WHICH WAY YOU GOING BILLY?

If you've ever seen Repo Man, you might remember the scene when Emilio Estevez's character Otto is in a bar, and the Circle Jerks are on stage doing a acoustic faux-lounge version of "When the Shit Hits the Fan." As an aside, he mutters "I can believe I used to like this band." That's exactly what I thought, not long after ZZ Top's fourth LP. You'd never guess it now, but back before the buffoonery, ZZ Top were actually a tight blues rock band with no bells, no whistles, and no ridiculous outfits.

They came along at a perfect time for a young male teenager. I remember humming "Just Got Paid Today" after cashing my first three digit paycheck; and swilling my first beers to "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers." Just about every band in the blues rock obsessed beach area party scene that I grew up in, knew that if the energy was lagging after one too many Allman Brothers songs, you played some ZZ Top. Everything was just fine. Then came Fandango, their fourth album. "Tush" got airplay. They were starting to blow up, and in the era of huge tour extravaganzas, they did it big. "That Little Ol' Band From Texas" (which is what they referred to themselves as) went on a stadium tour, complete with a stage in the shape of the state of Texas, and live animals, including a longhorn steer, a bison, two vultures and two rattlesnakes (the animal budget alone was $140K). To add more distress, this was when they started dressing alike (albeit, they were suits by Nudie). But the single most disturbing part of this whole "we'll do whatever it takes" fiasco, was those goddamned choreographed moves.

You can't coast on one gatefold sleeve forever.

I pretty much stopped listening to anything new by ZZ Top after that. I tested the water a little here and there, but in 1979, they all but told their old fan base to fuck off and die. In came the matching long ass beards and the spinning guitars, and the weird non-guitar shit started creeping into their music. And then, they did the unthinkable. Riding high, from catering to the lowest common denominator (MTV), they got the brilliant idea to enhance their earlier albums, to make them sound more 80's. It was the textbook definition of FUBAR. The original unfucked-with versions were not released on CD until 2006, at which time I started to consider giving them a pass. But, until they are up there, unchoreographed, without synthesizers, effects, animals, ridiculous outfits, or any sort of gimmicks, I'll still be saying "I can't believe I used to like these guys"

Here's a few from Billy Gibbon's earlier band, the Moving Sidewalks, and some cuts from the early ZZ Top albums, when they really were "That Little Ol' Band From Texas." And there's some covers too; by Motorhead, and Queens of the Stone Age (the latter on a rarities mix).

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Moving Sidewalks - Pluto - Sept. 31st mp3 at Merry Swankster
Moving Sidewalks - Every Night A New Surprise mp3 at Soylent Cream (Note: Fade-out cut short)
Moving Sidewalks - Flashback mp3 (via Box.net) at DailyBowBow
ZZ Top - Brown Sugar mp3 at SnapDrive.net
ZZ Top - Just Got Paid mp3 at TheSixman.com
ZZ Top - Francine (FUBAR version) mp3 at FileDen
ZZ Top - La Grange mp3 at MilwaukeeBay.com
ZZ Top - Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers mp3 at SoberMusicians.com (No, really.)
ZZ Top - Heard It On the X mp3 at DIYMedia.net
ZZ Top - Tush mp3 at Tracy Designs
Covers:
Motorhead - Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers mp3 at Heavy-Music.ru
Boula Matari Missie Tintin- Tush mp3 at BoulaMatari.org
The Queens of the Stone Age - Rarities Collection Vol 3 (zip, via MediaFire ) at Metal Bastard Goes Soft (Includes cover of ZZ Top's "Precious and Grace." Go there for complete song list.)
Oddball:
Lord Riffenstein - Tush ("No guitars with vocal") mp3 at LordRiffenstein What is this? Karaoke for guitar?