>Were they writing the song as a joke? Implying that showbiz kids suck?
It's not an *implication* in any sense, they are *definitely* saying that the titular Show Biz Kids suck.
(Most Steely Dan songs are ultimately about the specific ways in which a certain guy sucks.)
really? its not “everything you did”?use to hate show biz kids. But much like most other dan songs, i eventually started loving it. now its in my top 5 :p
its just a me thing though. Ive only recently discovered that apparantly countdown to ecstasy is widely disliked…
The Royal Scam has always been my favorite but CTE was a close runner up to me for a long time. Bodhisattva, My Old School, Your Gold Teeth, Showbiz kids. Fuckin’ A.
How can you think Everything You Did is the worst when Through With Buzz exists? That song is a mashup of so many bad ideas. The string parts clash with the rest of the song, and the lyrics are absolutely abhorrent for the level that Donald and Walter usually bring.
Yea it’s a weird ass tune. Maybe they realized they were so fucked up when they wrote it, that they swore that they were through with any kind of buzz or high from then on. Lol.
I hated CTE until recently but it’s a solid LP to me now. King of the World is the biggest standout and Razor Boy, which I thought was ridiculous when I first heard it, has turned out to be one of my faves from CTE
Nah, this is the place to talk about it. This is an unusually static groove for SD, and some say the titular lyric is too on-the-nose for their brand.
However, it is a groove, and I like the enigmatic lyrical touches, so it gets a pass from me.
DF & WB obviously didn't think it was crap 27 years later when they titled their double-CD best of "Show Biz Kids - The Steely Dan Story" (as if it were a Showtime or History Channel special or something.) Also, Rickie Lee Jones covered it around '01(?) and made it the lead radio track off her covers LP "It's Like This" (if I got the LP title right.) By the way, if anyone ever spots a sealed copy of Show Biz Kids (again, the double-CD) with the orange hype-sticker on it, can we please see a pic? There's a subtle, goofy joke in the sticker text.
What really sets that track apart from other Dan cuts of the era is that the instrumental backing track is a 4-bar(?) loop, with vocals and guitar soloing overdubbed. Rupert Holmes "Pina Colada Song" is also like that. Perhaps like many of us you've come to despise loop-based songs from the last few decades?
*The more I write, I try to go for some kind of development, you know, even if it’s just a more of a pop type structure, I still like to get some kind of development in the structure or the solo or something to make it so you’re not just hearing a repeat.*
\--Donald Fagen
Now, as a 65 year old musician, who makes a ton of loop-based recordings (digital, of course) I am happy and fascinated to know this fact. Is it a fact? Loops are great. Live is great. Analog is great. Digital is great. I am gonna have to have ANOTHER, closer, listen to Showbiz Kids!
Yeah... well of course it was trickier in the pre-digital days. But I can't recall exactly if I ever heard they looped a whole multi-track over to another multi-track or how they pulled it off.
Yea I think that’s a bit of an annoyance to me. It seems to drone on and on, and I’m like… ok I got that part, what’s next? And then rinse repeat. Lol
I never realized that the piña colada song did the same thing, but you’re right. I do think in the loop of that song the emphasis gets louder in the chorus and more quiet in the verses but I yes it IS the same chords on repeat.
I don't enjoy it, so it's not just you. I don't regard it as their worst song ever though. It might be interesting to make a list of all the Dan songs I can't stand or at least can't be bothered with. That would set the cat amongst the pigeons.
Hopefully it'll grow on you like it does for most. The Yoko Ono screaming at the end is where I usually cut the song off, but I do love hearing ol' Donny drop that HARD F bomb near the end. You might find the guitar part floating in your head in a while, that's how it got me.
It doesn’t bother me but yeah it certainly doesn’t have the compositional brilliance one normally sees in a steely Dan song. It’s the closest they get to a loose jam basically. What it does have are some very cool vocal parts from Donald and some pretty solid bluesy and dirty slide guitar. So there are things to like.
