Steve Miller Band

Steve Miller, seen here without his band

Some people call me the space cowboy, yeah
Some call me the gangster of love
Some people call me Maurice
Cause I speak of the pompatus of love

—Steve Miller Band, "The Joker"

The Steve Miller Band is a rock band from San Francisco that has been active since 1967, led by eponymous guitarist, singer and songwriter Steve Miller. Of course there are other members, but the band's had such as High Turnover Rate in this area that listing them all would turn this page into a Doorstopper.

Their initial career was marked by a fusion of Psychedelic Rock with Blues-Rock with heavy jamming, improvisation and occasional bits of other genres like Country and Folk. This style, as showcased on every album between Children of the Future and Recall the Beginning, proved reasonably popular and well-received, with one hit in the song "Space Cowboy". Starting with The Joker, Miller toned down the jamming and made his brand of space blues more accessible, with the result being a string of five albums that made the band really, really popular and spawned some famous hits like "The Joker", "Swingtown", "Fly Like an Eagle", "Take the Money and Run", "Rock'n Me", "Jet Airliner", "Jungle Love" and "Abracadabra". The band's popularity entered a downward slide they never recovered from after Abracadabra, and they eventually retired from making albums after 1993, but they still tour every now and then.

Discography:

• Children of the Future (1968)
• Sailor (1968)
• Brave New World (1969)
• Your Saving Grace (1969)
• Number 5 (1970)
• Recall the Beginning...A Journey From Eden (1972)
• The Joker (1973)
• Fly Like an Eagle (1976)
• Book of Dreams (1977)
• Circle of Love (1981)
• Abracadabra (1982)
• Italian X-Rays (1984)
• Living in the 20th Century (1986)
• Born 2B Blue (1988) - a Steve Miller solo album made up entirely of covers.
• Wide River (1993)
• Bingo! (2010) (Another Cover Album of blues standards)

Steve Miller Band provides examples of the following tropes:

• Continuity Nod: The opening lines of "The Joker", quoted atop the page, contain references to the earlier songs "Space Cowboy" and "Gangster of Love".
• Cover Version: "Key to the Highway" by Big Bill Broonzy, "Gangster of Love" by Johnny Watson, "You're So Fine" by Jimmy Reed, "Motherless Children" (a traditional song), "Your Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash" by Chuck Calhoun, "Come on in My Kitchen" by Woody Payne, "Mercury Blues" by K.C. Douglas, "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke, "Jet Airliner" by Paul Pena, "Get on Home" (another traditional song), "I Wanna Be Loved (But Only By You)" by Jimmy Reed, "My Babe" by Willie Dixon, the entire Born 2 B Blue album, "Stranger Blues" by Elmore James.
• Epic Rocking: "Key to the Highway", "Baby's House", "Jackson-Kent Blues", "Love Shock", "Deliverance", "Journey from Eden", "Circle of Love", "Macho City"
• Listing Cities: "Rock'n Me"
• New Sound Album: The Joker.
• Outlaw Couple: "Take the Money and Run"
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: What the hell's a "pompatus" anyway?
• Red Herring Twist: Billy Mack, the detective from "Take the Money in Run," is introduced, but never brings the bandits Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue to justice (or does anything, for that matter).
• Refrain From Assuming: "The Joker", "Space Cowboy", and "Gangster of Love" are all distinct songs. This can make YouTube searches for one or the other very annoying.
• Shout-Out: The lines "You're the cutest thing that I ever did see/Really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree/Lovey dovey, lovey dovey all the time" from "The Joker" are quotes from the song "Lovey Dovey" by The Clovers.
• Something Blues: "Jackson-Kent Blues", "Mercury Blues", "Stranger Blues"
• Song of Song Titles: "The Joker"