It was also a matter of distance. AM stations could cover a thousand miles or more (Chicago's WLS-AM could be hear in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin at night - when other AM stations cut their power and the bandwidth opened up). FM was clearer sound, but much much shorter distances. It's a trade-off (as it always have been - great distance, low quality... high quality, short distance. What's your choice?
Also a great SCOPITONE juke box hit recorded live at LA's whisky-Au-Go-Go by Arkansas' Billy Lee Riley in '65. 1 yr later played at the Cafe Wha? by Hendrix--known then as Jimmy James
This song was used as the theme song for the 1978 movie "FM" about a radio station, starring Cleavon Little, Alex Karras and Martin Mull. The movie also featured several famous musicians..Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett, Tom Petty and Rock band REO Speedwagon. The movie soundtrack was a double album featuring the biggest hits of the day.
I love it when you pick up the bass. I'm old enough to remember when FM radio came into being. As a bass player, you might enjoy Rick Beato's interviews(on his YT channel) with bassist Chuck Rainey and drummer Bernard Purdie, who played on many of their tracks.🎶🎸👍🏽
Peter Christliebs' work on Saxophone here is sublime. There is a long version of this somewhere out there where Pete and Walter Becker just play off each other for a few wonderful minutes.
There's a good history and analysis of the song on Wikipedia. Fagen, Becker, and Jeff Pocaro (drums) play most of the instruments. Frey, Schmitt, and Henley from the Eagles do the backing vocals. These guys were pros.
Nasty guitar solo in this version of FM there is another version with the Sax Solo both are fantastic!!!! Steely Dan is a very deep dive, enjoy the journey!!!!
Fm radio did not have static when it was broadcast in contrast to an AM signal which was prone to static. So Fm was used more for music. FM was a new thing when this song was done.
I would’ve eaten worms for a FM stereo in our cars growing! AM only for this kid until I got a 1981 Toyota Celica GT in high school. Remember how AM static started as you got further from the station? Biggest pain in the ass was if you were on the freeways and every time you go under a bridge! Close to downtown where Al the overpasses were. We just shut it off!
There are three versions of this that float around. You have the one with the guitar solo at the end. There's also one with a sax solo at the end (I hear that one most often). Then there one where someone synced them so it flows from one solo to the other so it's a longer ending. The extended one is nice to stumble across.
In the movie FM, Linda Ronstadt does a live performance of The Rolling Stones song Tumbling Dice. Kieth Richards said later that he wrote the song but Linda now owns it. The video/performance is incredible!
No Static at All. There's a double meaning. FM = Frequency modulated - it's like binary or digital information transmitted through your computer, television, streaming, etc. It is clean information with little noise or "static," common with signaling coded by amplitude of AM (amplitude modulation). AM radio also had static noise in the background which spiked during lightning storms, vacuum cleaner etc. FM was transmitted on radio first, allowing high fidelity (band width) information to be transmitted without static. Smooth. "Static" can also mean harassment, backtalk, noise from a person or group.
When I was a teenager, people were having a lot of house parties and when there were no problems at the party and everyone was just having a good time we would say it was fm...no static, because fm stations were smooth and without static. That was in the late 70's.
Drums: Jeff Porcaro (SD's Katy Lied album, Donald Fagen's The Nightfly); piano: Donald Fagen; Bass: Walter Becker; Guitar: Walter Becker; Saxophone: Pete Christlieb. I consider FM the quintessential Steely Dan song, because it best represents their core fusion sound, funkiness, arrangements, production, engineering.
If you've ever listened to AM radio you know about static. Back then FM was only for classical music but when people discovered that the fidelity wàs so much better on FM music started being played on it. Another benefit was the clear signal free of the static that was the bane of AM.
No static at all is a reference that everything is smooth and easy. No resistance from the ladies as long as you keep the tunes groovin you can have them..
Back in the 70's, every shoe, boot, sneaker, and high heeled Italian boots, had a high heel on them. How do I know? I wore them, I thought I was a pimp, boy, especially with those high heeled sneakers! I was 15 in 1978, and was wearing those bad boys everywhere!
This is one of their few songs where lyrically I actually think I know what's going on. It's a metaphor for trying to get laid. "The girls don't seem to care tonight As long as the mood is right. No static at all"
7703, you are right! And a third interpretation is that FM radio would not go too far “out” in music selection, they wouldn’t play any “static.” Typically SD, 3 meanings that could also just float past everyone.
