5 Awesome Rock Bands You've Wrongly Slept On

For all the different genres seeing chart success in the 70's, it was almost an anomaly that Steely Dan fit in on AM radio. Nowadays though, the public never came around on Steely Dan like Journey or Foreigner. Many people tend to see the band as another band to put under the "dad-rock" category and casually dismiss them.

While the more middle-aged comparisons are apt at times, this band was a beautiful musical collective whose musicianship cannot be ignored. Bandleaders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen had rock tendencies to be sure, but their songs had roots in genres like jazz, blues, and fusion to name just a few.

To bring their songs to life, the duo enlisted some of the most incendiary players of the era from guitar gods like Larry Carlton and Denny Diaz to fantastic drummers like Steve Gadd and Bernard Purdie. The production on their records as well really helped set the standard for how modern production is approached.

Yeah, it's pretty easy to classify Steely Dan's music as simply passe when compared to other 70's acts. However, for any musician who is worth his/her/their salt, these songs are what you learn when you want to become a master at your craft.