Many know him as the “Space Cowboy” who “speaks of the pompatus of love”. The “Gangster Of Love”, and “The Joker”. This song, from the album of the same name, was Steve Miller’s first #1 hit. It took a while, as this album was the seventh album released in his long career. He had already produced a few popular and familiar songs; “Living in the USA”, “Space Cowboy”, and “My Dark Hour” (we’ll get back to this last one). The song and album of “The Joker” represented a change in direction of sound and started a string of well-known hits. Let’s start from his beginning.
Steven Haworth Miller, born October 5, 1943, was raised in a musical home with his mother, Bertha, whom he described as a remarkable jazz-influenced singer, and his physician father, George, known as “Sonny” who, in addition to his profession as a pathologist, was a jazz enthusiast and accomplished amateur recording engineer. Guitar virtuoso Les Paul and his musical partner Mary Ford were regular visitors at the Miller house. Dr. and Mrs. Miller were best man and maid of honor at the December 1949 wedding of Les Paul and Mary Ford. Les Paul heard Steve, who was four, on a wire recording made by Dr. Miller, as the youngster was “banging away” on a guitar given to him by his uncle, Dr. K. Dale Atterbury. Paul encouraged Miller to continue with his interest in the guitar … and “perhaps he will be something one day.” Steve’s uncles were also musicians – one played violin in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra – but when the Depression hit and the opportunities dried up, they became doctors instead.
Here’s a 20 minute video of Steve and Les (the Les Paul Trio) joking around, and tossing in some tasty jamming, in July 2007:
Les Paul would not be the only artist to influence, teach, and encourage him. His father had many distinguished musicians come to the house to record and Steve absorbed much from many “greats” right in his living room, such as T-Bone Walker, Charles Mingus and Tal Farlow. T-Bone Walker taught Steve how to play his guitar behind his back and also with his teeth in 1952.
Then, when I was 9, T-Bone Walker came to our house to play a party. I sat right next to T-Bone all night and watched him play. He taught me how to play the guitar behind my head and do splits. He became a regular at our house, and that’s how I learned to play lead guitar.
In 1955, he formed his first band, “The Marksmen”. He taught his older brother Buddy to play the bass and also instructed his classmate, future musical star Boz Scaggs, a few guitar chords so that he could join the band.
I thought, ‘Why don’t we mimeograph a letter and just send it to all the local fraternities, sororities, schools, boys clubs, and country clubs saying we have a rock and roll band and we’re looking for gigs?’” Miller said. “The phone rang off the wall. This was 1956. I was 13. There were no rock and roll bands at the time. Of course, we never said how old we were. I had this band booked every Friday and Saturday night for the entire school year. I eventually taught my older brother how to play bass so that he could drive us. We were so young, but we were really good, and we were making a living. We worked all over Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, but especially around Dallas, where we’d back up Jimmy Reed. I was making $300 a month, which is like $3,000 now. It was crazy!
Playing these local gigs for about 7 years, he moved to Wisconsin, and entered the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he formed “The Ardells”. Still not ready to settle into a full-time position of being a musician, he travelled to the University of Copenhagen in Denmark for a semester in his senior year to study comparative literature, he dropped out six credit hours shy of a literature degree, opting to pursue a music career with his mother’s encouragement and his father’s misgivings:
[Interviewer:] When you look back over the span of your career, what are the lasting moments, the sweetest highs?
[Miller:] I would have to say my father’s relationship with Les Paul and T-Bone Walker when I was young. Growing up in Dallas, being part of that phenomenal music scene. I found a way to do what I really wanted to do, which is so important for a kid. Near the end of college, my parents said, ‘Steve, what are you going to do?’ I said, ‘I want to go to Chicago and play the blues.’ My father looked at me like I was insane. But my mom said, ‘You should do it now.’ So I went to Chicago. And that was a special time. I played with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. I got to work with adults and realized music was what I wanted to do, what I loved.
Upon his return to the United States, Miller moved to Chicago where he immersed himself in the city’s blues scene. During his time there, he worked with harmonica player Paul Butterfield and jammed with blues greats Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy, all of whom offered the young guitarist encouragement to pursue a musical career.
In 1965, Miller and keyboardist Barry Goldberg formed the “Goldberg-Miller Blues Band” and began playing on the Chicago club scene. They signed with Epic Records and released a single, “The Mother Song”, and soon began a residency at a New York City blues club.
Although the collaboration with Goldberg didn’t ultimately work out, Miller got an extraordinary education in Chicago.
I must have seen Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf 100 times in a room the size of my living room.