High Heel Sneakers was apparently a thing but before my time...and I'm old. There's a song in the 60s that makes a reference to put on your high heel sneakers. All the comments about AM verses FM here are accurate. AM was the medium for music in the 50s and 60s and into the 70s, though FM started to be a thing in the 60s as well and slowly grew in importance or all genres of music. Early on FM was where you went to listen to classical music. That began to change int he late 60s, as I recall. By the time I was in HS, nearly all cars came with an AM/FM radio installed, for example. Also, although AM stereo was possible, no one used it for broadcasting. FM Stereo was a thing and kids my age were buying decent speakers, pulling out the factory installed crapola and replacing them. Also upgrading the factory installed radio was a thing you had to do because you needed a tape deck in your car. Where I lived in the Midwest, if you travels any significant distance, you would lose the signal of FM stations at roughly 40 to 50 miles from the station's tower. So you had to have a good tape deck. Anyway that sound was potentially better (depending on the quality of the tape you used to record your "mixtape". I was dating a girl who lives about an hour away from where I lived. I met her at a wrestling tournament. She was a cheerleader at her HS. Anyway, the long drive to and from her house was a lonely stretch of road without music and, depending on the FM station you chose, there were drop out areas and dead zones. The big commercial Top-40 stations usually had the 50,000 watt transmitters. The FCC limited how powerful a transmitter could be. But the best stations to listen to were often the ones owned by colleges and those had smaller transmitters and, of course, lower range (maybe 20 to 30 miles).
It's "give her some funked up music" FM literally means FM radio. No static as opposed to AM. That guitar outro is similar to Floyd's "Another Brick In the Wall" outro.
Am radio is Amplitude Modulation, and usually not such good sound, and static, FM, on the other hand, is Frequency Modulation, and transmits Hi-Fi sound, without the noise artifacts of AM. Hope this helps.
This song is a tribute to a time before streaming, before CDs or even cassette tape. If you were listening to music at home in the late 60's or 70's it was either records or the radio. If you were in your car it might be 8 track, but even then most everyone would also listen to the radio as well. That's where all the new music was. It was a different time. Either that or it's a song about a guy trying to get laid. It's probably the second one.
I was working at AMPEX when this came out. Musicians, recording studios and audiophiles worshiped the AMPEX real-to-real recorders. The Dolbys had their first lab there.
The song "FM" was originally a tune for he soundtrack of the movie "FM". I recall back in the day when we used to listen to AM radio. FM had mostly classical stuff that none of us liked. Then it seemed like overnight FM stations started playing contemporary/pop music. FM radio has little or no STATIC compared to AM radio. I believe that's at the core of this track. You are correct... Steely Dan is very cryptic at times. A lot of their lyrics have double meanings as well. For example... back in the day if someone was messin' with you.... you'd say "Don't give me any STATIC". Hence.... the double meaning of their lyrics. Great reaction. Take care....
Love your Steely Dan reactions. It's nice getting reactions from a musician. I'd really like to see you react to "Next to you" by Dirty Loops. You won't find 3 more talented musicians. The bass player is unbelievable!
It's about the transition from AM to FM. It was a whole new world in radio. You got hear songs that you couldn't hear on Am radio it was the cuts that you liked but they wouldn't play on AM radio just old reruns of of WKRP Cincinnati Dr. Johnny Fever.
The SD catalog is loaded with extensive musical prowess. I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t recommend “Kid Charlemagne” from the Royal Scam record. Larry Carlton’s guitar solo is far away from another planet 🌎. Your welcome…🤘🏻😎
Frequency Modulation (FM)...Mo' bettah sound resolution...Look up the guy who came up with it. I think he jumped out of a window (? anybody) due to legal financial pressures/wrangling.
nice bass work , have been into the hyper bass works of Michael Manring ( Monkey Business Man for example ) as a guitarist I have often thought of playing bass . Thanks for reacting to the music of my youth
(#118 LA Leakers Ray Vaughn) has more Barzzz than a Super Maximum Penitentiary Prison. Barzzz 🔥fire, Wordplay🔥 fire, Punchline🔥 fire, Metaphor🔥 fire, Storytelling🔥 fire, Realism🔥 fire,.... Your guaranteed to ⏯️ pause every 5 seconds because of so many Barzzz. (#118 LA Leakers Ray Vaughn) is a must 👀 see 🎥 video. Peace ✌️.....
I’m not positive but I think to this day if you drive through a carwash or into a tunnel with an AM station on the radio it wil break up and you’ll get static. Then switch to an FM station and it will come through, “no static at all.”
