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ZZ Top
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ZZ Top is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. The group members are Billy Gibbons (guitar, lead vocals), Dusty Hill (bass, lead vocals), and Frank Beard (drums, percussion).
They hold the distinction of being the only rock band still composed of its original members after more than 37 years, and until September 2006, the same manager/producer, Bill Ham.
They reached the peak of their commercial success in the
1970s and
1980s, scoring many hit songs during that era, but they remain together today and are still touring and releasing albums. ZZ Top was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on
March 15,
2004. Summarizing their music,
Cub Koda wrote, "As genuine
roots musicians, they have few peers; Gibbons is one of America's finest
blues guitarists working in the
arena rock idiom ... while Hill and Beard provide the ultimate
rhythm section support."
[1] Their song lyrics often feature sexual
innuendo and
humor.
Gibbons and Hill are also famous for their custom guitars, many of which were co-designed by Gibbons with master luthier John Bolin of Bolin Guitars. Hill requests that his basses have a similar neck profile to the 1950's Fender Precision Bass he used extensively in the early days of the band.
Nearly as well-known as their music is the group's appearance: Gibbons and Hill are always pictured wearing sunglasses (a nod to their 1979 song "Cheap Sunglasses"), similar if not matching clothing, and their trademark chest-length beards; curiously, Beard sports a mustache but not a beard. In 1984, the Gillette Company reportedly offered Gibbons and Hill US$1 million apiece to shave their beards for a television commercial, but they declined.[1]
The origin of the band's name was not officially known for many years. Some theories included: 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 real origin, as told by Billy Gibbons and also recorded in his book (Rock + Roll Gearhead), is derived from the name of blues musician B.B. King. They wanted to call themselves Z.Z. King, but that sounded too similar to their blues legend hero. They figured that "King" was at the "top" so thus settled on ZZ Top.
Contents
- 1 History
- 1.1 Early years
- 1.2 Eliminator and 1980s
- 1.3 1990s and later
- 2 Their Cars and Bikes
- 2.1 The Eliminator
- 2.2 Leapin' Limo
- 2.3 CadZZilla
- 2.4 Other Cars and Bikes
- 3 Discography
- 3.1 Studio albums
- 3.2 Compilations
- 3.3 Singles
- 4 Music videos
- 5 DVDs
- 6 Cover Versions and Samples
- 7 Books
- 8 Awards
- 9 Trivia
- 10 References
- 11 External links
- 12 See also
|
History
Early years
The men who would form ZZ Top had played in several different Texas-based groups, notably were
Moving Sidewalks with Gibbons, and The American Blues with Hill and Beard. They joined forces in late 1969: at first, Billy invited Frank for his project of a
blues rock trio, and then, when they were looking for a new bassist, Beard proposed his former bandmate, Dusty.
They played their first show in February, 1970 and toured almost continually for several years. Their first two albums were recorded at Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas. In 1973, they started recording at Ardent Studios in Memphis [2] for their third album, Tres Hombres (1973). They first gained wide acclaim with it, released on London Records. It contained the classic song "La Grange", referencing the bordello that is also the subject of the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
The band continued touring, recording, and releasing albums until 1977, when they took an extended hiatus. Their long-time manager/producer/image maker Bill Ham used this time to negotiate a deal that allowed the band to keep control of their previous recordings, which would be distributed by their new label, Warner Bros. Records. They reunited two and a half years later in order to start recording under that new Warner Bros. contract. Unbeknownst to one another, both Hill and Gibbons had grown the chest-length beards that quickly became a part of their image.
Eliminator and 1980s
They reached new heights of popularity with the 1983 album Eliminator, boosted to prominence by memorable music videos for the tracks "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Legs" and "Sharp Dressed Man" each of which featured a small bright red 1933 Ford Coupe 3 window hotrod called The Eliminator and a trio of mysterious, beautiful women who travel around helping various people. The album also featured a distinctive synthesizer-laced sound—a rarity in the blues rock genre—which added a modern, electronic edge to the music, and helped the album become successful and a fan favourite. Eliminator remains their most successful album to date.
Their next album, Afterburner, mostly featured the same blend of synthesizers, blues rock and the use of sequencers. But on subsequent albums, less and less synth- and sequencer-influenced music is heard. An occasional song with those elements and instruments is included on recent albums as a nod to their past.
In 1985, they released the three-disc set, The ZZ Top Six Pack. When Warner chose to remaster six select albums from 1970 to 1981, they (along with the members of ZZ Top) remixed the back catalog to make it sound like their new music output. All the drum tracks were re-recorded and other random digital effects were applied. In trying to fit six albums on three discs, some tracks were faded out sooner than their original release versions. At the same time, individual remixed cd releases were released.
