Rock bands like ZZ Top, Van Halen, and Yes added synthesizers to their mix in the '80s and scored huge hits by adapting to the sound of the decade. The Steve Miller Band started out as a blues band in the '60s, evolving into a rock outfit in the '70s. They often sprinkled electronic effects into their songs, so the keyboards and synth stabs in this song weren't out of character.
The song became a worldwide hit, charting in many countries and topping the charts in a lot of them, and has become one of the band's biggest hits, along with "The Joker" and "Rock'n Me". In the U.S., the song was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks and spending fourteen weeks in the top ten of the Hot 100 chart. "Abracadabra" is listed at #70 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of all time.
