However, plenty of hip-hop and R&B artists have sampled their songs in the last two decades decade. At night, when the ABC-Dunhill building was empty, Fagen and Becker would sneak in and lay the foundation of what would become Steely Dan.īecause of their idiosyncratic sound-with its intricate chord changes, high-register harmonies, and immaculate exteriors, other musicians have found it difficult to cover Steely Dan’s discography. They spent a year and half backing up Jay & the Americans on a couple tours, got a feel for the giant stages of Madison Square Garden, but Fagen and Becker always planned on having their own group.
But before Steely Dan came into existence, Fagen and Becker cut their teeth as session players along the eastern seaboard and tried selling songs as staff writers around the Brill Building and later at ABC-Dunhill (the latter thanks to an auspicious friendship with Gary Katz), but their lyrics were far from the upbeat Supremes’ 45s that dominated the airwaves of the late ’60s and early ’70s as evidenced in the Grassroots’ rejection of their song “Tell Me A Lie.” Barbra Streisand, however, ended up recording their song “I Mean to Shine” in 1971.
In order to keep the lights on, jazz stations played a lot of Latin jazz from the ’50s and ’60s, and those influences are evident on the Dan’s impressive catalogue. Having both grown up on the East coast, Fagen and Becker listened to local jazz radio programs like Symphony Sid.
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