YEs if the mood is right....but FM was a new technology at one time for Static Free Radio unlike AM radio which as we know has static. High Heeled sneakers are a thing.
I believe your overthinking the lyric thing too much. There are songs I haven't known the true meaning of for 40 years, and then I see an interview or an article from the artist explaining what the song meant, at the time they wrote it. It's usually so far from what most of thought it was about, it's funny. Just enjoy the ride.
"What are high-heeled sneakers?" Wait...CB, God love ya, but, it would be great if you could go with the flow a bit more and not get hung up on, what seems like, every word. The lyricist is taking artistic license with the scenario he is painting and he's being inventive with his terminology, which makes the lyrics more fun and groovy! Right? So, roll with it, good sir. Less pausing, please.
The transition from AM radio to FM was like going from candles to light bulbs. It was that big to someone who listened to music in the 60's and 70's.
It was also a matter of distance. AM stations could cover a thousand miles or more (Chicago's WLS-AM could be hear in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin at night - when other AM stations cut their power and the bandwidth opened up). FM was clearer sound, but much much shorter distances. It's a trade-off (as it always have been - great distance, low quality... high quality, short distance. What's your choice?
Boy we’re old 😂
The static in AM radio from lighting etc. didn't happen with FM plus it had better sound quality due to higher bandwidth.
We had a separate FM receiver in our car. The car came with an AM radio, and Dad installed the FM.
Well said. Couldn't have said it better.
"Hi Heel Sneakers" was a 1964 RnB song by Tommy Tucker.
Also a great SCOPITONE juke box hit recorded live at LA's whisky-Au-Go-Go by Arkansas' Billy Lee Riley in '65. 1 yr later played at the Cafe Wha? by Hendrix--known then as Jimmy James
This song was used as the theme song for the 1978 movie "FM" about a radio station, starring Cleavon Little, Alex Karras and Martin Mull. The movie also featured several famous musicians..Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett, Tom Petty and Rock band REO Speedwagon. The movie soundtrack was a double album featuring the biggest hits of the day.
funky music treats you nice. I love the rock and the roll, the rhythm, funk and soul.
I love it when you pick up the bass. I'm old enough to remember when FM radio came into being. As a bass player, you might enjoy Rick Beato's interviews(on his YT channel) with bassist Chuck Rainey and drummer Bernard Purdie, who played on many of their tracks.🎶🎸👍🏽
Also Larry Carlton!
Peter Christliebs' work on Saxophone here is sublime. There is a long version of this somewhere out there where Pete and Walter Becker just play off each other for a few wonderful minutes.
AM Radio = Static
FM Radio = 🤗 No Static at All 🥰🐰
There's a good history and analysis of the song on Wikipedia. Fagen, Becker, and Jeff Pocaro (drums) play most of the instruments. Frey, Schmitt, and Henley from the Eagles do the backing vocals. These guys were pros.
Nasty guitar solo in this version of FM there is another version with the Sax Solo both are fantastic!!!! Steely Dan is a very deep dive, enjoy the journey!!!!
Fm radio did not have static when it was broadcast in contrast to an AM signal which was prone to static. So Fm was used more for music. FM was a new thing when this song was done.
FM has been around a long time. Rock FM stations became prevalent in the 1960's. The tune was released in 1978.
I would’ve eaten worms for a FM stereo in our cars growing! AM only for this kid until I got a 1981 Toyota Celica GT in high school.
Remember how AM static started as you got further from the station? Biggest pain in the ass was if you were on the freeways and every time you go under a bridge! Close to downtown where Al the overpasses were. We just shut it off!
There are three versions of this that float around. You have the one with the guitar solo at the end. There's also one with a sax solo at the end (I hear that one most often). Then there one where someone synced them so it flows from one solo to the other so it's a longer ending. The extended one is nice to stumble across.
In the movie FM, Linda Ronstadt does a live performance of The Rolling Stones song Tumbling Dice. Kieth Richards said later that he wrote the song but Linda now owns it. The video/performance is incredible!
CB you've got awesome personality and talent. Very cool. "No Static" on your channel too, no hassle, no party crashin', just a great time.
No Static at All. There's a double meaning. FM = Frequency modulated - it's like binary or digital information transmitted through your computer, television, streaming, etc. It is clean information with little noise or "static," common with signaling coded by amplitude of AM (amplitude modulation). AM radio also had static noise in the background which spiked during lightning storms, vacuum cleaner etc. FM was transmitted on radio first, allowing high fidelity (band width) information to be transmitted without static. Smooth. "Static" can also mean harassment, backtalk, noise from a person or group.
