I have a confession to make.
I was a somewhat superficial youth. At least, it seems that way to me now.
Oh, I got that the Beatles were something special even though I was a small child when they arrived in America. But I didn't always pick up on some of the other talented singers and songwriters of those days until after they had been in the public eye for awhile.
Maybe it's because there were only two children in my family, and I was the oldest. If I had had an older brother or sister, I'm sure he or she would have introduced me to some artists who I didn't really appreciate until later.
At least, that is how it seems to have worked with my friends who had older brothers and/or sisters.
(Of course, the flip side of that is that I would have been the middle child — which, I am sure, would have introduced a whole new set of issues into my sibling relationships. But that is a topic for another discussion.)
Anyway, for whatever reason, I came to ZZ Top later than most of the kids my age.
I don't know why. I saw ZZ Top once in concert when I was in college, and I love to listen to their music today.
But when ZZ Top released their first album and the group was just beginning to get some airplay, I must have been in my Three Dog Night phase. That was the hot group at the time — in my circle of friends, at least, and they were the ones from whom I tended to take my cues.
Oddly, though, those friends weren't the ones who introduced me to ZZ Top. They may have been aware of ZZ Top, but, if they were, they didn't share their discovery with me. Perhaps I learned about ZZ Top from the same person or persons who told me about Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers — the Southern musicians who were so important in my teen years and beyond.
To be honest, I can't say that I really remember if anyone was responsible for that. Maybe I just started to notice ZZ Top after hearing their songs on the radio so much.
Perhaps the first ZZ Top song that I picked up on my personal radar was "Just Got Paid." That was quite popular. Could have been "Waitin' for the Bus" or "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers." Or the mega–hit "La Grange."
But, by the time they released their fourth album, "Fandango!" 35 years ago tomorrow, I knew who they were. I had heard their music many times.
I have a distinct memory of sitting in the bleachers watching the older boys do their sound checks prior to a talent show. While they were moving their equipment around and talking among themselves, they had a record playing on a stereo. It was "Fandango!"
And when "Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings" started, some boys on the stage picked up their guitars and started playing along. At that moment, it became my favorite ZZ Top song. In some ways, it is still my favorite ZZ Top song.
I guess "Tush" has always been my favorite studio song from that album. It was the big hit — and a worthy successor to "La Grange."
But I still love me some "Nasty Dogs ..."
