Back in the day, there was AM (amplitude modulation) and FM (frequency modulation) radio. Without getting technical, AM had a lot of static, but FM radio was crystal clear and was usually the home of what I would say was more classic rock, rather than pop, common on AM. Fire up a cigar, pour a glass of whiskey and put on Aja (and press repeat)…the ultimate jazz lounge track.
@@JaDav40 Yeah, I remember my favorite music station in the 70s being on AM radio, but then everything switched to FM with a bunch of new stations to enjoy ... with no static!
In San Francisco AM radio was king through the mid 1970s with crazy DJs like "Dr" Donald D Rose and others ; then in the mid to late 1970s FM stations took off . Clear sound . Stations like KMEL, KOME , KYA took over . Pretty much same story in every American metro area .
You have no idea how incredible FM sounded to those of us who grew up on AM with our little transistor radios. We were so used to static and buzz with the music. And when the sun went down there would be pops and whistles as we toyed with the dial to bring in the signal as strong as possible. And then came "FM"!!!!!!! Wow, so smooth and quiet! It really was an incredible shift in listening. The one thing AM had over FM in those days for those of us who lived way out in the sticks was that after sundown we could pick up radio stations via skip signals after sunset and suddenly far away cities like Chigaco and Indianapolis were within listening reach. FM was a cataclysmic shift and Steely Dan captures it really well with this song!! Thanks for the review guys!
Agreed. I grew up in Chicago and could hear stations from way far away. I remember growing up listening to music on WLS on AM. FM only had classical and easy listening Jackie Gleasonesque music. When other kinds of music showed up on FM it was AMAZING!!
I was absolutely very surprised the other day when I found that Rob and Amber still haven't reacted to this song yet. If this isn't their biggest hit, it's got to be at least in Steely Dan's top 3.
@JaDav40 Same. This song came out before I hit high school. Not only did it spark my love for them, it led to my first conversation about frequency and amplitude and carrier signals. Before that, I thought AM & FM were networks, with local radio stations being affiliated channels.
I was 13 when this song hit the airwaves here in the UK,right at the start of the school summer holidays in 1978. London's Capital Radio played it a lot then.
Just to try to explain: The leap in technology that FM music stations was, was epic. AM radio was filled with RFI (radio frequency interference = electrical noise caused by just about every mechanical item) and could only carry Mono transmission (All music though recorded in stereo had to be down-mixed into only one channel losing the stereo effect as well as most fidelity.) So when Fm radio came around it was quite literally a revolution. I hope that bit of context helps.
Just a couple of points: AM can broadcast in stereo; WJR in Detroit (and, I think, WQXR in New York) tried it for a while back in the '80s or '90s, but due to the aforementioned RFI and scarcity of high fidelity AM receivers it really didn't make sense. AM does have some advantages, such as reaching greater distances at the same power level, especially at night; superior ability to penetrate objects like buildings and hills; and requiring less bandwidth. All that being said, FM is without a doubt much better for music.
@@Yaktahbay I may have made some minor errors in my effort to get a somewhat complex matter simplified for all to understand but basically on point. I was in the buffalo N.Y. radio market and AM was a mess. Still is for anyone still trying to use citizen's band but DX land can be fun. If you know, you know. LoL
@@steverey8362 Yeah, I was just trying to add something to your comment. I grew up not far from Buffalo and my favorite thing was sitting for hours with a little transistor radio moving along the dial DXing. Fun times for a nerd.
AND, fm signals traveled in a vertical manner so werent as prone to mountain,bldg. interfernce where as am signals travel in a straight line, making the signal vulnerable to mountain and bldgs. blocking the signal which pissed you off .
This song was the theme to the movie "FM" which has kind of disappeared, but it was a cool movie about a struggling FM radio station. Wish I could see it again. The entire sound track was great.
Jay & Amber, you'll absolutely LOVE their "Aja" and "Deacon Blues" !!!!! The song FM was created for the movie FM (1978). The FM Soundtrack is one of the best of all-time! edit- Pete Christlieb - tenor saxophone solo, Walter Becker - electric guitar and bass. They only toured about 2 years initially, so when people left who wanted to tour, they just brought in the best session musicians around for each song. Donald and Walter were basically Steely Dan.
A'ja Wilson, Olympic gold medalist and WNBA superstar of the Las Vegas Aces, was named after that album. Her dad was such a huge fan of Steely Dan that he said if he had a daughter he would name her A'ja. She is going to win MVP this year.
