Video Classics: 'Reelin' in the Years' - Steely Dan

To honor WNEW's legendary Firecracker 500, every day we are highlighting the music that populated the 1991 and 1996 lists, with classic videos, live performances and little-known facts about the songs and how they came to be...

Take a trip back in time to when colors were brighter, beards were longer, collars were bigger, and Steely Dan was the Next Big Thing ...

Reelin' in the Years was the sixth track on the band's first album, Can't Buy a Thrill.  It went to #11 on the charts, and comes in at #204 on the 1991 Firecracker 500 and #468 on the 1996 list. But perhaps the highest praise for the song comes from Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin's guitarist, when he called the guitar solo on Reelin' in the Years his favorite solo of all time.

The band would go on to release six more albums in the '70s, each a unique blend of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. They reached their peak of popularity late in the decade, but would disband in 1981 (but not before Rolling Stone branded them the 'perfect musical anti-heroes of the 1970's'.

Have memories of this song or the Firecracker 500? Add your thoughts to the comments below or take a look at Video Classics past...