10 Best Soft Rock Albums Of All Time
8. Aja - Steely Dan
One of the biggest appeals of yacht rock is that you never had to take it all that seriously. If anything, most of the leisure suit wearing folks listening to these songs were just looking for something nice to listen to as they passed out on a fold out chair by the pool. Once you take the time to listen to it though, Steely Dan might be one of the most accomplished groups of musicians you've ever seen.
Yes, I know it's easy to talk trash on these guys, especially with their rough around the edges vocal delivery. When you look at something like Aja though, there isn't a bad moment on it, with Donald Fagen and Walter Becker bringing in every session musician they could to create magic in the studio. Taking cues from the worlds of jazz and blues, this is by far the most sophisticated record to ever be released to the pop market, like the song Peg opening up with one of the strangest chord melodies ever before getting us into the song.
Outside of the actual music, the songs are also pretty complex, like the pissed off attitude going on in Black Cow or talking about the darker side of the streets on Peg. Even after being called a punchline, this hasn't been forgotten in music history, with some hip hop joints sampling tracks from this album just for how good it sounds. Since Fagen and Becker are the masterminds, Steely Dan isn't even a band at this point. It's a state of mind.