| "Legs" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by ZZ Top | ||||
| from the album Eliminator | ||||
| B-side | "A Fool for Your Stockings" | |||
| Released | 1984 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1982 | |||
| Genre | Rock, Hard Rock | |||
| Length | 4:35 (Album), 3:34 (Single) 4:31 (Remix), 7:48 (Dance Mix) |
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| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Writer(s) | Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard | |||
| Producer | Bill Ham | |||
| ZZ Top singles chronology | ||||
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"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]
Contents |
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 and friendly 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. 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.
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.
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 Launeville) 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.
| 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 Hot Rock Tracks | 3 |
| Chart (1984) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Kent Music Report | 42 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 60 |
| U.S. Cashbox Top 100 | 72 |