With all due respect to my cool friends who grew up in the 70's, I found myself humming this classic ZZ Top tune whilst boarding a plane home from a business trip, and imagining the weirdness of you actually saying this to each other.
Q. Hey man, how's it hanging?
A. I'm bad, I'm nationwide.
Just then I am once again thinking way too much about a lyric in a 40 year old song. So, in typical form, I'm going to completely nerd out about it.
Lets break it down on a remedial level. "I'm nationwide," in the context of the song, is meant to emphasize the feeling of being "Bad." Feeling "Bad," in this environment, means feeling cool, or maybe cooler than others. Its a case of a negative becoming a positive to have an impact. Michael Jackson was "Bad," and I'm sure he wasn't talking about leaving the toilet seat up, nor did he have a headcold. Michael's ode to being cool could have easily been followed up by "I'm global," if put into the same light as the ZZ Top tune.
So, the lyrics go on about having swagger: "With my New York brim and my gold tooth displayed," it easy to assume these guys were taking a piss at 70's fashion and culture. If this is the case, this song is horribly underrated. Personally, I feel like 70's ZZ Top is underrated anyway. They were heavy groove, loud guitar, distorted and yes, bad and nationwide. They attacked hard rock with swing.
Or, maybe it's the classic rock equivalent to a bragging hip-hop tune. Either way is good for me. I think the only issue with the song is the constant rotation on classic rock radio. A kiss of death for me, as the format tends to make album rock nothing more than background noise. It's the same playlist, over and over, every day, month, year, and so on. No bueno.
In conclusion (this plane is landing soon anyway), I am going to try to bring this term back. Be warned. If you see me, and ask how I am doing, don't be surprised if I put a spin on it. I'm thinking, "I'm always bad, I"m nationwide after all."
Not even remotely sorry.
Nago
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