This has to have been written by somebody who only knows of Steve Miller's admittedly bland hits in the middle 70s. He put out 5 remarkably good albums in the late 60s that sold, well, lukewarm at best. It's hard to blame him for realizing that the great stuff he'd been doing wasn't making his retirement secure. Even in coming out with a string of bland big sellers like he did took a degree of talent that most can't even imagine.

It's "Dad rock" because it worked. Cheerleaders never, to my knowledge, sang Miles songs on the way back from a football game.

"We're not about to do a free-form jazz, uh, exploration in front of a festival crowd!" - David St. Hubbins, "Spinal Tap."

If you say this, you've only listened to early 80s Steve Miller. Check out his blues and folk. Lots are up on Youtube. (Which, to the point of the original article, probably doesn't pay him much)

To be fair, Miles Davis regularly beat his wives...