Zz group. ZZ Top - those who are especially rich beards

In the late 1960s, Texas guitarist Billy Gibbons formed the Moving Sidewalks blues team. The group released an album and several singles, and even Jimi Hendrix himself, imbued with her work, invited the musicians to participate with him in a TV show, where he called Gibbons one of the best young performers in America. In 1970, Billy opened a new project called "ZZ Top". In this case, he was helped by fellow "Moving Sidewalks" keyboardist Lanier Grieg and drummer Dan Mitchell. This configuration managed to release only one single, after which Billy's colleagues went to Vietnam, and he had to look for new associates.

The new line-up of "ZZ Top", cemented for many years, looked like this: Billy Gibbons (vocals, guitar), Joe "Dusty" Hill (vocals, bass), Frank Beard (drums). The fourth freelance member of the team was producer Bill Ham. It was he who advised to focus on hard rock. But the team also could not give up their southern blues roots, as a result of which they chose the direction that provided "ZZ Top" with fame for a long time. At the beginning of their activity, the trio toured mainly in the southern states, but after the release of the second disc, they gained all-American fame.

Then, in 1972, their single "Francene" broke into the top hundred. For some reason, "Rio Grande Mud" itself did not hit the charts, although the songs from the album sounded on the air of radio stations. Commercial success came with the release of "Tres Hombres", which contained such an action movie as "La Grange". Thanks to this composition, the album landed straight into the Top 10. The next, half-studio, half-live, work, "Fandango", was also present in the top ten. This disc, which received platinum, spent total on the charts for 83 weeks. The World Wide Texas tour that followed was truly legendary for ZZ Top. The fact is that the stage during the tour was decorated in the appropriate Texas style - with cacti, snakes and other southern "charms".

After 1976, there was a significant break in the studio activities of the trio, during which the group mostly indulged in touring. Gibbons and Hill grew long beards, giving "ZZ Top" their signature stage image (Bird didn't need a beard, as his last name was "bearded"). In the period from 1979 to 1985, the group released four albums with an equal interval of two years. And if "El Loco" turned out to be rather weak compared to its predecessors, then on "Eliminator" the trio regained the lost positions, issuing a number of militants "Sharp dressed man", "Legs", "Gimme all your lovin"".

All these songs were played on TV, while the record sold in incredible numbers, and the army of ZZ Top fans grew steadily. Although "Eliminator" rose "only" to number nine on the Billboard, it spent over a year in the Top 20. After the also commercially successful "Afterburner", the band took a break for five years, returning only in 1990 with the album "Recycler". This disc was the end of a long-term collaboration between "ZZ Top" and "Warner Bros". In 1994, the bearded men moved to RCA, where they started with the release of Antenna. The album, as always, contained a series of hits, and one of them, "She's just killing me", sounded on the soundtrack to the cult Tarantino film "From dusk till dawn".

ZZ Top celebrated its thirtieth anniversary with the release of a new studio work with the appropriate title - "XXX", after which they rolled into a global world tour. Unfortunately, after touring, Dusty Hill was diagnosed with hepatitis C and had to spend some time recuperating. As a result, the team returned to full-fledged activity only in 2003, when the album "Mescalero" was released.

If you do not have 150 grams of vodka or cognac, at worst two glasses of port wine, it is better not to watch this post. The author is just having fun ... By the way, he takes back, (if you give it back), the words said in the previous post:
For, in many videos, Frank Beard, who bears the name "Beard" - Beard, is still with her, albeit with a small one ...

ZZ Top (ziːziːtop) is an iconic American blues rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas.

The line-up of the band has remained virtually unchanged since its founding: Billy Gibbons (guitar, vocals), Dusty Hill (bass guitar, vocals), Frank Beard (drums). From the founding of the band until September 2006, Bill Ham was the producer.

