|
ZZ Top Information
|
|
'ZZ Top' is a rock band, most prominent in the 1970s and 1980s, from Houston, 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, ironically, 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 origin of the name of the band is apparently not offically known. Some theories include: the two brands of rolling-paper, Zig-Zag and Top; a tribute to blues legend Z.Z. Hill; Z-shaped barn-door braces Gibbons once saw at a farm; and/or Billy Gibbons seeing the two words running together on a dilapidated bill board. The first ideas were "ZZ Gibbons" and "ZZ Hill", but were later rejected in favor of "ZZ Top".
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 and a mysterious trio of beautiful women who travel around helping various people in the videos. The album also featured a distinctive synthesizer-laced sound, a rarity in the blues genre which added a modern edge to the music, and also helped the album to be as successful as it is.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted ZZ Top in on March 15, 2004.
Billy Gibbons appears on Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell's solo album Two Sides Of If.
More recently, Billy makes an appearance on the Queens of the Stone Age song "Burn the Witch".
The band is also working on an album of new material, due out sometime in 2006.
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 (not on the "Greatest Hits" VHS/DVD)
* "Pincushion"
* "Breakaway"
* "World of Swirl"
DVDs
* "ZZ Top's Greatest's Hits" (2004)
* "Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival" (Nov. 9, 2004) - ZZ Top plays on this DVD.
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.
* Frank Beard is the only band member who doesn't have a beard.
* ZZ Top is the only known rock band to have the same 3 band members for a little over 35 years.
* In keeping with the tejano flavor of the band, Billy Gibbons uses a peso instead of a guitar pick.
* In an interview with BBC TV's "Later with Jools Holland", when asked the band's greatest influence, greatest inspiration etc. Billy Gibbons answered every question by pointing at Bo Diddley.
|
|
