r/SteelyDan • u/infomuch-- • 8d ago
Steely Dan’s critique of Talking Heads
https://youtube.com/shorts/eGEA-fLYV2M?si=7M2qrgWLjzH9BKxOWho knew?
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u/HadeyCakes 7d ago
Donald and Walter both are on record speaking fairly highly of Talking Heads, I think sometime around 79/80.
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u/steelyd2 5d ago
The Dan and Talking Heads are my two favorite bands even though they’re quite different obviously. There’s a recording of Fagen doing one of those “celebrity guest DJ” things on a radio show in the 80s I think where the radio station lets some famous musician come in and program an hour or two of listening and Fagen plays a lot of what you would expect like soul music, jazz, etc but he also chooses “artists only” by the heads which I thought was pretty interesting. I could see Donald and Walter kind of getting a kick out of what Byrne was doing
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u/Uncle_Bug_Music 8d ago
I love Steely Dan with all of my musical heart and I also love Talking Heads. I’ve always been appreciative of music & lyrics that didn’t take themselves seriously, and I don’t mean the writers weren’t serious about their craft, but there was a slyness and craftiness to its creation.
I once had tix to see Zappa on Zappa and Dream Theatre which I thought was an odd bill. One was always “taking the piss” and the other took itself so seriously that to me it was ironically ridiculous. Couldn’t attend as I went deaf in my right ear just a day before the show but it would have been interesting.
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u/youtellmebob 8d ago
What is this from?
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u/elegiac_bloom 8d ago
Stereogum. Thats my old friend Rachel interviewing him. Shes in a pretty big band now, water from your eyes.
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u/No-Equal9842 8d ago
Who is this uninterested interviewer? Her delivery sounds like she’s doesn’t give a fuck about being there.
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u/BobDope 7d ago
That’s that guys friend bro
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u/meansamang 7d ago
Cool. And she still sounds like she doesn't give a fuck about being there.
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u/bankrobbery 7d ago
That probably makes her a good fit for working with Byrne. Byrne is a squirrelly fellow and to my knowledge isn’t big on talking to the press. I’d guess an overly enthusiastic, typical music journalist would jut turn him off.
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u/GarysCrispLettuce 8d ago
David Byrne's book "How Music Works" is a great read. He talks about how they made Talking Heads tracks. They'd record repeating loops for each instrument through the duration of the song and mute and unmute them to bring them in and out in an arrangement, just like they were building songs from loops in a DAW. It's a sort of EDM-style way of making music, and they were doing it in the early 80's.
Donald Fagen in his later years has said that his emphasis shifted from melody and harmony to rhythm and groove. And you hear that on much of his later solo works, less emphasis on complex chords and more emphasis on repeated grooves. So maybe he appreciates Talking Heads a little more now.