Two years after their debut, ABBA took the Eurovision stage in 1974, performing ‘Waterloo,’ a song about how Napoleon’s surrender was similar to a woman surrendering herself for love, and they successfully scored first place in the contest. Upon seeing the Swedish band’s triumph, perhaps, some Belgians started to wonder why they couldn’t have the same success the Swedes had.
Synth-pop was getting popular each day leading up to the ’80s, and after ABBA’s success, Belgium believed it would be quite appropriate to choose a synth-pop band to represent them in the 1980 Eurovision. The act was called Telex, and their motto was to make a different kind of music, or I quote, they tried ‘making something really European, different from rock, without guitar — and the idea was electronic music.’
The band was formed in 1978, and perhaps, this made them one of the pioneers of techno music. However, they wouldn’t have the success ABBA had in Eurovision since they’d only score third place… if you count from the bottom of the list. That was no trouble, though, as the act’s frontman would joke that they’d actually hoped to finish last.
So, even though the band failed to make a proper impression on the European audience, there was no doubt that they’d perked up the curiosity of a fellow musician from Texas. To make things even more interesting, the musician in question was fascinated with Telex so much that he would send them numerous cards of congratulation and supportive letters stating he was a fan.
I mean, it doesn’t take one to figure out that the musician in question is ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons since you’re here, reading this article and probably wondering how Gibbons is a royal fan of techno music. Well, we don’t know when the rocker first came across the band, but it might be safe to say that from then on… he couldn’t give up on them.
The rocker enjoyed Telex’s music quite a lot, and he wasn’t shy to express his admiration for the band whenever he could. So, when ZZ Top chatted with Graham Reid in 2000, the question drifted to what Billy would listen to these days, and the rocker decided to pour out some love and support to Telex.
Gibbons said the following when asked what was on his ‘Walkman’ during those days:
“A little bit of everything; I picked up some blues things on the Flyright and Crazy Cat labels out of England, got some Texas swing from the ’40s… and a techno group from Belgium called Telex. They are very good. Real tight, real interesting early ’80s stuff, guys just peeling the onion when techno was not even called by that name.”
The ZZ Top icon respected that Telex impacted the music scene when the genre wasn’t even called ‘techno.’ It was also reported that Billy sent out invitations to the band members, offering them to come and see ZZ Top play live. Well, we don’t know if Telex took up on the opportunity, but that showed Billy’s eagerness to meet one of the bands he enjoyed most.
So, the fact that Billy didn’t just listen to their music and moved on with life but sent them letters of appreciation, inviting them to ZZ Top concerts and making it clear that they’d been on his playlist now more than two decades ago might prove all of us that the rock icon is a techno enthusiast at the soul.
