Did Donald Fagen really hate being in “oppressive” Steely Dan?
There are many ways that people describe Steely Dan, but it’s rare that they opt for the term “oppressive.” Is that really a fair assessment?
There is a lot to like about Steely Dan, but without a doubt their stand out attribute as individuals, a duo and an entire band is their unique approach to songwriting. No matter what album of theirs you land on, even if it’s not quite your favourite, you can guarantee that you’re going to be subject to interesting guitar lines, song structure and complex lyricism.
There were a lot of people who contributed towards the plethora of great albums that Steely Dan have locked in their arsenal, but the two main contributors were Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The two of them had a very similar approach to creativity; however, they also pushed one another, so any form of writers block was overcome quickly and in inventive ways.
“I think they were both of common mind and purpose,” said Jeff Baxter, one of the bands session guitarists. “And they saw the band as a way to present their songwriting to the public, as was a fairly common concept at the time, as many bands were self-contained and wrote and performed their own material.”
While Becker and Fagen both had success in Steely Dan, the creative mind is an ever-spinning wheel. Ideas don’t stop just because a project has already been worked on, or because an LP is nearly finished. Creative people are constantly coming up with different ideas, and it won’t surprise you to hear that Becker and Fagen are no different. Some of these ideas were realised outside of the band in separate solo projects.
When discussing his record Morph The Cat, Fagen described his commitments to Steely Dan in a way that shocked a lot of people. “Well, you know I had this… well, there is this oppressive Steely Dan gig that keeps getting in the way, and I have to make these Steely Dan albums and go on tour and stuff like that,” he said, “And it’s my day gig really, and so I don’t get that much chance to do these solo things that often.”
Of course, plenty of people were surprised to hear that Fagen referred to the band as oppressive, but this is an occasion where context is quite important. Because of his commitments with Steely Dan, Fagen was unable to give as much time to his solo albums as he’d like. Morph The Cat was the third album in a trilogy that Fagen had been waiting 13 years to finish, as such, his comment more likely referred to the time-consuming nature of Steely Dan as opposed to being him admitting that he hated writing and performing with them.
“It’s the last one of a trilogy; otherwise you’d have to call it something different than a trilogy,” he said, “But yeah, it didn’t start out as a trilogy, but you know, the first album was The Nightfly in 1982, and when I was finished with the second one, Kamakiriad, in ’93, it had a kind of unfinished quality. It ended with a kind of a cliff-hanger, so I realized that there should be a third instalment.”
We know that while Fagen and Becker might have had their differences from time to time, he certainly didn’t hate Steely Dan. While the band broke up in the ‘80s, when they got back together in 1993, they remained together until Walter Becker’s tragic passing in 2017. Even after his mate died, Fagen has continued to lead the band, so the idea that he hates it makes no sense.
Still not sure? Let’s revert back to another comment made by Jeff Baxter, who was always confident that the duo liked performing with one another. “I think it could be said that I was the most energetic player in the band but I also know that the idea that no one else in the band enjoyed playing live was pretty much a myth,” said Baxter, “When I watch early Steely Dan performances, it’s pretty clear that Fagen is enjoying himself.”