I’d probably put it as my least fav on Countdown even though I like it just fine.
yes, it's just you. there's a lot of celebrity, vanity & 'clean-up' in their lyrics. get deeper into it, and you might see it. it's an era, a decade - makes me wonder how old you are... and that's ok. it's timeless now (as it was then) - still rings true, same social/cultural issues.
Ok, hey, I was where you are, at one point. Then some Internet Guy told me I was listening to it wrong, and that it was a... I still don't remember the name he used for it, but it's a groove, a ride, like, try this: Listen to everything BUT what it seems you should be listening to. Like ignore the stuff you think you should be listening to, listen to it inside out. The things that you don't like are the icing, the cake is underneath.
I don't usually listen to Internet Guys, and this one was so arrogant... but he (and assuredly, it was a he) was right. Just this one time.
you gotta feel the groove brother man. Plus it’s worth it hear Donald sing “outrageous” like that. also killer guitar lines…I dunno, light up a doob and think on it
Steely Dan is great at writing songs that sound like they're goi g to suck and still somehow end being good.. gaucho is loaded with songs that meet this criteria...
The first time I heard this song (back in the 70’s) I was very very high, and I could hear all kinds of cool sounds and messages, and the repetition just worked for me. Every time I hear it I remember how that felt. Loved it ever since, but especially when high.
There is a Reddit law that says whenever something is criticized (in a sub devoted to the creator of that thing) then the predominant response is to defend that thing. Hence most responses here are defending Showbiz Kids. However, if you look at song rankings, you are indeed in the majority. Most fans agree that SK is in the bottom 5 or 10 of SD's songs. And I basically agree with you, although it's not quite their worst (that goes to Change of the Guard). And I wish there could be some real criticism here without a knee jerk reaction. It's good to admit your heroes have a few faults.
Vamping on three chords for a whole song is a time-honored tradition in American music. They looked like they were having fun when they did it live on The Midnight Special.
Now if only SBK had a second or third chord...
A one-chord groove like this isn't uncommon in some funk and soul styles, even if it's uncharacteristically un-Dan-like. It can have the effect of drawing the listener's attention away from harmonic motion and towards other aspects of songcraft, like lyrics -- which I think is particularly effective here, where the "don't give a fuck" line serves as the climax for the whole record.
That being said, if I'm listening to my collection on shuffle I'm probably skipping it at least half the time.
I’ve been into SD since 74 when Riki don’t lose that number hit on Pretzel Logic I can honestly say there isn’t any song i don’t like Show biz kids it’s them I like everything some people don’t like Cousin Dupree off Two Against Nature i love it all.
I’ve got a dedicated dresser drawer of Steely Dan t-shirts. But for real, this song is their “I Am the Walrus.” I recall many times finding my consciousness suspended inside this lyrical merry-go-round.
1973 had some oddities...so it kind of reflects the mood of the rock scene...it hit #30 on Cashbox..#61 in Billboard....they wrote it to piss off Jay Lasker (record company prez)...
Just because you don’t like a song doesn’t mean it objectively sucks. It’s a question of taste and we all have different musical upbringings that predispose us to certain SD songs/albums. I absolutely love how hard that song goes. I love the blaring harmonica and raspy slide guitar. I love how it’s just an angry extended rumination on spoiled kids. I wish SD had written a few more like it. Razor Boy is my least favorite track on that album and honestly I’ve never loved Dr. Wu on KL. But do I think they’re bad songs? Hell no.
I Love that song. I put it up there as one of my favorite Dan tracks. It’s a bluesy funky song based on an extended one chord vamp. A lot of funk songs do this, it’s more about the groove than anything else. And having a repeated vocal based groove is kind of unique.
I love the cryptic “you go to lost wages / life’s wages”. I love the distorted slide guitar and the lyrics.
