ZZ Top

ZZ Top is an American rock trio, formed in late 1969 in Houston, Texas, by Billy Gibbons (lead vocals and lead guitar), Dusty Hill (vocals, bass, and keyboards), and Frank Beard (drums). ZZ Top has been together for four

ZZ Top in 2008

decades, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was ranked number 44 on VH1 cable’s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.”  The band holds the distinction of being among the few rock bands still composed of its original recording members for nearly 40 years  and until September 2006, the same manager/producer/image maker, Bill Ham. ZZ Top reached peak 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 by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the annual induction ceremony 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 hard rock idiom … while Hill and Beard provide the ultimate rhythm section support.”  Their song lyrics often feature sexual innuendo and tasteful humor. Nearly as well-known as their music is the group’s biker-frontiersmen image: ZZ Top is almost always pictured wearing sunglasses (a nod to their 1979 song “Cheap Sunglasses”), Gibbons and Hill (the singing frontmen) wearing similar if not matching black clothing (usually biker leathers), black cowboy hats or ball caps. Gibbons has been noted for wearing an African “artichoke” skullcap under his hat, black biker boots or comfortable substitutes, neck chains hanging beer can openers, trinkets and small tools. Both Gibbons and Hill are noted for their trademark chest-length beards (in spite of his own surname, drummer Beard almost always sports just a trim mustache). In 1984, the Gillette Company reportedly offered Gibbons and Hill $1 million each to shave their beards for a television commercial but they declined, stating “We’re too ugly without ‘em.”