Friday, January 31, 2014

Cool.

Define Cool.

I don't think the word has any meaning anymore.  Like fascist gets applied to bad things... cool gets applied to good things.

I'll tell you what cool really is.  Cool is what happens when you're doing your own thing... because you really don't give a damn...  and everyone likes it.  Cool... is a rock band that looked like roughnecks just off the oil rigs... with beards down to their waists and fedoras.


Cool... is ZZ Top.

Think of the big bands you remember from the 70s and 80s.  Where are they now?  Styx and Kansas and Reo Speedwagon?  Off touring with each other... playing to half empty arenas to people stuck in high school.  ZZ Top?  In 2013 ZZ Top was killing it at Bonneroo... which is possibly the biggest rock festival of the year.



You know how cool ZZ Top is?   Nickleback covered Sharp Dressed Man live in 2007... and for three minutes and forty-four seconds... Nickleback was cool.  That's how cool ZZ Top is.  

Under Pressure.  Pearl Necklace.  TubeSnake Boogie.  Legs.  Gimmie All Your Lovin'.  You can throw one on at any party... anywhere... and watch.  big smiles will start showing up on everyone's face... and they'll start nodding with the beat.  Every one of them.

So... if you've neglected your duties as a parent...  I strongly suggest you show your youngin' this blog post.  And if you're wondering what to crank tonight while you're smokin' and sippin'...  well...




20 comments:

Susan said...

When I used to watch TV, one of my favorite shows was Bones. I really liked the casting of one of the ZZ guys as Angela's dad.

WaterBoy said...

Nate: "I strongly suggest you show your youngin' this blog post."

Just don't explain to him/her what a pearl necklace is.

Zion's Paladin said...

Hear hear. ZZ Top had a style to their music that always appealed to me. Though I'd add Doubleback and Can't Stop Rockin' to that list up there.

Nate said...

Jesus... Porky over at Vox's blog just asserted that ZZ Top were all fake and it was all done in studio.

Russ said...

They are! It's part of a Masonic plot!

Susan said...

I had to go track that one down Nate. You are correct. That was epic stupid. Porky is one of the original living brain donors.

Anonymous said...

Iron Maiden is from that era.
They seem to be doing ok, as well.

UP THE IRONS!!

Respectfully,

toothy

Jack Amok said...

The "doing your own thing" part is great. ZZ Top has a pretty unique sound. I'm sure there were influences and they didn't just pull that sound out of thin air, but they definitely put it on the global map. They weren't following someone else's lead.

Speaking of leads, Gibbons is also very cool in the way he plays. In an era when guys like Eddie Van Halen figured if they just played enough notes really fast, maybe some of them would sound okay, Gibbons did his own thing with a slow, laid-back style where every note had a job to do. "Cool" isn't in a hurry to get home, and neither is a Billy Gibbons solo.

And they nailed the transition to the video age. The videos that came from Eliminator... well, girls, cars and gui-tars. Hell yeah.

Outlaw X said...

Nate hate to tell you this but the back beat rhythm was a recording in concert. Gibbons played them both but no man can play both at the same time. You got a bass player and a drummer playing live and a lead. Ever been to a recording studio it is easy to know. Listen closely to "I'm Bad" it will become obvious.

mmaier2112 said...

They use sequencers and/or backing tracks but pretend like the onstage dudes are making it all?

So... ZZ Top is like... KISS?

nordicthunder said...

agree with your ZZ assessment. some here may be young enough to never have listened to Tejas, that is probably their best display of covering many different styles ... in a way beyond competent fashion.

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I ordered a couple, so I'll guinea pig them and report back if thats Ok with Nate.

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Nate said...

Outlaw...

They're a power treo. There are only so many hands.

Rush does the same thing.

You would have to read what porky actually wrote. He asserted that they didn't play a single note of anything.

jm said...

"Mexican Blackbird" is a song I liked a lot as a kid. Didn't realize what was going on in there until I grew up though.

And will there be good news about tonight?

Spacebunny said...

Susan - I was thinking the same thing about Bones when I read this! I'm not surprised that Nickelback covered one of their songs, even though I'd never heard it. Billy was their "Rockstar" video.

Nate said...

nickleback did Sharp Dressed Man as kind of a tribute to them on some award show several years back.

I came across it and thought... man... this makes nickleback suck less.

Susan said...

Someone in the casting dept of that TV show is loaded with cool.

Cool is not in a hurry to get home is probably one of the best definitions I have ever read. You either have it, or you don't.

Outlaw X said...

They use sequencers and/or backing tracks but pretend like the onstage dudes are making it all?

They didn't have to pretend they did it. In a recording studio we would lay down the drums, bass, rhythm guitar, vocals maybe keyboards. Then I was done the lead guitar player would come in and play on his track until he got it right, then he might lay down another track in a double lead. saxophone player would then do his thing f needed.

It is not cheating it is the nature of the business.

mmaier2112 said...

Dude, please don't interrupt when I am trying to needle Nathan.

Outlaw X said...

Sorry, I do get carried away now and again. So let's not bicker and argue about oooh killed oooh.

patrick kelly said...

Sharp Dressed man still stirs up come hither looks from the local milfs at the bar'n'grills our lil' trio plays at when the weather is warmer....

.....warms this ugly ol' farts heart.....granted it's the last set after we've butchered our share of stuff we shouldn't even try to play, and everyone has downed a few beers, but since I'm never going to be a rock star now, as good as it gets...