Line #7 Music/ZZTop


1	[[quoteright:366:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zztop_5114.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:366:The classic line-up of ZZ Top. From left to right: Dusty Hill, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard.]]
3
4	->''Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man.''
5
6	The little old band from [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]] that could, ZZ Top is a [[LongRunner long-running]] BluesRock band from [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Houston]] with the classic lineup of guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons, bassist/keyboardist/vocalist [[PunnyName Dusty Hill]] and drummer Frank Beard ([[NonIndicativeName who, ironically, has the shortest beard]]) lasting over fifty years. Formed in 1969, they were the longest-running rock band with the same line-up (with Music/GoldenEarring and then Music/{{Rush\|Band}} close behind them) until Hill's death in 2021.
7
8	People most likely know them for three things. One of them would be their actual music, which is made up of EpicRiff-driven, frequently humorous BluesRock tunes in TheSeventies, EpicRiff-driven frequently humorous BluesRock tunes [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace with synths and electronics]] in TheEighties, and a compromise between the two since TheNineties. The other two would be their [[ClothesMakeTheLegend distinctive appearance]] - sunglasses plus chest-length beards (except for [[IronicName Beard]], who just has a moustache and sometimes a very close cropped beard) - and their videos in TheEighties, which always involved [[FanService hot chicks]] and {{Cool Car}}s, most notably [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ZZTopEliminator.jpg the Eliminator]].
9
10	Bass player Dusty Hill passed away on July 28, 2021; in accordance with Hill's wishes, the band [[https://ultimateclassicrock.com/zz-top-not-breaking-up/ will continue]] with their longtime guitar technician Elwood Francis in Hill's place.
11
12	----
13	!!Principal Members (Founding members in ''italic'', current members in '''bold'''):
14
15	* '''Frank Beard''' - drums, percussion (1969-present)
16	* Billy Ethridge - bass (1969)
17	* '''Elwood Francis''' - bass, vocals (2021-present)
18	* '''''Billy Gibbons''''' - lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano (1969-present)
19	* ''Lanier Greig'' - organ, bass (1969, died 2013)
20	* Dusty Hill - bass, lead vocals, keyboard (1969-2021, died 2021)
21	* ''Dan Mitchell'' - drums (1969)
22
23	----
24	!!Studio and Live Discography:
25
26	* 1971 - ''ZZ Top's First Album''
27	* 1972 - ''Rio Grande Mud''
28	* 1973 - ''Tres Hombres''
29	* 1975 - ''Fandango!''
30	* 1976 - ''Tejas''
31	* 1979 - ''Degüello''
32	* 1981 - ''El Loco''
33	* 1983 - ''Music/{{Eliminator\|ZZTopAlbum}}''
34	* 1985 - ''Afterburner''
35	* 1990 - ''Recycler''
36	* 1994 - ''Antenna''
37	* 1996 - ''Rhythmeen''
38	* 1999 - ''XXX''
39	* 2003 - ''Mescalero''
40	* 2008 - ''Live From Texas''
41	* 2009 - ''Double Down Live: 1980 & 2008''
42	* 2012 - ''Texicali''
43	* 2012 - ''La Futura''
44
45	----
46	!!ZZ Top is the [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] for:
47
48	* SharpDressedMan
49
50	----
51	! '''''Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp troped man''''':
52	* AsHimself:
53	** Billy Gibbons has a recurring role as himself on ''Series/{{Bones}}''. He's Angela's father and Hodgins' worst nightmare.
54	** All three appeared in the ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "Hank Gets Dusted", which shows Hank to be Dusty's cousin, as well as being the band's favorite prank victim. At the end of the episode, they say that they go easy on Hank (relatively speaking) because they like him.
55	** They appear in the series finale of ''Series/DuckDynasty'' to perform at Si's retirement party.
