ZZ TOP: TEXAS BEARDO HOT SHOTS

Just a I’il ol’ band from Texas. That’s what they’ve always called themselves. But for three guys comprising a trio, they make what is unquestionably one of the biggest sounds around. ZZ Top—probably the very best hard boogie blues (don’t ya dare call ’em metal!) trios of the ’80s!

Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard (oddly enough, he’s the only guy in the trio who doesn’t sport a beard!) have been playing together for many years. Prior to that, Billy was the lead guitarist of the Moving Sidewalks, a primal Texas “garage/punk” band that opened shows for some of the greatest acts of the late ’60s, including the Doors and Jimi Hendrix. A prophecy of things to come was foretold when Hendrix called Billy one of the best guitarists he’d ever heard.

Of course, the opening gigs didn’t end with the beginning of ZZ Top. The boys spent many years on the road opening for the likes of Alice Cooper and others. They persevered, releasing records, and even going on the road with a giant Texas show that featured real, live buffalos! It was Eliminator, their '83 LP, that finally drove the Top boys over the top and took them to the superstar status they currently enjoy. It wasn't just the great songs like ‘‘Sharp Dressed Man,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’” and “Legs” that made the guys genuine superstars, but their excellent and comical Tim Newmandirected videos that were some of the best things to be found on MTV that or any other year. As Dusty Hill recently told ROCK-SHOTS: “As long as we don’t run out of ideas for songs, I doubt we’ll run out of ideas for videos, I hope. The main thing we seem to have noticed is the videos have given us a younger audience. You know, our audience grew up with us until the videos, and they were beginning to get a little long in the tooth. Then the videos came along, and now we’ve recaptured the 16-year-old girls.”

After a three year break from recording (during which time Dusty recuperated from a horrible gunshot accident), ZZ Top are back with their stunning Afterburner. It’s the same ZZ, but it’s different at the same time. As Billy Gibbons recently said: “We’ve got some stuff on it that’s sort of like Eliminator, but we tried to progress and give it some freshness and try a few things we hadn’t before.” So they may still be just a I’il ol’ band from Texas—but there’s no forgetting that Texas is still one of the biggest states in the union! Y’all come back again now, y’hear?