"Velcro Fly" is the fourth single off

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...

's 1985 album ''

Afterburner An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and comba ...

''. The song peaked at #15 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Mainstream Rock chart, and #35 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1986, the band's last ever top 40 hit.

Release

For the single release the song was remixed in two versions: by

Bill Ham Billy Mack Ham (February 4, 1937 – June 20, 2016) was an American music impresario, best known as the manager, producer, and image-maker for the blues-rock band ZZ Top. Ham also gained prominence in the country music world by discovering and man ...

and by

Jellybean Jelly beans are small bean shaped sugar candies with soft candy shells and thick gel interiors (see gelatin and jelly). The confection is primarily made of sugar and sold in a wide variety of colors and flavors. History It has been claimed ...

. Singles included both 7" and 12" edit versions of thore remixes with addition of Jellybean dub mix. A 12" Jellybean version of the song is featured on the box set '' Chrome, Smoke & BBQ''.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Velcro Fly" directed by

Daniel Kleinman Daniel Kleinman (born 23 December 1955) is a British television commercial and music video director who has designed every title sequence for the ''James Bond'' series of films since ''GoldenEye'' (1995), with the exception of '' Quantum of ...

features female dancers choreographed by pop singer

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

. 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 Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

called the song a "highlight" on

. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it a "seductive rocker that finds the 'Lil 01' Band From Texas' in its usual tongue-in-cheek mode." ''

'' called it a "techno-boogie stomper buried in fuzz and percussion."

In popular culture

The song appears in

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

'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 William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flas ...

- guitar, vocals *

Dusty Hill Joe Michael "Dusty" Hill (May 19, 1949 – July 28, 2021) was an American musician who was the bassist of the rock band ZZ Top for more than 50 years. He also sang lead and backing vocals and played keyboards. Hill was born in Dallas, Texas, an ...

- keyboards * Frank Beard - drums

References

{{ZZ Top 1985 songs 1986 singles Songs written by Billy Gibbons Songs written by Dusty Hill Songs written by Frank Beard (musician) ZZ Top songs Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Bill Ham