I POLLed It On The ILX! - ILM Artist Poll #110 - ZZ Top - Results Thread

I’m not much of a fan of this one, it sounds like it could have been recorded by Kenny Loggins for Footloose. Even the single sleeve is as Miami Vice as could possibly be and still retain some semblance of ZZ Top.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/ZZ_Top_Stages.jpg

I’m not much of a fan of this one, it sounds like it could have been recorded by Kenny Loggins for Footloose. Even the single sleeve is as Miami Vice as could possibly be and still retain some semblance of ZZ Top.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/ZZ_Top_Stages.jpg

Bloody phone…

Damn AfterburnerMobile.

Got another tie, and I'll return w/more tracks on Monday.

afterburner leaves me cold in general, i don't think i voted for any of its tracks

"hi fi mama" is cool with its dusty performance and 7/b9 chords, but i think i left it off, just cause there are other zz top 12-bars that i like a little more

hmm listening back and i definitely could've voted for it. 20 tracks is not a lot

https://carscoms.com/img/1955-chrysler-new-yorker-chrysler-hemi-project-rat-rod-282918043421/0.jpg

35 (Tie). “Mexican Blackbird”
Fandango!, 1975
46 Points (2 Votes)

The Track
Six Pack Version

https://storage.googleapis.com/hippostcard/p/c7fccb0e0254f358f5068397d6be1504-800.jpg

35 (Tie). “Move Me On Down The Line”
Tres Hombres, 1973
46 Points (2 Votes)

The Track
Six Pack Version

aww Hi Fi Mama TOO LOW

"Move Me On Down The Line" also made my ballot, love it

Afterburner is the one ZZ Top album I never, ever listen to. Even the RCA albums are better.

eliminator is an album of peaks and valleys, imo, while tejas is a sustained vibe that they never really achieved or attempted again

One of the cool things about Eliminator is that it has this whole futurization vibe, particularly in the album tracks which are almost all kind of throwbacks as songs underneath the sheen: "I Need You Tonight" is a Hi Records-style soul love jam; "Dirty Dog" and "Bad Girl" are straight-up '60s Garage; and "If Could Only Flag Her Down" wouldn't be out of place in the songbooks of T-Bone Walker or Hank Ballard. There's an expansiveness that they never quite had before, and never really had again.

Buddy Guy knows what's up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHwlBz4ekCw

Rogermexico just curious, do you have examples of those fkn Thorogood clones? I’m struggling to think of any. ZZ Top’s combination of Texas roadhouse blues and MTV glitz seems so singular to me. (I actually like George a lot fwiw, but feel like his approach was much more purist. Bad to the Bone, his breakthrough, also predates Eliminator by a year.)

Charlie Sexton maybe?

I've heard about a critical term that didn't take off called "Blue Wave", which was meant to cover New Wave-influenced Blues/Roots oriented performers of the early '80s (ZZ Top, Huey Lewis, the Rockpile gang, Fab T-Birds, and in a broader application, less New Wavy guys like SRV and Thorogood).

Yeah, Tuff Enuff by the T-Birds is a good one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyVcSkSnPjA

For many years part of the official Driver's Ed curriculum in Texas was having to watch a video anthology of those ads hosted by Thunderbirds singer Kim Wilson.

yeah fab t-birds really what I have in mind there, tho obv there’s a whole incestuous Texas blues gtr scene thing there.

weirdly, tho he comes out of that I don’t think of Charlie Sexton that way at all. he’s carved out his own style and signature licks. it’s a damn shame “under the wishing tree” has disappeared into the “not on any streaming service” memory hole.

Billy's said the other big influence on streamlining their sound on Degüello (aside from New Wave) was hearing the Antone's/Rome Inn Blues band scene (Thunderbirds, Paul Ray & The Cobras, Triple Threat Revue--the latter pair featuring a young Stevie Vaughan), which was very 'back to basics'.

Ironically, the T-Birds finally broke big with "Tuff Enuff", which was sort of a fusion of Eliminator and that other bar band w/synths triumph of 1983, Sports.

