ZZ Top

ZZ Top formed in the late 60s in Houston, Texas with founding members guitarist Billy Gibbons, bass player Lanier Grieg, and drummer Dan Mitchell. After their first single, 1969’s “Salt Lick”, Frank Beard became the drummer, and Billy Ethridge was tapped as the new bass player. The classic line-up of the band solidified when Ethridge left after the trio signed to London records and Dusty Hill came on board. 1971’s ZZ Top's First Album and the 1972 follow-up Rio Grande Mud showed the group rooted in rocking blues and revealed odd humor in Gibbons’ lyrics. Predominantly a live band at this stage, ZZ Top were making a name wowing live audiences. Following their 1973 breakout Tres Hombres, which landed in the top ten of the album chart, the group toured for 18 months on its Worldwide Texas Tour. With a cheeky sense of humor, the trio won legions of fans pushing out albums through the 1970s and 1980s. 1983's Eliminator incorporated synthesizers into their blues sound and produced the hit singles “Gimme All Your Lovin'” and “Legs”. The iconic music videos for these tracks, featuring a red Ford coupe, a surplus of leggy models, and the band’s visual trademark of Gibbons and Hill’s breastbone-length beards, led to the band becoming unlikely MTV superstars. They copied the formula for 1985’s Afterburner, and were rewarded with another top 10 album. 1990’s Recycler found them moving more toward traditional blues and away from the synthesizers prevalent on their previous two albums, and the album still went top 10. 1994’s Antenna was their last Platinum album, but the band continued to tour regularly while their album releases became more sporadic. After 2012’s La Futura, which returned them to the top 10 on the album chart for the first time since Recycler, they spent a decade touring with their album input limited to best-of collections and live LPs. Dusty Hill passed away on July 28, 2021, however Gibbons stated the band would continue at Hill’s request, with Hill’s guitar tech Elwood Francis replacing him.

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