The X was a pirate radio station operating in Mexico at much higher bandwidth so they could broadcast to the whole country. This song is about them listening to the radio station. Yes, Wolfman Jack was one of the biggest DJs on the X.
When I was a kid back in the 70's, I used to tune around on the AM band to hear what I could hear with my shortwave radio. I could almost always hear The X from here in Southern AZ. Music we never got on top 40 AM radio here!
XROQ 80 was broadcast from Juarez, Mexico, playing AOR (Album Oriented Rock) at a wattage level that was illegal in the US. They would get song requests from CANADA! Anyway, I grew up just across the Rio Grande in El Paso, TX., digging ZZ Top, Wolfman Jack and the X. Great times!
I agree, but I don't think ZZ Top is one of them. While I personally prefer their old stuff as well, I think they are one of the few who did "the '80s thing" and put out a more contemporary (at the time) sound, made use of some synth, etc., but still managed to stay true to themselves. Then they got rid of the synths and came back in the '90s with an even nastier, grittier sound. I don't think it's even possible for those guys to lose their soul (in the musical sense). It's written deep in their DNA.
This is the best era of ZZ Top! This is arguably the best album. It is absolute 🔥. Tres Hombres gives it a run as well. Billy and Dusty share the vocals on this one. Billy is the lower gruffer voice and Dusty is the higher one that cuts through the mix.
As a lifelong Topper... I agree that Fandango is the best of the 70's Top. (and that the 70's was the best of Top) The live intro just kills it. Blue Jean Blues. The X...of course. Tush. And...The Balinese. I snuck into the Balinese in 2000 while my crew was contracting down in Galveston...before Ike totally destroyed it. It was night, and I led a couple of my work compatriots there, just because if it was good enough for a ZZ Top song, it had to have been a legendary place. We hung until the half rack we brought was gone...and I swear I felt Ruby there..."with a rag wrapped around her head". Good times
I am ALWAYS here for ZZ Top! Have you ever done La Grange? Or Tush? Also love their version of Viva Las Vegas! Heard It On The X, Got Me Under Pressure, I'm Bad I'm Nationwide, Waitin' For The Bus, Just Got Paid, and Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers! Those are some of my faves!!! Thanks Jay, love u too!! ❤❤❤❤
At the time, if you were under 30, you were glued to AM radio for the music AND information! Many stations were independent, like X. Similar to what was shown in WKRP in Cincinnati! Independents got the word out about Woodstock! That's why 500,000 folks, almost all under 25, got the word and showed up from all over the country! Most performers were also under 25! AM radio was like the internet today.
Actually, one of the coolest things about this song is that they are both alternating lead vocals on this, phrase by phrase. I just think it's so damn cool. It sounds so good. ❤
No way, I don't want it to be over- how many times did I say that while listening to ZZ Top in the 70's! So much great music to rock out to, from "Rio Grande Mud", "Tres Hombres", "Fandango!", etc.. Great choice, Jay!
Takes me all the way back to the Fandango album, I wore it out! Blue Jean Blues from that album is a perfect example of what the blues should sound like 🔥and was covered by the Jeff Healey band 🎸 and is on their See The Light album
The X was an outlaw station, because at the time radio stations in the U.S. were limited to 50,000 watts or less, and there were only a few designated "50,000 watt clear channel" stations around the country such as WLS in Chicago, and WHAS in Louisville. Headquarters for The X was in Mexico, and they didn't care what the F.C.C. said, they were cranking it up to eleven and blasting great music far and wide.
The x studio and tower was just south of the border where there wasn't the 100,000 watt limit that U S. radio stations had to adhere to. Blasting 250,000 watts, the signal covered most of the territory west of the Mississippi, and made Wolfman Jack the most famous DJ in America. Keep up the good work brother, I will be here. I enjoy your reactions, and your taste in music.
