Back in the day, AM stations ruled the radio airwaves. FM was reserved for educational and classical music and programming. FM came in "clear as a bell", but apparently it cost more to broadcast FM. However, FM stations started building and growing...and playing COOL music nearly commercial free. Like Steely Dan. FM music was non-stop listening.

Growing up in the ‘60’s, summers were spent at the pool with only AM transistor radios to hear our music. Not only very staticky, but it sounded like it was coming out of a tin can. Then during the 70’s, when FM radio began to become poplar, we were BLOWN AWAY at how crystal clear the sound was- and not only that- it was in STEREO!! Love this song- reminds me of all the great parties in the 70’s celebrating music. 😀❤️🤘🏼

Steely Dan is simply one of the best bands that ever recorded music.

In addition to there being less static on the FM stations over the AM stations, there is another meaning for the static mentioned in this song. Back in the day when Steely Dan was making music, there was a saying. "Hey man, don't give me no static." Meaning, don't give me a hard time. When they sing that the mood is right, there's no static at all. If you get my meaning, the atmosphere at the party was like FM (no static at all).

Steely Dan "Black Cow" is one of my favorites.These guys are more than a band.

Static is when a radio station doesn’t come in well and you hear crackling noise, that’s static. A.m. radio usually had some static, when you switch to FM there was no static at all.

Asia & BJ, you'll love their "Aja", "Deacon Blues", "Josie" and many more!!!! Some of the best engineered music you'll ever hear! Don, Walter and the best session musicians around! edit -old school FM radio had a cleaner signal compared to AM radio(over the airwaves radio), especially for music.

Back when we got all our hit music from AM stations, we had to battle static all the time depending on where you were. When FM played the hits, it sounded super clean and with ZERO STATIC. Or a ton less than AM.

FM radio back then was coming on strong. Less static than AM.

Steely Dan is the type of band that gets you in your mellow. Other ones to check out - Reelin in the Years, Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Hey Nineteen, Deacon Blues, Peg, Aja, My Old School, Black Cow, Dirty Work, Don't Take Me Alive, Josie and more.

I read the comments regarding the difference between AM and FM radio. AM was also limited on how long the song could be. With FM radio, we got to hear full recordings, instead of the condensed version...like Pink Floyd, Rush, etc.

These guys were total perfectionists, and they'd continually call in different studio musicians until they hit upon exactly what they were looking for. Not sure you could beat their production. People will steer you toward the hits, all of which should definitely be heard, but I don't think there's a song in their entire catalog that isn't reaction-worthy.

Steely Dan is a great American rock band founded in 1971. They had a lot of great hits such as "Do It Again", "Reelin' In The Years", Dirty Work", "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", "Hey Nineteen", "Peg", "Josie", "Deacon Blues", "Show Biz Kids", "My Old School" etc.

There was a movie based on this song (called, wait for it... "FM"), that was all about DJs at a radio station. It wasn't bad. And, YES, this song was in it! (along with a LOT of other great tunes!)

This song, with that killer sax solo, never played again in any style, was included in the FM Original Movie Sound Track, back in 1978, and I had that one in Vinyl 2 set Record, edited here at Colombia, that year, under MCA/Polygram label. So good to see how with young pepole like you, this tunes come back to life, bold and strong, as it sould to be. Thanks, and enjoy that album the time you get.

This was from the soundtrack of a movie called, "FM", about a radio station.

The only thing I recall about the movie "FM" is Linda Ronstadt and her band doing a pretty great cover of the Stones' "Tumbling Dice". Meanwhile, this was one of Steely Dan's last big hits ... the end of an era, really. This is as smooth as a glass of pinot on a warm July night, sitting round a small fire on the beach with friends, looking up at the stars ...

Static was the scratchy noise you’d get on AM radio (and probably still do) when the signal is not too good. By comparison, FM had a clarity and quality that was a revelation at the time. It’s difficult to explain the impact on music broadcast on radio to people nowadays. Some of us are old enough to also remember the impact of recordings switching from Mono to Stereo (and how some groups revelled in playing with stereo sound), but that’s for another time….. Another brilliant Steely Dan track with their own flavour of fusion that’s one of my favourites.

