Perhaps I'm just unaware of them, but I've never really run into anyone outside of my father who is a big Steely Dan fan. I've been told that they were (and are) a band that people either love or hate, and I guess more people fall into the second category than the first. However, their music is pretty spectacular, especially the early stuff. I highly suggest giving the album 'Countdown to Ecstasy' a listen. It's a little bit 70s to be sure (especially some of the synthesizers...), but they're definitely a talented bunch of musicians, and Walter Fagen is a very good lyricist. That's what cinches it for me a lot of time; if the writer can't write, then it kind of kills it for me.
Of course, writing takes many different forms, so it's still pretty wide open...
Enough from me.
Tschüss Cameron
My Trusted MOGs
Your dad is not alone. And Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are co-authors of most of their material. Only a couple of too-smooth LPs (e.g. Aja) were not to my taste - and of course their biggest sellers. I would also suggest you check out Donald Fagen's solo CDs (3) and Walter Becker's (1). Walter is the more sardonic of the two.