"This may be the year of Steely Dan’s ‘expanding man,’ whatever that is," Wu days, "but the expanding man must take baby steps. Otherwise it’s a baby man taking expanding steps, which is tantamount self-deception and thinking they’re better than the Beatles. And that’ll get you nowhere, man, just — you know, sitting in your nowhere land, making nowhere plans for nobody. Put that in your pipe dreams..."

Sinners In The Hands Of Four Angry Rock Gods

Clearly, a shocked and bewildered public reaction over this fab four faux pas signals the uneasiness and conflicting feelings of Americans confronted by this breach in the time-honored separation of the powers of Beatle-dom and “Every Other Musical Artist Or Group On the Face Of The Earth” (in a blanket 1967 Supreme Court ruling, all British Invasion pop/rock groups were granted amnesty whether they wanted it or not — and subsequent legal citizenship, though the United States has been “a bit too busy” lately to tell England, and is still “looking for the right time, okay?”).

Adding to the complexity of the issue, according to the wildly popular Blogcynics.com website, many in the record-buying public largely prefer their intake of Steely Dan sardonicism “straight up, no chaser,” but are nevertheless fans of both groups. That is, says another completely objective and impartial industry observer (“no really, some of my best friends are ’Dan fans”), as long as “these Steely Dan people know their place.”

Burgeoning tensions aside, the blatant and audacious nature of Becker and Fagen’s assault on the delicate sensibilities of many Mop-Topians has triggered swiftly-marshaled and widespread resistance that begs for corrective measures to tip back the musical scales to its traditional Beatle-favored position. Stemming from Steely Dan’s perceived potshot heard ‘round the world, this delicate and now-disturbed balance of power pop-rock, especially vulnerable in this in-one-era-and-out-the-other dearth of compelling or sustaining musical movements, demands the perspective and proactive impetus afforded by the community of Beatle know-it-alls and Merseyside movers-and-shakers, aided by the rational guidance and expertise from authoritative music historians and scholars.

Then again, emotionalism and venting is good, too: “Our Guitars Not-So-Gently Weep over this mockery,” states local Beatles Fan Club president Carrie Thatwate when disdainfully discussing Becker and Fagen, “whoever they are and whatever a Steely Dan is! Sounds like something they made up — self-serving nonsense that serves no functional purpose whatsoever!”

Climaxing her comments, this avowed “Beatles Fan’s Beatles Fan” passionately continued on, and though almost getting off topic now and then, she ultimately spent a disproportionate amount of time on her central concern, with special emphasis, on what is Uppermost in the Uppercase mind of one who Tends To Talk In Caps: “These Sinners In The Hands Of Four Angry Rock Gods Are Sullying The Beloved And Sacrosanct Beatles Soundtrack Of My Life And Many Other’s Lives…undermining the Beatles’ status as spokes-group — minus Ringo, naturally."