When I was a teenager, people were having a lot of house parties and when there were no problems at the party and everyone was just having a good time we would say it was fm...no static, because fm stations were smooth and without static. That was in the late 70's.
So cute when it dawns on you what the song is about.
Song is about the vibe of a 1970s party where they're listening to their favorite FM station. Was a thing then.
Not all lyrics have deep meaning. 😉😎👍
Drums: Jeff Porcaro (SD's Katy Lied album, Donald Fagen's The Nightfly); piano: Donald Fagen; Bass: Walter Becker; Guitar: Walter Becker; Saxophone: Pete Christlieb. I consider FM the quintessential Steely Dan song, because it best represents their core fusion sound, funkiness, arrangements, production, engineering.
If you've ever listened to AM radio you know about static. Back then FM was only for classical music but when people discovered that the fidelity wàs so much better on FM music started being played on it. Another benefit was the clear signal free of the static that was the bane of AM.
No static at all is a reference that everything is smooth and easy. No resistance from the ladies as long as you keep the tunes groovin you can have them..
In the early days of FM radio, it was just music no DJ BS goin' on!
No doubt about it, Steely Dan knows how to lay down a groove! Enjoyed your reaction. Peace.
Back in the 70's, every shoe, boot, sneaker, and high heeled Italian boots, had a high heel on them. How do I know? I wore them, I thought I was a pimp, boy, especially with those high heeled sneakers! I was 15 in 1978, and was wearing those bad boys everywhere!
No static at all is the reference to the FM signal verses the AM radio signal.
This is one of their few songs where lyrically I actually think I know what's going on.
It's a metaphor for trying to get laid.
"The girls don't seem to care tonight
As long as the mood is right.
No static at all"
7703, you are right! And a third interpretation is that FM radio would not go too far “out” in music selection, they wouldn’t play any “static.” Typically SD, 3 meanings that could also just float past everyone.
High Heel Sneakers was apparently a thing but before my time...and I'm old. There's a song in the 60s that makes a reference to put on your high heel sneakers. All the comments about AM verses FM here are accurate. AM was the medium for music in the 50s and 60s and into the 70s, though FM started to be a thing in the 60s as well and slowly grew in importance or all genres of music. Early on FM was where you went to listen to classical music. That began to change int he late 60s, as I recall. By the time I was in HS, nearly all cars came with an AM/FM radio installed, for example. Also, although AM stereo was possible, no one used it for broadcasting. FM Stereo was a thing and kids my age were buying decent speakers, pulling out the factory installed crapola and replacing them. Also upgrading the factory installed radio was a thing you had to do because you needed a tape deck in your car. Where I lived in the Midwest, if you travels any significant distance, you would lose the signal of FM stations at roughly 40 to 50 miles from the station's tower. So you had to have a good tape deck. Anyway that sound was potentially better (depending on the quality of the tape you used to record your "mixtape". I was dating a girl who lives about an hour away from where I lived. I met her at a wrestling tournament. She was a cheerleader at her HS. Anyway, the long drive to and from her house was a lonely stretch of road without music and, depending on the FM station you chose, there were drop out areas and dead zones. The big commercial Top-40 stations usually had the 50,000 watt transmitters. The FCC limited how powerful a transmitter could be. But the best stations to listen to were often the ones owned by colleges and those had smaller transmitters and, of course, lower range (maybe 20 to 30 miles).
Great observations.
You got a great ear and with Steely Dan a sharp ear gets to work overtime
high heeled sneakers were indeed a thing then.
My favorite by them..one for the ages
It's "give her some funked up music" FM literally means FM radio. No static as opposed to AM. That guitar outro is similar to Floyd's "Another Brick In the Wall" outro.
Totally! I was hearing the David Gilmour vibes too.
Am radio is Amplitude Modulation, and usually not such good sound, and static, FM, on the other hand, is Frequency Modulation, and transmits Hi-Fi sound, without the noise artifacts of AM. Hope this helps.
This song is a tribute to a time before streaming, before CDs or even cassette tape. If you were listening to music at home in the late 60's or 70's it was either records or the radio. If you were in your car it might be 8 track, but even then most everyone would also listen to the radio as well. That's where all the new music was. It was a different time.
Either that or it's a song about a guy trying to get laid.
It's probably the second one.
