"It just couldn't be / And only a fool would say that..."
The 2000 Steely Dan album Two Against Nature might constitute a bit of a misnomer. After a scandalous and health-related in-your-face brouhaha today that saw the jazz-rock group all-too-publicly proclaiming they are “more popular than the Beatles” — this incident quick on the heels of recent allegations made on Steely Dan's website against a new, perceived 'Dan-centric' movie — perhaps a more suitable album title would have been Two Against Human Nature.
With the onset of medical complications following surgery that separated each of their congenitally conjoined cheeks and tongues — a lifelong tongue-in-cheek affliction that nonetheless helped shape and infuse their perverse personalities and archly ironic songs — Steely Dan main men Walter Becker and Donald Fagen showed the world they still had some surprises in store.
But to their fans and anyone familiar with their reclusive and standoffish ways, the writers of such hits as “Peg” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” and the core musicians responsible for the albums Pretzel Logic and Aja, the last thing anyone expected from Becker and Fagen was a lot of stentorian lung power and unexpected athletic prowess. Which was about the nicest things to be said when the two uncharacteristically — and seemingly in astounding earnestness — sprinted through Boston's crowded Logan Airport, blissfully and, to many, blasphemously proclaiming again and again, "We’re more popular than the Beatles! We’re more popular than the Beatles!"
Chaos at the airport ensued as people scrambled for cover, parents shielded their children, security personnel took early lunches, and shoe-bombers boarded planes.
Word quickly spread more publicly, with heated reaction close behind, about the new and not-quite-improved -- and definitely delusional — change in the hitherto cynical and malcontented mainstays who comprise the Grammy-winning jazz rock group. A firestorm of controversy ensued as radio station programmers refused to play any Steely Dan songs, more Beatles songs taking up the sonic slack. One popular disc jockey broke all copies of Steely Dan’s records and CDs live on the air, saying, "This Steely Dan must be banned!"
TV personalities organized "Bonfires of Vanity" and “Vinyl Resolutions” inviting the community to “pack up all your cares and woe” — all Steely Dan music, books, videos, DVDs — and “perish all thoughts” by casting “the has-beens from the cut-out bin to the ashbin.” There seemed to be special interest in watching the incineration of Steely Dan's most recent album, 2003's Everything Must Go. "You mean 'everything must go…up in smoke!'" was heard more than a few times.
.jpg?t=20120209092158)
Article comments
1 - Howard Dratch
Gordon. As a fellow Bardian and Barrytown resident (back a few years), I must defend both Fagin and Becker's intellectual and musicological rights to stick their tongues into any part of their own anatomy they wish. They may even have the right to put them into any other anatomy which allows it.
Back in Barrytown (and in Barrytown) this was considered a basic human right. (Although, Hey, Sixty ain't likely to be a hit.)
Following the links in your article was a musical tour and education. I never knew a "steely dan" had anything to do with dildoes. You give great link. But you must take care where you put your tongue, too. A cheek is a terrible thing to waste.
2 - Howard Dratch
Fagin is a Dickensian character. The singer is Donald Fagen, a musical character. My apologies.
3 - dj mariage
i agree with your opinion.
dj mariage
4 - Mark Edward Manning
As astonishingly brilliant as the Beatles were, and it would indeed be social suicide for any band to declare themselves more popular than them, the Dan can at least lay claim to something that the Beatles can't:
The mu major chord. Aja just would not have been the same masterpiece without it.
5 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Howard--For the record--and I'm sure this got lost in the shuffle: I am a huge Steely Dan fan, ever since the second LP, Countdown to Ecstasy (first one was a mixed bag, and I'm glad Fagen took over all the lead vocals). I generally didn't like polished products--but SD's perfectionism made for the the excception. Part of that appeal is that tongue-in-cheek sardonic attitude that made it into their lyrics. Thanks for the comment.
6 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks dj--but there is no opinion being expressed here. Just having fun. Thanks for the comment.
7 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Mark: Thanks for the info I wasn't aware of--there's even a website devoted to the mu major chord ( you probably know that): I'm going to consult that more with Aja in mind, and with my other favorite SD LP, Katy Lied (although Becker and Fagen had mixed feelings about the production quality (off hand I don't see/hear the problem).
8 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Howard-FYI: the name comes from "Naked Lunch" by William Burroughs in case your research source didn't mention that.
9 - DrPat
Obviously, the surprising and unexpected lung power and prowess of the Steely Duo comes from doping -- where is the WADA for rock stars?
We demand a Congressional investigation!
10 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks, Dr. Pat: but as Mark Twain warned, "never neglect your bad habits." So don't forget the Steely Duo's penchant to "Drink scotch whisky all night long" and of course we can always find them "back in Vegas/ With a handle in...hand."
11 - laura
yeah beatles were ok...they remind me of a modern day NSYNC....steely dan is real, they are beyond lame pop music the beatles put out.