If you ever get a chance to see the movie Dazed And Confused you'll be treated to a pretty accurate depiction of a typical weekend in late 1970's America. The bad hair, the hiphuggers, the muscle cars, the 8-tracks.

Ohhh yea, the 8-tracks. I don't really have much nostalgia for 'em. I mean, they were cheap and didn't sound so hot. But that's what we had...they were the classic rock box. Jump into the front seat of your buddy's Camaro, pop in Deep Purple's Machine Head and head out!

For some reason, there are just a handful of songs and bands that I strongly identify with 70's roadtrippin'. There's no particular reason for this. Heck, it's probably just some idealized notion I've been incubating all these years about my crazed, youthful exploits. Anyway...some of the songs are "The Boys Are Back In Town" (Thin Lizzy), "Jungle Love" (Steve Miller), "Katmandu" (Bob Seger), "Can't Get Enough" (Bad Company) and ZZ Top's "Tush".

Yea, when I think of classic rock and stupidly good times from the era of orange furniture and scary sideburns, I think of ZZ Top. "Tush" is one of those tunes that always made us reach for the volume knob. It just couldn't be turned up too loud. The distorted blues/rock guitar, the not quite over-the-top vocals and the blistering lead guitar...oh yea...it was, as they say today, all good.

Then, shortly after the dawn of MTV, somethin' funny happened. ZZ Top just exploded. That little 'ole band from Texas put out Eliminator, made a few videos and went on to be considered one of MTV's pioneering artists.

The only problem with their second wave of success was that they had a tough time pulling away from "Sharp Dressed Man", "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Legs". Subsequent records had that techno-sheen on 'em. It all sorta ran together. They even put out a record called "Recycler". Yea, no kidding.