Like many of the biggest groups of the early 1970s, Steely Dan grew up under the shadow of The Beatles. When Donald Fagen and Walter Becker came together in 1971, the pioneering band had already been broken up for more than a year. They may have wondered if they had somehow absorbed the ghost of the Fab Four and that it was their responsibility to carry the flame in their absence.
It was an odd time for new bands to emerge because The Beatles had left such a vast, gaping hole in the landscape. Every band was considered the heirs to the Liverpudlian’s throne, and simultaneously, anybody with an acoustic guitar was likened to Bob Dylan.
With The Beatles, it was difficult for anyone not to be touched by the impact of their near-decade of musical dominance. The Fab Four reshaped the landscape, introduced new sounds into the popular lexicon, and enriched the world. Indeed, Fagen and Becker intentionally modelled themselves on The Beatles, choosing to emphasise writing and recording rather than relentless touring. However, Steely Dan could also be highly critical of The Beatles’ former members at times, as the song ‘Only A Fool Would Say’ makes devastatingly clear.
By the mid-1970s, Steely Dan was less of a band and more of a musical operation, with Becker and Fagen in the director’s chair. When the pair formed Steely Dan in 1971, they’d always dreamed of it being a space for them to showcase their “special material.” Nevertheless, for a long time, they were forced to write bubblegum pop tunes for artists like Tommy Roe or The Grass Roots. After Fagen’s panic disorder made it impossible for him to front the group and money problems began making touring unfeasible, they decided to take a turn inwards and make their home in the studio, where they quietly honed their ecstatic brand of jazz-infused rock, relying on a stream of talented session musicians.
They were pushed into making this decision due to Fagen’s health issues, but fortuitously, it turned out to be a masterstroke and aided their career spectacularly in the long run.
As time went by, Steely Dan garnered a huge fan base and several notable fans, including Paul McCartney. However, Macca’s former bandmate, John Lennon, likely wasn’t as enamoured with the duo. The two artists likely crossed paths during Lennon’s time in New York, where Steely Dan had been based since their inception, but it’s unlikely they ever became particularly close. Not least because Steely Dan wrote a song mocking Lennon’s 1971 track ‘Imagine’.
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