Songoftheday 8/28/13 - She's got hair down to her fanny she's kinda jet set, try undo her panties...

ZZ Top - "Legs"
from the album Eliminator (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's Song of the Day is by the Texan blues-rock trio ZZ Top, whose 1983 synth-driven masterpiece Eliminator did as much to bring back the keyboard to heavy metal as Van Halen's dabblings with it. The first single from the set, "Gimme All Your Lovin'", reached the pop top-40, while third single "Sharp Dressed Man" became their most lasting classic song to date. The fifth single from the set would prove to be the band's biggest pop hit yet.

Although co-writing credit on the record was shared between lead guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons, bass-man Dusty Hill, and drummer Frank Beard (the one without the beard), only Gibbons played and sang on "Legs", with the musical backdrop provided by engineers Terry Manning and Linden Hudson (who later sued for credit). Add a video where the trio are again just props behind the hot girls in the desert in a Cinderella/Pretty Woman fantasy, and you've got an MTV monster waiting to happen...

 "Legs" became the first of the band's two singles to reach #8 on the US pop chart in July of 1984, while topping out at #3 on the rock radio list as well. The record was also remixed for club play, and went to #13 on the dance club chart, proving the trio's crossover potential with their synth-y sound. Internationally, the record was their only top-10 hit in Australia at #6, while also going top-10 in neighboring New Zealand as well as Canada and Ireland. In the UK, "Legs" walked up to a respectable top-20 placing...

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In 2002, Kid Rock also covered the song for a wrestling tie-in album where this was used as Stacy Keibler's entry music..

...and to complete the triumvirate of frat-boy takes on the song is Nickelback who shuffled it up a bit..

Here's the version that made the top-20 on the dance chart...

 
Finally, here are the boys themselves live with the song...

Up tomorrow: A romantic question from a British keyboardist.