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Velcro Fly
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Wikipedia article
"'Velcro Fly'" is the fourth single off ZZ Top's 1985 album 'Afterburner'. The song peaked at #15 on the 'Billboard' Mainstream Rock chart, and #35 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 in 1986, the band's last ever top 40 hit.
A 12" version is featured on the box set 'Chrome, Smoke & BBQ'.
Music video
The music video for "Velcro Fly" directed by Daniel Kleinman features Egyptian hieroglyphics (possibly a reference to other songs from the album such as "Sleeping Bag") and female dancers, a common theme in almost every ZZ Top music video. The video also has dance moves choreographed by pop singer Paula Abdul.
The video was released on the 'DVD Greatest Hits: The Video Collection', along with other videos from the band's albums 'Eliminator' and 'Recycler'.
Reception
Robert Christgau called the song a "highlight" on Afterburner. 'Cash Box' called it a "seductive rocker that finds the 'Lil 01' Band From Texas' in its usual tongue-in-cheek mode." 'Billboard' called it a "techno-boogie stomper buried in fuzz and percussion."
In popular culture
The song appears in Stephen King's novel, 'The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands', where in the series's post-apocalyptic alternate reality of 'Mid-World', the song's looped percussion intro, played via a large PA system in the decaying city of Lud, is referred to as '"the God Drums"'. The city's barbaric inhabitants believe it to be sacred, and sacrifice themselves to the drumbeat. In the book, Eddie Dean asserts that the song was never released as a single in his world. In the audiobook an actual sample of Velcro Fly is used to accompany the narration.
Charts
Personnel
*Billy Gibbons - guitar, vocals
*Dusty Hill - keyboards
*Frank Beard - drums
References
Category:1985 songs
Category:1986 singles
Category:Songs written by Billy Gibbons
Category:Songs written by Dusty Hill
Category:Songs written by Frank Beard (musician)
Category:ZZ Top songs
Category:Warner Records singles
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