Q 01/05

Donald Fagen first approached Walter Becker in 1967 after overhearing him practise which instrument in a campus café?

A) Bass guitar

B) Electric piano

C) Electric guitar

D) Tenor saxophone

Answer · why

C) Electric guitar

Electric guitar. Fagen thought the playing sounded professional and contemporary, walked in and asked, 'Do you want to be in a band?'

Q 02/05

Steely Dan took its name from an object in which William S. Burroughs novel?

A) Junkie

B) The Soft Machine

C) Naked Lunch

D) Queer

Answer · why

C) Naked Lunch

Naked Lunch. In the novel 'Steely Dan' is the name of a dildo, so a band famous for its polish and sophistication has gone through life named after a ...

Q 03/05

Which future comedy star played drums in one of Becker and Fagen's college bands?

A) Bill Murray

B) Chevy Chase

C) Steve Martin

D) Dan Aykroyd

Answer · why

B) Chevy Chase

Chevy Chase. He kept time for a campus band of theirs called the Leather Canary and stuck with drumming for a while: a later group of his, Chamaeleon ...

Q 04/05

What was the title of Steely Dan's 1972 debut album?

A) Countdown to Ecstasy

B) Pretzel Logic

C) Gaucho

D) Can't Buy a Thrill

Answer · why

D) Can't Buy a Thrill

Can't Buy a Thrill. Its two hit singles, 'Do It Again' and 'Reelin' In the Years', were both sung by Fagen, a reluctant frontman who took the job beca...

Q 05/05

The title of Steely Dan's best-selling album, Aja, is pronounced like the name of which continent?

A) Africa

B) Asia

C) Europe

D) Australia

Answer · why

B) Asia

Asia. Fagen said he took the title from a Korean woman called Aja, who had married the brother of one of his high-school friends.