As an old guy (71) I'm SO glad the two of you like Steely Dan!!! Their muusic is so good it reaches across generations! Now, you have to Google the name of the band and see how they got their name!😃
This song didn't originally appear on an album but was in the soundtrack of the movie FM-- which you should watch/ react to-- and later it was included in greatest hits collections.
My dad was a radio DJ in San Francisco during the 60's &70's. He was one of the early pioneers of FM radio! Back in the day, FM was for Rock and just kinda "freeform", where anything goes. You could play the Grateful Dead, and the next track was John Coltrane, followed by Bob Marley & The Wailers, and then some Willie Nelson! AM was reserved for News radio and "Pop" music of the day, like The Carpenters, Three Dog Night, Tom Jones, Linda Ronstadt etc.
wow, those were the good old days. Now, you get programmed to death and songs in the rotation like several times in a few hours, ugh! I wish the dj's had the freedom to turn you on to something new. I miss the free format!
I recall listening to our college radio station late one Saturday night/Sunday morning. Back then the DJ's also did "rip and read" news reports at the top of the hour, off the AP teletype machine, which automatically printed out any incoming news stories from the Associated Press. That night there was a story about a high school principal that had been arrested for molesting a student. Of course, the DJ began the next music set with "Touch Me", by the Doors. You could get away with that stuff back then!
This song is near & dear to my heart, my father loved music, like I do. When the movie "FM" came out on video, my father & I watched it together, when the movie started, this song was playing, my father looked at me & said "I really like this song, who sings it?" I told him "Steely Dan". He went out & bought the soundtrack a week later. My dad passed away in 2019 & everytime I hear this song, I miss him deeply. We may of had our differences, but one thing we had in common was great musical taste, thanks dad for letting me hear all your wonderful albums when I was growing up, RIP dad.
If you want to hear a band that sounds like Steely meets Hall n Oates with a female lead singer, check out Lake Street Dive. They're one modern band that is carrying the torch.
I remember listening to my AM transistor radio until 7th grade (1977) when I learned about FM and discovered stereo music. Music would never be the same.
For a similarly short song title, there is Toto's "99". We know you guys love some Toto. Also, their "I Won't Hold You Back" is beautiful. You have yet to do that one as well.
FM is for frequency modulation. Before FM stations became popular as in the 60's to early 70's all we had was AM. And it was very staticy, if that's a word.
Steely Dan just have a musical gift with their sound and flow. Fagan and Becker had exactly what they wanted in their head long before it was ever laid down. They were geniuses in the production room
So much great music from the 70s, but Steely Dan is one of the most consistently excellent, most recognizable and eclectic sounding bands. It is the soundtrack of my youth. Love you guys back ❤
So glad to see another reaction of Steely Dan. This track, as many of you know, was part of the soundtrack of the movie "FM". I believe it was released later on an album called "Gold". Take care...
Groovy baby! Amber, you get it girl! There was a movie called "FM" about the goings-on at a radio station. That movie inspired a popular TV sitcom called "WKRP in Cincinnati" (1978-1982).
Back in the 60s especially, but even in the 70s, FM radio in a car was an upgrade which cost extra money, so many cars only had an AM radio, which was prone to static. When we cleaned out my parent's estate a few years ago, we even came across a cartridge that fit into an 8-track player to give you an FM tuner. FM didn't have the static that AM was prone to.
This is a real composition by real musicians! No simple 3 chord rock by the Dan, they can manipulate the language of music to blend in blues, funk, gospel, R&B and of course jazz influences and make it sound so damn good and cool. Interesting harmonies and chords are missing in a lot of today's music. And no way a Steely Dan type band would get on the radio today.
"FM" was a movie from 1978 and this was used as the title theme song. The story revolves around a FM radio station and includes concert footage with special appearances by Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett, Tom Petty, and REO Speedwagon. Great soundtract album from the movie including The Eagles, James Taylor, Bob Seager, Dan Fogelberg, Billy Joel, and Queen.
I've been watching you guys since the beginning, and really I should say I've been watching J since the beginning, and then Amber would pop in every now and then there were the child birth eras and everything. But you guys are such a fantastic couple to this day. A good team, and I still love how you interpret and explore these things and, Amber dang it, I'm sure your chair dancing is demure in comparison to actual dancing but I know you both love that kind of thing so anyway it always just gives me such a good feeling. And it often resonates with exactly the way I would move to it, and somebody that grew up with this, somebody that's a musician my whole lifetime, and yet so much of it is still about being able to feel it and move to it.
