess what?
It is a cool band. And if you don’t think so, you’re not.
That’s the reality.
Something else that is cool, but unconventional to the “mainstream?”
I convinced an old pal of mine to “Drink Topless” with me on the Fourth of July. He first looked at me askance when I took his can and sheared the top off it.
No sharp edges.
He had to admit that it was simply a more pleasant way to enjoy a beverage out of an aluminum can.
The idea behind Draft Top is that you open the entire top off your aluminum can so that you can drink the beverage like you would out of a glass. They call it “Drinking Topless!”
I usually go through 4 to 6 sparkling waters during the course of my day…sometimes more. I take the time to take the top off. A remarkably better experience.
My latest Draft Top was given to me on Father’s Day. Simple, but perhaps the best Father’s Day present ever, so far.
Try for yourself.
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Not only is Draft Top an awesome device, but it also doesn’t cost that much, and these things make for wonderful gifts (and conversation starters).
Brian O’Leary