Velcro Fly

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"Velcro Fly"
Single by ZZ Top
from the album Afterburner
B-side"Woke Up With Wood"
ReleasedJuly 1986
Recorded1985
GenreRock
Length2:50 (single version)
3:29 (album version)
6:39 (12" Extended Version)
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Billy Gibbons
Dusty Hill
Frank Beard
Producer(s)Bill Ham
ZZ Top singles chronology
"Rough Boy"
(1985) 		"Velcro Fly"
(1986) 		"Doubleback"
(1990)

"Velcro Fly" is the fourth single off ZZ Top's 1985 album Afterburner.[1][2] 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.

Release

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For the single release the song was remixed in two versions: by Bill Ham and by Jellybean. Singles included both 7" and 12" edit versions of those 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

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The music video for "Velcro Fly" directed by Daniel Kleinman features female dancers 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

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Robert Christgau called the song a "highlight" on Afterburner.[3] Cash Box called it a "seductive rocker that finds the 'Lil Ol' Band From Texas' in its usual tongue-in-cheek mode."[4] Billboard called it a "techno-boogie stomper buried in fuzz and percussion."[5]

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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".[6] 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

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Chart (1986) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 54
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 35
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 43
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 15

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Institute, Bathroom Readers' (1 April 2013). Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into Texas Bigger and Better. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-60710-806-1. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  2. ^ McKittrick, Christopher (4 June 2024). Gimme All Your Lovin’: The Blues, Boogie, and Beard of ZZ Top's Billy F. Gibbons. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 193. ISBN 979-8-216-34244-1. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  3. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide Reviews: Afterburner". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  4. ^ "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. July 26, 1986. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  5. ^ "Reviews". Billboard. July 26, 1986. p. 71. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  6. ^ King, Stephen (10 April 2006). The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah: (Volume 6). Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1-84894-114-4. Retrieved 24 September 2025.