ZZ Top
ZZ Top[a] is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For 51 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound based on Gibbons' blues style and Hill and Beard's rhythm section. They are known for their live performances, sly and humorous lyrics, and the matching appearances of Gibbons and Hill, who wore sunglasses, hats and long beards.
ZZ Top
Houston, Texas, U.S.
1969–present
- Billy Gibbons
- Frank Beard
- Elwood Francis
- Lanier Greig
- Dan Mitchell
- Billy Ethridge
- Dusty Hill
ZZ Top formed after Gibbons' previous band, Moving Sidewalks, disbanded in 1969. Within a year, they signed with London Records and released ZZ Top's First Album in 1971. Subsequent releases, such as Tres Hombres (1973) and Fandango! (1975), and the singles "La Grange" and "Tush", gained extensive radio airplay. By the mid-1970s, ZZ Top had become renowned in North America for their live act, including the Worldwide Texas Tour (1976–1977), which was a critical and commercial success.
After a hiatus, ZZ Top returned in 1979 with a new musical direction and image, with Gibbons and Hill wearing sunglasses and matching chest-length beards. With the album El Loco (1981), they began to experiment with synthesizers and drum machines. They established a more mainstream sound and rose to international stardom with Eliminator (1983) and Afterburner (1985), which integrated influences from new wave, punk, and dance-rock. The popularity of these albums' music videos, including those for "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man", and "Legs", gave them mass exposure on television channel MTV and made them prominent artists in 1980s pop culture. The Afterburner tour set records for the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour of 1986.
After gaining additional acclaim with the release of their tenth album, Recycler (1990), and its accompanying tour, the group's experimentation continued with mixed success on the albums Antenna (1994), Rhythmeen (1996), XXX (1999), and Mescalero (2003). They most recently released La Futura (2012) and Goin' 50 (2019), a compilation album commemorating the band's 50th anniversary. By the time of Hill's death in 2021, ZZ Top had become the longest-running band with an unchanged lineup in the history of popular music.[1] Per Hill's wishes, he was replaced by their longtime guitar tech, Elwood Francis, on bass.
ZZ Top has released 15 studio albums and sold an estimated 50 million records worldwide.[2][3] They have won three MTV Video Music Awards, and in 2004, the members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked Gibbons the 32nd-greatest guitarist of all time.[4] The band members have supported campaigns and charities including Childline, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and a fundraiser for the Delta Blues Museum.
History[edit]
Early years (1969–1972)[edit]
The original line-up was formed in Houston and consisted of Gibbons, bassist/organist Lanier Greig,[5] and drummer Dan Mitchell.[5] The name of the band was Gibbons' idea. The band had a small apartment covered with concert posters and he noticed that many performers' names used initials. Gibbons particularly noticed B.B. King and Z. Z. Hill and thought of combining the two into "ZZ King", but considered it too similar to the original name. He then figured that "king is at the top" which gave him the idea of naming the band "ZZ Top".[6]
ZZ Top was managed by Bill Ham, a Waxahachie, Texas, native who had befriended Gibbons a year earlier. They released their first single, "Salt Lick", in 1969, and the B-side contained the song "Miller's Farm". Both songs credited Gibbons as the composer. Immediately after the recording of "Salt Lick", Greig was replaced by bassist Billy Ethridge, a bandmate of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Mitchell was replaced by Frank Beard of American Blues. Due to lack of interest from the major American record companies, ZZ Top accepted a record deal from London Records, the American affiliate of the British Decca Records label. Unwilling to sign a recording contract, Ethridge quit the band and Dusty Hill, Frank Beard's American Blues bandmate, became his replacement in late 1969. At this moment, all three members of the band were 20 years old. After Hill moved from Dallas to Houston, ZZ Top signed with London in 1970. They performed their first concert together at a Knights of Columbus Hall in Beaumont, Texas, on February 10, 1970. The show was booked by KLVI radio personality Al Caldwell, who was also instrumental in broadcasting the band's first recordings.[7]
In addition to assuming the role as the band's leader, Gibbons became the main lyricist and musical arranger. With the assistance of Ham and engineer Robin Hood Brians, ZZ Top's First Album (1971) was released. It featured "barrelhouse" rhythms, distorted guitars, double entendres, and innuendo. The music and songs reflected ZZ Top's blues influences. Following their debut album, the band released Rio Grande Mud (1972), which produced their first charting single, "Francine".[8]
Drug use[edit]
Beard struggled with addiction in the 1970s, claiming to have spent "every bit" of his money earned from ZZ Top's tours on drugs. Beard explains that he had different reasons for taking different drugs, saying "the pills thing came about just from the workload. And the heroin thing came about because I just liked it. I mean, you ever done heroin? It's great. It's a fucking vacation for the mind, and I liked it. I liked it a lot." Beard would eventually enter rehab in the 1980s and is sober to this day.[82]
Hill would "[occasionally] partake" in marijuana until one occasion in a hotel in Amsterdam when Hill was smoking marijuana with guitar tech Elwood Francis and Francis noticed that there was a metal bar embedded into the window frame of the hotel room. Francis, seeing an opportunity for a prank, jumped out the window and (unbeknownst to Hill) grabbed onto the metal bar, making it appear that he had committed suicide. Hill apparently never smoked marijuana again after the incident.[83]
Filmography[edit]
In addition to recording and performing concerts, ZZ Top has also been involved with films and television. In the eighth episode "Sweet Dreams" in the third season of the American television medical drama St. Elsewhere,[85] Luther Hawkins's ( Eric Laneuville )dream sequence was a parody of the music video "Legs" with the group while taking a brief nap in a janitor's closet;[86][87] In 1990, the group appeared as the "Band At the Party" in the film Back to the Future Part III[88] and played the "Three Men in a Tub" in the movie Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme.[89] ZZ Top made further appearances, including the "Gumby with a Pokey" episode of Two and a Half Men in 2010[90] and the "Hank Gets Dusted" episode of King of the Hill in 2007.[91] The band also guest hosted an episode of WWE Raw.[92] Billy Gibbons had a recurring role as the father of Angela Montenegro in the television show Bones; though the character is never named, it is strongly implied that Gibbons is playing himself.[93] Their song "Sharp Dressed Man" was one of the theme songs used for the television show Duck Dynasty, and on the series finale of the show they appeared with Si Robertson as a vocalist to perform the song on stage during Robertson's retirement party.[94] Black Dahlia Films, led by Jamie Burton Chamberlin, of Seattle and Los Angeles, has contributed documentaries and back line screen work (the footage on back screens during live shows) and has become an integral part of the band's film-making.[95][96]
In November 2020, it was announced that the 2019 Netflix documentary That Little Ol' Band from Texas was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Music Film with the award ceremony scheduled for March 2021.[97]
Awards and achievements[edit]
ZZ Top's music videos won multiple VMA awards during the 1980s, topping the categories of Best Group Video, Best Direction, and Best Art Direction for "Legs", "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Rough Boy", respectively.[98] Among high honors for ZZ Top have been induction into Hollywood's RockWalk in 1994,[99] the Texas House of Representatives naming them "Official Heroes for the State of Texas",[100] a declaration of "ZZ Top Day" in Texas by then-governor Ann Richards on May 4, 1991,[101] and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. They were also given commemorative rings by actor Billy Bob Thornton from the VH1 Rock Honors in 2007.[36]
ZZ Top has also achieved several chart and album sales feats, including six number-one singles on the Mainstream Rock chart. From the RIAA, ZZ Top has earned four gold, three platinum and two multiple-platinum album certifications, and one diamond album.[24]
