10 Biggest Mistakes In Rock Music History
5. Aja - Steely Dan
If you were to be called into a Steely Dan session in the '70s, you had to be an absolute monster behind your instrument. Since these were the studio wizards who settled for nothing less than perfection, you had to be on your A game if you didn't want to be substituted for some other god tier musician. Even for a band as professional as these guys, they still had some charm to them.
Being the centerpiece of their yacht rock masterpiece, Aja is one of the most complex songs to fall into the pop genre, complete with a legendary drum solo by Steve Gadd at two different parts of the song. Although anyone who tries to play this solo is in for a rough ride, the energy in the room may have been a little too much for Gadd to handle himself.
Instead of the usual drum fill that could have ended the solo, all you hear is Gadd clicking his sticks together before the rest of the band comes in. Hearing it in real time, it's almost funny to play back, as if Steve just ran out of drums and resorted to playing drums with only sticks. Then again, if you wanted to transition back into the smooth part of the song, no other percussion would have worked. See, even when the members of Steely Dan screw up, they still manage to win.