This song is so good, it’s brutal. A real cruising-in-your-car-late-at-night-with- the-windows-down song. (AM radio was all crackly; FM had no static at all.)

If you've ever been to their concerts, it's full of musicians in the audience. My 2 brothers are guitarists and I go every chance with them. Thank you for playing. ❤

Steely Dan is one of the most technically sounds bands ever. They are such great musicians and song writers (Donald Fagan and Walter Becker). love their smooth, jazzy, funky vibe. You should check out a lot more of their work. I recommend Rikki Don’t Loose That Number to hear one of the all time classic Walter Becker guitar solos.

By far my favorite group/music. Steely Dan has it all; Jazzy/R&B/Soft Rock all rolled into one, crisp, precise sound, sometimes serious, sometimes funny and sometimes snarky yet always intelligent lyrics, I can think of literally 15 songs off the top that are great and that’s not counting Donald Fagen’s solo work. Highly recommend “Jack Of Speed” and “Caves Of Altimira”. By the way, I have a tee shirt that says “FM, no static at all” ❤️

Blues, jazz and rock are among the genres Steely Dan blended into their sound -- as well as funk, soul and R&B -- and they did it better than anyone else.

Always perfectly produced. Smart lyrics. Every note just right. Steely Dan is your favorite band’s favorite band.

Steely Dan's mash up of genres is one reason they're so popular & a timelessly classic band. The other reason is their high level of skillful musicianship.

Yeah, it was about how cool it was in the 70s to hear music in stereo with "no static at all" FM RADIO. The DJ's often had their own shows and selected their own music and people would call the radio station and tell the DJ where they were partying and request a "favorite song" - so the mix of music was wild - it would go from Elvis, to the blues, to a pop tune, to reggea, etc. ALL to keep things interesting for the listening public. And I know that world well, because I used to be an FM Radio DJ back in the mid 70s. I actually played this song on the station at the time. It was a blast. Amazing to me that anyone is interested at all in music this old - so thanks for bringing back some long forgotten memories.

Steely Dan is the gold standard in smooth groove: jazz rock and RnB all together

Glad you finally got back to Steely Dan! FM is smooth!!!! They started moving away from the earlier guitar based rock and getting more sophisticated in the songwriting. Definitely throwing more blues, jazz, R&B, funk, stuff together and it worked! As others have mentioned, you have to do a deep dive into their Aja album...Josie, Black Cow, just some great stuff. Please do yourselves a favor and take that dive into Aja. Jazz harmonies in a pop/rock music structure? Yeah, gave everyone a masterclass in songwriting.

Such a great smooth song! FM always had more variety and a clearer sound than AM radio so there ya go :)

"deacon blues" is a must listen. Probably my favorite of theirs

You can't go wrong with Steely Dan!!

In the 60’s all we had was AM radio. Which is loaded with static. When FM was perfected. The music was crystal clear, actually home stereo systems became the big thing. It’s when we started buying recievers, turntables, and speakers. The louder you turned it up. The music remained crystal clear. So for all of us, it was ground breaking. With AM if you turned it louder, the static also got louder.

Funny enough, there are actually multiple versions of this song. One with a guitar solo at the end which you listened to, one with a sax solo at the end, and one with both. You can never go wrong with Steely Dan, they're often referred to as "your favorite band's favorite band" and yes, they were known for always having amazing production. Check out their song Haitian Divorce when you get a chance, it's got a different sound to the songs you've checked out so far but it's great nonetheless. Keep it up ya'll.

This song was written for a 1978 movie called FM about a radio station. The soundtrack of that movie was filled with rock and pop standards from the 70's and made the Billboard charts. The movie itself inspired a popular TV show called WKRP in Cincinnati. Steely Dan's catalog is an amazing collection of progressive rock that's inspired by jazz. But even when writing a song for a movie, they had enough talent to create a classic that stands on its own over 40 years after it was released.

