History

The men who would form ZZ Top had played in several different Texas-based groups (main of them were Moving Sidewalks with Gibbons and The American Blues with Hill and Beard) before joining 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 bassman, the drummer proposed his former bandmate, Dusty.

Singles

• non-album
  • 1970 "Salt Lick"
• from Tres Hombres
  • 1973 "Waitin' For The Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago"
  • 1973 "La Grange"
• from Fandango!
  • 1975 "Tush" #20 Pop
• 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"
  • 1983 "Gimme All Your Lovin'" #37 Pop
  • 1983 "TV Dinners"
  • 1984 "Legs" #8 Pop, #13 Dance/Club
• from Afterburner
  • 1985 "Sleeping Bag" #8 Pop, #1 Rock, #41 Dance/Club
  • 1986 "Woke Up With Wood" #18 Rock
  • 1986 "Velcro Fly" #35 Pop, #15 Rock, #43 Dance/Club
  • 1986 "Stages" #21 Pop, #1 Rock
  • 1986 "Rough Boy" #22 Pop, #5 Rock
  • 1986 "Delirious" #15 Rock
• from Recycler
  • 1990 "My Head's in Mississippi" #1 Rock
  • 1990 "Doubleback" #1 Rock
  • 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
  • 1992 "Gun Love" #8 Rock
• from Antenna
  • 1994 "Pincushion" #1 Rock
  • 1994 "Girl in a T-Shirt" #27 Rock
  • 1994 "Fuzzbox Voodoo" #30 Rock
  • 1994 "Breakaway" #7 Rock
• from Rhythmeen
  • 1996 "What's Up With That" #5 Rock
  • 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

• "Gimme All Your Lovin'"
• "Sharp Dressed Man"
• "Legs"
• "TV Dinners"
• "Sleeping Bag"
• "Stages"
• "Rough Boy"
• "Velcro Fly"
• "My Head's In Mississippi"
• "Give It Up"
• "Burger Man"
• "Doubleback"
• "Viva Las Vegas"
• "Pincushion"
• "Breakaway"
• "World of Swirl"
• "She's Just Killing Me"

DVDs

• "ZZ Top's Greatest Hits" (2004)
• Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival (Nov. 9, 2004) - ZZ Top plays on this DVD.

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 - To be given out by The Board of Directors of the International Entertainment Buyer's Association (IEBA) live between Oct. 15-17, 2006.[2]

Trivia

• Jimi Hendrix named Billy Gibbons his favorite guitar player after Hendrix saw him playing with Billy's early band The Moving Sidewalks.^{[citation needed]}
• ZZ's first two albums were recorded at Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas. In 1973, they started recording at Ardent Studios in Memphis. [3]
• 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.
• "La Grange" is a song about a brothel. The real name of the brothel is "Gracie's Chicken Farm". This brothel is also the subject of the film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds.
• 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 a 1984 episode of Saturday Night Live, Father Guido Sarducci "nominated" ZZ Top for the Democratic presidential primary. In a national phone-in poll conducted during the broadcast, the band won by a significant margin.
• In the Simpsons episode The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson , Bart sees a pair of presumably Hasidic rabbis on the streets of New York and shouts, "Look, it's ZZ Top! You guys rock!".
• In keeping with the tejano flavor of the band, Billy Gibbons uses a peso instead of a guitar pick. It is rumored that the peso helps produce the distinctive chirping sound prominent on "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.
• On December 20, 2005 Billy Gibbons appeared on the Fox TV show Bones, appearing as the father of character Angela Montenegro (played by Michaela Conlin).
• On 1 February 2006, Billy Gibbons appeared on the CBS TV show Yes, Dear, appearing as a guest star, who takes the table in a restaurant which the family is waiting for.
• The trio's song "Gimme All Your Lovin'" was used in the 1994 hit film The Santa Clause.
• The trio's song "Gimme All Your Lovin'" was used in the comedy Beverly Hills Ninja.
• The song "La Grange" features in the Michael Bay film Armageddon, the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, and a modified version appears in the in the 2004 remake of Walking Tall.
• 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 song "Velcro Fly" was mentioned in the book The Waste Lands by Stephen King, which is a part of the popular The Dark Tower series.
• "La Grange" was featured in the 2000 action-comedy, Shanghai Noon.
• "La Grange" was also used in the 1996 film Striptease starring Demi Moore.
• 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 song "Tush" is featured in the 2000 film The Perfect Storm, at the start of the Andrea Gail's final fishing trip.
• The song "Tush" is also in the 1993 film Dazed And Confused.
• "Tush" was also used in the 1982 film An Officer and A Gentleman starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger.
• "Tush" was also used in the 1996 popular comedy film Sgt. Bilko.
• Billy Gibbons collaborated with the Queens Of The Stone Age for their 2005 album, Lullabyes To Paralyze. He also appears in their video for Burn the Witch.
• 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.
• The 1985 film "American Flyers" featured the song "Dirty Dog" from Eliminator.
• Jon Glaser does a comedic routine on the Invite Them Up cd/dvd about his dead father being a former member of ZZ Top

1. ^ http://www.zztop.com/
2. ^ "ZZ Top Bio". Artistopia. Retrieved on 2006-06-09.

External links

• The Official ZZ Top Website
• The Official Myspace of ZZ Top
• ZZ Top's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame bio
• The Little 'ol Web Page from Texas
• Bolin Guitars
• ZZ Top at Rollingstone