Pop Quiz: Steve Miller

Pop Quiz: Steve Miller

Aidin Vaziri | Steve Miller wasn't all that crazy about Seal's cover of "Fly Like an Eagle." "I was real disappointed because I thought it was kind of just like my version," he says. "But I wasn't that disappointed because I think he sold a million and a half copies." Not that Miller needs the help. Since penning a string of hits, including "Space Cowboy," "Rock 'n' Me" and "The Joker" in the '70s, the Steve Miller Band's songs have been blasting nonstop out of car stereos, jukeboxes and karaoke bars.

Steve Miller
Q: You kind of stopped making albums in the '80s. Did you think you weren't good-looking enough to get on MTV?
A: Television does make me sweat. You know, during the '80s there was a very hard campaign against groups from the '70s, so I took a break after "Abracadabra." I was off the road for about five or six years, and that's when I found out I wasn't really happy unless I was writing music, playing music, having a band, performing and doing those things. It took a while to figure it all out.
Q: Do you remember any point in the past 40 years when your songs weren't on the radio?
A: No, I don't. I've always lived in little towns where there's really not much radio, but I'm always surprised when at the end of the year I get my ASCAP rewards and the airplay has gone up, like, 20 percent more. It just doesn't make any sense, but some psychologists did the research for the radio station owners, and I must have been lucky because they keep playing me.
Q: The best part is that you're totally unrecognizable to the general public.
A: I can generally go to my own concert, stand in line and buy a ticket, and nobody would know who I am. It really is like that, and that's a good thing. Continue reading.