But the comment at least tacitly bridges two worlds few know are bridged: Steely Dan and hip-hop. Of course, Steely Dan didn't literally invent sampling. "Eventually, the solution is, 'We're going to invent sampling so that we can reduce the amount of human error.'" " Gaucho is the ultimate one because it's the slickest," he said, mentioning an ultra-complex drum machine they built to remove any vestige of humanity. In the same interview, Pappademas cited the final album of their original run, 1980's Gaucho. They're also also writing apocalyptically about their time, and our time now seems so unavoidably apocalyptic. What seemed cold and remote and jerky about them back in the day - now, that's just the way people talk. So they make a lot more sense now," Pappademas recently told Rolling Stone. "We're all looking out at the world with a Donald and Walter-ish kind of dismay. Journalist Alex Pappademas and visual artist Joan LeMay's Quantum Criminals, arrived in May and pulls apart the Steely Dan myth like Russian nesting dolls. Steely Dan is a tangled web indeed, and a new book illuminates every nook and cranny of their legend. It's no accident that unquestionable musical godheads Wayne Shorter, Bernard Purdie and the Brecker brothers played with them. Because their musical sophistication was second to none.įor decades, connotations of soft-rock yuppiedom have calcified around Steely Dan The Onion once summed it up with an article headlined "Donald Fagen Defends Steely Dan To Friends." But not only do they barely resemble yacht rock on any level their compositions and playing were of a stunning level of sophistication. But in your dance with the Dan, take the next step: If you took away all the sarcasm, all the seediness, all the salt, Steely Dan would still be one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Sure, this component of the group is key to their conceptual essence. If you think Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's three-time GRAMMY-winning partnership is just the stuff of smoothed-over yacht rock, you could have a change of heart : Dan bangers from "Deacon Blues" to "Don't Take Me Alive" to "Hey Nineteen" are full of pitch-black character studies, acidic turns of phrase, and one-liners that may singe your eyebrows. And a lot of that is biting, sardonic wit. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"Īmong serious music fans, it's a common rite of passage to realize there's a lot more to Steely Dan than meets the eye. Meanwhile, in recognition of its critical importance to music history, Straight Outta Compton was inducted into the Recording Academy's GRAMMY Hall Of Fame as well as the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.Ĭatching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Dre touch on many other histories, including those of Eminem and Kendrick Lamar. Confrontations with law enforcement and antagonism based on "F * Tha Police" form a core element of both the 2015 drama as well as the drama on the streets that has never stopped.Īmong the album's many aftermaths, Eazy-E died in 1995, Ice Cube went on to produce and star in his extensive filmography and the adventures of Dr. Secret Service sending threatening letters to Ruthless Records and the group's banishment from many venues.Ĭredited as one of the most influential hip-hop records of all time, in 2015, Straight Outta Compton the film appeared, dramatizing the 1988 impact of the album, with Ice Cube portrayed by his son O'Shea Jackson Jr. Its provocative tracks described the world N.W.A knew through their own eyes, including the title track, which elevated the group's hometown of Compton, Calif., "Express Yourself" and "Gangsta Gangsta." The album also included "F * Tha Police," which resulted in the FBI and U.S. Dre and DJ Yella, and released on Ruthless Records, the label co-founded by Eazy-E and N.W.A manager Jerry Heller two years before.Īlthough it sold well initially, its landmark status rested on the controversies surrounding its gangsta lifestyle themes and attitudes. A debut album that landed like a sledgehammer, 1988's Straight Outta Compton has become a legend in its own right.
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