Battle of the bands: ZZ Top vs. Lynyrd Skynyrd

[Joe Fields]

Both had many great hits. Both have waned in recent years.

[idgiehkt]

1. Free Bird!!!

hands down. :hi:

[ghostsofgiants]

6. Free Bird? Charlie Parker is in jail?

[idgiehkt]

11. lol

:hi:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

2. Why's that even a competition? Skynyrd all the way!

:P

[Wcross]

3. I recall signing a petition to change the national anthem to.....

...Freebird at some point in my life.

[kwassa]

4. Freebird rivals Stairway to Heaven as the most overplayed ...

[Joe Fields]

5. Freebird was great, but I like so many more Skynyrd songs better.

Ballad of Curtis Lowe, Needle and the Spoon, Whiskey Rock and Roller, to name a few.

[Strawman]

7. Skynyrd with an assist from the Drive By Truckers

[wildhorses]

8. you make my brain hurt

it would prolly be illegal if i don't vote for skynard.

[Joe Fields]

10. yes, where you're from my dear it would be illegal!

:hug:

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

9. Skynyrd, because

they're not ZZ Top :P

[realisticphish]

12. ZZ

A. Big ass beards
B. More bluesy style, which I like
C. Noone yells "CHEAP SUNGLASSES! WOO!" at every rock show

[enigmatic]

13. The original Skynyrd

If only for "Tuesday's Gone", even though it's overplayed to death on FM radio..

[pokerfan]

14. Lynyrd Skynyrd waned in 1977

but I still vote them over ZZ Top. Just more complex and varied music. Vocals were better too.

[Zorro]

15. My vote's for Lynyrd Skynyrd

but ZZ Top's Afterburner is the quintessential rock and roll album. Great hooks, great tunes, and indistinct but smutty sounding lyrics.

[Kali]

16. that is actually a pretty tough choice for me personally

prolly have to go with ZZ Top

[datasuspect]

17. tres hombres

is the only zz top record that could whip anything skynryd did.

[BikeWriter]

18. My home town band! ZZTops.

[Joe Fields]

19. I picked these two because they are pretty equal, IMO.

I listen to both bands quite a lot, and it was impossible for me to choose one over another. Had Skynyrd not had that plane crash, who knows? I do think that ZZ kinda went commercial after their Deguello album, but then a lot of bands have done so. ZZ's early stuff really can't be beat.

[Beausoleil]

36. "ZZ's early stuff really can't be beat"

This is the whole enchilada for me:

ZZ Top's First Album
Rio Grande Mud
Tres Hombres

Snynyrd was OK, I really didn't care for their redneck, "southern man" shit don't stink attitude and lyrics, but the music was pretty good.

[taterguy]

20. ZZ Top because they saved Lester Bangs life

Read all about it in the DeRogatis bio of Bangs. He was falling apart in New York. They brought him down to Texas to get him some fresh air and get him away from the bad influences there. He only lasted a couple more years but at least they tried.

I also like the way that they inadvertently proved Al Gore's point long before An Inconvenient Truth. Back in the mid-90s they were the halftime show for a Super Bowl in New Orleans. Their set included Harleys and hot-rods that overwhelmed the Super Dome's ventilation system. Every second half sideline shot showed the players gasping for breath and a thick haze covered the arena, just a microcosm of what we're doing to ourselves.

OTOH, I listen to Skynyrd a lot more. Maybe I need to reload my MP3 player and add some ZZ Top. Tush is pretty cool along with I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide and the entire Tres Hombres album.

[mitchum]

28. I watched something last week that I wish Lester had been able to see...

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' "Thinking XXX"

One of the special features is Lou Reed reciting a lengthy "found poem" comprised of porn spam. It is rather apparent that this is the first time that Lou has ever laid eyes on the material. He giggles at the contents a few times and then eventually cracks up and totally loses it after reading one particularly obscene section. Lou comes off as being endearingly human. That is not to say that Lou wasn't often human to Lester ("Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about. You can't afford good drugs. You're poor, man" and other assorted bits of nastiness), but here Lou is taking a childlike in reveling in profanity and even expressing his own amused dismay at the possibilities. And it comes across as very charming.
After the segment was over, I turned to my wife and remarked that it was a shame Lester didn't get to see that. She agreed.

I would recommend renting the DVD. Hell, I even ordered a copy for myself, but I'm a bit of an obsessive when it comes to Lou Reed :)

[SteppingRazor]

21. I'd vote for pre-plane crash Skynyrd over ZZ Top...

but I'd vote for ZZ Top over post-plane crash Skynyrd.

[mitchum]

23. I'm in complete agreement with you (n/t)

[MissMillie]

22. let me see.....

this is a choice between a migraine and a kidney stone.....

[LynneSin]

24. MOLLY HATCHET!!!!

Seriously - I couldn't choose from those 2 bands. How about Molly Hatchet instead

[Orsino]

33. Heh. Skynyrd was the poor man's Allmans...

...and Hatchet was the poor man's Skynyrd. I really, really loved their dumb-as-a-post cover of "Dreams," though.

