ZZ Top is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this evening along with Prince, Bob Seger, George Harrison, Jackson Browne, the Dells, Traffic, and Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner. Keith Richards will be doing the induction speech for ZZ Top. Even though ZZ Top completely and totally SUCKED at the Compaq Center farewell concert in November, I am happy for these longtime local legends. They've earned their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/hall_of_fame_2004/series.jhtml
Im a huge fan of Seger and Browne. Props to them. On a side note ...............how is Keith Richards still funtioning????
Keith is the world's ultimate survivor. Is he immortal? Likely all of the substances he has ingested have totally preserved him. Congrats to ZZ Topp and I hated to hear their farewell concert sucked.
Cool, another reason to post this pic: I have been listening to a lot of Prince again lately. The guy is the musical genius of our age.
Congratulations to ZZ Top. On a side note, I think they need to be a little more exclusive about who they let into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. For example, I respect George Harrison's contributions to the Beatles, but his solo career really wasn't worthy of HOF status. Nice songs but not particularly groundbreaking. On the other hand, Black Sabbath is probably one of the most influential bands of all time (much to many people's horror), but still hasn't gotten in. You can't tell me that Traffic or Bob Seger is more qualified. I think the problem is that it really is a popularity and nostalgia contest rather than an educated look at how the artist really contributed to rock n' roll. I suspect that the voting is dominated by a certain age bracket (baby boomers) whose perspective is quite biased based on nostalgia. I'd like to see the HOF set up a list of qualifications for nominees and inductees. Simply being popular shouldn't be enough (although extreme popularity must be taken into account).
Totally agree, subtomic. But it's hard to argue against ZZ Top or Prince (I know you're not). Hell, Prince deserves his own wing in that place.
Sabbath was actually nominated a couple of times without getting in. Ozzy then came out and told them that the Hall was a joke and not to bother ever inducting them. They haven't been nominated since. Uh, yep. It's a tourist attraction, nothing more. Pretty neat tourist attraction, nonetheless.
At an amazingly high level, believe it or not, along with Charlie Watts. Bill Wyman retired a while back, but there are excellent bass players around who can and have stepped in. Ron Wood can still play, although he's as replaceable as Mick Taylor was. The three Stones you can't have the Stones without, still, are Richards (still one of the greatest dudes playin' and highly underrated), Watts (totally outstanding even with the gray hair, lol), And Jagger. Jagger just doesn't have the pipes anymore. He's your "weak link" in the Stones today. A damn shame. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have said that in a million years, but this last tour convinced me. Richards and Watts are the heart and soul of the Rolliing Stones today... still crankin' it out at a high level after all these years. Amazing, indeed.
I'll probably get stoned to death or run out of the state of Texas for this, but...I turn the radio everytime I hear the opening riffs to Sharp Dressed Man or Legs. ZZ Top = overrated?
Wyman retired at the right time, just when the world was realizing the Rolling Stones would never again put out a great album of original material. He could see that they were about to become a full fledged nostalgia act. And you are correct about Jagger's voice. If you saw the HBO special from the last tour, he was out of gas a third of the way into the show. Glad I saw the Stones when they were still good (1981 in the Astrodome...Fabulous TBirds, ZZTop and the Stones). I wouldn't pay a plugged nickel to see them now, and I feel sorry for the jabronis who shelled out big bucks to see them at Reliant last year.
ZZTop in the 1970s - fantastic boogie blues band ZZTop in the 1980s and beyond....definitely overrated. They couldn't make a record since the 1980s without using a synthesizer.
A good rule of thumb is that if they made a video for it, it ain't too good. Even some of their earlier, better stuff gets overplayed on Houston radio. Go check out Deguello, Tres Hombres or Fandango, my 3 favorite albums of theirs, all before their MTV era. Top 5 fav ZZ songs: Just Got Paid Balinese I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide Cheap Sunglasses Mexican Blackbird
Deguello is an all-timer! And listen to Rio Grande Mud if you've never heard it. Yes Billy fell in love with the fuzz but you can only work as a power trio so long without getting bored. I know I've been listening to them for 35 years (whew!)