![]() ![]() ![]() contract and were returning to their roots, illustrated by “My Head’s In Mississippi.” That year also saw their big screen debut as the cowboy band in Back To the Future III. With 1990’s Recycler, the final installment in their high-tech boogie trilogy, they ended their Warner Bros. They followed that with 1985’s 5 million-selling Afterburner and toured some more. 396 on Rolling Stone’s “Top 500 Albums of All Time.” Eliminator went “diamond,” selling more than 10 million copies, and is No. “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” and “Legs” vied with Thriller for most MTV airplay. Drum machines, synths and sequencers updated their Delta boogie and they had a great batch of songs. Their videos for Eliminator, their 1983 album (named for Gibbons’ 1933 Ford Coupe, featured on the cover and their videos) made ZZ Top bigger than ever. Gibbons also customized cars and when MTV came along in the early ‘80s, ZZ Top was one of the few veteran acts that knew what to do with it. ![]() Gibbons’s family tradition of keen visual sense and showmanship played out in the beards, outlandish suits and specially-designed guitars. What do you think? Agree or disagree? Log in and add your Comments below.But ZZ Top was always more than music. Subsequently, these songs feature heavily in tv shows and. Have mercy! It’s always played as the lead in to “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” but it stands on it’s own as the greatest commuter song ever. Some of the bands most popular songs include La Grange, Sharp Dressed Man, Tush, and Legs. One of their biggest radio hits, a tribute to the cushion, a beautiful thang.Īgain, Billy can write a song about anything, and turn it into a stone cold groove.Ī true lost classic, with Texas country twang. ![]() Turn it up!Ī terrific blues tune with some more smokin’ guitar from Gibbons. The live call to order from the Fandango album. One of the first songs I learned to play on guitar. "She don’t care if I’m stoned or sloppy drunk." Now that, my friends, is a dream woman.Ī rare ballad from the tres hombres, and a darn good one. What a groove! A groove so infectious that Gov’t Mule lifted it (almost) for “Bad Little Doggie.” What is it with Gibbons and hosiery? A timeless blues tune. I love good car song, and this is one of the best.Īnd so is this one! Lord have mercy Miss Percy!Ī lot of folks called the early eighties a sellout period for ZZ Top, but the Eliminator release sure put them over the top, and I still love this song.īilly’s tribute to his favorite radio station, I’ll never forget this song from the El Loco tour. “Sportin’ short dresses wearin’ spike heeled shoes, smokin’ Lucky Strikes and wearin’ nylons too.” And a shout out to my main man.īilly Gibbons can write some weird lyrics, and that’s one of the things I love about him. I am a sucker for the “back and forth” lead vocal thang, like Skynyrd’s “You Got That Right,” and especially this one, which I have played many times in various bands, but never with the passion of that “Little Ol’ Band from Texas.” Fact is, I still crank up the volume when I hear Billy Gibbons singing it on Rock 101. I thought it was the single coolest tune I had heard in a mighty long time. I was in eleventh grade in high school, and on my way to civics class with my transistor radio in my pocket and an ear phone in my ear. I can still remember the very first time I heard this song. If you are new to the Top, well, strap in and download any or all of these tracks and prepare to blow your top! If you are a long time fan like me, you hear most of these songs in your sleep. This is my attempt to narrow their huge catalog down to 20 essential tracks. For nearly 40 years Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard of ZZ Top have been recording great rock and blues songs with huge doses of Southern fried goodness. ![]()
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