Feel like Robert Cray sort of fits? No synths or new wave crossover aspirations, but I’m pretty sure the first time I was made aware of Strong Persuader was via either MTV or VH1?

Yeah, Cray came in right at the end of it, and was a bigger and longer-lasting critic's pet than most of the aforementioned artists too.

More Blue Wave: J. Geils Band, Sanctuary & onwards.

Their conversion even closely mirrors ZZ Top's, except their release calendar was a little faster, and they slowly fell apart after their Eliminator moment in Freeze-Frame.

I wonder if ZZ Top wish they came up with the "Concealed Weapons" video concept before Geils did.

^^Probably why "Woke Up With Wood" never got an official single release.

https://www.lifesafer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/stevie-wonder-drunk-driving.jpg.optimal.jpg

34. “Arrested For Driving While Blind”
Tejas, 1976
48 Points (3 Votes)

The Track
Six Pack Version
Live New Year's Eve '77
Live In Germany 1980

good song, better title

i missed that "move me on down the line" placed. one of those fun songs that i like to categorize as "zz stones"

https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/ohgRQYlaYHDcmW-UVUEQPUrBu9s=/0x147:2047x1213/960x500/media/img/mt/2017/08/RTRJCL1/original.jpg

33. “Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell”
Rio Grande Mud, 1972
51 Points (2 Votes)

The Track
Six Pack Version
T.K. Hulin: "I'm Not A Fool Anymore"

Hmm, this one is kind of pro forma to me.

it's pretty, but a lil too long. i never really thought they were suited to making a slow burner like this one. could use some keys.

#33 seems about right here tbh

https://clickamericana.com/wp-content/uploads/Vintage-80s-7-Eleven-stores-from-1984-2-750x547.jpg

32. “My Head’s In Mississippi”
Recycler, 1990
52 Points (3 Votes)

Music Video
Live 2010s(?)

Not being familiar with Recycler I discovered this via the Rancho Texicano comp. When I saw them in 2019 it was one of the few non-mega-blockbuster hits in their setlist. It's not astoundingly great, but I like this return to their John Lee Hooker-isms a lot.

I think it being included on the '92 hits album (and all subsequent comps) really helped its staying power; it's also somewhat surprisingly become a Classic Rock radio staple of sorts. In the quoted interviews on wiki, Billy implies that working on it got the band functioning as a unit again in the studio.

Recycler has a soft spot in my heart cuz I remember buying it when it came out with my own scratch at the time, "My Head's In Mississippi" is probably the best thing on it (the video for "Burger Man" aside)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ae/81/f7/ae81f744a3ed2f7c1d9a8ae1641d738c.jpg

31. “Blue Jean Blues”
Fandango!, 1975
58 Points (3 Votes)

The Track
Six Pack Version
Live In Texas 2008
Reaction Video

great pic!

I like this but I don't think it made my ballot

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/11/d4/95/11d4956ac502a4012dccecd5a578f566.png

30. “She Loves My Automobile”
Degüello, 1979
62 Points (3 Votes)

The Track
Live In Germany 1980
Live On TV w/Willie Nelson

https://aquariumdrunkard.com/_newness/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/calexico.jpg

29. “Asleep In The Desert”
Tejas, 1976
79 Points (5 Votes)

The Track
Six Pack Version

yayyy I voted for this, a unique moment in their catalog

Didn't vote for this as a track, but it was part of the reason why Tejas was my #1 album.

https://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/media/__sized__/canonical_images/feature/Duel_duel_canonical-resize-1200x0-50.jpg

28. “Ten Dollar Man”
Tejas, 1976
80 Points (3 Votes)

The Track
Six Pack Version

https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000603758956-65x3ed-t500x500.jpg

27. “I Got The Six”
Eliminator, 1983
82 Points (4 Votes)

The Track
Rehearsal/Demo Version (from Lindon Hudson's archives)

https://fffmovieposters.com/wp-content/uploads/53786.jpg

26. “Sleeping Bag”
Afterburner, 1985
83 Points (5 Votes)

Music Video
12-Inch Mix
Live 1991
I, Tonya scene

That "Sleeping Bag" 12-inch is fire.

yes it is