1990s and later
In 1993, ZZ Top inducted Cream into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1994, ZZ Top signed a five-disc deal with RCA Records. Sales have been good, but not up to earlier standards, and many fans (or, as they refer to themselves, "fanzz") feel that the recordings of this era are as artistically strong as the earlier London and Warner Bros. recordings, but have expressed disappointment with RCA's promotion of these releases.[citation needed]
RCA impresario Clive Davis wanted to do a collaboration record (in the mode of Carlos Santana's successful Supernatural) for their 2003 release Mescalero. As per an interview in Goldmine magazine, singers Pink, Dave Matthews and Wilco were among the artists slated for the project. The band members declined this offer, and subsequently were shuffled to second-tier status by Davis and RCA.
In July 2000, while on tour in Europe, Hill was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, which forced the cancellation of several dates in that tour. Hill has since recovered.
In 2003, a comprehensive collection of recordings from the London and Warner Bros. years entitled Chrome, Smoke & BBQ was released.
In 2004, ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Expanded and remastered versions of the original studio albums from '70's and '80's are currently in production (removing the digital remixes of the Six Pack compilation). Two of these CDs have been released (Tres Hombres and Fandango!), but the remainder have yet to be released.
As of 2006, it is reported that ZZ Top are recording their 15th studio album. On September 17th 2006 they ended their contract with RCA Records and left their manager Bill Ham, president of Lone Wolf management. No reasons were given for these changes. In December 2006, Sanctuary Management added ZZ Top to its roster.
February 11, 2007 brought the band to the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood for a very intimate gig. This was the first gig of a limited tour that is currently listed on the band's website.
On May 24, 2007 the band will be an honoree at the second annual VH1 Rock Honors, along with Ozzy Osbourne, Genesis and Heart.
Their Cars and Bikes
Billy F Gibbons is a fan and avid collector of custom cars and bikes. [3],[4]
His custom vehicles were a mainstay for the earlier ZZ Top videos and were also used for promotion.
The Eliminator
The red 1933 Ford 3-window coupé Hot Rod 'The Eliminator' was customized by Don Thelen in Paramount. The car was featured in a video trilogy from the album "Eliminator", consisting of "Sharp Dressed Man", "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Legs". The car was also featured in various custom car magazines around the globe.
'The Eliminator' gets eliminated by two wheel loaders in the video "Sleeping Bag" from the "Afterburner" album, while it saves a young couple from being captured by the bad boys. The car gets reborn as a mix between the Hot Rod and the Space Shuttle, as shown on the cover of the "Afterburner" album. When the Eliminator Shuttle rockets into space, controlled by the ZZ Top crew, a text appears "to be continued...". But in the next video "Stages", the shuttle only has a very brief showing at the end with the text "Stay tuned...". In the following video "Rough Boy" the shuttle plays a larger role as the sole customer in a car wash space station. This video closes the "Afterburner" trilogy with the ominous text "Stay clean...". The Eliminator has one last (so far) and almost imperceptible appearance at the beginning of the video "Burger Man" from the "Recycler" album.
A 1/24 scale plastic model of the Eliminator was produced by Monogram under license.
Leapin' Limo
Based on a 1948 Pontiac Silver Streak, the car was stretched 40", painted in black with ZZ Top graphics and used in the video for "Velcro Fly" from the "Afterburner" album.
CadZZilla
Based on a 1948 Cadillac Sedanette, the CadZZilla is a low-slung, sleek and dark custom car built by Boyd Coddington and designed by Larry Erickson. The name is a contraction of Cadillac, ZZ Top and Godzilla. It wasn't featured as prominently in ZZ Top's videos as 'The Eliminator', but it appeared in "My Head's in Mississippi" and in "Burger Man" - pulling out of the parking lot of a diner at the very beginning of the video. When CadZZilla has left the frame, it reveals a brief view of 'The Eliminator' parked besides the diner. An artist's rendition of CadZZilla was used on the cover of the "Recycler" album. In the video for "Doubleback", which uses Back to the Future Part III footage, CadZZilla appears at the final show down and similarly to the early Eliminator videos, three sexy women get out of the car and solve the problem. When the car drives off, a view of its rear license plate is shown: "I 8 Tokyo" - I ate Tokyo, a reference to Godzilla.
