It ws 1975, a time when the shallowness of silk shirts, platform shoes, roller skates and disco ran rampant.There was actually a lot of really good music during this time - Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Grand Funk RailRoad, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Deep Purple, the Rolling Stones had lots of good stuff too. There were few actual rock stations around Cave City, the closest was FM 102 in Jonesboro, and if the weather conditions were suitable you could pick up Rock 103 in Memphis. Otherwise you had to settle for AM stations which were inundated the airwaves with southern hellfire and brimstone preachers, old time country and yes....disco.
I remember the first time I heard "Tush" off ZZ Top's Fandango! album. I believe it was on the jukebox at the Sugar Shack, the local burger joint in town. There was a jukebox near the front door that had a wide variety of pop and country songs (I remember the song "Sugar Shack" was set to play repeatedly when people weren't paying to hear their selections), and I remember hearing the crunching chords that opened the song and thinking I've never heard anything like it ever. I took a pause from my game of pinball to go to the jukebox to see if I could see the name of the song, and there on the front of the jukebox was a miniature album cover of the two cowboys with bass/guitar with their long-haired drummer. I knew I had to learn more about this band, so the next time I made it to my local discount store I picked up the 8-track. I remember getting home and cranking it up and to my surprise the album turned out to be a live album. I thought I had bought the wrong one, but sure enough I saw where "Tush" was on it. I went ahead and let the tape fade into the raucous roar of a crazed live crowd, then the boisterous introduction but the gravelly-voiced announcer, "GET READY FOR THE FANTASTIC....Z...Z...TOP!!!!!" and the band ripped into "Thunderbird" which just blew me away. That was followed by a cover of Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock" which I actually thought was kinda lame. Following that was "Backdoor Love Affair (which was actually released on their first album)/Mellow Down Easy/Long Distance Boogie" which I thought was great.
From that point, the album switched from live to studio with "Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings" which was a small sample of their later "Eliminator" sound. "Blue Jean Blues" really slowed things down with a classic hardcore blues ballad, then followed by the incredible storytelling in "Balinese". "Heard It on the X" and of course "Tush" were favorites, but nothing will ever compare to the classic "Mexican Blackbird."
Although ZZ Top's first couple albums were largely overlooked, which was sad since they truly were great albums, this album really put the band on the map. So the next time you're down in Acuna, or driving that old Chrysler down to Mexico, be sure and pick up Fandango! on 8-track and.....I mean, load the mp3's on your iPod and take Billy, Dusty and Frank with you.
Can you roll me another Bull Durham please?