Oh man, I look forward to this. I'm positive I've mentioned it on here a handful of times over the years, but hey man, anytime is a good time for this ode to pirate radio blazing banger. ❤
XERF is not a word. It is the radio station call letters that Wolfman Jack was on in Mexico. Radio stations in the east start with a W, the west starts with K. In Mexico the radio stations start with an X. Next ZZ Top reaction should be to Sleeping Bag. It's sad in one way, but amazing in another.
J, if you haven't yet checked out "We Bad, We Nationwide" and "Cheap Sunglasses", they really show how creative early ZZ Top could be. Also from that era is a deep fan favorite add a total banger, "Tubesteak Boogie", it's so fun.
Right in the first stanza Dusty says, "From coast to coast and line to line" meaning from the Pacific to the Atlantic and from Mexico to Canada. It was said that the X was so powerful that cowboys working on ranches could hear music in the fence wires.
Cheers Jay! Appreciate you bro! If you haven't heard ZZ Top covering Elvis's "Viva Las Vegas" with Dusty on vocals, you absolutely need to check that video out! I believe they would play the song backstage as a warm up before going on stage. then decided to record their version in the studio.
There is nothing like early ZZ Top. Loved it so much, I went through several of their albums learning many of their songs. Billy Gibbons has always been in my top five guitar players. Greatness
The guitar style is called shuffle. A lot of shuffle music had very suggestive lyrics that main stream radio would not play so you had to go underground... songs like La Grange.
Check out Franklin's Dealers Get Ready. I was trying to get my band to play X and the other guitar player said it reminded him of Hot for Teacher and I ended up writing this riff...which other people say reminds them of Kickstart My Heart
@@DeanKruger-b7z Hi Dean, I agree with you with respect to the evolution of music, which is built on a "ratcheting" effect, when musicians are impressed by previous (music) sounds that they then use to create new music.
@@DeanKruger-b7z Get Ready is excellent... really tight, and polished. While I hear the influences, your music still sounds as a independent work. Cheers!
Side one of Fandango was recorded live at The Warehouse in New Orleans. Cover pic is from that performance. Was standing front row for this one. Side two is a collection of stellar studio recordings. Still haven’t done the first (and best) song on side two called, “Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings.” Absolute riff perfection and an outro that should be five minutes longer. Too many pass this one by…. 👈
In the US you could only broadcast with 50,000 watts, the X was running at 100,00 watts. That's why you could hear it all over the states. Was sometimes the first time kids in the Midwest heard black music. You had to tune in at night to hear the Wolfman as the other AM stations had to go off the air at sun down.
The greater the power the AM station had the further across the country a signal would "skip" or travel beyond it's intended range. I use to be able to pick up KOMA - Oklahoma City, in the south plains of Texas (Levelland, TX) when I was growing up due to the signal "skip" at night! The "X" had tremendous skip along with it's broadcast power!
Radio stations in the US were limited by the government (FCC) as to how much power they could use to broadcast so stations in different areas would not overlap. Example: so Dallas radio would not interfere with OKC radio stations. XERF towers were located just across the border in Mexico and not subject to the same rules as the US so they cranked up their power to broadcast all over the USA!
Loved this tune so much I introduced it to guys I was jamming with and the other guitar player said it reminded him of Hot for Teacher riff...I tried following him but wasn't good enough and ended up coming up with a different riff all together...check out Get Ready by Franklin's Dealers..!!...
Hey Jay! I'd love to see you react to either Couldn't Stand The Weather or Crossfire by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble! Keep the great videos coming mate! 😎👍
Mexican radio call signs begin with X (unlike the usual K in the States). "The X" refers to radio stations operating in Mexico, usually licensed in Mexico (so not pirate stations), and operating at much higher transmission power than what was allowed in the U.S. So you could pick up these stations in large parts of the U.S., sometimes even up in Canada. They broadcast and wide range of music, and also things like Pentecostal preachers, ads for often sketchy stuff, etc. They were also known as "border blaster" stations. They were usually directed at American audiences, skirting American law by operating over the border. So in a certain sense they were "outlaw" stations, even though legal. And they often pissed off Amercan station operators because the X stations walked all over the American transmissions Wolfman was at XERF in the early '60s, and then moved to XERB.
