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

I so now want a Fiesta grocery store in my neighborhood.

heard it on the x SMOKES

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e4/72/09/e47209e59fd5df0b01433aed4406034d--cross-country-cadillac-eldorado.jpg

5. “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide”
Degüello, 1979
329 Points (12 Votes, 3 #1’s)

The Track
Live In Germany 1980
Live In 1982 (+"Ten Foot Pole")
Dwight Yoakam Cover

Just catching up on the rollout - am loving the images!

yesss to #5

this was all over rock radio when I first started listening in 1979

Heard it on the X goes nonstop, I feel like I just realized how great it is when listening for this poll

probably was overexposed as a child, the classic rock station in my hometown nicknamed itself "The X" (WXRX) and played it a ton

I'm Bad I'm Nationwide my #1, feels like it encapsulates everything great about zz top (swaggering but also hilarious, rocks, unexpected left turns in the arrangement, etc.)

yeah the images are fun

it's easy to think about the novelty of "sharp dressed man" and forget about how much gibbons' guitar sizzles

https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/2962/2962031_sa.jpg

4. “Just Got Paid”
Rio Grande Mud, 1972
332 Points (11 Votes, 2 #1’s)

The Track
Six Pack Version
Live In Germany 1980
Mastodon Cover

I like rio grande mud but this just towers over the rest of the album imo

the perfect zz top song. all three members bring it.

I remember hearing R*peman’s cover version and having a minor head-explodey “Steve Albini likes ZZ Top?” moment.

They have kind of a moment in the "underground" scene around then, right? Albini's band, Meat Puppets with "Huevos," Sonic Youth's "Eliminator Jr." I feel like there's one or two more I can't think of

Black Flag used to play Eliminator over the PA between sets.

Pet Shop Boys shouted them out too...iirc there's an Eliminator (the car) reference in the PSB movie.

now i'm imagining neil tennant deadpanning "when the hound dog barkin' in the black of the night/stick my hand in my pocket, everything's all right"

@ 0:52 in the trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26kf2nZgFGI

'Way Cool Jr.' by Ratt is a pretty obvious Billy Gibbons riff stylization. They even throw in a bit of haw haw at the beginning.

self-xp and @ 24:12 in the film itself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke89lFyj630

two of the remaining 3 are obvious... but i'll admit i did not anticipate even a top 10 for "hot, blue and righteous"

also i love the artist and the song but wow, Joan Jett does not sound like she has any serious interest in being taken downtown to look for tush.

loving the covers tho. mastodon kills it.

pretty sure you're joking rogermexico, but i'm fairly certain the third song isn't "hot blue"

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e8/23/19/e823192a043c54dc6c85a597fb2ed2b8--s-sunglasses-vintage-sunglasses.jpg

3. “Cheap Sunglasses”
Degüello, 1979
373 Points (13 Votes)

The Track
Live On The Test 1980
Live In Germany 1980

great song but the live version is what really sold me on it

no matter how many times i hear it, i always laugh at how billy belts out the "oh yeah!" after the "but what really knocked me out..." line

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I8_cZ6NL3nY/VMlUkd399UI/AAAAAAAAGWs/nVl6saylUSs/s1600/la-grange-chicken-ranch-ron-scott-500x314.png

2. “La Grange”
Tres Hombres, 1973
392 Points (13 Votes, 3 #1’s)

The Track
Six Pack Version
Live In 1982
Live At Gruene Hall
Live On Howard Stern

“got me under pressure” is such a jam. vocals in the second verse are fucking incredible.

"la grange" is a perfect song.

what else is there to say besides "a how how how how"

what else is there to say besides "a how how how how"

otm

It was basically a coin flip for me between "La Grange" and the winner. I opted for the one I've heard on the radio a million times, yet still gets me excited, no mean feat. "La Grange" it was.

have mercy!

pretty sure you're joking rogermexico, but i'm fairly certain the third song isn't "hot blue"

― grove street (party) direction (voodoo chili), Wednesday, October 6, 2021

reckon you might be right on both counts :)

"Leila" for the win!

https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/867246a0-b662-00f0-833a-3c1879b5c914/full/843,/0/default.jpg

1. “Waiting For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago”
Tres Hombres, 1973
421 Points (14 Votes, 2 #1’s)

The Tracks
Live In Germany 1980
Live At Crossroads 2010

The only unanimous pick?

