When Steely Dan accused The Beatles of using studio musicians
Before Jimmy Page had any success with Led Zeppelin, he made a living as a session guitarist. He didn’t have a great time on the road, so he decided he was more comfortable in the confines of a recording studio. Working as a session guitarist, he helped several different bands achieve the kind of sound they were going for, as was pretty standard practice.
The truth is that playing music live and playing it in a studio when you’re being recorded are very different things. There is more pressure on you as a musician, and the way you play has to be incredibly precise. If you play a guitar solo live, notes can overlap and be messy; if anything, it adds to the live sound, but this doesn’t often fly in the studio. Sometimes, even the most talented musicians can’t get the sound right, so session guitarists are brought in to lend a hand.
Despite their use being commonplace, there was still a taboo attached to the use of session guitarists. Musical purists believe that a band should be responsible for every aspect of their sound, including that which was made in a studio and played on the road.
One band that came under fire for using studio musicians was Steely Dan. They decided to leave the road behind them and instead became a solely studio band. This meant they could play around with instrumentation and time signatures, creating some exciting songs in the process; however, they needed a hand from some studio musicians when making this sound.
The band were always quick to defend themselves, essentially saying that they didn’t think it was much of a big deal that they used studio musicians. They used The Beatles as an example of why it’s no big deal when a band uses session musicians, accusing them of having other musicians come into the studio and play over different parts that John, Paul, George and Ringo weren’t cut out to play themselves.
“We don’t feel it’s something to be ashamed of,” said Walter Becker, “The Beatles did it quite a bit, by their own admission. A lot of things Eric Clapton played… everyone thought it was George Harrison.”
Steely Dan said Clapton was a big part of The White Album, and this wasn’t the only time that The Beatles were accused of using session musicians. It was widely rumoured that Ringo Starr didn’t play drums on a large number of The Beatles tracks, and instead, they had R&B percussionist Bernard Purdie come in to play them.
Purdie has confirmed this, but the claims remain under speculation. “Fixing records was a way of life…” he said, “98% of the groups, self-contained groups, are not on their own albums.” Purdie continued, “The Beatles music was just another job for me… I played on 21 tracks for The Beatles; half of them had no drums because they kicked him out in the beginning.”
Though it’s not confirmed how many (if any) session musicians The Beatles used in their music, the thing that remains arguably the most perplexing is why the use of session musicians was seen as so controversial. Steely Dan has a point; it’s nothing to be ashamed of, and if the end result is a better-sounding album, that feels like a win for everybody.
