ZZ Top

Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons

ZZ Top is a rock band, most prominent in the 1970s and 1980s, from Dallas, Texas. The band members are Billy Gibbons (vocals and guitar, of Moving Sidewalks), Dusty Hill (bass, of The American Blues) and Frank Beard (drums, of The Cellar Dwellers, The Hustlers, and The American Blues).

As well as a distinctive guitar sound and hard-driving, innuendo-laced lyrics (many of which are about places and events in their home state of Texas), the band is probably best known for its distinctive look. Gibbons and Hill are always pictured wearing sunglasses, trenchcoats and their trademark waist-length beards. (Frank Beard, interestingly, does not wear a beard.) In 1984, the Gillette company offered Gibbons and Hill $1 million apiece to shave their beards for a commercial, but they declined.

The band first gained wide attention with their "Tres Hombres" album, which contained the classic song "La Grange", referencing the bordello that is the subject of the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. They reached new heights of popularity with the 1983 album Eliminator, boosted to prominence by music videos for the tracks "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Legs" and "Sharp Dressed Man" each of which featured a small bright red vintage coupe called The Eliminator and a mysterious trio of beautiful women who travel around helping various people in the videos.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted ZZ Top in on March 15, 2004.

Discography

• ZZ Top's First Album (1970)
• Rio Grande Mud (1972)
• Tres Hombres (1973)
• Fandango! (1975)
• Tejas (1976)
• The Best of ZZ Top (1977)
• Degüello (1979)
• El Loco (1981)
• Eliminator (1983)
• Afterburner (1985)
• Recycler (1990)
• ZZ Top's Greatest Hits (1992)
• Antenna (1994)
• One Foot in the Blues (1994)
• Rhythmeen (1996)
• XXX (1999)
• Mescalero (2003)
• Chrome, Smoke & BBQ (2003)
• Rancho Texicano (2004)

Singles

• "Cheap Sunglasses"
• "La Grange"
• "Nationwide"
• "Tush"
• "Velcro Fly"
• also, the songs listed under "Music Videos" below

Music videos

• "Gimme All Your Lovin'" (1983)
• "Sharp Dressed Man" (1983)
• "Legs" (1984)
• "Sleeping Bag"
• "Viva Las Vegas"
• "Velcro Fly"
• "Rough Boy"
• "Burger Man"
• "TV Dinners"

DVDs

• "ZZ Top's Greatest's Hits" (2004)
• "Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival" (Nov. 9, 2004) - ZZ Top plays on this DVD.

Books

• "ZZ Top: Bad and Worldwide" (1985)
• "ZZ Top" by Mitchell Craven (July 1, 1985)
• "ZZ Top" by Philip Kamin (March 3, 1986)
• "ZZ Top" by Robert Draper (July 1, 1989)
• "Elimination: The ZZ Top Story" (December 1, 1991)
• "Sharp-Dressed Men: Zz Top Behind the Scenes from Blues to Boogie to Beards" (May 1, 1994)
• "ZZ Top: Elimination" (June 1, 1998)
• "ZZ Top Greatest Hits" (July 1, 1999)
• "The New Best of Zz Top for Guitar (Easy Tab Deluxe)" (July 1, 1999)
• "ZZ Top / XXX (Authentic Guitar-Tab)" (March 1, 2000)
• "ZZ Top - Guitar Anthology" (February 1, 2003)
• "Essential ZZ Top" (April 2003)
• "The Very Best of ZZ Top" (April 1, 2003)
• "The Best of Zz Top: A Step-By-Step Breakdown of the Guitar Styles and Techniques of Billy Gibbons" (September 1, 2003)
• "Billy F. Gibbons Rock+Roll Gearhead" Author: Billy F. Gibbons, with Tim Vickers, and photography by David Perry. (October 15, 2005). Rubber Magazine has a picture and a brief description of the book.

NOTE: Most of these books (plus many others) were located at: Amazon.com. Publishing dates were acquired from Amazon.com.

Interesting trivia

• Billy Gibbons has often been referred to as The Reverend Willy G. In 2002, he made that title official and was ordained so he could perform a Dallas wedding.
• In December 1984, Dusty Hill accidentally set off a derringer he kept in his boot and shot himself in the stomach. He fully recovered.
• "La Grange" is a song about a brothel. The real name of the brothel is "Gracie's Chicken Farm". This brothel is also the subject of the film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds.
• The band appeared in the film Back to the Future Part III playing period (i.e. 1885) equivalents of their instruments.
• ZZ Top is a sponsor of the Delta Blues Museum.
• In a 1984 episode of Saturday Night Live, Father Guido Sarducci "nominated" ZZ Top for the Democratic presidential primary. In a national phone-in poll conducted during the broadcast, the band won by a significant margin.

See also

• Best selling music artists

External links

• The Official ZZ Top Website
• The Little ol' Web Page from Texas - Peter Zurich's fan site
• ZZ Top Lyrics - ZZ Top Lyrics
• Live Concert Archive & Library - Gregory K. Deeter's fan site
• A guide to ZZ Top - Japanese fan site
• ZZ Top - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - Direct link