Tuesday January 12, 2021 “FM” Steely Dan
Radio week continues with a musical tribute to FM.
Steely Dan is not really a band but rather a revolving group of studio musicians put together by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who are really Steely Dan, named after a sex toy in the William Burroughs novel “Naked Lunch”.
The band Steely Dan was formed at Bard College in upstate New York where Becker and Fagen met and if you can imagine, they once had a drummer in their original band named Chevy Chase, yes that Chevy Chase. Before becoming Steely Dan they were the Don Fagen Jazz Trio, the Bad Rock Group and later the Leather Canary.
For a while Becker and Fagen actually joined the Jay & the Americans touring band for a while. Younger members here can’t appreciate just what a huge musical jump it represents going from Jay & the Americans to Steely Dan but the stretch is enormous.
“FM” written for the movie of the same name starring Michael Brandon, Eileen Brennan, Alex Karras, Cleavon Little, and Martin Mull is worth watching not just for the cast but also the musical cameos: Jimmy Buffet, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Petty, REO.
“FM” according to Fagen was written in a couple of days and recorded with, among others, drummer Jeff Porcaro (future founder of the group Toto) and Timothy B Schmitt, Glenn Frye and Don Henley of the Eagles doing background vocals.
Stay safe and well...and remember how independent and musically invigorating FM radio seemed at its debut.