YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 172 (Foolin' Around)
(Originally finalized on December 2, 2025)
Preface: You know, I already have a list of themes lined up for the rest of this quarter, and I'm still spontaneously coming up with ideas off the cuff. But I've learned, as an amateur creator, to indulge inspiration when it strikes, because you can't conjure it up on command. But if I have to bump a couple of themes that have sat around this long because they're honestly not that strong to begin with... well, that's not the most terrible thing in the world.
Monday: Def Leppard - Foolin' [Pyromania, 1983]
Comments: Led Zeppelin has a "fool" song, but it's a bit of a stylistic departure (incidentally, also like The Rolling Stones' "fool" song), from what I would describe as not their strongest album. So this is probably the only case where I would pick the derivatively-named Def Leppard - dripping with '80s glam - over one of my favorite bands from the '70s.
Tuesday: Foghat - Fool For The City [Fool For The City, 1975]
Comments: For this theme, I also surveyed Fooled Around And Fell In Love, but even though Elvin Bishop has some cred as a blues guitarist - having played in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band beside unsung guitar hero Michael Bloomfield - it's sappy lounge pop fluff. By contrast, with a band like Foghat, you can count on even their mainstream hits to rock.
Wednesday: The Doors - Ship of Fools [Morrison Hotel, 1970]
Comments: Although not as successful as The Doors' sixth and final album, L.A. Woman, Morrison Hotel was considered a step in the right direction after the questionable reception that The Soft Parade received, with its orchestral arrangements. As a metaphor for civilization being steered astray, this song taps into anxieties that are only too familiar these days.
Thursday: Robin Trower - The Fool And Me [Bridge of Sighs, 1974]
Comments: Robin Trower had two "fool" songs for me to choose between. Although this one tends to feel overshadowed on the album named for the one song most people know (who have even heard of Robin Trower), it still reflects a band in its prime, while the other "fool" song hails from a later period marked by more ballads and fewer rockers.
Friday: ZZ Top - A Fool For Your Stockings [Deguello, 1979]
Comments: Sounding like a traditional blues, this song comes from a pivotal point in ZZ Top's history. Named after a Spanish term meaning "no quarter", Deguello was released after a short hiatus, and precedes the band's daring (though not unsuccessful) experimentations with synthesizers in the '80s.
Saturday: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Fooled Again (I Don't Like It) [s/t, 1976]
Comments: Already a latecomer to the party (at least as concerns the '70s rock era), Tom Petty's debut album sounds very raw. Although it does contain flashes of brilliance - even on this deep cut - it would take some time for Petty to polish his sound and accrue the long list of hits that corporate rock radio would come to adore.
Sunday: Quicksilver Messenger Service - The Fool [Quicksilver Messenger Service, 1968]
Comments: We'll close out the theme with an overlooked gem (and closing track!) from another self-titled debut album, this time from psychedelic San Francisco. Although the Quicksilver Messenger Service's music was not very commercially viable, this extended jam showcases the sort of free-form instrumentalism which was characteristic of the era.
Honorable Mentions: One of the interesting consequences of doing this music log is finding out what sort of subjects tend to inspire creative people to write songs (moreso than others). And it turns out that being or feeling fooled is a popular one. I have not yet exhausted the list of potential options, but I want to take this opportunity to name check a few really good ones that I left off simply because they've already been used in previous themes. Specifically (and with links to the themes for which they were used), Johnny Winter's Be Careful With A Fool, Peter Green's A Fool No More (originally recorded with Fleetwood Mac), The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again, and Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) by Styx.