I was working at AMPEX when this came out. Musicians, recording studios and audiophiles worshiped the AMPEX real-to-real recorders. The Dolbys had their first lab there.
The song "FM" was originally a tune for he soundtrack of the movie "FM". I recall back in the day when we used to listen to AM radio. FM had mostly classical stuff that none of us liked. Then it seemed like overnight FM stations started playing contemporary/pop music. FM radio has little or no STATIC compared to AM radio. I believe that's at the core of this track. You are correct... Steely Dan is very cryptic at times. A lot of their lyrics have double meanings as well. For example... back in the day if someone was messin' with you.... you'd say "Don't give me any STATIC". Hence.... the double meaning of their lyrics. Great reaction. Take care....
Royal Scam and Don't take me alive are two of their best, complex and edgy
AM radio has static. FM radio is clear even in a storm.
Love your Steely Dan reactions. It's nice getting reactions from a musician. I'd really like to see you react to "Next to you" by Dirty Loops. You won't find 3 more talented musicians. The bass player is unbelievable!
From Perry Como to Black Sabbath....FM
It's about the transition from AM to FM. It was a whole new world in radio. You got hear songs that you couldn't hear on Am radio it was the cuts that you liked but they wouldn't play on AM radio just old reruns of of WKRP Cincinnati Dr. Johnny Fever.
The SD catalog is loaded with extensive musical prowess. I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t recommend “Kid Charlemagne” from the Royal Scam record. Larry Carlton’s guitar solo is far away from another planet 🌎.
Your welcome…🤘🏻😎
Frequency Modulation (FM)...Mo' bettah sound resolution...Look up the guy who came up with it. I think he jumped out of a window (? anybody) due to legal financial pressures/wrangling.
He is talking about the FM stations having no static. AM stations had static
No "Congos" - Bongo drums, which you can tell by the higher pitch. Best. Mike.
nice bass work , have been into the hyper bass works of Michael Manring ( Monkey Business Man for example ) as a guitarist I have often thought of playing bass . Thanks for reacting to the music of my youth
hey church boy tom dropped a new video the machine waiting for your reaction
By George, I think you got it.😂
Uh. If you think 'scoring' comes down to a radio signal, uh... you're gonna have a long and lonely life. YOU are the source for scoring. Nuthin' else.
(#118 LA Leakers Ray Vaughn) has more Barzzz than a Super Maximum Penitentiary Prison. Barzzz 🔥fire, Wordplay🔥 fire, Punchline🔥 fire, Metaphor🔥 fire, Storytelling🔥 fire, Realism🔥 fire,.... Your guaranteed to ⏯️ pause every 5 seconds because of so many Barzzz. (#118 LA Leakers Ray Vaughn) is a must 👀 see 🎥 video. Peace ✌️.....
Bongos played by Jeff Porcaro and drums who was a founding member of Toto sadly no longer with us!
Small correction: They're Conga's, not Congo's .I still love your reactions!
FM FREQUENCY MODULATION ON YOUR RADIO REDUCDED STATIC.
They called their sound the “mu” chord. Look it up. It’s an add 2 or 9 major.
I’m not positive but I think to this day if you drive through a carwash or into a tunnel with an AM station on the radio it wil break up and you’ll get static. Then switch to an FM station and it will come through, “no static at all.”
YEs if the mood is right....but FM was a new technology at one time for Static Free Radio unlike AM radio which as we know has static. High Heeled sneakers are a thing.
The band playing is the Eagles. Great calab
You mean the backing vocals.
@@briangray00 And he means collab. But hey.
Steely is just 2 musicians. All the rest of the music is from studio musicians
I believe your overthinking the lyric thing too much. There are songs I haven't known the true meaning of for 40 years, and then I see an interview or an article from the artist explaining what the song meant, at the time they wrote it. It's usually so far from what most of thought it was about, it's funny. Just enjoy the ride.
Or is he saying no static at all from the girls as long as the mood is right?
I think it's better to just listen to a song the first time. Reading along while listening takes away from the vibe.
"What are high-heeled sneakers?" Wait...CB, God love ya, but, it would be great if you could go with the flow a bit more and not get hung up on, what seems like, every word. The lyricist is taking artistic license with the scenario he is painting and he's being inventive with his terminology, which makes the lyrics more fun and groovy! Right? So, roll with it, good sir. Less pausing, please.
Two cross necklaces. That's some serious piety.
You interrupt the music too much, just like that Polo guy. It's about the song, not you. Bye.