[mitchum]

54. No, Blackfoot was the poor man's Lynyrd Skynyrd...

and Molly Hatchett was the poor man's Blackfoot
And at that point we've come so far down the "poor man's..." ladder, it's a wonder that Molly Hatchet didn't take the stage wearing barrels while smoking castoff cigar butts :)

[ceile]

25. ZZ

Partly a TX thang, and partly because LS makes my ears bleed....

[last_texas_dem]

26. Skynyrd, but both were pretty cool during their heyday

I almost feel like I should support ZZ Top, simply 'cause they're one of the few big rock groups to come out of my "home region" (if there is really such a concept as "home region", that is!) of southeast Texas. In fact, they played the prom at my high school a couple years before they had broken through (and long before I attended, or was even born!). But even though ZZ Top has some great rock songs, my favorite ones by Skynyrd resonate a little bit more. Even though the eighties production on their biggest album and a couple of the ones that followed make ZZ Top's sound a little slicker than I usually like, they were still recording strong material into the eighties. Maybe it's easier for me to have a positive opinion of Skynyrd since the band died before the eighties, which was such a bad decade musically for so many veteran rock acts.*

* Of course, I'm really just taking into consideration Skynyrd pre-Ronnie's death. I know they've since re-formed and recorded several albums, but it's just hard to consider them the same band. Plus, other than that gawdawful "Red, White, and Blue" track from a few years ago, I don't think I actually know any songs by the reunited Skynyrd.

[mvd]

27. Overall, I'll say ZZ Top

Though I do love "Free Bird."

[hippywife]

29. You forgot

"Neither, because they both suck."

[Joe Fields]

32. awww, now play nice...

:hi:

[Orsino]

30. I gotta give Skynyrd the edge...

...but there was always something demented in ZZ Top's music that is really appealing. Good thing we don't really have to choose.

on edit: I just realized, though, that if it were a question of whom to go see live today, it would be ZZ Top. Donnie ain't Ronnie, and never will be.

[SPKrazy]

31. No ZZ Top

:(


how about AC/DC?

[Joe Fields]

34. But ya gotta give Billy Gibbons his due. He roomed with Hendrix

for about six months. Billy said he learned just what it took to be a great musician during that period of his life. Jimi never went anywhere without his guitar. Even took it to bed with him, that is , when he slept alone. Gibbons said that Hendrix practiced about eight hours a day, then jammed at night. Gibbons said it made him realize how much he still had to learn, so he followed in Hendrix' footsteps.

[mitchum]

35. Billy Gibbons said that he roomed with Hendrix, but that's not true

However, you know how Texans lie :)

[Joe Fields]

49. Texans DO tend to eggagerate a bit. But how do you know Billy lied?

[mitchum]

53. The chronology doesn't match up...

there is no unaccounted for period in Hendrix's life when he could have roomed with Gibbons.
There is also the legend that Hendrix praised Gibbons' guitar prowess on Johnny Carson or Dick Cavett (depending on the telling) That didn't happen either.

Those first three ZZ Top records are fantastic, though :)

[Joe Fields]

55. But it could be true. Gibbons played in a band called ...

The Moving Sidewalks, that toured with Hendrix for one season in the mid 60's.

[mitchum]

57. Yes, I am aware of that; Moving Sidewalks played several dates with...

Hendrix, but they never did any type of extended touring together.
Trust me, I have a friend who is a longtime Hendrix "scholar" and researcher, and he said this is just another one of Gibbons' entertaining, but untrue tall tales.

[Joe Fields]

59. Hmmm...I thought I was a longtime Hendrix scholar and researcher.

Oh well, guess not, huh?

[mitchum]

60. He has done work for the estate {n/t)

[Inchworm]

37. My favorite Skynyrd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTtwLBtp4pI

[Zavulon]

38. Skynyrd by a nose.

ZZ Top's more commercial stuff was not very good.

[underpants]

39. Skynyrd is the best American rock band of all time

[mvd]

40. That would be The Beach Boys IMO

But on some days, I might say another band.

[underpants]

41. you mean WITH Stamos, right?

:rofl:

[mvd]

42. LOL

That made me chuckle. :-)

[ghostsofgiants]

45. Beach Boys with Stamos was the first concert I ever saw, haha.

:headbang:

[martymar64]

43. Sorry, that would be the Doors

The Doors songs just have more staying power than Skynyrd's. Ronnie was terrific but Jim Morrison he ain't.
I like Skynyrd, but my vote goes to ZZ Top. Side two of Fandango is the greatest album side in history, with maybe the exception of Side 1 of Rush's 2112.

[Joe Fields]

50. Side one of Rush' 2112 was phenomenal, but I must go back in time

even further to side two of Abby Road.

[Jed Dilligan]

44. Dead Kennedys!

Oops, do punk rock bands count?

[ghostsofgiants]

46. They goddamn well better.

Because my vote would probably be Bad Brains.

[Jed Dilligan]

47. I guess the competition has to be separate,

because the stadium rock bands wouldn't stand a chance!

[ghostsofgiants]

48. Haha, amen to that.

[Joe Fields]

51. You're right. They can't be any good. They appeal to too many people. lol

[Jed Dilligan]

52. I guess that makes me a snob but

yes, I'd say this is generally true when it comes to books, movies, food, and music.

[Joe Fields]

56. It's okay. I've been branded a snob too.

[Lars39]

58. skynard

musically they were doing things never heard before at that time by the recording studio.