I am 65 and have listened to them since 1972 and this is my favorite by them,#2 is glamour profession 3.Peg, but this beauty,funky,soulful,jazzy and much more..Dan is the man! Great reaction ..Kent in Ohio.

The combination of all those genres definitely defines what is known as "Fusion" or "Rock-fusion"

Five genres!! In one song love Walter Becker, Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter and Donald Fagan & Jeff Porcaro especially here. This was first a soundtrack song here...was on their greatest hits.

Asia asking "what's static?" was so sweet. AM radio was king back in the day , but the static near overhead electric lines and tram lines .. 🥴 Usually picked up static right in the middle of your favourite song too. 😵

I had the double compilation album on vinyl. It was a brilliant album with the Doobies , Linda Ronstadt, Eagles and many Joe Walsh and many other Artists!

This cut was for the movie "FM". In this song, FM refers to radio signals and the disposition of the ladies. The good music and the girls were in FM mode. No static at all.

Their music always makes me think of a late night interlude with a beautiful lady on the 17th floor of a highrise apartment building in a a city dancing on the balcony with the city lights in the background...

I remember this song coming out. Driving with dad in his new truck that had a AM/FM radio. I was amazed how clear it was with no static at all and it didn’t lose the signal when you went under bridges. I thought that was amazing, how the radio still got the signal while we were under something.

The first truly personal cassette player, the Sony Walkman, was introduced in 1979. Before that, portable music was only available on AM/FM transistor radios. Music radio stations usually broadcast using amplitude modulation (AM) technology, which is prone to background distortion known as 'static'. Frequency modulation (FM) stations rarely played pop, rock, or country music. But when they finally did, the increase in fidelity was awesome! That's what this song is about. There was a time before digital files existed. It was awesome - people socialized and danced!

3rd Bass the Rappers from NYC did a song called "No Static At All". You guys got to jam that out. They used the Steely Dan as a background for it. Steely is always a Great choice. Can't lose with them.

I was 16 when this tune was released, I loved it then and I'm still loving it today. You just can't go wrong with Steely Dan.

yeah, the no static sound back in the day was so cool, funny to to think about these days but when you got a crystal clear signal it was AWESOME

Not “just another” Steely Dan song. These guys ALWAYS were saying something pretty heavy and profound, thru all kinds of lyrical mastery, silly and non-sensical or soul piercing verbal daggers. Bancorp in the early 70’s there was a station that the youth in the area ALWAYS had tuned. In 1973 there was KQIV-FM...I could call in and ask for anything, and they’d fit it in, sometimes immediately. It was a great pirate styled FM station.

These guys had the groove, my parents had me up on them in early 80s. Super talented and unique sound. Great reaction

Okay I had to stop everything I was doing to watch and listen to y’all’s take on this song! First, let me say it’s been one of my favorite bands since I first started listening to music regularly at around 10 years old in 1976. Their music was all over the radio for most of my growing up and even now here in Vegas on the 91.5 UNLV station they play it regularly. Donald Fagen started the band by himself and heard Walter Becker the lead guitarist playing in a cafe in New York as he passed by and asked him if he wanted to be in his band and the rest was history. I did get to see them a few years ago in SF but since then Mr. Becker has passed away, but Donald Fagen is still touring and I believe they are touring this year. What’s really cool to me is that black people always seem to like the music of Steely Dan when they hear it just like white people love so much of black music especially during that time of the 70s, so I really enjoyed your takes on this FM jam and how much you’all enjoyed it. I’ll be checking you two out now that I found you and thanks.🙏

You can't go wrong with Steely Dan... They're in a class all by themselves, smooth, funk, jazz will wrap you up in a great night of laid back, simply groove music for ANY mood!! All I can say is, great job and more please... "Deacon Blues" is another tasty musical treat... I BETCHA!!! 🎶👍🏻😉... Asia, you've got sax on the brain, super sax solo will rock your world in Deacon Blues...