The group's style can be defined as blues, blues-rock with elements of boogie-woogie, hard rock, country. In the words of Billy Gibbons: “Is ZZ Top a blues band? Well, we're more like interpreters of the blues. The blues is what inspired us, and it was partly started by the guys from England. I think it's fair to say that we've been subconsciously influenced by The Animals, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, Clapton, Beck...maybe some more..." Dusty Hill opines that: "We rock a band with a lot of blues influence."

ZZ Top - I Gotta Get Paid

Having begun their career in the early 1970s with blues and blues rock, the band subsequently experimented with sound, and in the mid-1980s came to a combination of blues rock with pop music, which made ZZ Top super popular all over the world. After releasing two very successful albums in 1983 and 1985, the band tried to return to the typical work of the beginning of their career during the 1990s and 2000s, but only managed to do so in 2012.

The lyrics of ZZ Top songs are overwhelmingly frivolous, full of humor, sexual innuendo and saturated with slang. The group has a bright, recognizable image, not least because of the two long beards of Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill (the third member Frank Beard bears the name "Beard" - Beard).

The band's best-selling album, Eliminator, was released in 1983 and sold over 10 million copies in the US as of 1996. In total, ZZ Top has sold more than 25 million albums in the United States, which allowed the group to enter the 100 most popular artists in the United States. In the world as of 2014, the group has sold more than 50 million of their albums, of which 11 are gold, seven are platinum and three are multi-platinum.

The band has been a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2004.

Create a group. Period 1970-1974

The founder of the group, its permanent leader, inspirer and main creative force is Billy Gibbons (William "Billy" Frederick Gibbons, born 12/16/1949).

Before joining the group, Billy Gibbons played in the Texas psychedelic group The Moving Sidewalks, founded in 1967, which recorded a number of singles and one full-length album. The band often performed in Texas at concerts, including opening concerts for such musicians as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Doors and others.

While performing at The Doors concert, the group was seen at that time by concert promoter Bill Ham, who later became, one might say, the fourth member of ZZ Top. He took a great part in all aspects of the group's activities: from the preparation of albums and their recording, to the development of the image of the group and the organization of its performances.

ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man (Live In Texas) - ..Guitars, mannerisms, image - everything is delicious - not to mention the MUSIC..

Of course, I couldn't pass by this visual masterpiece of the same song - ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man 2014 HQ

The Moving Sidewalks broke up in 1969, and on June 20, 1969, Billy Gibbons founded a new group, calling it ZZ Top. The origin of the band's name, according to Billy Gibbons, is connected with B.B. King. The group was originally going to be called Z.Z. King, however, Gibbons found this too similar to BB King, and so - since BB King had already become a "top" figure in his own right - the band's name became ZZ Top. However, there are clear allusions of a different nature. Thus, the name of the group is a mixture of the names of two well-known companies for the production of paper for self-rolling Zig-Zag and Top; there is also a connection with the pseudonym of the famous American blues singer Z. Z. Hill.

The first line-up of the band included bassist/keyboardist Anthony Barajas and drummer Peter Perez. However, in this line-up the group did not exist for long, so that most often the first line-up of the group is usually referred to as keyboardist Greg Lanier and former The Moving Sidewalks drummer Dan Mitchell.

In this line-up, at the end of 1969, the single Salt Lick / Miller "s Farm (1969) was released on the Scat Records label, and this single became the only release of the group in this line-up, and the only release of the group in the combination "guitar - keyboards - drums".

In January 1970, Lanier Grieg and Dan Mitchell were called to serve in Vietnam. Billy Gibbons was forced to recruit new musicians. They were bassist Billy Etheridge and drummer Frank Beard (Frank Lee Beard, born June 11, 1949), formally members of The Cellar Dwellers and American Blues.

Billy Etheridge left the band almost immediately and was replaced by Michael Johnson, who also left the band a few weeks later. Then Beard insisted that Gibbons be invited to the group former colleague by American Blues, bassist Dusty Hill (Joseph Michael Hill, born May 19, 1949).