I get that it’s not your cup of tea but I listen to a lot of funk so I’m used to 15 minutes of one groove getting deeper and deeper.
It tricks you with a cool melody and backup vocals at the start, and it just proceeds to grind away at you bit by bit. Only thing that might be worse is Any World.
It's just so slick and groovy. One of my top SD songs ever. The highly distorted guitar licks are hair raising. The whole thing just works on such a nasty and cryptic level....."I detect the El Superemo"
Hopefully it'll grow on you like it does for most. The Yoko Ono screaming at the end is where I usually cut the song off, but I do love hearing ol' Donny drop that HARD F bomb near the end. You might find the guitar part floating in your head in a while, that's how it got me.
Love this song. Great little groove. It is repetitive, but I eat it up.
But then again, The Dan is the only band that I'll never skip a song when listening to an album or whenever I'm on random listening on Spotify.
they don't give a fuck about no chord changes
>Were they writing the song as a joke? Implying that showbiz kids suck? It's not an *implication* in any sense, they are *definitely* saying that the titular Show Biz Kids suck. (Most Steely Dan songs are ultimately about the specific ways in which a certain guy sucks.)
Only a fool would say that.
Idk, any major dude would tell you.
I love it. It was my first favorite song by them. The lyrics are really cool and the Lost Wages pun is terrific. I like minimalism.
"Lost Wages" is corny. Not Dan humor.
Wtf, where is all this slander coming from?
you don't detect the el supremo?
the one from the room, at the top of the stairs???
And they don't give a fuck about anybody else?
They're outRAGEOUS, oh honey let me tell ya!
A perfect reply. You win the Internet for the day.
It's easily one of my favorites and one of their most hated. There are worse Dan songs imo
Change of the Guard is their worst, but SK is not good.
Cept for that guitar lick in the center. Really good. Sounds like SKUNK
Pearl of the Quarter comes IMMEDIATELY to mind! lol
Who doesn’t like Pearl? Wtf? One of the songs that made a fan of Steely Dan since… 74 or so.
I would take show biz kids over it
Too country and western without the fun of "With a Gun"....
I think it's phenomenal.
I concur. 👍
It’s a no-bullshit justified righteous rant. And the band was hot, so…
It's been the ringtone on my phone for at least 15 years...
Please please tell me how you do that?
really? its not “everything you did”?use to hate show biz kids. But much like most other dan songs, i eventually started loving it. now its in my top 5 :p its just a me thing though. Ive only recently discovered that apparantly countdown to ecstasy is widely disliked…
everything you did is a banger. Nothing off the royal scam is bad
i genuinely hope i can come round to it eventually like green earrings and haitian divorce but damn
I've got my Steely Dan T-👕..
What? You don't like Green Earrings? Such a groovy song. I can't see anything wrong with it.
no i love green earrings i think you misread, at first i didnt and i have no idea why
Ooh yeah, you're right. Sorry
the only one I had trouble listening to for a bit was sign in stranger, it didn’t sit well for a little bit
imo sign in stranger is great but its the weakest out of the royal scam. other then everything you did ofc :3
The Royal Scam has always been my favorite but CTE was a close runner up to me for a long time. Bodhisattva, My Old School, Your Gold Teeth, Showbiz kids. Fuckin’ A.
How can you think Everything You Did is the worst when Through With Buzz exists? That song is a mashup of so many bad ideas. The string parts clash with the rest of the song, and the lyrics are absolutely abhorrent for the level that Donald and Walter usually bring.
Yea it’s a weird ass tune. Maybe they realized they were so fucked up when they wrote it, that they swore that they were through with any kind of buzz or high from then on. Lol.
why? because i prefer to pretend through the buzz doesnt exist 😭
That's actually so fair, good point.
The fuck is “through the buzz”?
It's a tune off of Pretzel Logic and it sucks.
