Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen gave the Dead their due in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. The lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist who created the jazz-fusion ensemble alongside Walter Becker went so far as to acknowledge the humorous “Deadhead to Danfan” conversion chart that originated on the Steely Dan website.
For those too young to remember, the Steely Dan website was once a bustling hive of activity from Fagen and Becker. Long before the advent of social media in the early days of the internet for purely non-commercial means, the group’s leaders used the page to humorously interact with fans. One such way was to introduce the handy “Deadhead to Danfan” conversion chart for anyone looking to make the switch from Grateful Dead fan to Steely Dan fan.
“Oh yeah, we loved that; that was fun… I think Walter started it, but we each said, ‘Hey, let’s try to convert the Deadheads,’” Fagen said.
The gag was actually born out of love and admiration for the Dead that Fagen and Becker both shared dating back to the early days of both groups.
“And then the Dead, we both enjoyed them for various reasons, also the counterculture thing,” Beckers said. “But, you know, it’s funny, we were sort of on the cusp between counterculture and whatever came after. We never took it seriously. There was something good about it, but on the other hand, we could see how it had to fail. But we did like the Dead, we particularly liked some of their tunes and the way they played together. Although they recorded so many shows, some of them were a mess, but generally speaking they had a really nice groove, and the way they interacted with each other musically was very attractive to us. At one point, I think if we didn’t go the way we went, we might have tried to do something more improvisational like the Dead.”
Steely Dan just hit the road for the Absolutely Normal Tour ’21, and the band just released its first live album in 25 years, Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live! Fagen also has a solo live album to plug, The Nightfly Live. For tickets and a full list of Steely Dan tour dates click here. Head over to Rolling Stone to read the full Donald Fagen interview.
The post Donald Fagen Discusses Deadhead To Danfan Conversion Chart In New Interview appeared first on L4LM.
