June 10, 2013

Ain’t It About Time for an Epic ZZ Top Marathon?

Courtesy Warner Bros. Records

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ZZ Top
The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990
Warner Bros.

Anybody who knows ZZ Top mainly for snazzy ’80s hits such as “Legs” and “Sharp Dressed Man” is only getting part of the story. Long before the bearded trio became an MTV staple via exuberant, cartoonish videos and a crackling fusion of synth-pop and bar-room boogie, “That Little Ol’ Band from Texas” (as they call themselves) was a premier blues-rock outfit, devoted curators of the legacy of Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker, but never slavish imitators.

This greasy 10-disc set, touted as featuring the original album mixes (for you record geeks), offers a terrific excuse to binge, ranging from sleazy early favorites like “Cheap Sunglasses” and “Tush” to their improbable mainstream success. Billy Gibbons and company continue to make tasty albums—most recently, 2012’s La Futura—though today they sound as anachronistic as the artists who inspired them.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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