Empire State Building plays Steely Dan's "FM"

[SidS1045]

Last Thursday (10/29), for the 50th anniversary of the FM master antenna on the Empire State Building, the building's owners set up a light show, using their newly installed computer-controlled LED lights.  They used the Steely Dan song "FM" (what else?) and broadcast the song on WCBS-FM.  The view is from a helicopter circling the building.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfyPB1XnWLQ

[BamaZeus]

That is really cool

[Brandon]

Obviously, there was no static at all.

[Thing 342]

I wonder how many people have actually seen the movie that "FM" was the title track for. It was pretty terrible, but had an excellent soundtrack.

[roadman]

I wonder how many people have actually seen the movie that "FM" was the title track for. It was pretty terrible, but had an excellent soundtrack.

Haven't seen it in years, but I enjoyed FM.  Hardly Oscar material, but Martin Mull's character was a hoot!

[briantroutman]

I've wanted to see FM ever since I heard the title track on Steely Dan's Showbiz Kids boxed set in my high school years (early 2000s). But except for the occasional pre-viewed VHS copy on eBay, I've never seen it for sale on DVD or available to stream from Netflix, Amazon, etc. I suspect music licensing is to blame.

Some reviews of the film suggest it's mediocre at best but that Martin Mull (a favorite of mine) stole the show. I remember reading one review that said something like "...it's almost as if Mr. Mull, realizing that the script was a dud, played directly to the audience for laughs at the expense of his co-stars–realizing that the patrons should get something for their money."  

But anyway, "FM"  (the song) has been a perennial setlist favorite at Steely Dan concerts in recent years, and for good reason. And appropriate that a track from this New York band be chosen to accompany such a quintessentially New York landmark.

[txstateends]

Thanx for posting the vid, SidS.  I didn't know the Empire State had been fitted with LEDs.

[Scott5114]

Steely Dan is awesome. I remember seeing a video of an interview someone did with Donald Fagan where they asked a question along the lines of "So how did you write 'Peg'" or something like that. Instead of giving a generic answer or one geared toward where he was/how he was feeling at the time like most artists will do, he launched into a twenty-minute deconstruction of the song, using a nearby piano and explaining the chord progressions and all of the other music theory behind the song and showing how the song worked. Went way over my head but it was obvious that the man really knows his stuff.

[Pete from Boston]

Some reviews of the film suggest it's mediocre at best but that Martin Mull (a favorite of mine) stole the show. I remember reading one review that said something like "...it's almost as if Mr. Mull, realizing that the script was a dud, played directly to the audience for laughs at the expense of his co-stars–realizing that the patrons should get something for their money."

I think you just described a lot of Martin Mull's output as an actor.  Certainly the air he put on in "Fernwood 2night," although in that he was supposed to be talking disappointedly to the audience.