Mientras ultimaban la grabación del álbum Aja, en 1977, Donald Fagen y Walter Becker recibieron una llamada telefónica de su influyente apoderado Irving Azoff, el cual les solicitó que compusieran una canción sobre la Radio FM, sin más especificaciones concretas. Aquel mismo sería el título de una próxima película que el propio Azoff produciría y la cual se estrenaría al año siguiente, en 1978.

In this way and with that single starting point cited, the respected couple of Becker / Fagen composers wrote the following letter, which we also translate simultaneously:

Go ahead that the tangled texts of Steely social criticAnd the theme "FM" does not mean an exception.Therefore, what do they try to communicate here, really, the two “Beat" lyricist sagaces in New York?

Possibly, the verses drop a cartoon on some boys try.While that happens, all those and those young people are completethere is a pleasant and musical background atmosphere for ligoteo by both parties.

One of the conjectures that have arisen on the essence of the matter is that, do we only find a metaphor about a soft and musical link of some teenagers to some girls so that they do not put obstacles in that conquest?Or also springs the nuance that it could be, according to the subtly acids Steely Dan, that the quality music and for minorities emitted by the American FM, in a traditional way, had the lost battle with respect to a conformist majority mass of listeners of listeners ofAm, represented in the verses?.

The social background is that, from the 30s to 60, in the United States the FM put more select and more varied music, in addition to a more clear and stereo sound (hence the “without interference") than the AM, which issued, fundamentally, rock and roll of the most primitive and with the worst technical quality of broadcast;where perhaps, precisely, the sophisticated Steely Dan did not fit.

This of the transmission of the smooth music and more than minorities such as jazz in the FM waves was reflected, then, in the relatively fictional American DJ, of the 50s and 60s, that Donald Fagen himself symbolized in his nostalgicCover and on his solo album The Nightfly (1982).And it is that their own Fagen and Becker, since they were 10 years old, listened, attentively, the US radios of FM, when they offered jazz, soul, reggae, funk, classical music and other sounds, during the previous decades at all hours, during the previous decadescommented.

In an interview of the 70s, Donald and Walter even declared: “We do not have enough capacity for jazz and that's why we play rock."

Como curiosidad comentar que podría ser que esta “FM", de los Dan, inspirara la creación de la serie cómica de televisión WKRP en Cincinatti, en el propio 1978, sobre divertidas pugnas entrede viejas y nuevas generaciones de locutores “pinchadiscos".

On the other hand, the theme appeared in different official versions such as those of the subsequent compilations of the band itself. Sin embargo, aquí se cuela la más curiosa e indignante de dichas variantes (además de la única no autorizada) y es que las estaciones estadounidenses de “amplitud modulada" se negaron a radiar la canción, en 1977, al hablar precisamente de la competencia. Sin embargo, ante la repercusión de dicho single, los de la AM manipularon y adulteraron ligeramente la canción y haciendo un “corta y pega" sonoro, sustituyeron la letra “F" y tomaron prestada la letra “A"del tema “Aja", justo cuando el coro pronuncia esta misma palabra titular: así, se oía el término “AM" (pronunciado “ei-em") en vez de “FM" (“ef-em").En mi opinión, este sutil “cambiazo" tecnológico resulta una aberración y un sacrilegio contra la pureza de una canción de Steely Dan, durante sus gloriosos y originales años 70.

Aunque Donald Fagen y Walter Becker solían tener una constelación de músicos de estudio a sus órdenes, lo cierto es que el dúo tomó más responsabilidad instrumental con “FM", al ser un encargo aparte.However, they collaborated and repeated here with Steely give three interpreters who had also done so before, such as Jeff Porcaro to the drums, Victor Feldman to percussion and Pete Christlieb with his imposing only saxophone, in the single single of1978.

Para reforzar aún más el habitualmente sedoso, “cool" y pomposo sonido de Steely Dan, éstos encargaron los arreglos orquestales al reputado especialista en films Johnny Mandel.It was not usual in Fagen and Becker to put so many strings on their themes but they thought that an overwhelming of that instrumental section would go well in a movie. Con anterioridad, los Dan solamente habían colocado sonidos de ese mismo tipo en su “Through with Buzz", de 1974. Como añadido, a los coros de “FM" estuvieron nada menos que Timothy B.Schmit, Don Henley and Glenn Frey, that is, three members of The Eagles and are that these, one of the most commercial impact bands of the 70s, were absolute admirers of Steely Dan and both combos were not rival, much less, much less,As rumored, previously.

La canción ganó un Grammy a “Mejor Ingeniería" (Roger Nichols y Elliot Scheiner) pero perdió el galardón de “Mejor Canción" a manos de Bee Gees y su “Night Fever".This bittersweet flavor regarding these so transcendent awards was a constant with respect to Steely Dan, during the 70s and first 80.