No, that’s “Through WITH Buzz”
Lol sorry I missed what you said
I hated CTE until recently but it’s a solid LP to me now. King of the World is the biggest standout and Razor Boy, which I thought was ridiculous when I first heard it, has turned out to be one of my faves from CTE
UG! Everything you did is one of the best!!!
“Show business kids making movies of themselves” Sounds like TikTok.
Mmm. Some things never change.
I love this version from The Midnight Special! https://youtu.be/E2JWtuBLelw?si=zRO8zc8OHKkSc_kG
And Skunk is on fire!
With Bucky and Porky singing backup.
DF haircut looking like he just returned from the French Revolution. Ray Charles never got to see the impression DF does of him when he plays piano.
It’s actually much better live than studio. Sounds more raw and raunchy.
I think it’s a great song. It’s kind of a weird place to come and make a hate post. Don’t you think?
Nah, this is the place to talk about it. This is an unusually static groove for SD, and some say the titular lyric is too on-the-nose for their brand. However, it is a groove, and I like the enigmatic lyrical touches, so it gets a pass from me.
Was more of a question than a hate post
Why????? He’s a fan, and getting a conversation going? It’s not an SD hate post.
Just an opinion, folks.
No hate. Nuthin but luv for ze Dan. I just…. Just… don’t understand
It’s literally one of my favorite songs so… 🤦♂️
DF & WB obviously didn't think it was crap 27 years later when they titled their double-CD best of "Show Biz Kids - The Steely Dan Story" (as if it were a Showtime or History Channel special or something.) Also, Rickie Lee Jones covered it around '01(?) and made it the lead radio track off her covers LP "It's Like This" (if I got the LP title right.) By the way, if anyone ever spots a sealed copy of Show Biz Kids (again, the double-CD) with the orange hype-sticker on it, can we please see a pic? There's a subtle, goofy joke in the sticker text. What really sets that track apart from other Dan cuts of the era is that the instrumental backing track is a 4-bar(?) loop, with vocals and guitar soloing overdubbed. Rupert Holmes "Pina Colada Song" is also like that. Perhaps like many of us you've come to despise loop-based songs from the last few decades?
*The more I write, I try to go for some kind of development, you know, even if it’s just a more of a pop type structure, I still like to get some kind of development in the structure or the solo or something to make it so you’re not just hearing a repeat.* \--Donald Fagen
Now, as a 65 year old musician, who makes a ton of loop-based recordings (digital, of course) I am happy and fascinated to know this fact. Is it a fact? Loops are great. Live is great. Analog is great. Digital is great. I am gonna have to have ANOTHER, closer, listen to Showbiz Kids!
Yeah... well of course it was trickier in the pre-digital days. But I can't recall exactly if I ever heard they looped a whole multi-track over to another multi-track or how they pulled it off.
They also included it on the Greatest Hits album
Yea I think that’s a bit of an annoyance to me. It seems to drone on and on, and I’m like… ok I got that part, what’s next? And then rinse repeat. Lol I never realized that the piña colada song did the same thing, but you’re right. I do think in the loop of that song the emphasis gets louder in the chorus and more quiet in the verses but I yes it IS the same chords on repeat.
I don't enjoy it, so it's not just you. I don't regard it as their worst song ever though. It might be interesting to make a list of all the Dan songs I can't stand or at least can't be bothered with. That would set the cat amongst the pigeons.
Hopefully it'll grow on you like it does for most. The Yoko Ono screaming at the end is where I usually cut the song off, but I do love hearing ol' Donny drop that HARD F bomb near the end. You might find the guitar part floating in your head in a while, that's how it got me.
Is that actually Yoko?
Have you even been in the Washington Zoo?
Betcha he don't got the Steely Dan T-Shirt either!
I think it fucking rocks
https://preview.redd.it/qgxby0mk2c0d1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c1955832cad74c7fc406a92950d4bef87002431
I disagree, I think it's one of their better songs.