This was the intro song for the movie, "FM" and it was perfect. Steely Dan is basically two talented guys. Their music is progressive and artistic and evolved from pop to jazz-rock. Their album, AJA, is considered a milestone classic by critics. There were three hits from it, but the title song is my favorite. Their first hit, Do It Again, is a popular favorite and played often on classic radio.

Back in 60's & 70's Rock and R&B was mostly played on AM Stations.....it had static on it. When FM started playing it crystal clear

I remember the hub-bub over FM....There were boats out in the San Francisco Bay broadcasting FM (FM was not legal at that time) usually at night until the law shut them down.....

Frequency Modulation = FM Radio - Amplitude Modulation = AM Radio -- I remember back in the day, when mom or dad would drive the car below an underpass or high tension power lines the AM station reception would fade out.

Just got to see Donald Fagen at the Hollywood Bowl a couple weeks ago. His voice is still the same. This opened the show and it was 2 more hours of Steely Dan. What a night of good food, better friends and great music.

"Hey 19" and "Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan is a must react to. You'll love them both.

When FM radio came out, they had a hard time getting people to leave AM and go to FM, and the way they did it, was to promise no static, static is the crackling sound that comes over the Airwaves, radio and TV.

It wasn't until 1974-75 that the number of FM stations topped the number of AM stations. Steely Dan's FM titled album was released in 1978.

We were thrilled when we finally got a FM station in early 1970s. AM Radio wasn't clear and you always got static noise. We thought we were so cool. ❤

Steely Dan was (and is ) a conglomeration of the best musicians in the world 🎹🎼🎯🔥

As some have said, Steely Dan originally wrote and performed this song for the 1978 Motion Picture "FM." Although the movie was past it's time when it was aired in theaters, the song still stands up today as one of the best Steely Dan songs. And yes, many of we old timers remember mono AM radio static (like in a lightning storm) and then the crystal clear sound of stereo FM radio which had "no static at all." FM radio often played entire albums with only a commercial break between sides of the record. But I digress. What many folks don't know is that this song was written and performed in the "Aja" album sessions and featured Jeff Porcaro of the classic rock band Toto playing drums, Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmidt of The Eagles on backing vocals and great west coast jazz musician Peter Christlieb on tenor sax (he also played sax on a previous hit of theirs "Deacon Blues"). Quite the pedigree even for a Steely Dan song.

Most American cars had only AM without even an FM option until the mid 70's. AM was pop music, sports, and preachers. FM was Jazz, Classical and Prog Rock (songs longer than the 3-4 min. AM standard).

Steely Dan got jazz on to the pop charts. This song was one of the more important SD songs to get them there.

Wife here..Steely Dan is just AMAZING .., Musical Geniuses .., IMHO...Fuze Jazz..,Funk. and Blues all going together..and the Rock at the end..Sooo Perfectly stated!!.

Imagine it's 1978 and you're cruising across Kansas in your '74 Plymouth Valiant listening to that sax solo! What a great time!!

FM radio had no static. AM radio was prone to static interference so the music of the 60s was more compressed to overcome the static.

Funky as hell but smooth as silk. The Dan had their own vibe , there was no one like them.

FM was also the theme song for the 1978 movie “FM” about some DJs at an FM station taking over the station. The movie connection explains the fact that there are strings (arranged and conducted by Johnny Mandel, who did a million things in movies as well as recording artists and TV.) Other than this there was maybe one other thing they did with strings. Guitar solo by Walter Becker.

