Steve Albini explains why he hates Steely Dan

[jamro217]

I was turned off by the inability of someone to refrain from using blasphemy during an interview. I'm offended. Do I get some sort of right to cancel this guy's opinion because of it?

 

[Freekmagnet]

I agree with Albini. I really really hate Steely Dan. To me they’re pretty much the godfathers of Yacht Rock.

 

[Grinderman]

Young Steve could be quite the prick.

There's was a popular 4/5 am bar a lot of us used to hang out at in Bucktown at Armitage and Hermitage called Marie's Riptide Lounge. I was there, Albini was there... Nirvana might have been there, David Yow, probably Nate Kato and Blackie from Urge Overkill... yeah, actually Ed Roeser was there for sure....

Anyway, Mike Mills from REM walks in the front door and Albini was standing nearby. Mills instantly recognized him and in a friendly and earnest way introduced himself to Albini, reaching out to shake his hand. Albini couldn't have seemed less interested or impressed; he shut him off cold.

Santiago Durango on the other hand has always been a nice guy.

Oh, wow... What the hell?

 

[bucephylus]

Well….I’m not going to disable my ad blocker just to hear some kind of purported humor at the expense of people who can’t rebut.

First, humor at someone else’s expense is cheap swill. If you like that kind of thing, bully for you. I tend to file it somewhere between pathetic and uninformed. The last cat to pull it off was George Carlin, who succeeded at it by including himself in the takedowns.

Second, Steely Dan occupies a somewhat unique place; but, is primarily admired by the muso community. So, a Steely Dan takedown is really aimed at the muso community. You could really level the same snark at any number of “cultish” muso efforts. Robert Fripp, Paul Shaffer, etc etc etc; and then the real fun starts when internoobs start bickering about whether they are butthurt or not. Which I suppose is the point.

If you take a step back, the internet really is pathetic.

Anyhow, I suppose some can be masters of the chicklet keyboard. I’ll take the masters of the instruments; and irrespective of opinions about SD, Chuck Rainey and Freddie Washington will always be unassailable masters in my book.

 

[Grinderman]

I agree with Albini. I really really hate Steely Dan. To me they’re pretty much the godfathers of Yacht Rock.

Same for The Eagles but I've always been a little bit conflicted about it because of Joe Walsh.

If Walsh never gave Jimmy Page that '59 Les Paul Standard burst in '69 would Page and Plant have ever made so far as to work with Steve Albini to record Walking into Clarksdale in '97?

 

[Grinderman]

Well….I’m not going to disable my ad blocker just to hear some kind of purported humor at the expense of people who can’t rebut.

First, humor at someone else’s expense is cheap swill. If you like that kind of thing, bully for you. I tend to file it somewhere between pathetic and uninformed. The last cat to pull it off was George Carlin, who succeeded at it by including himself in the takedowns.

Second, Steely Dan occupies a somewhat unique place; but, is primarily admired by the muso community. So, a Steely Dan takedown is really aimed at the muso community. You could really level the same snark at any number of “cultish” muso efforts. Robert Fripp, Paul Shaffer, etc etc etc; and then the real fun starts when internoobs start bickering about whether they are butthurt or not. Which I suppose is the point.

If you take a step back, the internet really is pathetic.

Anyhow, I suppose some can be masters of the chicklet keyboard. I’ll take the masters of the instruments; and irrespective of opinions about SD, Chuck Rainey and Freddie Washington will always be unassailable masters in my book.

Albini punching down on Steely Dan? I never considered that side of it until now.

 

[Thumpin6string]

Proves the point that opinions are like azzholes, everybody has one.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

My warming to Steely Dan developed over a few decades. I liked a few of their songs in the 70s, a few in the 80s, a few more from the 70s I discovered in the 90s, a couple more from the 80s I discovered in the 00s, more from the 70s I discovered in the 2010s, and so it continues.

Albini has plenty of music knowledge to know if he dislikes SD or not. He has the freedom to say so, and the option to change his mind about the SD catalogue in the future as it seems will happen with a lot of folks.

I didn’t have to hear or observe the endless retakes of SD tracks during the recording of anything by SD that I like. I just heard the finished product, so I don’t have to live with that burr under my saddle. Seems Albini has a small handful of burrs under his saddle, some possibly put there by his own musical taste & ideology. At least he can have fun with them….

 

[Doug4321]

It’s pretty old hat to hate on Steely Dan as part of being punk or whatever
Guy needs new schtick.
Maybe he can do an essay on why Elvis is the king.

 

[Freekmagnet]

Same for The Eagles but I've always been a little bit conflicted about it because of Joe Walsh.

The Eagles also have that Flying Burrito Brothers connection through Bernie Leadon. While The Eagles were definitely one of the largest purveyors of 70’s cheese, I’d begrudgingly accept them before I would Steely Dan.

 

[thunesBARROW]

I agree with Steve.

 

[Corbusier]

I don’t know (or care) who Steve Albani is, but I do know who Steely Dan is.
And, I’ll be listening to Steely Dan.

 

[Doug4321]

It’s pretty old hat to hate on Steely Dan as part of being punk or whatever
Guy needs new schtick.
Maybe he can do an essay on why Elvis is the king.

Ha! Good one! That guy doug4321 is brilliant.

 

[MDBass]

This thread is hilarious, but not nearly as funny as that Twitter thread.

I only happened to stumble across is because Steve Jenkins, a monster bassist and fan of the Dan, happened to post about funny it was.

Enjoying Steely Dan’s music and laughing out loud at some of the funnier bits in that Twitter rant aren’t mutually exclusive.

 

[MDBass]

If you think Steve cares about money…you really don’t understand him at all.

Yep.

He refused to take producer points on Nirvana’s “In Utero” even though they were being offered.

Literally said “no” to being given millions of dollars in lifetime royalty checks.

Wild stuff really.

 

[MDBass]

Seems like a certain segment of the musician population is incapable of laughing at itself

Walter and Becker would probably have loved this, agreed in slight irony, and had a sly chuckle over someone finally crashing the Custerdome.

Exactly

 

[HotelX]

I like certain Steely Dan songs--the more concise ones, usually--but eventually, the unending slickness makes me not want to listen any more for a good while.

This is basically the way I feel about Steely Dan.

I don’t hate them, and I respect their musicianship, but I almost never choose to listen to them.

 

[GoesThump]

I can't say that my listening habits would be at all affected if Albini's or Steely Dan's work vanished from the earth, but "jazz dork hands" is my new favorite epithet.

I look forward to using it in non-musical contexts like "keep your jazz dork hands on the wheel and stop texting while driving!"

GT

 

[retslock]

I’ve been listening to and loving Steely Dan for many years. Today I heard about some guy called Steve Albini. Apparently he doesn’t like Steely Dan......Should I care?

 

[Hummergeist]

I listened to all of the Steely Dan albums in sequence a couple of years ago, the first time I've ever heard them. Greatly admire their songs and the people who played them, but they sure know how to suck the air out of a production. At the time I found myself wondering what the songs would sound like if Van Halen II-era VH covered them.