The car was well-received in the custom scene. Gray Baskerville, Senior Editor of the Hot Rod Magazine even named it as one of his favourite custom cars ever, and called it the epitome of the "Dare to Be Different" era [5]. The intense customization cost around 900.000 US$ at the time. CadZZilla was shown outside the USA, for example 2005 at the 14th Annual Yokohama HOT ROD・Custom Show [6]. CadZZilla's timeless looks motivated and inspired Richard Ferlazzo to design the Holden Efijy showcar [7].
Scale models in 1/24 and 1/64 were produced under license.
Other Cars and Bikes
- HogZZilla To accompany his CadZZilla, Gibbons decided to have two Harley Davidson motorbikes converted to matching custom bikes. The name is a contraction of the Harley Davidson nickname HOG, ZZ Top and Godzilla.
- Kopperhed Based on a Fifties' Ford sedan, radical re-modelling of the roof creates the look of a 3-window coupé.
- Mambo Coupé Based on a 1936 Ford Coupé.
- Slampala Based on a 1962 Chevrolet Impala. The modern air ride suspension allows the car to be set to extremely low ground clearance. The scene term for this is "slammed", hence the name Slampala, a contraction of Slammed Impala.
- 8 Ball B Based on a 1992 BMW 325i with a louvred hood/bonnet and distinct Pool-Billiard theme.
Discography
Studio albums
Compilations
Singles
- non-album
- from Tres Hombres
- 1973 "Waitin' For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago"
- 1973 "La Grange" #41 Pop
- from Fandango!
- from Degüello
- 1979 "Cheap Sunglasses"
- 1979 "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide"
- 1979 "I Thank You" #34 Pop
- from El Loco
- 1981 "Tube Snake Boogie"
- 1981 "Pearl Necklace"
- from Eliminator
- 1983 "Got Me Under Pressure"
- 1983 "Sharp Dressed Man" #2 Rock, #37 Pop, #61 UK, #22 UK (1984 reissue)
- 1983 "Gimme All Your Lovin'" #37 Pop, #53 UK, #10 UK (1984 reissue)
- 1983 "TV Dinners" #67 UK
- 1984 "Legs" #8 Pop, #13 Dance/Club, #16 UK
- from Afterburner
- 1985 "Sleeping Bag" #8 Pop, #1 Rock, #41 Dance/Club, #27 UK
- 1986 "Woke Up With Wood" #18 Rock
- 1986 "Velcro Fly" #35 Pop, #15 Rock, #43 Dance/Club, #54 UK
- 1986 "Stages" #21 Pop, #1 Rock, #43 UK
- 1986 "Rough Boy" #22 Pop, #5 Rock, #23 UK
- 1986 "Delirious" #15 Rock
- from Recycler
- 1990 "My Head's in Mississippi" #1 Rock, #37 UK
- 1990 "Doubleback" #1 Rock, #29 UK
- 1990 "Concrete and Steel" #1 Rock
- 1991 "Give It Up" #79 Pop, #2 Rock
- 1991 "Decision or Collision" #14 Rock
- from ZZ Top's Greatest Hits
- 1992 "Viva Las Vegas" #16 Rock, #10 UK
- 1992 "Gun Love" #8 Rock
- from Antenna
- 1994 "Pincushion" #1 Rock, #15 UK
- 1994 "Girl in a T-Shirt" #27 Rock
- 1994 "Fuzzbox Voodoo" #30 Rock
- 1994 "Breakaway" #7 Rock, #60 UK
- from Rhythmeen
- 1996 "What's Up With That" #5 Rock, #58 UK
- 1996 "She's Just Killing Me" #12 Rock
- 1997 "Rhythmeen" #35 Rock
- 1997 "Bang Bang" #22 Rock
- from XXX
- 1999 "Fearless Boogie" #13 Rock
- 2000 "36-22-36" #31 Rock
- also, the songs listed under "Music Videos" below
Music videos
DVDs
Cover Versions and Samples
- Martay featuring ZZ Top: Gimme all Your Lovin' 2000 (1999)
Books
- "ZZ Top: Bad and Worldwide" (1985)
- "ZZ Top" by Mitchell Craven (July 1, 1985)
- "ZZ Top" by Philip Kamin (March 3, 1986)
- "ZZ Top" by Robert Draper (July 1, 1989)
- "Elimination: The ZZ Top Story" (December 1, 1991)
- "Sharp-Dressed Men: Zz Top Behind the Scenes from Blues to Boogie to Beards" (May 1, 1994)
- "ZZ Top: Elimination" (June 1, 1998)
- "ZZ Top Greatest Hits" (July 1, 1999)
- "The New Best of Zz Top for Guitar (Easy Tab Deluxe)" (July 1, 1999)
- "ZZ Top / XXX (Authentic Guitar-Tab)" (March 1, 2000)
- "ZZ Top - Guitar Anthology" (February 1, 2003)
- "Essential ZZ Top" (April 2003)
- "The Very Best of ZZ Top" (April 1, 2003)
- "The Best of ZZ Top: A Step-By-Step Breakdown of the Guitar Styles and Techniques of Billy Gibbons" (September 1, 2003)
- "Billy F. Gibbons: Rock+Roll Gearhead" (October 15, 2005).