Pete Christlieb on Tenor Sax, at the time he was a member of The Tonight Show Orchestra, Walter and Donald were watching tv one night and he played a jaw dropping solo and recruited him into their arsenal of absolute killer studio musicians.

hi guys… you have to do “Aja” it’s your name and one of the greatest songs in music history … please 🙏🏼

Getting FM RADIO was so exciting. Lovelovelove ❤️✌🏻🌸

I recall the growth of Frequency Modulation (FM) Radio in the early 70’s. My parents listened to the station that played what could be called “elevator music). We lived in the Ft Worth/Dallas area (yeah I intentionally but Ft Worth ahead of Dallas). Anyway I came home from 2-a-day football practice, it was August and H.O.T. hot. Cranked down the window unit A/C aimed the vents down andlaid on the floor to cool off. The radio made a electronic cracking sound, the announcer said “This is KZEW DALLAS” then out came Frank Zappa’s, “Montana Song”. My life was forever changed. My father couldn’t understand why the station he enjoyed changed formats and play that “noise”. He didn’t even like Elvis (explains a lot). Steely Dan was (like Boz Skaggs) fusion of jazz, rock and RnB.

Studio legend and original drummer for Toto, the late Jeff Porcaro, was on drums for this great SD song. RIP

give someone static :to argue with someone; to give someone back talk. I want you to do it and do it now! Don't give me any static! FM radio was static free, commercial free, doesn't matter what's playing...just get high and dig the music...no arguments, no complaints...ya dig?

The long fade out is due to the fact that the song was written for the 1978 movie FM. The fade out is typical “scene music” played while the first scene is set up visually. Wonderful song about a wonderful time when FM was dominated by Album Oriented Rock (AOR). Many wonderful stations ( My local was Starview92) played the original album cuts of songs so you were quick to discover the song that the advertisers and suits were presenting and what the artists produced were, many times, vastly different.

i remember when I got my first FM radio and the FM converter to put in the car...still came out of one speaker in the middle of the dash....now thems was the days

Listen, I’m 53 years old. I grew up listening to Steely Dan. They’re one of my favorite bands of all time. One of my favorite things to do till this day is go to the beach chill (I live in Florida), and listen to steely Dan it’s a great damn day when you can do that!

We were thrilled in early 1970s that we finally had an FM station! By the mid 70s we had 8 track tapes! We were so cool. lol

Title track from a great 1978 movie about changing times for commercial radio. Incredible soundtrack. Right up there with American Graffiti

am radio back in the day had static, and even stations over stations bleed through, when fm radio came out, it was wonderful, No static at all, crisp and clear

Background vocals by The Eagles. No static on FM radio; loads of static on AM which used to be all there was in cars until the late 60s, but you had to have 4-track or 8-track or FM stereo specially installed.

Oh Man you Two are Taking me Back to my Freshman year in High School, 1979! No Static is Right⚡!! This is Referring to the Age When EVERYONE was making the Switch to FM radio, from The often STATIC ⚡ Filled AM radio! AM Radio 📻 also had the Distinction of Being INSANELY Mellow!! AM would have Never played Groups like Zeppelin!! or Oueen!! They would Play the BEATLES, But only the Earliest songs, never they're More " Psychedelic hits from the Late 60's!

Hey man, Steely Dan was funky. I saw them live and they sounded amazing. Always the very best brass sections and perfect backup vocals. RIP Walter Becker

The AM (Amplitude Modulation) Broadcast Band and FM (Frequency Modulation) broadcast bands (BCB) operate with different technology and different space in the radio spectrum. AM technology is susceptible to noise spikes in amplitude and FM is more immune to that kind of noise (including static). The AM BCB is lower in frequency and each channel has a much smaller bandwidth than the FM BCB channels. That narrow bandwidth means a smaller audio frequency range can be transmitted, thus lower audio quality. The FM BCB with wider channels allows for those beautiful higher frequencies in music. Steely Dan's "FM" is a beautiful tribute to the technology that Major Armstrong pioneered decades ago.

Static is the name for the crackling sound that was common on AM radio. When FM was first introduced, one of it's big selling features was that is had less static. More colloquially, static came to mean aggravation. No static at all implies getting on well (with the girls) and having a clean listening experience.

There's an extended version too with the sax playing on to the end. All excellent. Just masterful productions and talent.