Thus was formed the permanent line-up of the group, whose first performance in such a line-up took place in Beaumont on February 10, 1970, for which Hill had to borrow a bass guitar - he did not have his own.

By March 1970, the material for the first album of the group as a whole was already there, but American record companies were in no hurry to sign a contract with ZZ Top. The only offer came from the British London Records - but it seemed very attractive to ZZ Top, since The Rolling Stones recorded on this label. While the talks were going on, the group performed in various clubs in the southern United States, including numerous invitations to support the concerts of Lightnin Hopkins, Janis Joplin, Bo Diddley and even Chuck Berry. Eventually the band, through the efforts of their manager Bill Ham, were able to sign a two-album deal with London Records, which re-released ZZ Top's first single under their label in early 1970.

ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin" (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

The first album, called ZZ Top's First Album at the initiative of the art director of London Records, was recorded at Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas in late 1970 and was released on January 16, 1971.

The single from this album (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree peaked at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100, but in general the band remained little known and continued to work in southern states USA. The album was more southern blues than rock.

The band's biographer Neil Daniels said of the album that "The album set the tone for what is now the band's signature sound: fuzzy bare guitars, blues melodies, sexual innuendos and Texas slang.

Humor has always been a key feature in the band's sound and image, with an emphasis on dirty jokes often coming from personal experience. The roots of their sound are firmly rooted in the blues, but with their own twists."

ZZ Top's First Album may not be polished to perfection, but it defined their sound, behavior and quirks. Simply put, this is a dirty little blues-rock record with greased guitars, tavern rhythms, dirty jokes and Texas slang.

ZZ Top did not delay the release of a new album and began recording it already in 1971. The group's second album, Rio Grande Mud, was released on April 4, 1972, and was recorded there and released by the same record company.

The album turned out with a slightly heavier sound than the previous one, shifting the focus in creativity from blues to rock a little more, but at the same time, in general, the material of the album represented the same mixture of blues, boogie and rock. The increased skill level of the performers and the smoother recording of the album did not go unnoticed by critics.

From the review:

"...Rio Grande Mud found the band's sound to be richer and more confident in the studio than on their debut attempt. Throughout the 10 "dirty" songs, Hill and drummer Frank Beard provide a taut, rocky body and blues-heavy foundation for Gibbons' vocals. and most often, stunning guitar moves"

Although this album peaked at The Billboard 200 at #104, and the non-band single Francine peaked at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100, the band remained little known outside of the US South. ZZ Top toured extensively, their music received significant airplay on local radio stations, but they "never performed more than a hundred miles from Houston." But in Houston itself, ZZ Top managed to gather 38 thousand spectators at the stadium. In July 1972, the album received a low-key review in Rolling Stone magazine, and in the fall of 1972, an offer was made to perform in Hawaii as an opening act for The Rolling Stones in January 1973. ZZ Top were very warmly received at these three concerts, held on January 22 and 23, 1973.

In 1973, the group began working with the then novice, and later the most famous sound engineer and producer Terry Manning. The material for the new album was recorded at the same studio in Tylor and then transferred to Manning's studio in Memphis. On July 26, 1973, the third album Tres Hombres was released, which became a real breakthrough. The album climbed to number eight on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, one of the group's biggest hits, La Grange, released as a single, reached number 41 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, selling the album in excess of one million copies. The album is currently listed as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine at number 490. On this album, ZZ Top shifted the focus from blues to rock even more, "doubled, tripled the heaviness, creating a sound more bass and evil than on the first two albums."

“This album captures their transformation from a solid but otherwise unimpressive Southern boogie band to one of the finest bands in the world… Tres Hombres is a real gem among them [1970s albums] and deserves a spot on any fan's mezzanine. classic rock
But the bulk of their fans remained in the south of the United States, where the group gathered tens of thousands of listeners at their concerts. highest point popularity at that time was the performance of ZZ Top at Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. At this concert, called ZZ Top "s First Annual Rompin" Stompin "Barndance & Bar B Q, the group gathered about 80,000 spectators, and such performers as Bad Company, Joe Cocker and Carlos Santana performed at the opening act.