In 1986, the U.S. and Mexico signed an agreement to end high-powered cross border transmissions. AM 1570 continues to operate as La Ponderosa and promotes Mexican heritage and identity.
XERA AND XERB transmitted (I think) at 500,000 watts from across the border in northern Mexico whereas in the US the FCC allowed only certain stations (known as clear channel) to broadcast at 50,000 watts.
This is totally unrelated, but you should check out Audioslave "Cochise". I know you've done a few of their songs, but this is by far my favorite. I'm actually more of a ZZ Top fan, but I heard Cochise recently and thought you would like it.
The X was a pirate radio station operating in Mexico at much higher bandwidth so they could broadcast to the whole country. This song is about them listening to the radio station. Yes, Wolfman Jack was one of the biggest DJs on the X.
When I was a kid back in the 70's, I used to tune around on the AM band to hear what I could hear with my shortwave radio. I could almost always hear The X from here in Southern AZ. Music we never got on top 40 AM radio here!
XERB I think but might be wrong.
XROQ 80 was broadcast from Juarez, Mexico, playing AOR (Album Oriented Rock) at a wattage level that was illegal in the US. They would get song requests from CANADA! Anyway, I grew up just across the Rio Grande in El Paso, TX., digging ZZ Top, Wolfman Jack and the X. Great times!
@@bobbyhamblen2338 You are right 'XERB tje Mighty 1090' the studio was in L.A. and the transmitter in Mexico, Tiajuana Ithink.
Wolfman Jack is such an amazing character. Amazing amazing amazing.❤
Pre early 80's ZZ Top is the best. So many bands lost their souls in the 80's.
Truth!
Indeed
I agree, but I don't think ZZ Top is one of them. While I personally prefer their old stuff as well, I think they are one of the few who did "the '80s thing" and put out a more contemporary (at the time) sound, made use of some synth, etc., but still managed to stay true to themselves.
Then they got rid of the synths and came back in the '90s with an even nastier, grittier sound.
I don't think it's even possible for those guys to lose their soul (in the musical sense). It's written deep in their DNA.
MTV did it.
You lift our spirits too, Jay. Another song from ZZ Top you might like is 'Balinese.'
YES...
Billy and Dusty share the vocals on this one.
Jay, you seriously lift our spirits as well. Thank you!
I love “Just Got Paid” & “Francine “ from their second album Rio Grande Mud.
This is the best era of ZZ Top! This is arguably the best album. It is absolute 🔥. Tres Hombres gives it a run as well. Billy and Dusty share the vocals on this one. Billy is the lower gruffer voice and Dusty is the higher one that cuts through the mix.
As a lifelong Topper... I agree that Fandango is the best of the 70's Top. (and that the 70's was the best of Top) The live intro just kills it. Blue Jean Blues. The X...of course. Tush. And...The Balinese. I snuck into the Balinese in 2000 while my crew was contracting down in Galveston...before Ike totally destroyed it. It was night, and I led a couple of my work compatriots there, just because if it was good enough for a ZZ Top song, it had to have been a legendary place. We hung until the half rack we brought was gone...and I swear I felt Ruby there..."with a rag wrapped around her head". Good times
I am ALWAYS here for ZZ Top! Have you ever done La Grange? Or Tush? Also love their version of Viva Las Vegas! Heard It On The X, Got Me Under Pressure, I'm Bad I'm Nationwide, Waitin' For The Bus, Just Got Paid, and Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers! Those are some of my faves!!! Thanks Jay, love u too!! ❤❤❤❤
At the time, if you were under 30, you were glued to AM radio for the music AND information! Many stations were independent, like X. Similar to what was shown in WKRP in Cincinnati! Independents got the word out about Woodstock! That's why 500,000 folks, almost all under 25, got the word and showed up from all over the country! Most performers were also under 25! AM radio was like the internet today.
