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Colt1861Navy

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Re: Colt1861Navy post# 939

Sunday, 07/21/2002 10:39:06 PM

Sunday, July 21, 2002 10:39:06 PM

Post# of 1767
Rock 'n' Roll Artists A-Z...ZZ Top

http://zztop.com/zzintro.htm (Be sure and Click on Billy Gibbons and Quaker State in the middle of the Home page...Then Click on the picture of Billy Gibbons and wait a few seconds for the Quaker State Ad to Load. Some Awsome Automobiles in his collection. It is worth the look!!!)

http://www.lowpft.com/

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/default.asp?afl=aol&oid=1542

http://www.geocities.com/bill77429/

"The little ol' band from Texas."

Every girl's crazy about a sharp dressed man. . .with a beard and a cherry red 1933 Ford coupe. At least that's what ZZ Top proclaimed to the MTV-viewing public through their smart, sarcastic and sexy music videos from Eliminator: "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Legs," "TV Dinners" and, of course, "Sharp Dressed Man." Topping record charts for more than three years straight, breaking concert attendance records set by the Beatles and garnering praise from Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top sports impressive credentials for a "Little Ol' Band from Texas."

The bearded blues brothers began playing rock 'n' roll on February 10,1970, when guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and bassist Dusty Hill jammed as a three-piece band for the first time. Houston-born Gibbons grew up mimicking the rhythm and blues styles of Elvis Presley and James Brown before joining a psychedelic combo called the Moving Sidewalks in1967. The band scored a local hit with "99th Floor" and opened for the JimiHendrix Experience in 1968. Then the Vietnam War draft snatched Gibbons' bandmates away and turned him on to the American Blues Band, where he first met Hill and Beard.

A Lone Star favorite, ZZ Top failed to break into the mainstream with their debut LP, First Album. The next two records spawned two national hits and earned the band an invitation to open for the Rolling Stones in1972. Prosperity continued with 1975's Fandango, which stayed on the charts for 83 weeks and sold more than a million copies.

In 1976 ZZ Top embarked on the lavish, odd-ball World-Wide Texas Tour in support of the album Tejas. Literally carting bits of the state along with them, the band brought live cattle, bison, rattlesnakes and cactus on stage - all of which helped gross more than $11.5 million, making the tour one of the most successful ever at the time. Primed for the next huge step forward, the Top then stunned critics and fans by taking three-year-long vacation.

ZZ Top marked their 1979 return by signing with the Warner Bros. and releasing Deguello, arguably the band's best performance of biting blues and raucous rhythm. But God forbid ZZ Top should rest on its laurels. In1983 the band broke new ground with the experimental and catchy rock album Eliminator, which sold 10 million copies, peaked in Billboard's charts at No. 9 and remained in the Top 20 for more than a year. This sustained popularity was due in part to the band's clever use of the burgeoning cable channel MTV to construct a hip and endearing image. ZZ Top videos, replete with the '33 Ford and bearded bad boys, became MTV staples and icons of the age.

Straying from their blues roots, ZZ Top then meshed the world of drum machines, sequencers and computer sampling with Gibbon's familiar guitar crunch on the 1985 album Afterburner, which yielded the singles "Rough Boy," "Sleeping Bag" and "Velcro Fly." Then the old Ford started coasting downhill as the band's next two original albums failed to make a mark on the charts.

After another hiatus of a few years, ZZ Top returned in 1990 with the critically well - received album Recycler. While the none of the band's efforts in the ensuing decade ( have quite matched their earlier triumphs, the band remains a solid draw on the concert circuit; and, if albums like their latest, XXX (1999), are any indication, they haven't forgotten their musical roots.

The Saints(1963)

Billy Gibbons - guitar/vocals - b. Houston, Texas

The Coachmen (1964)

Billy Gibbons - guitar/vocals

Billy G. and the Ten Blue Flames(1965)

Billy Gibbons - guitar/vocals

The Moving Sidewalks (1966 - 1969)

Billy Gibbons - guitar/vocals
Tom Moore - keyboards
Don Summers - bass
Dan Mitchell - drums
Single:"99th Floor"

ZZ Top I (1969 - 1970)

Billy Gibbons - guitar/vocals
Dan Mitchell - drums
Lanier Greig - keyboards - formerly with Neil Ford & The Fanatics.

ZZ Top II (1970 - Present)

Billy Gibbons - guitar/harmonica/vocals

Dusty Hill - bass/vocals - b. May 19, 1949, Dallas, Texas - formerly with The Starliners, The Deadbeats, Lady Wild and the Warlocks, and The American Blues Band (1967-1970).

Frank Beard - drums - formerly with The Hustlers, The Cellar Dwellers, and The American Blues Band.

Albums:

"ZZ Top's First Album" (1970) - Single: "(Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree" - This first offering from ZZ Top is still my favorite of all their albums. Being much more bluesier and anything else they ever recorded, there's blistering guitar work from Gibbons all over this album. Favorite cuts are "Just Got Back From Baby's" and "Bedroom Thang", but there's not a weak song. This is pure blues-rock at its finest.
"Rio Grande Mud" (1972) - Single: "Francine"
"Tres Hombres" (1973) - Single: "La Grange"
"Fandango" (1975) - Single: "Tush"
"Tejas" (1976)
"Deguello" (1979)
"El Loco" (1981)
"Eliminator" (1983) - Singles: "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man", "Legs"
"Afterburner" (1985) - Singles: "Sleeping Bag", "Stages", "Rough Boy", "Velcro Fly"
"Recycler" (1990) - Singles: "My Head's in Mississippi", "Doubleback"
"Antenna" (1994)
"Rhythmeen" (1996)
"XXX" (1999) - ZZ Top's 30-year anniversary album.

Compilations:

"The Best of ZZ Top" (1977)
"ZZ Top Six Pack" (1987) - Reissue of albums 1-5 and 7 (don't ask me why they skipped "Deguello"!) on three CDs, remastered to emphasize the techno-rock sound that made them famous with "Eliminator" and "Afterburner". Although I sort of prefer the original un-remastered sound, this is a great way to get a lot of ZZ Top's early work at a reduced price.
"Greatest Hits" (1992)
"One Foot in the Blues" (1994)

Reccomendations:

I like their first three albums the best. Out of these three, the one absolutely essential album is "ZZ Top's First Album" which is blues-rock at its best. It just doesn't get any better than this, and I recommend this album without reservation.

Discography

http://www.bestbuy.com/MandM/artist.asp?m=254&CID=50962&cobrand=2

http://www.lowpft.com/

Photos

http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/ownergallerymain.asp?oid=1542&cf=1542

Videos - News - Articles - Tributes - More Photos - etc.

http://www.geocities.com/bill77429/



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