AM (amplitude modulation) radio was where pop music was heard by the people, AM radios were standard in cars until the late 1970s, and personal radios were mostly also AM. FM (Frequency Modulation) was a new format of radio which not only provided music free from the scratchy static that AM stations provided ( " no static at all" was frequently used as an announcement on early FM stations), but also provided actual stereo, which until that time was purely an audiophile thing only acheivable by multi-channel amplifiers in a live setting. FM provided a place for people to listen to long tracks and whole album sides because they were also "commercual free". No ads, no interuptions, just pure music. Until the advent of FM radio, all pop music had to fit into the 3 minute song length. Longer songs were edited to make them short enough to fit into AM radios commercial model, and music fans hated the edited versions. There is an error in the lyrics in the video you watched...it should be "Give her some funked up Muzak " not 'music'. Muzak was the brand name of background music that played in stores and elevators in the 60s and 70s, typically pop songs with the vocal tracks removed...another snide reference to a type of musical experience with no soul at all. The track "FM" was the credit song for a movie of the same name. The movie was terrible, but the song remains as a stand out. Walter Becker's haunting guitar solo/outro is phenomenal!

You can NEVER, EVER, EVER go wrong with Steely Dan on the speakers... 😊

Amplitude Modulation AM broadcasting was picked for radio because its signal would travel farther, but would only support mono and frequently included a lot of audio static. Frequency Modulation FM not only supported a stereo signal, was clean but had smaller range. However, building infrastructure took a while because you needed more stations to cover the same area.

When FM came on the scene it was phenomenal!! No more static on AM. 😊❤

Yo if you ever have the opportunity to catch this band live DO IT. They do tour on the rare occasion. Master class in jammin. Bring the sticky when you go. These dudes are super educated studio jamming musicians . Fun fact : Chevy Chase the comedian, started out as their drummer while in college. BOOM

AM-Amplitude Modulation FM-Frequency Modulation. By the time top 40 radio stations switched to FM, they also had the technology to "lock in" on the stations frequency, so that a strong clear, static free, signal could be received at the other end.

Since a lot of cars back in the day only had AM radios, a lot of people would install their own 8-track players so they could make their own music choices. We recently cleaned out my parent's house and came across an FM tuner that plugged into an 8-track player. That way, you had your AM on the radio and Fm or 8-track from your 8-track player. High tech! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Back in the day when you walked into a real good electronics store to buy a new system, you would go into to Audio Room and see all the amps , speakers and turntables and you couldn’t wait to buy a system. . You would have the salesman show you some of equipment, they always put on Steely Dan, nothing sounded better. Most people today don’t even own a stereo, they are missing out on some incredible sounds.

This was the Tittle song from the movie "FM"... Static is the Hiss that AM radiosstations had , FM was an inovation, quiter ...not all cars had AM and FM now they do.

It was the theme song to the film FM, about a radio station in the mid 70s.

Steely Dan can smash it ALL together, and it sounds so good. You will not go wrong following a Steely Dan rabbit hole; there are so many gems!

FM radio has a clearer sound than AM radio at least back then in the 1970s. Clear sound with ",no static ".The song is from the soundtrack of a movie called "FM"(1978).The movie was about disc jockeys taking over an FM radio station after the station agreed to air recruiting commercials for the U.S. Army.

Fun fact: The background vocalists on this excellent track by the Dan? It was a little group called The Eagles. Plus that guitar outro takes me places, just like yall are talking about in your reaction. It feels like Becker is channeling David Gilmour from Pink Floyd. And as always, Steely Dan's perfect production.

When broadcast radio first came out, it was AM (amplitude modulation). The government immediately stepped in and created the FCC because radio stations were using too much power for their broadcasts. The FCC limited radio stations broadcast power to a 100 mile radius so that it would enable fair competition. Also, the broadcast bandwidth was limited because the technology was new and they wanted to make sure there was enough AM radio frequencies to go around. The result was the frequency bandwidth is so narrow, it doesn't capture the full human hearing frequencies (making it sound real tinny). The side effect is it picks up the atmosphere background noise that we call static. FM (frequency modulation) came along later and that opened up so many more radio frequencies that it is able to support stereo effects and block the static.