Billy and Dusty are trading verses - Billy starts with his growl, Dusty answers with his more open sound. Similar to Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers.
Always thought this was some of Frank's BEST drumming -just DRIVING POWER...
Yezzz indeed! The radio station of Wolfman jack!!!! The station kicked ass always! So says the old rocker!!!❤❤❤❤ ZZ TOP MAN!!!!!
I grew up on XROK 80 Juarez, Mexico. Blasted through the night time airwaves 350 miles south of the border. This recording is legend.
Actually, one of the coolest things about this song is that they are both alternating lead vocals on this, phrase by phrase. I just think it's so damn cool. It sounds so good. ❤
X is what all Mexican radio stations have as the first letter in their call letters. Like US stations start with W or K.
No way, I don't want it to be over- how many times did I say that while listening to ZZ Top in the 70's! So much great music to rock out to, from "Rio Grande Mud", "Tres Hombres", "Fandango!", etc.. Great choice, Jay!
I know the Hill family, they are from Fayetteville, Tennessee and ZZ Top made it big in Texas
Takes me all the way back to the Fandango album, I wore it out! Blue Jean Blues from that album is a perfect example of what the blues should sound like 🔥and was covered by the Jeff Healey band 🎸 and is on their See The Light album
Fandango! is the fourth album by the American rock band ZZ Top, released in 1975.
The X was an outlaw station, because at the time radio stations in the U.S. were limited to 50,000 watts or less, and there were only a few designated "50,000 watt clear channel" stations around the country such as WLS in Chicago, and WHAS in Louisville. Headquarters for The X was in Mexico, and they didn't care what the F.C.C. said, they were cranking it up to eleven and blasting great music far and wide.
ZZ Top always here for it🔥great song off this album.
One of the best riffs ever. We Love you Jay! ❤
Definitely one of my favorites from ZZ Top
The x studio and tower was just south of the border where there wasn't the 100,000 watt limit that U S. radio stations had to adhere to. Blasting 250,000 watts, the signal covered most of the territory west of the Mississippi, and made Wolfman Jack the most famous DJ in America. Keep up the good work brother, I will be here. I enjoy your reactions, and your taste in music.
Oh man, I look forward to this. I'm positive I've mentioned it on here a handful of times over the years, but hey man, anytime is a good time for this ode to pirate radio blazing banger. ❤
XERF is not a word. It is the radio station call letters that Wolfman Jack was on in Mexico. Radio stations in the east start with a W, the west starts with K. In Mexico the radio stations start with an X.
Next ZZ Top reaction should be to Sleeping Bag. It's sad in one way, but amazing in another.
The first song on their first album- Somebody Else has been Shakin’ your tree. Welcome to Z Z TOP 🎼🎶🎼🤠
My all time favorite ZZ Top song!
Dusty and Billy sharing lead vox! Perfect song! Miss you Dust!
You lift my spirits as well and definitely make me smile. These reactions are a great ending for my day. Thank you Jay!
J, if you haven't yet checked out "We Bad, We Nationwide" and "Cheap Sunglasses", they really show how creative early ZZ Top could be. Also from that era is a deep fan favorite add a total banger, "Tubesteak Boogie", it's so fun.
That is from about 1973, check out the whole album. Love Mexican black bird. Not a bad song on this album.
Listen carefully, Billy and Dusty are trading lines in the verses and Billy did the chorus.
Love this. Always played when Cotton Fitzsimmons was Phoenix Suns coach. The Cotton Express!
ZZTop is great
Right in the first stanza Dusty says, "From coast to coast and line to line" meaning from the Pacific to the Atlantic and from Mexico to Canada. It was said that the X was so powerful that cowboys working on ranches could hear music in the fence wires.