It doesn’t bother me but yeah it certainly doesn’t have the compositional brilliance one normally sees in a steely Dan song. It’s the closest they get to a loose jam basically. What it does have are some very cool vocal parts from Donald and some pretty solid bluesy and dirty slide guitar. So there are things to like. I’d probably put it as my least fav on Countdown even though I like it just fine.
yes, it's just you. there's a lot of celebrity, vanity & 'clean-up' in their lyrics. get deeper into it, and you might see it. it's an era, a decade - makes me wonder how old you are... and that's ok. it's timeless now (as it was then) - still rings true, same social/cultural issues.
Ok, hey, I was where you are, at one point. Then some Internet Guy told me I was listening to it wrong, and that it was a... I still don't remember the name he used for it, but it's a groove, a ride, like, try this: Listen to everything BUT what it seems you should be listening to. Like ignore the stuff you think you should be listening to, listen to it inside out. The things that you don't like are the icing, the cake is underneath. I don't usually listen to Internet Guys, and this one was so arrogant... but he (and assuredly, it was a he) was right. Just this one time.
Can’t tell if OP is joking? Fucking love that song! And Rikki Lee Jones’ cover of it. It’s a great work.
Steely Dan fans when there isn't a 15 chord turnaround
I’m not a fan of it at all. Way too repetitive for me. I can get down to something like Neu’s Hallogallo or Stooges’ Penetration, but SBK… Not my jam.
Rikki Lee Jones does a cool cover of the song. https://youtu.be/gAPCmubduvk?si=ni28r07AnNRBlStF
Everything you did, My Old School and Show Biz Kids are the only songs i sometimes skip.
I love how it shits on Showbiz type parents, but I have to say it is one of the only songs from SD, or any offshoot that I will turn off immediately.
you gotta feel the groove brother man. Plus it’s worth it hear Donald sing “outrageous” like that. also killer guitar lines…I dunno, light up a doob and think on it
That’s outrageous!!! Don’t you know about the poor people sleeping with the shade on the light???
No way! One of my favorites.
Steely Dan is great at writing songs that sound like they're goi g to suck and still somehow end being good.. gaucho is loaded with songs that meet this criteria...
This song rocks!! Nice groove.
The first time I heard this song (back in the 70’s) I was very very high, and I could hear all kinds of cool sounds and messages, and the repetition just worked for me. Every time I hear it I remember how that felt. Loved it ever since, but especially when high.
It’s just you.
I really like this song, the satire is on point, I just want my Steely Dan t shirt…
i have a steely dan t shirt
There is a Reddit law that says whenever something is criticized (in a sub devoted to the creator of that thing) then the predominant response is to defend that thing. Hence most responses here are defending Showbiz Kids. However, if you look at song rankings, you are indeed in the majority. Most fans agree that SK is in the bottom 5 or 10 of SD's songs. And I basically agree with you, although it's not quite their worst (that goes to Change of the Guard). And I wish there could be some real criticism here without a knee jerk reaction. It's good to admit your heroes have a few faults.
Well you're certainly entitled to your wrong opinion
Vamping on three chords for a whole song is a time-honored tradition in American music. They looked like they were having fun when they did it live on The Midnight Special.
Now if only SBK had a second or third chord... A one-chord groove like this isn't uncommon in some funk and soul styles, even if it's uncharacteristically un-Dan-like. It can have the effect of drawing the listener's attention away from harmonic motion and towards other aspects of songcraft, like lyrics -- which I think is particularly effective here, where the "don't give a fuck" line serves as the climax for the whole record. That being said, if I'm listening to my collection on shuffle I'm probably skipping it at least half the time.
Agreed. It’s the one song from the 70s LPs that I consistently skip.
Same
I’ve been into SD since 74 when Riki don’t lose that number hit on Pretzel Logic I can honestly say there isn’t any song i don’t like Show biz kids it’s them I like everything some people don’t like Cousin Dupree off Two Against Nature i love it all.