56	** In the ''Series/StElsewhere'' episode "Sweet Dreams", they perform their song "Legs" in Luther Hawkins' music video inspired dream in which he and the Eliminator girls have fun around the hospital.
57	* AutoTune: Some JustForFun/{{egregious}} use of it on ''Mescalero'', especially on "What Would You Do", "Qué Lastima" and "As Time Goes By".
58	* BawdySong: A huge portion of their catalogue.
59	* BilingualBonus:
60	** Many album titles are actually Spanish, e.g. "Tres Hombres" (meaning ''Three Men''), "Degüello" (''Beheading'') or "El Loco" (''The Crazy One''). Not all that surprising, considering the band is from Texas.
61	** They even recorded two songs in Spanish on ''Mescalero'', "Mescalero" and "Qué Lastima".
62	** When ''Eliminator'' broke a streak of five albums with Spanish titles in a row[[note]]Six if you count ''Rio Grande Mud'' for referencing a river that happens to have a Spanish name[[/note]] and they were asked why, they would jokingly say that it was actually "[[ElSpanishO El Iminator]]". And they went from there to ''XXX'' without a Spanish album title.
63	* TheCameo:
64	** They appear as the band at the Hill Valley 1885 festival in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''.
65	** They make a blink and you'll miss it cameo in the music video for Music/{{WASP\|Band}}'s "Blind in Texas".
66	** They also appear in the first ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' game, but Sierra altered them in later revisions of the remake so they would not be sued because it was an unauthorized cameo.
67	* ChangedForTheVideo: The video for "Legs" uses a version of the song that adds backing vocals and another instrumental track as well as a different intro.
68	* ChronologicalAlbumTitle - ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin ZZ Top's First Album]]''
69	* CoolCar: The Eliminator, that customized 1933 Ford coupe with a Corvette engine. Billy Gibbons bought the car and comissioned the customizations shortly before the release of ''Eliminator'', and the car appears on the album's cover and in all of its music videos. Gibbons still owns the car, but he has loaned it out to the UsefulNotes/RockAndRollHallOfFame, where it is on display.
70	* CoolShades: Just look at the above picture! They even exalt them in "Cheap Sunglasses".
71	* CoverVersion: Rare, but it's there - "Jailhouse Rock", "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", and "Viva Las Vegas" by Music/ElvisPresley, "Dust My Broom" by Music/RobertJohnson, "I Thank You" by Music/IsaacHayes, "Tramp" by Lowell Fulson (popularised by Music/OtisRedding and Carla Thomas), "As Time Goes By" from the movie ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' (hidden track on ''Mescalero''). Their latest album's "I Gotsta Get Paid" is a blues-rock cover of DJ DMD's "25 Lighters".
72	* DemotedToExtra: This happened to Dusty and Frank on ''Eliminator'': despite them being credited on the album sleeve, Dusty's bass being replaced by keyboards[[note]]"Thug" and its keyboard slap bass that sounds like it escaped from the ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' theme being the more obvious one[[/note]] and Frank by drum machines. For all intents and purposes, ''Eliminator'' is a Billy solo album (excepting Dusty's lead vocals on "I Got The Six" and "Bad Girl") with contributions by pre-production engineer Linden Hudson, who contributed drum machine programming and keyboard sequencing, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliminator_(album) and was alleged to have co-written most of the material, to the point that the band got into a legal conflict that was settled with him being granted the copyright to "Thug"]]. Hudson had also shown Billy some research he'd done previously that most popular rock songs used the tempo of 120 beats per minute, which influenced Billy to write most of the album's songs at that tempo. And when the combination of blues guitar and incongruously synthesized backing tracks sent the album to diamond status, the formula was repeated on ''Afterburner'' and ''Recycler'', and even led to the infamous [[TheNotRemix re-releases of the band's past albums that replaced Frank's drums with drum machines]]. While the band continued using electronic loops and synth elements, Dusty's bass and Frank's actual drums returned to prominence starting with ''Antenna'' and ''Rhythmeen''.