Cheers Jay! Appreciate you bro! If you haven't heard ZZ Top covering Elvis's "Viva Las Vegas" with Dusty on vocals, you absolutely need to check that video out! I believe they would play the song backstage as a warm up before going on stage. then decided to record their version in the studio.
Try "Just Got Paid/Jesus Just Left Chicago". You will not be disappointed.
There is nothing like early ZZ Top. Loved it so much, I went through several of their albums learning many of their songs. Billy Gibbons has always been in my top five guitar players. Greatness
The guitar style is called shuffle. A lot of shuffle music had very suggestive lyrics that main stream radio would not play so you had to go underground... songs like La Grange.
Country Jesus cuttin' through, that's where I learned my licks!
You should check out "TV Dinners" as the next ZZ Top song and watch the video with it, a forgotten song...
I Absolutely Love ZZ TOP!!!! 🔥😎🤘
Always knew there was a Lil Texan in you.😉👏
You have to check out ‘Beer drinkers and hell raisers’. And another ‘Balinese’.
ZZ Top, Texas legends... \m/
I have 2 songs of zz on my playlist and this is one of them.
this is badass!!!!!
Love a great song for the bon-fire and beer nights. If ur listening while driving, ya may get a ticket, lol. Thanx so much, take care, Peace
So happy you have the information!
Eddie Van Halen loved Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top. I believe that VH's "Hot For Teacher" was a rearranged "I Heard It On The X".
Check out Franklin's Dealers Get Ready. I was trying to get my band to play X and the other guitar player said it reminded him of Hot for Teacher and I ended up writing this riff...which other people say reminds them of Kickstart My Heart
I guess that's how we all borrow here and there sometimes not even realizing it
@@DeanKruger-b7z Hi Dean, I agree with you with respect to the evolution of music, which is built on a "ratcheting" effect, when musicians are impressed by previous (music) sounds that they then use to create new music.
@@DeanKruger-b7z Get Ready is excellent... really tight, and polished. While I hear the influences, your music still sounds as a independent work. Cheers!
@@noclouds111 thanks...! Glad you liked it!
Side one of Fandango was recorded live at The Warehouse in New Orleans. Cover pic is from that performance. Was standing front row for this one. Side two is a collection of stellar studio recordings. Still haven’t done the first (and best) song on side two called, “Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings.” Absolute riff perfection and an outro that should be five minutes longer. Too many pass this one by…. 👈
Great choice! 😅
Another great ZZ Top song with “dueling” vocals is “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers”. You should definitely give that one a listen.
ZZ Top, Mexican Blackbird.
One of my favorite
Fandango recorded at The Warehouse in N.O. !
In the US you could only broadcast with 50,000 watts, the X was running at 100,00 watts. That's why you could hear it all over the states. Was sometimes the first time kids in the Midwest heard black music. You had to tune in at night to hear the Wolfman as the other AM stations had to go off the air at sun down.
Memphis loves ZZ Top, cool reaction 😎
I wish they had done more songs featuring both Billy and Dusty on vocals. They really were a great vocal duo.
❤️🎶❤️Billy Gibbons played Angela's father on the series "Bones" for about 7 episodes I believe! It was very fun 😊!!!💓❤️💓
The greater the power the AM station had the further across the country a signal would "skip" or travel beyond it's intended range. I use to be able to pick up KOMA - Oklahoma City, in the south plains of Texas (Levelland, TX) when I was growing up due to the signal "skip" at night! The "X" had tremendous skip along with it's broadcast power!
Good reaction Jay. One if my favorite groups.
Love ZZ Top! We appreciate you J!
Great song
Radio stations in the US were limited by the government (FCC) as to how much power they could use to broadcast so stations in different areas would not overlap. Example: so Dallas radio would not interfere with OKC radio stations. XERF towers were located just across the border in Mexico and not subject to the same rules as the US so they cranked up their power to broadcast all over the USA!
