ZZ TOP
by Graham Sclater
ZZ Top was formed in Houston, Texas in 1969 with the distinctive looking front men: Dusty Hill, vocals and bass, Billy Gibbons, vocals and guitar and Frank Beard, drummer (the only member without a beard). Their unique sound was based around Gibbons’ blues style and the fantastic rhythm section of Beard and Hill. The two front men were instantly recognisable with their long beards, sunglasses and hats. But it would be ten years before they decided on that image.
Following the break-up of their various bands the new band needed a name. Guitarist, Billy Gibbons liked the music of B.B. King and Z.Z. Hill so he combined their surnames and came up with the name. They signed as ZZ Top in 1971 to London Records, a division of the UK Decca record label, where they released five albums. The singles La Grange and Tush from those albums achieved massive airplay. This was followed by an extensive tour across Texas in 1976-1977.
After touring constantly for seven years and for varying personal reasons, they went their separate ways and travelled to different parts of the world. That turned out to be incredibly important and was the responsible, in part, for their change in direction. They reformed in 1979 and signed to Warner Bros Records, and reappeared with the image that they are renowned for - their long beards, sunglasses and hats. They released two albums, that were considered to be experimental; using saxophones, synthesisers and the clavinet. But although recognised as musically innovative the albums were not a great success.
Real success seemed to evade them until 1983 when they released the more mainstream sounding albums: Eliminator in 1983 and Afterburner in 1985. These albums spawned several hit singles including: Gimme All Your Loving, Sharp Dressed Man and Legs. Their music combined with their instantly recognisable look and fantastic videos soon made them the darlings of MTV and correspondingly the public around the world.
Using Afterburner, their hit album title, for their live shows, they set records and achieved the highest-attended and highest-grossing US concert tour of 1986. That was some achievement when you consider how many top bands also toured that year.
Some of their live shows were considered bizarre with live animals used as part of the staging, which attracted unwanted publicity from animal rights organisations.
Their tenth studio album Recycler was released in 1990 along with a lengthy promotional tour and their success continued but they still wanted to experiment. In 1994, they signed a $35 million deal with RCA Records and released their first album Antenna, which went on to sell more than a million copies. That was followed by further albums in 1996, 1999 and 2003 all of which received mixed reviews and corresponding sales. The La Futura album was released in 2012 and the band’s final album, at the time of writing this piece, Goin’ 50, released in 2019, was a compilation commemorating the band’s fiftieth anniversary.
Since the formation of ZZ Top in 1971 they have released 15 studio albums
and achieved massive success, selling more than 50 million albums
worldwide, won three MTV video music awards and been inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The band members were well known for
their support of various charities, which as far as I am aware in not too
common in the music business.
ZZ Top held the record of being the longest-running band with the same
line-up but sadly Dusty Hill passed away earlier this year.
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