I... didn't vote for it.

lol

Nice Poll y'all! I didn't vote because I only knew Tres Hombres and the radio hits but I enjoyed the hell out of the rollout and playlist.

lol God and Bill Ham intended for “Waiting For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago” to be voted on as one track, but they did NOT require that Grisso vote for it.

pretty great top ten really. cant front. was really fun to do a full dive into zz top and put a list together for this.

strikethrough didnt place

tracks

Brown Sugar
La Grange
Rough Boy
Just Got Paid
Waitin' for the Bus
Mexican Blackbird
Cheap Sunglasses
Heard it on the X
Precious and Grace
Balinese
Sharp Dressed Man
Hi-Fi Mama
She Loves My Automobile
Pearl Necklace
Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings
Gimme All Your Lovin’
Blue Jeans Blues
Tush
I Thank You
I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide

albums

Tejas
Fandango!
Tres Hombres
Deguello
Rio Grande Mud

videos

Rough Boy
Sleeping Bag
TV Dinners
Gimme All Your Lovin
Legs

thanks for doing it grisso

great poll, grisso. love this band!

my ballot

Tracks
Heard It On The X
Waiting For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago
10 Dollar Man
La Grange
I Got The Six
Just Got Paid
Tush
El Diablo
It's Only Love
Sharp Dressed Man
Cheap Sunglasses
I Gotsta Get Paid
Fool For Your Stockings
Precious & Grace
Balinese
Brown Sugar
Gimme All Your Lovin
Low Down In The Street
Have You Heard?
Asleep In The Desert

Albums
Tejas
Tres Hombres
Eliminator
Fandango
Deguello

Music Videos
TV Dinners
Rough Boy
Gimme All Your Lovin
Sharp Dressed Man
I Gotsta Get Paid

My ballot:

SONGS
I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide
Just Got Paid
Sharp Dressed Man
La Grange
Waitin’ for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago
Cheap Sunglasses
Master of Sparks
Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers
I Got the Six
She Loves My Automobile
El Diablo
Arrested for Driving While Blind
Tush
It’s Only Love
Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings
Tube Snake Boogie
Bar-B-Q
Brown Sugar
Squank
Belt Buckle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHZUVPpfCn8

ALBUMS
Tres Hombres
Degüello
Tejas
Eliminator
La Futura

Circling back to the PSB thing:

The use of real sounds under the music gives it a filmic quality and Mendelsohn even went as far as to include a recording of the ‘ambience’ from inside a 19th-century church in Knightsbridge. “We went to the Brompton Oratory to record some live effects on a little two-track Nagra tape recorder, and that’s actually on the record somewhere,” he says, and you can hear it in the “Father forgive me” section. “I know Neil and Chris wanted it to be completely over the top. At the time I was making that track, I was listening to a lot of ZZ Top. So I sort of sent it in that direction a little bit – the insistent heaviness of it.”

From: https://www.classicpopmag.com/2018/01/pet-shop-boys-made-album-actually/

Also this Re: "Can't Take My Eyes Off You/Where The Streets Have No Name"

Neil: "The extended mix really sounds like ZZ Top, I think. When I went to America to work for the American version of Smash Hits I heard ZZ Top for the first time, and there were two of their songs I particularly liked, 'Sharp Dressed Man' and 'Legs.' I loved the combination of electric guitars and drum machines.… And I think this sounds a little bit like that."

From http://www.geowayne.com/newDesign/lists/songinfluences.htm

PSB and OMD in ZZ Mutual Appreciation Society Frenzy