I was never really sure if I actually liked ZZ Top or not. I had most of their albums, I saw them at least a dozen times, yet I would never include them the thousands of times I wrote a list called My Favorite 50 or so Bands (I've been making lists like that since I could write). I would complain that every song sounded the same. I would complain that I didn't like the direction they took in the 80's. I'm pretty sure the only two things that kept ZZ Top on my list of Bands I Like From A-Z is that sometimes I would put Frank Zappa under "F" and Billy Gibbons.
Then there's this album. And on this album is La Grange. And La Grange will always and forever be on my list of Songs I Never Want to Live Without as well as Songs I Get Speeding Tickets To and Songs That Make Me Feel Like I Have a Penis And Ride a Harley.
It's funny that I think every ZZ Top song sounds the same, yet I could listen to this one solitary song for hours on end and never, ever get tired of it.
Favorite song: La Grange
Billy Gibbons with Queens of the Stone Age
6 comments:
There's nothing wrong with every song sounding the same, as long as its good. Handel did a whole set of pieces called the Chandos Anthems that are all basically the same. Three CDs worth. I love them all. As for ZZ Top - priceless. They deserve their success just for calling all their tours a world tour of Texas.
They all sound the same because every song is a variation of The Texas Shuffle. I remember that from an interview with Don Kershner. Don't ask me why.
Every song sounds the same? You say it like it's a bad thing. I can count on ZZ Top being ZZ Top every time, just like with AC/DC. I saw them in Houston 25 years ago but always wished I could have seen the tour when they had livestock on the stage. Imagine cows standing around while they played Just Got Paid. It happened.
My favorite ZZTop is the "One Foot In The Blues" CD.
"A Fool For Your Stockings" goes down as one of my all-time faves.
Another fave -- "Heard It On The X" refers to hearing Wolfman Jack on his illegal "border blaster" Mexican radio station.
Being from a border town, I can tell you my homies and I loved ZZTop.
Michele, you summed up my take on ZZ Top exactly... one really, really cool riff, played a hundred different ways.
When you're in the mood early ZZ Top is perfect, especially La Grange.
By the way, Jesus just left Chicago.
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