Steely Dan is a rock group founded during 1972 in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, US, by core members Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Blending rock, jazz, traditional pop, R and B, and sophisticated studio production with cryptic, ironic lyrics, the band had critical and commercial success from the early '70s until they broke up in 1981. The duo recorded with a revolving cast of session musicians throughout their career, having retired from live performances during 1974 to become a studio-only group. Rolling Stone magazine labelled them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies".