10 Times Steely Dan Completely Ran Out Of F**ks To Give

7. When They €œFeuded€ With Owen Wilson And Wes Anderson

In the early 2000s, Steely Dan had €œfeuds€ with Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson, two men whom Becker and Fagen are clearly big fans of. With Anderson, it started over a letter the duo wrote addressing a decline in certain aspects of the man€™s work. Although critical, Becker and Fagen€™s letter actually raises valuable points. Fans of Anderson€™s came to his rescue, but they missed the subtlety, humor and great appreciation for Anderson€™s work apparent in the letter. Fagen clarified his stance on Anderson in his book, Eminent Hipsters, writing,
€œI think one of the reasons we're intrigued by Anderson is that he seems to be fixated on the sort of geekish, early-sixties adolescent experience that he's too young to have had but that Walter and I actually lived through. And yet he nails the mood precisely, using comic exaggeration and fantasy to do the job.€
With Wilson, it started when Becker and Fagen penned a letter to Luke talking about their worry that Owen€™s career is faltering, that the projects he€™s worked on recently are no good, and that his movie €œYou, Me and Dupree€ rips off thematic content from their song, €œCousin Dupree.€ Wilson responded, €œI have never heard the song €˜Cousin Dupree€™ and I don't even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, €˜HEY 19.€™€
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Kyle Schmidlin is a writer and musician living in Austin, TX. He manages the news blog at thirdrailnews.wordpress.com. Follow him at facebook.com/kyleschmidlin or twitter.com/kyleschmidlin1.