He picked up a gig as rhythm guitarist in Buddy Guy’s band but didn’t have the stamina to see it through.
We played from nine at night until four in the morning six days a week. And Buddy’s rule was that we had to have one shot of bourbon before each set. After about three weeks, I just said, ‘Buddy, I can’t do this.’
Instead, he moved to San Francisco, where by virtue of his chops and reliability, Miller became a force on the scene, playing the Fillmore more than 100 times. He pulled a band together and, partly because record companies had become so enamored of San Francisco, he landed a five-album deal with Capitol for nearly $1 million, a massive figure at the time. The Steve Miller Band released two LPs in 1968: “Children of the Future” and “Sailor”. The latter rose to the Top 40 and included “Living in the U.S.A.,” which became a staple on the album-oriented format of FM radio. “Brave New World”, the band’s third album, rose to Number 22, and included “Space Cowboy,” another FM favorite, and “My Dark Hour”.
I told we’d get back to this, and here’s why. Not only had he made a name for himself around the West coast and starting to attract attention in the U.S., he started to be recognised in the U.K. This song shows he was noticed by a guy who played bass, drums, and backing vocals on this track, who’s name was credited as Paul Ramon. Don’t recognise that name? Maybe you know him better as Paul McCartney. If you listen, not even too closely, you will pick up quite a few riffs that would appear in one of Steve’s later hits. This song sounds a lot like an early rough draft of “Fly like An Eagle”, even a hint of “Livin’ In The U.S.A.” at the end. His guitar abilities firmly show why he was quickly becoming a recognised artist and a bright future ahead.
The band’s next two albums, “Your Saving Grace” (1969) and “Number 5” (1970), both cracked the Top 40, but it seemed as if the band had peaked. Miller was regarded as a credible figure, but none of the first five albums had gone gold. He had to make a decision.
We had recorded five albums in something like 18 months,” Miller said. “We had been playing 200 gigs a year. The band was going through changes. I wasn’t hearing anything from Capitol about a new contract. So I thought, I’ll get some musicians, go down to L.A. on my own, and produce my own record. I finished it in about 19 days.
That album was “The Joker”.
My little secret formula is that a hit single has to have five hooks. I made it as cleverly as I could. In the car, driving, people love to sing harmony. There was the slide solo, the whistle, the chorus, the ‘mid- night toker’ – a secret language that kids’ parents don’t understand. It had a little bit of everything. And it caught on.
The style and personnel of the band changed radically with “The Joker” (#1, 1973), concentrating on straightforward rock and leaving the psychedelic side of the band behind. The title track was certified platinum, reaching over one million sales. It was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA on January 11, 1974. Three years later, the band returned with the album “Fly Like an Eagle”, which charted at No. 3. Three singles were released from the album: “Take the Money and Run” (#11), “Fly Like an Eagle” (#2) and their second No. 1 success, “Rock’n Me”. Miller credits the guitar introduction to “Rock’n Me” as a tribute to the Free song, “All Right Now”.
Book of Dreams (#2, 1977) also included three successes: “Jet Airliner” (#8), “Jungle Love” (#23), and “Swingtown” (#17). 1982’s “Abracadabra” album gave Steve Miller his third #1 success with the title track.
Miller’s string of hits ran out at that point. The 80s were a confusing time for many veteran artists, Miller among them.
I never had a manager. I didn’t take advantage of all my opportunities. If I could do it over again, I would have worked harder to find someone who could have helped grow my business during that time. That run from 1967 to 1983 was nonstop. We started out in 3,000-seat theaters, and nine months later we’re playing in football stadiums. Staying on top of all that – writing songs, releasing records, running the band – it was a lot of work. I was pretty much burned. Consequently, Miller said, ‘Fuck it.’ I bought a 53-foot cruiser, named it Abracadabra, and went cruising the Inside Passage for six years.
When Miller returned to music, he returned to the styles he loved from the very start: blues and jazz standards.
When I was a kid, I didn’t want to be Elvis Presley or any of the pop stars of the time, like Frankie Avalon. I wanted to be a musician. I wanted to be like Miles Davis. I wanted to be like Muddy Waters. I wanted to be like T-Bone Walker. I wanted to play real music.
And he certainly did just that. Over his career he recorded 18 studio albums (including one solo album by Steve Miller), 6 live albums, 7 compilation albums, and 30 singles.
In 2016, Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The ceremony caused controversy, due to Miller’s disparaging remarks about the experience being “unpleasant” and that the Hall of Fame was misogynistic and “need to respect the artists they say they’re honoring, which they don’t.” His interest was always more in his music rather than the commercialization of the industry.
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