73	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: People who picked up their earlier albums after hearing ''[[NewSoundAlbum Eliminator]]'' tended to be a bit confused.
74	* TheEighties:
75	** It's utterly impossible to watch the video of "Rough Boy" without instantly identifying the decade it was made in.
76	** Same can be said for the videos for "TV Dinners", "Sharp Dressed Man", and "Velcro Fly".
77	* FanOfUnderdog: They are definitely on the side of the put-upon parking valet in the video for "Sharp Dressed Man" and the mistreated shoe store clerk in the video for "Legs." (See SpaceWhaleAesop below).
78	* FoodPorn: The vinyl gatefold for ''Tres Hombres'' shows a sumptuous Mexican food spread.
79	* GoldToothOfWealth: In "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide," the singer considers his gold tooth a visible indicator of wealth.
80	* ICallItVera: Pearly Gates, Billy's prized 1959 Gibson Les Paul.
81	* IndestructibleEdible: From "TV Dinners", which was released as a single from the ''Eliminator'' album: "Twenty-year-old turkey in a thirty-year-old tin." You have to think about it for a moment.
82	* IntercourseWithYou: "La Grange", "Mexican Blackbird", "Tube Snake Boogie", "Pearl Necklace", "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "I Got the Six", "If I Could Only Flag Her Down", "Bad Girl", "Sleeping Bag", "Planet of Women", "Love Thing", "Penthouse Eyes", "My Head's in Mississippi", "Girl in a T-Shirt", "Bang Bang", "Buck Nekkid"... you know what, we should stop before we end up listing all of their songs.
83	* {{Irony}}: Frank Beard is the only member of the band without a beard.
84	* LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar: Lead guitarist Billy Gibbons was a co-lead vocalist along with bassist Dusty Hill. After Dusty's death, Billy was left as the band's sole lead singer.
85	* LongRunnerLineUp: In rock, ''the'' longest. Fifty-two years, over a dozen albums, dozens of songs--one line-up. Took Dusty Hill getting sick to interrupt it, and even then he asked for the band to keep on (he died five days after his replacement debuted).
86	* LoudnessWar:
87	** ''Mescalero'' is an infamous example, with static and distortion very audible due to the amount of clipping and overuse of treble.
88	** La Futura is also pretty bad, but not quite as bad as Mescalero. It was, like many loudness war albums, produced by Rick Rubin.
89	* ManlyFacialHair: They're a trio hard rocking, lady loving Texans with iconic long beards.
90	* ManOfAThousandVoices: Billy Gibbons has a five-octave vocal range. This puts him up there with the likes of Music/DevinTownsend and [[Music/DirEnGrey Kyo]]. Listen to a taste of it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wYAcp39SvI here]].
91	* MeaningfulName: The titles of ''Afterburner'' and ''Recycler'' imply that they are trying to copy ''Eliminator'' but less successfully, which many agree with. The band either self-deprecatingly or intentionally set themselves up for reviews that would bring up the irony of the album titles.
92	* {{Medley}}: ''Fandango!'' has "Backdoor Medley", a medley consisting of the band's "Backdoor Love Affair", "Mellow Down Easy" by Willie Dixon, and "Long Distance Boogie" by Music/JohnLeeHooker.
93	* NonIndicativeName: Frank Beard... is the only member of the band to not have a beard. At least not a prominent one.
94	* TheNotRemix[=/=]UpdatedRerelease: The CD versions of their '70s albums feature '80s drum machines added instead of the original drumming, marketed as the ''ZZ Top Six Pack''. [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Many of the band's fans were displeased with the changes.]]
95	** These versions were later sold as separate albums, and inexplicably remained the only versions available until the reissues of ''Tres Hombres'' and ''Fandango'' in 2006 used the original mixes. The other albums all followed as [=HDTracks=] downloads, and then finally made their appearance on CD in 2013, as part of the box set The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990.