Loved this tune so much I introduced it to guys I was jamming with and the other guitar player said it reminded him of Hot for Teacher riff...I tried following him but wasn't good enough and ended up coming up with a different riff all together...check out Get Ready by Franklin's Dealers..!!...
Saw the Fandango tour in Memphis back in 1974. First concert I ever saw.
"I Gots To Get Paid" is a good one.
Texas Road House Blues that’s ZZ Top
Awesome!! I love old ZZ Top.
Billy and Dusty share lead vocals on this classic. They trade off.
Billy is doing the baritone vocals. It was Dusty doing the gravely tenor.
This was on the set list when I saw them play in Winterland in 75 on the Fandango tour.
AHHH!!!..Nice one bro!
Hey Jay! I'd love to see you react to either Couldn't Stand The Weather or Crossfire by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble!
Keep the great videos coming mate! 😎👍
You brighten my day J. ☺🙏🇺🇸
This album was released, as ZZ transitioned to more "commercial" music. I Heard It On The X was a good mix of commercial and ZZ's previous style.
Mexican radio call signs begin with X (unlike the usual K in the States). "The X" refers to radio stations operating in Mexico, usually licensed in Mexico (so not pirate stations), and operating at much higher transmission power than what was allowed in the U.S. So you could pick up these stations in large parts of the U.S., sometimes even up in Canada. They broadcast and wide range of music, and also things like Pentecostal preachers, ads for often sketchy stuff, etc.
They were also known as "border blaster" stations. They were usually directed at American audiences, skirting American law by operating over the border. So in a certain sense they were "outlaw" stations, even though legal. And they often pissed off Amercan station operators because the X stations walked all over the American transmissions
Wolfman was at XERF in the early '60s, and then moved to XERB.
ZZ Top! Have you heard “Cheap Sunglasses” yet?
When you see them put on sunglasses at the concert, you know it's coming.
Being a song released as a 45 rpm for radio airplay, this song had to conform to a +/- 3 minute time.
In 1986, the U.S. and Mexico signed an agreement to end high-powered cross border transmissions. AM 1570 continues to operate as La Ponderosa and promotes Mexican heritage and identity.
Another great ZZ song - "Cheap Sun Glasses"
XERB transmiter is in mexico and could run higher power at night than was allowed in US so it could be heard almost everywhere in the US
Elwood Francis, the guy who replaced Dusty Hill(RIP) uses a 17 string bass guitar sometimes. Check out pics/vids. Crazy, but ZZ Top keeps on going.
ZZ Top "Balinese"
XERA AND XERB transmitted (I think) at 500,000 watts from across the border in northern Mexico whereas in the US the FCC allowed only certain stations (known as clear channel) to broadcast at 50,000 watts.
❤ Thanks Jay!
This is totally unrelated, but you should check out Audioslave "Cochise". I know you've done a few of their songs, but this is by far my favorite. I'm actually more of a ZZ Top fan, but I heard Cochise recently and thought you would like it.
Dusty Hill is singing every other line in the verses, with Billy!
There is a great cover by Tres Diablos (Vinnie Paul and Dimebag from Pantera)
For as much as you love bass, you need to hear Thug from the Eliminator album. You will be blown away.
Anything from ZZ Top's first 6 albums is worth listening to. Master of Sparks is my favorite.
A great live album!
Good song good reaction
This is basically Billy and Dusty singing a duet
Love you too!!! Hang in there honey...everything will be ok....❤❤❤❤
If you want to have a good laugh, watch the series Bones where Billy Gibbons had occasional appearances as one of the characters' father.
Great fun!
Dusty Hill is lead singer on Heard it on the x and Tush.
Try "Waiting for the Bus/Jesus just left Chicago".
Some great early stuff is Brown Sugar, Just Got Paid, Backdoor Love Affair, and many more
Great Song 🎵 👌
Whats the word? Its Thunderbird!