Burger Man – Video Feedback

Back when ZZ Top were so popular they even popped up in the movie Back To The Future Part III, they released Recycler, their tenth studio album. The album aimed to tone down the whole synthesizer-heavy phase the band was going through and get back to a rawer, bluesier sound.

On the album was “Burger Man”, a song which reached number 2 in the charts back in 1990 and which boasted one hell of a video. Inspired by 50’s sci-fi B-movies, it told an outlandish story in black and white evoking the likes of Troma’s Toxic Avenger, Frankenstein, The Thing From Another World and even Star Trek.

It was out of its mind and I loved every minute of it.

Let’s take a closer look.

The video opens on a fast food burger place called Biff Burger:

A mini van from a company amusingly called SludgeCo pulls up and some dude comes out of it, walking towards the restaurant:

Scratching his ass, of course:

The dude orders a burger and flirts with an unimpressed lady at the counter, making slimy faces like this one:

What a charmer.

We then cut to the same guy off doing shady things near a lake because it turns out that SludgeCo’s thing is getting rid of toxic waste by just pouring it in random rivers:

Unfortunately, after dumping the barrel of toxic waste, our favourite SludgeCo employee falls in the river:

Oddly enough, he was still holding that old burger he ordered like 4 hours ago:

This, you’ve guessed it, causes the man to transform into some kind of Ninja Turtle-esque abomination known as Burger Man:

The monster is soon off to cause all kinds of mayhem over at Biff Burger, because that’s what a Burger Man does:

I guess he can smell his own…

Now this is obviously a big problem, socially. We can’t just have Burger Men running around, terrifying the population.

I mean, look at these people:

They’ve never been this scared before in their lives!

Even if all Burger Man is really doing is dancing around, showing us his foam-covered ass:

What is he dancing to, you ask?

For the answer to that, we only need to look up to the stars:

Yes, that IS a ZZ Top flying saucer.

What else were you expecting?!

Inside the space craft, we meet the band’s crew:

Good old ZZ-girls and, of course, our bearded friends themselves:

Who are clearly having one hell of a time rocking out in a spaceship themed after themselves:

Evidently, the ZZ Top become aware of the burgery menace and decide to do something about it since Burger Man has kidnapped his beloved King Kong-style:

And has been spotted making nightmare-inducing faces like this one:

He MUST be stopped.

Time to raise the alert:

Engage!

Aye aye, captains!

Beaming device activated:

Go get ’em, guys!

Burger Man is clearly not happy to see the bearded bunch arrive on Earth:

And it looks like he’s about to go all burger crazy when the band’s plan is finally set into motion:

Yup, that is a giant burger-flipping spatula.

How else were they gonna get rid of him?

He’s a burger for crying out loud!

Anyway, poor old Burger Man is flipped into space:

And our heroes get back in their ship, off to further thrilling adventures.

Ok, so that’s the Burger Man video and, in case you haven’t noticed, it’s one of the best things to have been created by anyone… ever.

I may be exaggerating but how can anyone resist this masterpiece?

First of all, it’s a good song, second of all: it’s literally about a burger MAN and stars the band as star-trekking space superheroes battling monsters with big spatulas. What’s not to like?

One of ZZ Top’s best and most memorable videos.

All kinds of good.