Steve Albini explains why he hates Steely Dan

[WG Plum]

Was that the tour they did with Elvis Costello? I caught that one in Auburn WA. My wife and I had nose bleed seats and were randomly approached by a woman who said she had bought first row seats for her anniversary with her husband, but didn't know that he had bought first row center seats already. She holds out the tickets and says "do you guys want to sit up front in our extra seats?" Totally random, but we moved up, the tickets were legit, and we watched the show right in front of Walter. It was wonderful.

Pretty sure we've already discussed being at the same show, but yeah, that was the one I caught too. I'm glad I saw them with Becker before he died. By the time of Aja I think they became horrifically self-indulgent, but I'm a bit of contrarian myself.

 

[Bassinthemudd]

 

[Jonny Thunder]

Was that the tour they did with Elvis Costello? I caught that one in Auburn WA. My wife and I had nose bleed seats and were randomly approached by a woman who said she had bought first row seats for her anniversary with her husband, but didn't know that he had bought first row center seats already. She holds out the tickets and says "do you guys want to sit up front in our extra seats?" Totally random, but we moved up, the tickets were legit, and we watched the show right in front of Walter. It was wonderful.

Wow. Cool story! When I saw them they were touring with Steve Winwood and Traffic. Traffic opened. They were terrific too. Winwood sounds the just same as ever. On the way out, I bought a Traffic t-shirt.

 

[JRA]

They were (are?) a great band. Totally original. Many iconic tunes.

totally agree! unique in all ways!

 

[6-3-2]

I respect high-quality hating and this is among the best LOL

"There’s some video where they talk about every song on an album, and each one begins with the not-bald one saying, 'this song is based on my deep love of the blues, just a very bluesy blues. Deep blues.' Then lays his jazz dork hands on the shaging electric piano…"

 

[silky smoove]

Wow. Cool story! When I saw them they were touring with Steve Winwood and Traffic. Traffic opened. They were terrific too. Winwood sounds the just same as ever. On the way out, I bought a Traffic t-shirt.

Wow, that's a killer lineup.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

As an aside, I used to work with Steve's brother Marty. Great mechanical engineer with his own quirks. He played mandolin and more acoustic music. He left a high-paying ME job in LA to live in rural Montana and make half as much, but he was very happy. Really cool guy, actually. I'd love to work with him again some day.

 

[dalkowski]

hard to respect the opinion of a person who was in a band called r*peman

Formed a band called...

This shouldn't make "The Dan" feel too special; Albini doesn't seem to like much of anything. Which is his prerogative, but which also makes him someone I have no time or space for in my ever-shortening life.

 

[groovaholic]

The definition of a contrarian is someone who opposes or rejects popular opinion.

By that definition, Copernicus and Galileo were contrarians because they rejected the notion that the sun and the other planets revolved around the Earth.

I have a lot of admiration for people who defy groupthink to carve out a strong and individual viewpoint.

Albini is not everyone's cup of tea, but for people after that flavor, few have his clout.

 

[Harper]

I've never understood why people get mad when someone has an opinion on a band they don't agree with, even more so when it comes from someone as informed as Albini. Steely Dan is a top 5 all time band for me, and I love a lot of the albums Albini has prod.....I mean, "recorded". Who cares if what they do isn't suited to his specific sensibilities? It's just an opinion. His tweets on it were pretty funny, to be honest.

 

[micguy]

His point of view is often not the majority or popular opinion of the day as has been seen over the course of his career. The definition of a contrarian is someone who opposes or rejects popular opinion. I think that applies perfectly well to his stance on many things both in the music industry and outside of it.

We agree more than you think we do. Steve is, when the mainstream is at odds with his approach, a contrarian - he does reject the mainstream when it doesn't fit with his approach. What i said is he doesn't PLAY contrarian - he doesn't (like some folks) do it for sport - he has reasons why he thinks and acts the way he does. His theories and approaches (while maybe not 100 percent scientifically correct) are more consistent than most people on the planet.

 

[Sloppy Hack]

Funny, I was just thinking to myself:
I wonder what Steve Albini thinks of Steely Dan.

This thread makes me wonder what Steely Dan thinks of Steve Albini.

 

[micguy]

27216994[/URL], member: 390650"]Steve clearly doesn't know enough music theory to get Steely Dan at any level. Say what you like but the Steely Dan guys put huge amounts of effort into their work.

It doesn’t have to do with “theory”. Steve likes to record bands that can play a song down, and get most of what they want in one or a few takes. Steely Dan is not even a band, they’re a couple of guys (now down to 1), who use a network of studio guys and endless takes and tweaking to get a result. They approach things from diametrically opposite viewpoints and approaches.

Both Steve and Dan are very good at what they do, but they would never be happy working together.

 

[WG Plum]

Off topic, but related - Just saw this burn in a review of Maneskin's new record: 'Cirque du Soleil: Buckcherry'.

 

[silky smoove]

We agree more than you think we do. Steve is, when the mainstream is at odds with his approach, a contrarian - he does reject the mainstream when it doesn't fit with his approach. What i said is he doesn't PLAY contrarian - he doesn't (like some folks) do it for sport - he has reasons why he thinks and acts the way he does. His theories and approaches (while maybe not 100 percent scientifically correct) are more consistent than most people on the planet.

I agree with this in concept, but I’ve watched him do it for sport on multiple occasions. His “jazz dork electric piano” comment in the original tweets is a great example. SD’s tunes often have a deep rooting in the blues, and there are plenty of examples of electric piano in blues and blues-based music. He didn’t make that comment to be accurate, he did it to be antagonistic, contrarian, etc.

 

[Bassinthemudd]

This thread makes me wonder what Steely Dan thinks of Steve Albini.

They probably don't think of him.

 

[micguy]

I agree with this in concept, but I’ve watched him do it for sport on multiple occasions. His “jazz dork electric piano” comment in the original tweets is a great example. SD’s tunes often have a deep rooting in the blues, and there are plenty of examples of electric piano in blues and blues-based music. He didn’t make that comment to be accurate, he did it to be antagonistic, contrarian, etc.

Steve is from Chicago. So am I. We have a lot of live blues here. I don’t hear the “deep roots” you do.

We disagree, that’s OK.

 

[Ulf Buck]

He's not wrong on some of the points.

That being said they wrote some great songs.

 

[silky smoove]

Steve is from Chicago. So am I. We have a lot of live blues here. I don’t hear the “deep roots” you do.

We disagree, that’s OK.

That’s certainly subjective. I’ll defer to the person creating the art on where a piece’s roots originated. That said, the jazz dork and apparent exception to electric piano are clearly what I’m describing.

 

[lermgalieu]

hard to respect the opinion of a person who was in a band called r*peman

Great band. Same rhythm section as Jesus Lizard. I enjoy Steve Albini. He's also a world class poker player: Steve Albini Wins Major Prize at 2022 World Series of Poker. Steely Dan has plenty of fans, guys. Let's not get all bent out of shape. Sometimes Steve takes it a little far, but I found these comments pretty hilarious.