"FM" was well known when it was new and was the title track from the movie "FM." My mother had this album and was always played at house parties in 1978 & on. This is one of my favorite Steely Dan songs. Great times and a great reaction!
In the 1960's the cool music stations were on AM. The signal went much farther (sometimes hundreds of miles) but there was more static & interference. In the 70's the pop & rock stations on FM became popular. The FM signal has a left & right side (which is what stereo means) and much less static & interference.
This is a very special song to people living in Perth, Western Australia. Back in 1980, we got our very first FM stereo radio station - 96fm - and they were incredibly wise enough to choose this so aptly named song as the first song ever broadcast in Perth in FM stereo (which represented a monumental step change from the crappy old mono AM stations (d/w static) we had been brought up on
This song is kinda of a love letter to the early FM radio station. When this song came out FM was not the overpowering dominant radio format it is today ... At the time AM was still King. Even with all the Static. Getting a FM radio was usually more expensive and only the audiophiles were willing to spend money on them. I remember riding in cars from the late 60s and early 70s that only came had AM radios. So the stations on FM were more likely to be new smaller and more progressive. Which led to the emergence of the Album Orientated Rock (AOR) stations. frequently the DJ would play any track off and album they wanted or liked and not just 45 singles. Steely Dan was a perfect fit for FM. Their clear clean recordings were a perfect pairing for the newish FM radio
Has anyone ever told you how Steely Dan got their name? It's from a book by William S. Burroughs called Naked Lunch. Steely Dan was the name of a "toy" in the book!
Steely Dan always had great production values that really highlighted the top-notch musicians that they brought in to their albums. The groove they brought was just mesmerizing.
This is the title song from the movie FM. It was also used more recently for a light show at the Empire State Building to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Master FM transmitting antenna atop the building.
No static was a big thing back inthe days of AM versus FM. Man, that brings back some music. Steely Dan is always great, 'Peg', 'Josie', 'Do It Again'. Just great music back then. I miss those days.
I remember being SO entranced by the sound quality of FM radio compared to crappy old AM. They would pretty much play ANYTHING on FM, unlike AM which was (and still IS) heavily censored. Heavier music, deep album cuts, extended side-long epic Prog (for taking bathroom and/or joint breaks), World music, experimental stuff. It was an exciting time for a youngster like me, who thirsted for something beyond AM Top 40 pop. ... And "No static at AAAALL!" 🎵🎶☮
Need to check out the movie FM the soundtrack is worth watching for. There are appearances by Linda Ronstadt, REO Speedwagon, Tom Petty and Jimmy Buffet. IIRC when this came out there was an AM radio edited version where they took out the line "No Static At All". That was the thing that sucked about AM radio was the static, and growing up in Oklahoma the thunderstorms just made a mess out of AM with every lightning strike.
This was Steely Dan distilled down to the basics - Donald Fagan on vocals and piano, Walter Becker on bass and all guitar parts, Jeff Porcaro on drums, Pete Christlieb on sax, and the Eagles (Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Tim Schmidt) on backing vocals. So good...
FM is my favorite Steely Dan tune. For me, it definitely gives me a sitting in the dark with the light of your stereo as the only lighting, closing your eyes, and vibing to deep cuts on the FM dial. Back in the 70's, FM was a very different animal compared to it's AM counterpart. AM gave you the hyper DJ's with the latest top 40 pop tunes, while FM was a more sophisticated, laid-back kind of music, with DJ's who often sounded like they needed another cup of coffee. AM was mono, while FM was a rich stereo. Steely Dan would have been played on FM, but not AM. The really cool people listened to the FM band. haha. You had to have been there. ;)
This song and THIS MOVIE will forever hold a very special place in my heart… Je’re if you are still out there… The Ritz, all day movie pass, Muldoon Road, Anchorage Alaska… that was amazing 🤩
Steely Dan (Becker & Fagan) brought in the Eagles for background harmony, and Jeff Porcaro (Toto) on drums for this 1978 classic. Becker did all of the bass & guitar work, and Fagen played piano.
Your analysis is very good. As a teenager the message of this song resonated with me. “FM, no static at all.” I grew up listening to AM Top 40 stations and there was often static. FM was revolutionary. It changed everything. WMMS. Home of the Buzzard. In the 70s this station ROCKED.
