1 of 1- aflem
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Steve Miller Shares the Stories Behind His Greatest Hits
This is a great little article and you don't have to be a Steve Miller Band fan to appreciate it - but it helps! It's the story behind every one of his big hits in the 70s, and some of the inspirations or weird incidents behind them.
Like borrowing a line from an oldie that he thought wouldn't be a big deal in "The Joker."
Until it was.
"Miller quoted a racy line from an old hit by the vocal group The Clovers, "really love your peaches/wanna shake your tree.” He didn’t realize, however, that this would mean sharing the publishing royalties with its authors. “I thought it was just a tip of the hat,” he said. Despite the sexiness of the line, and a drug reference elsewhere in the lyrics, Miller said “nobody at radio questioned it. I think every kid that heard it got it, but no adult knew what it was about.”
Other stories include the chance encounter that brought an uncredited Paul McCartney onto one of his albums, why the hit "Rock'n Me" was a rush job, his strange meeting with Diana Ross that inspired a huge smash that his record company hated and a lot more.
Steve Miller Shares the Stories Behind His Greatest Hits
- Roman
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Re: Steve Miller Shares the Stories Behind His Greatest Hits
Thanks for that, I'll check out the album. I'm a big Steve Miller fan and I had the good fortune to meet him at a press gathering before his Toronto show in the fall of '77. I read that he was an avid flatfish angler so I bought him a flatfish lure and, being a bit of an artsy, I painted on it a replica of the mask from "The Joker' album cover. He liked it. I reviewed his show and titled the piece "The King Is Dead, Long Live The King".
Last edited by Roman (September 16, 2023 11:51 am)
- alangee
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Re: Steve Miller Shares the Stories Behind His Greatest Hits
Thanks for posting aflem. That was a great and very interesting article.
- aflem
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Re: Steve Miller Shares the Stories Behind His Greatest Hits
I got a kick out of it, too. I love unknown trivia about songs I like.
But while this new article linked below goes over some of the same territory, it goes one step farther, telling the tale of how The Joker became an unlikely hit in Europe nearly 20 years after it first hit the charts. And it was all due to Levi's Jeans.
You can find it here.
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Thread Starter- alangee
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Re: Steve Miller Shares the Stories Behind His Greatest Hits
Thanks aflem. Another great article. Both of these articles show what so many of the artists in the 70's and 80's went through to get on the radio and achieve success. It was years of playing here, there and everywhere and not being sure where or how far they would go. Through it all they looked for the hook, lick or song that would propel them on to the radio and greater success. A couple of other groups that come to mind with great stories like that are Hall & Oates and Huey Lewis and the News. John Oates book "Change of Seasons provides a great look into how H&O started in the early 70s and worked their buns off before they became mega stars in the 80s.
Last edited by alangee (September 28, 2023 11:44 am)
- aflem
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Re: Steve Miller Shares the Stories Behind His Greatest Hits
Another story about one of Steve Miller's biggest hits. Turns out, "The Joker "was an offshoot of another Miller song. It was called "Space Cowboy" and it's a tune he never really liked.
The Meaning Behind “Space Cowboy,” the Steve Miller Band Classic Steve Miller Doesn’t Much Care For
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