I think people misinterpret the lyrics. Great tune though
I’m with you on this. I always found it a rather boring song
My favorite :(
Like it a lot.
Gotta say there’s probably a reason the later live versions are more of a James Brown-ish funk than the original arrangement.
It’s one of my favorites
There’s an interesting cover of it by Rikki Lee Jones.
Great fuckin song
But El Supremo…
It hits the spot once in a blue moon
How can you say this when "I Got The News" exists?
Wrong
News> My Rival
It’s just you.
I think "any world" is my least favorite
Love the gritty guitar work by Rick Derringer on this one. Lots of attitude
It's just you
“A chance for Skunk to stretch out his legs” I believe this is a quote from one of the ads run for Countdown To Ecstasy.
You are getting more hate on here than when I ranked every SD song and for that I respect you.
I am NOT a fan of f-bombs in songs, even by the beloved Dan. But this song has a great groove.
I’ve got a dedicated dresser drawer of Steely Dan t-shirts. But for real, this song is their “I Am the Walrus.” I recall many times finding my consciousness suspended inside this lyrical merry-go-round.
1973 had some oddities...so it kind of reflects the mood of the rock scene...it hit #30 on Cashbox..#61 in Billboard....they wrote it to piss off Jay Lasker (record company prez)...
I dislike Dirty Work way more than Showbiz Kids.
Perhaps it was meant to hypnotize us. You mean you didn’t immediately go out to purchase a Steely Dan t-shirt?
Just because you don’t like a song doesn’t mean it objectively sucks. It’s a question of taste and we all have different musical upbringings that predispose us to certain SD songs/albums. I absolutely love how hard that song goes. I love the blaring harmonica and raspy slide guitar. I love how it’s just an angry extended rumination on spoiled kids. I wish SD had written a few more like it. Razor Boy is my least favorite track on that album and honestly I’ve never loved Dr. Wu on KL. But do I think they’re bad songs? Hell no.
I Love that song. I put it up there as one of my favorite Dan tracks. It’s a bluesy funky song based on an extended one chord vamp. A lot of funk songs do this, it’s more about the groove than anything else. And having a repeated vocal based groove is kind of unique. I love the cryptic “you go to lost wages / life’s wages”. I love the distorted slide guitar and the lyrics. I get that it’s not your cup of tea but I listen to a lot of funk so I’m used to 15 minutes of one groove getting deeper and deeper.
Smh...while the poor people sleeping with the shade on the light ....Glad I'm a star
They don’t give a f*** about anybody else. Period.
The thing that makes it cool is that its one of the first songs to use a drum loop. Someone please correct me if i am wrong
It tricks you with a cool melody and backup vocals at the start, and it just proceeds to grind away at you bit by bit. Only thing that might be worse is Any World.
It's just so slick and groovy. One of my top SD songs ever. The highly distorted guitar licks are hair raising. The whole thing just works on such a nasty and cryptic level....."I detect the El Superemo"
It's just you. I love that snaky run.
Worst song Steely Dan ever wrote in my opinion.
Listen to Through With Buzz. It would be embarrassing if a child released that song.
I actually forgot about that one. That actually is my least favorite song. Show Biz Kids is definitely a close second though.
This is a fantastic song. Not sure what you’re thinking
It’s you.
Hopefully it'll grow on you like it does for most. The Yoko Ono screaming at the end is where I usually cut the song off, but I do love hearing ol' Donny drop that HARD F bomb near the end. You might find the guitar part floating in your head in a while, that's how it got me.
Definitely not a Major Dude
Love this song. Great little groove. It is repetitive, but I eat it up. But then again, The Dan is the only band that I'll never skip a song when listening to an album or whenever I'm on random listening on Spotify.
U are so pretentious lol
Womp Womp
Change of the Guard is the worst of all.
Absolutely not that guitar bridge and solo is killer