Yes, I am a fan of the band Steely Dan, and own all their CDs. I started listening to them in the early ’80s and haven’t stopped. I think it’s the heavy jazz influence that I appreciate.
A friend of mine, knowing this, told me that I should therefore appreciate the Channel 101 show Yacht Rock. The show is not about Steely Dan; it’s actually about Steely Dan backup singer (and occasional Doobie Brother) Michael McDonald, and Kenny Loggins, who has never sung on anything the Dan produced. The show takes little bits of pop music history and extrapolates them into ridiculously funny episodes about McDonald, Loggins, and their fascination with “really smooth rock ’n roll” …although Loggins will occasionally sell out and do a hard rock song for a movie soundtrack.
I keep thinking as I watch it, “At some point, one of these guys they’re lampooning is gonna watch this and sue.” There was another Channel 101 show, House of Cosbys, about a fanboy-scientist who cloned Bill Cosby a few too many times; Cosby’s lawyers sent him a cease-and-desist order that resulted in a pretty stupid and foul final episode. But maybe Loggins and McDonald aren’t making Bill Cosby’s kind of money anymore. Or they blew it all in the ’70s on coke and yachting; I have no idea.
Steely Dan singer Donald Fagen is portrayed in one of the episodes; you can’t understand a bloody word “Fagen” says, which is supposed to be the running joke about him. I have no trouble understanding him, either in his songs or in interviews; in fact, I think he articulates a lot better than McDonald does. I still don’t know most of the lyrics to McDonald’s music… but then again, I was never really paying attention. To me, smooth rock is background music and not really meant to be taken all that seriously. But if you know anything about the genre, you’ll be amused by the show.