"[8] At age nine, while taking folk and classical guitar lessons from Tiny Moore,[9] Miller was writing "little albums' worth" of derivative songs,[10] and started his first band, innocently calling it the Monkees.

"[7] While attending Rio Americano High School, Miller and his longtime friend and bandmate Jozef Becker formed bands called Lobster Quadrille, Mantis and Resistance, as well as the first version of Alternate Learning.

"[8] Some of Miller's early recordings from 1975 to 1979 were released in the 1990s to his fan club as a cassette titled Adolescent Embarrassment-Fest;[12] several others appear as bonus tracks on the 2014 CD reissue of Blaze of Glory (1982).

[1] The Davis-based first lineup of Game Theory featured Miller on lead guitar and vocals, with keyboard player Nancy Becker, bassist Fred Juhos and drummer Michael Irwin.

During that tour, the new quartet of Miller, Shelley LaFreniere on keyboards, Gil Ray on drums and Suzi Ziegler on bass recorded The Big Shot Chronicles (1986).

For the band's national tour in late 1986, supporting the release of The Big Shot Chronicles, Miller, LaFreniere and Ray were joined by two new members, bassist Guillaume Gassuan and guitarist/vocalist Donnette Thayer.

"[16] Among the practical obstacles that stood in the way of the group's success, Game Theory experienced substantial turnovers of personnel after three of their five studio albums were recorded, which disrupted promotional plans and concert tours following the releases of Real Nighttime, The Big Shot Chronicles and Two Steps from the Middle Ages.

"[23] Stereo Review, introducing the Loud Family and eulogizing Game Theory, called Miller "an entity unto himself, taking dictation from a mind working overtime without stopping to consider the possibility of success or banishment.

Problem is, [while] others have squeezed through the needle's eye to varying degrees ... Miller still labors in semi-obscurity, his back catalog bulging like Ph.D. theses interred in some musty corner of a rarely visited library.

Despite the best efforts of critics, despite the support of introspective, collegiate humanities majors who have assimilation problems, even despite the soft spot certain record companies occasionally show for music with a brain, the market share is marginal.

[33][34] Noting that Miller's work with Game Theory had been out of print and "missing for decades," Omnivore stated that it was "pleased to right that audio wrong" with a series of expanded reissues of the group's catalog.

[4][36] The first in the series, an expanded version of Game Theory's 1982 debut album Blaze of Glory, was released in September 2014 on CD and pink vinyl.

[47] Participants on Supercalifragile included Mann, who had written in July 2015, "I'm working on this song I wrote with Scott Miller, and hearing him sing it in my headphones is possibly the most devastatingly heartbreaking thing I've ever experienced.

[49] Other friends and former collaborators whose involvement was announced include Jon Auer of the Posies, Peter Buck of R.E.M., Doug Gillard, Nina Gordon, Scott Kannberg, Ted Leo and Will Sheff.

Mitch Easter, Game Theory's former producer, played guitar, drums and synth on the song "Laurel Canyon" and participated in the mixing of the album.

"[55] Miller continued that he was "past the point of fighting" discussions of how "arty or brainy" he was, but had hoped for greater emphasis "on what the songs are about—be it the boy-girl situation, or being depressed about some key failure I've had, or getting a little bit of understanding about life.

[20][59][60] Stephin Merritt cited Miller's "swooping melodies, large vocabulary lyrics dense with idiom and metaphor," and "gloriously catchy hooks.

"[61] According to Pitchfork writer Matt LeMay, Miller "had a singular way of making unexpected and counterintuitive chord changes sound downright inevitable.

Pithy, smart and nearly mathy in his mixing of the avant garde with earnest pop precision, he earned his stripes with comparisons to Big Star's Alex Chilton, but surpassed his influences by crafting his own genre of IQ rock, sporting songs with ... increasingly unpredictable-yet-gorgeous arrangements.

[67] Miller was credited as an influential force in the 1980s- and 1990s-era music scenes, beginning in Northern California with bands associated with the Paisley Underground genre,[22] and later influencing better-known independent pop artists.

"[66] Significant musicians who have praised Miller's talent and enduring influence on their work include the New Pornographers' leader A.C. Newman,[70] Okkervil River's Will Sheff, Charles Bissell of the Wrens, Doug Gillard and Ted Leo, each of whom performed at a New York City tribute to Miller on June 29, 2013,[71][72] as well as Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon, the Posies' Ken Stringfellow and Camper Van Beethoven's Jonathan Segel,[73] each of whom appeared on Loud Family albums as guest musicians.

[75] Music critic Nick Kelly, writing for Ireland's largest newspaper, named "Scott Miller Said" as the "greatest ever Irish rock song.

[77] Their song "Bedtime Stories", which appears on The Both (2014), was written about Miller as an expression of mourning and as "a musical salute... consciously a tribute to him, especially the chord progression of the chorus, which is very, very Loud Family.

[45][79] Milano described his book as not only telling Miller's story, but also exploring "the college and indie-rock explosion of the 1980s and 1990s" and how some influential artists "managed to fall through the cracks.

For example, Miller noted that critics rarely "identify catchy melodies as specific passages within a song," in the way that working musicians might discuss "the A-minor in the second measure of the chorus."

"[82] Musician Stephin Merritt wrote that Miller "manages actual humor (a first in music criticism) and major insights that may change the way you think about, for example, 1967.

"[83] In a book review in Ugly Things magazine, Miller was described as "a sort of fourth-generation rock and roll renaissance man capable of making the printed page jump and sing as deftly as the complex conversations that his Les Paul conducts with a Marshall stack.

"[84] From 1997 until 2010, Miller periodically wrote on subjects ranging from music to philosophy, theology, physics and poetry in the "Ask Scott" section of his official web site.

[85] According to writer Franklin Bruno, Miller's responses were "by turns quick-witted, earnest and appreciative, politely deflecting, and self-deprecating", sometimes openly struggling with "resignation and bitterness about his music career.

"[51] Miller described his job situation as "kind of a carrot in front of me and a boot behind me," acknowledging that his engineering work was highly paid and noting his need to make a living.