Blues and Rock are the foundation of The Rolling Stones’ sound, which, combined with the lyrics mainly written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, made them one of the most successful bands of all time.
Their love for both genres was shared by many other musicians of their generation and Blues Rock emerged as a subgenre that gave the world many incredible bands. Over the decades, Mick Jagger has shared his opinion on many bands associated with that style, including the Texas power trio ZZ Top.
What is Mick Jagger’s opinion on ZZ Top
Like his bandmate Keith Richards, Mick Jagger is also a big fan of ZZ Top. According to the Texas band, it was Jagger who requested that they open for The Rolling Stones in Hawaii in 1973 because he enjoyed their albums. As the late bassist Dusty Hill once recalled, Jagger even disguised himself, using a broom to simulate a beard, so he could watch the band perform at those shows.
“The word was that Jagger had heard our stuff and liked it. Then asked if we wanted to play with the Stones and open for them in Hawaii. You gotta understand, I love and always have (loved) The Rolling Stones. I mean, I just flew. We did three shows in two days, I have heard that on the same tour, Stevie Wonder on other shows and actually got booed, Stevie Wonder!”
He continued:
“So I was scared shitless (that the same would happen to us). I mean, I really was. We walked on stage the first show, with cowboy hats on, boots, jeans and you could hear a pin drop,” He said in ZZ Top’s documentary “That Little Ol’ Band from Texas” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
However, according to drummer Frank Beard, the crowd did not react well when they saw the band’s appearance. “When the curtains opened and they looked at Billy and Dusty, they had the cowboys hats on, (people were horrified) in this entire arena. They were like ‘Oh f*ck, a Country band!'” Then Gibbons said he turned to Dusty and Frank and said: “Alright fellas, we gotta hit it!'”
“Mick watched us, he put on like a hat, some coveralls and stood on the side of the stage with a broom, like a janitor and watched us play,” Frank Beard said. Hill also recalled seeing Jagger, saying: “I look on the side and I see Jagger looking at us. He’s got a broom turned upside down, like a beard. So he’s got a pretty good sense of humor (laughs). It was so much fun, I can’t tell you! We got an encore every show. I was just on Cloud 29!”
Mick Jagger said he really liked ZZ Top’s 1980s music videos
Jagger continued to like the band in the following decades and once when asked by MTV to pick his favorite music videos, he chose one of them. “I think there’s a series of good ZZ Top videos. I don’t know why I particularly chose this one, I could have chosen one of the others, maybe. But this one I think is a slightly surreal thing with the girl and being able to continue past the hot rod into this other thing. Plus I still like the tune, there’s a nice guitar riff and stuff like that, the beards and so.”
“I don’t know, I think it just works with this piece, I really don’t know why. And I just always liked this piece, this is like a genre piece of the girls and the cars. I could have chosen one of the other ones but I chose this one,” he said apparently referring to “Legs” (the available interview video, transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage doesn’t show which one he picked in 1993).
“Eliminator” was inspired by The Stones
Curiously, according to ZZ Top, their commercially successful album “Eliminator”, which includes “Legs”, was inspired by The Rolling Stones. While touring Europe in the early 1980s, Billy Gibbons saw people dancing to The Rolling Stones’ “Emotional Rescue” at a nightclub. He began to wonder why ZZ Top’s music was not being played in dance clubs in the same way.
Together with Frank Beard, Dusty Hill and the personnel working on the album, he decided to experiment with different rhythms. They even created some initial patterns on a drum machine before having Frank record his parts over them. That approach also led the band to experiment with synthesizers, which became another key element of the record’s most successful songs. ZZ Top also opened to the Stones in 1981 in the United States and in 2003 in Europe.
Keith Richards inducted ZZ Top into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Keith Richards was the one who inducted the Texas trio into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. He described them as a solid band that carried on the Blues tradition.
“We are talking about consistency and longevity, believe me, I know all about it. Which means, who can do it good the longest, we all know about that ladies, right? I’m gonna talk to you why I am here, which is to bring in a bunch of great guys. Texas, for me, the heart of the matter to me is Rock and The Blues. We have to talk about the Blues here, because we can’t leave it out.”
“Without it we are nowhere and these cats are steeped in the Blues and so am I. I steeped in several other things as well (laughs). (…) What I wanna say about the guys that I’m gonna bring on is (that they are) a solid band. This is the heartbeat of the whole country of the Rock and Roll. This is roots, these cats know they’re Blues and they know how to dress it up.”
“When I first saw them, I thought ‘I hope these guys are not on the run. Because that disguise is not gonna work man, you know (laughs). But obviously, they are still on the run and the frame held. It’s really my honor and my joy to bring on ZZ Top!” he said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).