What's This Music For?

The first subject covered in my initial undergraduate chemical engineering class was unit conversions.  You know, like how many seconds in a year, how many ounces in a ton, or answering questions like “If a chicken-and-a-half chicken can lay an egg-and-a-half in a day-and-a-half, how long will it take 2 chickens to lay 4 eggs?”

I was reminded about unit conversions the other day at the studio (a.k.a. Brian’s Basement) when I saw a book Brian had purchased called An Inside Look at the Guitar Styles of Steely Dan.  The book itself is great.  But the cover photo is just, well… surreal.  In particular, check out Donald Fagen (the guy on the left).

Sure, the man is a genius, but have you ever seen a photo of someone who looked so cheerless?

Think about it.  Someone took a picture of him, he looked at the picture, and said “USE THAT ONE.”

And so, in honor of Donald, I have decided to rank my own fits of dissatisfaction using the FMU (Fagen Misery Units) scale.

Have to re-record a bass line? That’s one FMU: 

Sucky project at work? That’s a three-bagger:     

You get the idea.

FMU’s.  It’s gonna be a thing.