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Legs (song)

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"Legs"
Song
B-side"A Fool for Your Stockings"

"Legs" is a song performed by the band ZZ Top from their 1983 album Eliminator. The song was released as a single in 1984 and reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The Special Dance Mix version of the song peaked at number thirteen on the dance charts.[1] Although all three members of ZZ Top are credited with playing on the track, only Gibbons was actually present; engineer Terry Manning was responsible for all the musical parts save the lead guitar.[2]

Music video

After stepping in a mud puddle and bumping into tough-looking but polite bikers at a crosswalk, a pretty, unassuming salesgirl enters a burger joint. She places a take-out order but suffers harassment by everyone there except a handsome young cook who is bullied by his co-workers as well. The salesgirl takes her order, escapes the place and her tormentors, but leaves her glasses and a food container in her haste. The cook retrieves the items and runs after her to the shoe store where she works.

There, the store owner and the senior salesman both shove her around, while a customer laughs raucously at her misfortune. The cook dashes into the shop and then to the stock room to return the girl's items. She thanks him shyly, but her boss and the salesman burst in, and heave the cook out of the store. The Eliminator pulls up, and the Eliminator girls (Jeana Tomasino, Kymberly Herrin, and Danièle Arnaud) emerge from the car. They help the cook to his feet, dust him off, then slip into the shoe store's back door. The Eliminator girls find the dejected salesgirl, put her abusers in their place, then present the salesgirl to the ZZ Top band members, who have suddenly appeared to bestow upon her the keys to the Eliminator.

The salesgirl (Wendy Frazier) is whisked away for a complete makeover: new hairstyle, makeup, and sexy new wardrobe, including spike heels from her now-doting boss. The Eliminator arrives at the burger joint, where the salesgirl debuts her confident new self. She strides into the restaurant with the Eliminator girls behind her. With the help of the friendly bikers, the salesgirl gets her man as the Eliminator girls keep the more aggressive men at bay. The happy pair leaves the restaurant hand in hand and rides away in a dune buggy, while the burger joint's female owner and the rowdy customers watch them leave, sullen and angry over being put in their place. The Eliminator girls invite some of the friendly bikers to join them and the Eliminator drives away as the ZZ Top band members appear one last time to wave at the camera.

The spinning, furry Dean guitars also premiered in this video.

Awards

The video won the 1984 MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video. This was the first year the award was given. The commercial and music video director, Tim Newman, provided direction and cinematography for this as well as the ZZ Top music videos "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "My Head's In Mississippi" (as well as "I Love LA," for his cousin Randy Newman). Sim Sadler and Bob Sarles edited "Legs," for which both received nominations for Best Editing in the first MTV Video Music Awards, in the Billboard Music Video Awards, and in the American Music Video Awards that year.

Parody

The video was parodied in a 1984 episode of St. Elsewhere, in which ZZ Top themselves, as well as the Eliminator Girls appeared. In the scene, hospital orderly Luther (Eric Laneuville) falls asleep as the radio is playing "Legs", and he dreams the Eliminator girls come to his aid, helping him to seek revenge on senior hospital staff who have oppressed him.

Charts

Chart (1984) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report 6[3]
Belgian VRT Top 30 24
Canadian RPM Top Singles 9[4]
Dutch Top 40 35[5]
Irish Singles Chart 9
New Zealand Singles Chart 7[6]
U.K. Singles Chart 16
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 8
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 13
U.S. Billboard Top Rock Tracks 3

Year-end charts

Chart (1984) Position
Australian Kent Music Report 42
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 60
U.S. Cashbox Top 100 72

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 287.
  2. ^ http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/mv/msg/3849/0/32/0/
  3. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  4. ^ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.6797&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=ne41715s46kbhkmg51s7fvi9i4
  5. ^ http://www.top40.nl/search.aspx?keyword=ZZ%20Top&jaar=1971&maand=3&week=11#
  6. ^ http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=ZZ+Top&titel=Legs&cat=s
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