The film, however, differs from the song and thus, Metraje himself tells the story of a few DJs from a Los Angeles radio station that sound the music albums they want and obtaining an outstanding success for it, the managerThe company tries to make programs with interspersed ads about the army. Entonces, el director de la emisora dimite y el resto de los “pinchadiscos", en protesta por la medida impuesta, se atrincheran y montan barricadas en la emisora y siguen radiando, libremente, con los consiguientes altercados entre la gente y la policía, fuera del edificio.Finally, the highest owner of said company is intervened in favor of the mutineers employees.

As a real backdrop, from the mid -1970s and for the first time in history, the AM were being surpassed in audiences and N in N.º de emisoras por la FM, la cual comenzó a cambiar su política comercial y a radiar las bandas de “soft-rock" que estaban de moda.This historic relief of media power from the waves, during the 70s, had its culmination precisely in that 1978.However, my particular opinion is that Becker and Fagen, probably, in the letter they would refer to the previous times commented of the FM stations and that for them they were the jazz reference to follow, prop up.We will add, to reinforce this hypothesis, that before a Steely Dan performance at the 2015 Coachella Festival, Donald Fagen himself declared, shockDC because New Jersey keyboardist had already stopped listening to the radio in 1972!

Very bad to the 1978 film, which was considered rather scarce and became an absolute box office failure, since it was also considered outdated with respect to the fact that the phenomenon of the promotion of the FM had already begunabout five or six years earlier in the United States.In relation to this, the criticism specialized in cinema also destroyed the work because, for example, it raised the utopia contrary to the fact that if advertisers investors in the radios do not have their space, the announcers would not have work. En resumen, que no son los DJs estadounidenses los que ganaron en la partida radiofónica en la vida real, ya que éstos solo ponían las canciones que les mandaban “desde arriba"; siempre según las hipótesis que han ido surgiendo con los años.

Donald Fagen complained that, because of the complete commercial sinking of the footage, Steely Dan's song did not get more impact.In addition, Fagen and Becker did not know the movie argument when they wrote the song, previously, nor attended the premiere.This film tape also did not even have dubbing of the Spanish language.Even the band's manager, Irving Azoff, who was also the executive producer of the film (as we suggested at the beginning), in the end he completely unmarked from the latter due to different divergences with the universal company Films, since the same Azoff was surprisedFor the FM argument and hoped that it would develop another different concept.

The soundtrack, in its entirety, sold a million copies, so it enjoyed a resounding acclamation since songs from The Eagles, Queen, Boston, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Steve Miller Band, Linda Ronstadt, also appeared, cute ronstadt,Boz Scaggs, Bob Seler, Foreigner, James Taylor or The Doobie Brothers;Among other dream stars.However, Steely Dan's loose song did not exceed No.22 in the official lists of the United States. Seamos claros, ni los singles de esta honesta banda de Nueva York fueron nunca nº1 en las listas de Estados Unidos, ni los “dansters" se llevaron bien nunca o casi nunca con las radio-fórmulas.

Fue el primer trabajo de la banda a las órdenes de la multinacional MCA Records ya que ésta era la que editaba toda la mentada banda sonora, donde también aparecía el popular tema “Do it again" (1972) de los propios “steelys".We already dealt in Muzikalia, the bestial conflict that was later generated between Fagen and Becker with respect to this same record label, during the recording of the Gaucho LP, in 1980.

Pero ahora viene lo completamente paradójico y chocante de la temática de la canción “FM" y es que en España, la misma tonada sí que obtuvo un único nº1 en las listas del programa “Los 40 principales", ¡un formato éste muy de la AM en las radios de Estados Unidos! Aún mas extraño se vuelve todo (sobre todo a nivel ibérico) cuando ni antes ni después de eso, por desgracia, un “grupazo" como Steely Dan nunca gozó de una popularidad descomunal en nuestra península, ni mucho menos y sí que su música tuvo bastante más aceptación en otros muchos países europeos; además de Japón, Australia y, por descontado su país natal, Estados Unidos; aún sin encaramarse la banda jamás al puesto más elevado de los “charts", redundamos.

Una de las versiones más vistosas de “FM" fue la que interpretaron Gorillaz, con la colaboración del jazzman Nathan Haines, en el año 2003.

Let's conclude this report by commenting that in 2015, the melody was used as a song to accompany the spectacle of colors that served to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the placement of an antenna to tune in, precisely, the FM in the popular skyscraper Empire State Building.

Se ha considerado a “FM" como un tema que puede servir para empezar a escuchar a los no iniciados sobre la banda o también una canción que incluso puede llegar a gustar a los que no son seguidores habituales de Steely Dan.So I recommend listening to it without prejudice and without absolutely any interference.

You can find other articles and reports about Steely Dan, here in Muzikalia.