96	* PowerBallad: "Rough Boy."
97	* {{Pun}}: In response to some fans noticing that ''Eliminator'' was the first album since ''ZZ Top's First Album'' to not have Spanish in its title, Billy joked that it could be read as ''El Iminator'' instead.
98	* RecordProducer: Bill Ham, from 1969 up until 2003. He also co-wrote a lot of their songs.
99	* RepurposedPopSong: "Doubleback", which had an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoKQmm52nxk Old West version]] played in the above-mentioned cameo in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', and plays over the credits. It even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XtTWJKzIAU received a]] VideoFullOfFilmClips.
100	* RockTrio
101	* SelfPlagiarism:
102	** "Dipping Low (in the Lap of Luxury)" is a blatant rewrite of "Gimme All Your Lovin'".
103	** "Gimme All Your Lovin'" is itself a rewrite of "Francine".
104	** The riff in the solo breakdown of "I Got the Six" is very reminiscent of the coda of "Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings".
105	** "Planet of Women" copies the chorus riff from "Got Me Under Pressure" during its verses and has a similarly driving sound.
106	** "Decision or Collision" sounds like even more of a recycling of "Got Me Under Pressure" and "Bad Girl" (which already sounded similar enough in tempo and feel).
107	** "Rough Boy" is arguably a rewrite of "Leila" with mid 80s production.
108	* ShoutOut: "Flyin' High" rhymes a reference to the title with "[[Music/JimiHendrix Jimi]] said he'd kiss the sky."
109	* SiameseTwinSongs:
110	** One of the more famous examples is "Waitin' for the Bus"/"Jesus Just Left Chicago" from ''Tres Hombres''.
111	** "Apologies to Pearly" and "Bar-B-Q" also count in their original mixes on ''Rio Grande Mud''.
112	* SomethingBlues: "Blue Jean Blues", "Pan Am Highway Blues", "2000 Blues", "Creator/VincentPrice Blues".
113	* SpaceWhaleAesop: {{Fanservice}} aside, the message of the "Legs" video seems to be, "Don’t bully your peers, or else ZZ Top and a hot car driven by three hot women will magically appear and give you a humiliating taste of your own medicine. While helping your victims have the coolest day ever."
114	* SpectacularSpinning: Billy and Dusty simultaneously spin their guitars a full 360 as a SignatureMove, and even Frank got in on the act with his marching drum in the band's ''Back To The Future III'' cameo.
115	* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Rough Boy" is a very 80s sounding radio power ballad, but it was a big hit, hence it seems incongruous on Greatest Hits compilations. The band had done ballads before ("Hot Blue And Righteous" and "Leila" being two), but "Rough Boy" is considered by some as too much of a deviation from their sound.
116	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Amusingly, Elwood Francis, the band's guitar tech-turned-current bassist since Dusty's passing, ''also'' has [[https://i.imgur.com/BpVVCXf.jpg a rather impressive gray beard]] of his own. [[https://ultimateclassicrock.com/dusty-hill-replacement-zz-top-beard/ According to Billy]], he made the decision to grow it out at the onset of the [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19 lockdowns]].
117	* TrueCompanions: The fact the band had the exact same lineup for over fifty years shows how close these guys are. The only other rock band that even comes ''close'' to them in terms of lineup longevity is Music/{{Rush\|Band}} who had the same lineup for 44 years.
118	* UnproblematicProstitution:
119	** "La Grange", about the brothel which also inspired ''Film/TheBestLittleWhorehouseInTexas''.
120	** "Mexican Blackbird" is also about a prostitute, with the narrator encouraging the listener to pay her a "visit" if they're "down in Acuna" and "ain't up to being alone".
121	* VocalTagTeam: Gibbons' deeper vocals (for instance, "Sharp Dressed Man") and Hill's shriller rock'n'roll voice ("Tush") complement each other nicely. "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" being definitive proof.

Context Music / ZZTop