Steve Miller Band – The Joker

Steve Miller Band

The band was formed in January 1967. The first album, Children of the Future, was based on the psychedelic blues style that was in vogue in San Francisco at the time. Vocalist Scaggs left the band after several albums, after which drummer Tim Davis initially took up vocals. Steve Miller himself sang in several songs. The albums sold well, but there was no hit notation. A special LP was “Remember the beginning, the journey from Eden”, where Miller took care of the vocals. During this time, he played legendary acoustic sessions on VPRO radio, gradually drinking so much that no one could follow them anymore.

In 1973, Miller came out with the album The Joker, a breakthrough for a large audience. Music has become more accessible. In addition to the title track, a few more hits from this album appeared. The Joker album was followed by Fly Like an Eagle in 1976 and Book of Dreams in 1977, both recorded simultaneously but released 1 year apart. Both albums are considered the pinnacle of Miller’s commercial career, peaking high in several album charts. Together with The Eagles, the Steve Miller Band embarked on a stadium tour in 1977. Several songs from both albums were released as singles, all of which made it to the charts, including Fly Like an Eagle, Swing Town, Jungle Love, Rock ‘n Me and Jet Airliner.

Steve Miller took a few years off to recover from his successes, recording and touring. In 1981, Miller returned with the album Circle of Love, which was not selling very well. In 1982, he achieved another super hit with the song Abracadabra from the album of the same name. With later records such as Living in the 20th century (1986), Born to B blue (1990) and Wide River (1993), the band was unable to continue this success. In the Netherlands, the band had another big hit in 1990 with The Joker, which was re-released the same year after it was featured in a Levi’s TV commercial.