Tush, ZZ Top, 1975
Yesterday was my Pop's 76th birthday. Growing up, my parents weren't really music people. Other than controlling the radio stations on family outings and the occasional gifting of a random album, I can honestly say they mostly did not influence my musical tastes. The notable exception is my Pop's affinity for ZZ Top, which manifested itself to me during the band's resurgence in the 80s.
I'm sure all of you remember how huge Eliminator was in the early 80s. My Pop shuttled my friends and me around during those early 80s (pre-teen and early teen) years. He was always a huge hit with my friends because he let us control the radio and wasn't shy about singing along with songs he liked -- those by ZZ Top being top of his list.
One time, during a spend the night party at my house, we were listening to one of the two local rock stations and they were doing a rock block. You know, where the station plays four songs back-to-back by the same band. A ZZ Top block came on and my Pop appeared out of nowhere. The first two were current hits -- Sharp Dressed Man and Gimme All Your Lovin -- the second two were old songs -- Lagrange and Tush. We didn't know the old songs but my Pop did. When Tush came on, to the delight of me and my friends, he immediately busted into some funky twist-like dance moves and it was glorious.
I was 12 or 13 and I became a ZZ Top fan right then and Tush was forever immortalized as being my Pop's song. And, yeah, it's like Pavlov's dog -- all we have to do to this day is turn on Tush and he busts a move. Here's to you, Pop! I love you!
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