NOTE: Publishing dates were acquired from Amazon.com.
Awards
- The Living Legends Award - Given out by The Board of Directors of the International Entertainment Buyer's Association (IEBA) live between Oct. 15-17, 2006.[8]
Trivia
- Jimi Hendrix named Billy Gibbons his favorite guitar player during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. [9]
- Punk icons Black Flag were great fans of ZZ Top. Get In The Van (singer Henry Rollins' tour diary from his stint in Black Flag) makes frequent mention of ZZ Top.
- 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.
- The band appeared in the film Back to the Future Part III playing period (i.e. 1885) equivalents of their instruments. They performed a very "unplugged" version of "Doubleback"; the original version of the song (recorded with their customary modern instruments, of course) played over the closing credits of the film.
- The inside sleeve of the album Fandango, features an overhead shot of U.T. Memorial Stadium, taken Sept. 1, 1974, where ZZ Top headlined that evening to a crowd of 80,000 at what was billed as "ZZ Top's First Annual Texas Size Rompin' and Stompin' Barndance and Barbecue".
- ZZ Top is a sponsor of the Delta Blues Museum. In 1988, the band commissioned John Bolin to create an electric guitar made from timber salvaged from the cabin in which electric blues pioneer Muddy Waters (nee McKinley Morganfield) was born. The resulting instrument (dubbed "Muddywood") is a white solid-bodied guitar with a green stylized image of the Mississippi river running from the headstock to the end of the guitar body. It was later sent on a tour of various Hard Rock Cafe locations to promote the Delta Blues Museum, and is now on display at the museum's Clarksdale, Mississippi headquarters.
- In keeping with the tejano flavor of the band, Billy Gibbons uses a modified antique Mexican peso coin instead of a guitar pick. It is rumored that the peso helps produce the distinctive chirping sound prominent on "Squank", "La Grange" and other songs, but this sound can be achieved without it (the technique is known as a pinch harmonic). Gibbons is often credited as inventing this sound, but there are earlier recordings of it (for instance by Leslie West on his first album).
- 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.
- ZZ Top did a commercial for Honda in Japan for the (almost coincidental) car, the Honda Z.
- Ironically, Frank Beard is the only member of the band without a full beard, only a mustache. He did, however, sport a tidy beard in early 2001 - 2003.
- The band has the distinction of being the hard rock band with the most singles to reach the Hot Dance Music/Club Play, with three. "Legs", "Sleeping Bag", and "Velcro Fly" are the singles that reached this chart.
- The band did an appearance at the end of W.A.S.P.´s video for the song "Blind In Texas", from their album "The Last Command" (1985). In this video, the ZZ Top guys tell the W.A.S.P. boys which way they must go.
- Appeared as Three Men in a Tub in Mother Goose Rock N' Rhyme (1990).
- Jon Glaser does a comedic routine on the Invite Them Up CD/DVD about his dead father being a former member of ZZ Top.
- In the 1998, Alan Ayckbourn play "Comic Potential" the characters Adam and Jacie dance to "My Head's In Mississippi." The play is set in the future and Adam, who has never heard of the group, calls them "Zed Zed Top" (using the British pronunciation of 'Z') when he comes across an old CD of theirs.
- On the cover for the compilation album "Greatest Hits" a stage light covers part of the H cleverly changing the title from "Greatest Hits" to "Greatest Tits"
- In the episode of The Simpsons entitled The Old Man and the Key, when Grandpa Simpson drives off with his girlfriend Zelda, three old men with long beards and sunglasses appear as a clip of "Sharp Dressed Man" is played.
- They appeared on King of the Hill in 2007. Dusty Hill is Hank Hill's cousin. appeared with the rest of band.
- The song Sharp Dressed Man features in the highly acclaimed Playstation 2 game Guitar Hero.
References
- ^ "ZZ Top Bio". Artistopia. Retrieved on 2006-06-09.