With the release of this album, the era of the band's early work ended: the first three albums were pure simple blues rock, although with varying degrees of blues and rock. The group's subsequent work is already associated with experiments in combining blues-rock with other styles of music, instrumentation, and the technical side of recording. Not everyone appreciates this, blues purists would rather say that Tres Hombres is the band's last worthwhile album; however, ZZ Top fans of the 1980s will say that this is the first ZZ Top album worthy of attention.

To be honest, the second discovery of the group for me happened quite recently. But it got stuck again. Well, if you too... But in any case, thank you, Watching, Reading and Listening!!

When creating the post, a little soul, fantasy and free access materials from the resources were used:

1. https://ru.wikipedia.org/
2.https://www.youtube.com/
3.https://www.zztop.com/

Genre: Blues rock, boogie rock, hard rock, southern rock, rock and roll

The country: USA

Years of activity 1969 - present.

Biography:

ZZ Top is a blues-rock band from the USA. The lyrics of the songs are often comic, filled with humor and slang. The ZZ Top team was founded in 1969 after another group, also created by B. Gibbons, The Moving Sidewalks, broke up. D. Hill and drummer F. Bird became members of the new team, B. Ham was also considered a member of the team, who until 2006 was the permanent producer of the group. The musicians recorded their debut album already in 1970, but it did not enjoy great success, although it entered the Top 100 in the USA. The next album became more popular and was released in 1972. The third album, which was released in 1973, brought real fame to the musicians. The recording took place with the participation of producer T. Manning in Memphis. The album was able to climb into the top ten of the US Billboard chart, and the number of copies sold reached one million copies. The team's next CD was called Fandango! also marked in the top ten of the top 100 and went platinum. World fame came to the team after the release of the Eliminator album in 1983, after which ZZ Top began to shoot videos for their compositions.

ZZ Top is a popular American rock band. The group was formed back in 1969. The team is based in Houston, Texas. The main characters of the group are: guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons (Billy Gibbons), bassist, vocalist and keyboardist Dusty Hill (Dusty Hill), and drummer Frank Beard (Frank Beard). The main stylistic trends that ZZ Top music is known for can be considered: blues rock, boogie rock, southern rock, elements of hard rock and heavy metal, rock and roll.

Founding history

The frontman of the band, Billy Gibbons, became the founder of the team, since before ZZ Top he had already played in the psychedelic group The Moving Sidewalks, in which he even shared the stage with the great Jimi Hendrix. After the collapse of the band, Billy did not give up, inviting keyboardist Lanier Grieg and drummer Dan Mitchell to the new ZZ Top project. After both musicians were drafted into the army to serve in Vietnam, a new and definitive line-up was formed in 1970, known to this day.

Billy Gibbons - guitarist for ZZ Top

Dusty Hill - bass guitarist for the band ZZ Top

Frank Beard - drummer for ZZ Top

Sound Features

Creativity of the group is based not only on the blues and blues subgenres, but the main commercial success of the team is due to the blues. Known for ZZ Top blues all over the world. Billy Gibbons' guitar playing features classic blues picking, and the sound can vary from prickly and loud to soft, muffled, with broken strokes and intricate accents.

It is impossible to call the work of the group an unambiguous "old school", since it is observed constant search new sound, attempts to mix borderline blues and rock and roll musical styles.

In some places you can find significant weighting, especially in the Mescalero album. This allows us to say that experiments and attempts to realize their potential are not alien to ZZ Top in a comprehensive way, and not only within the framework of the style that brought them initial popularity.

studio work

The band's first studio work was ZZ Top's First Album, recorded at Robin Hood Studios at the end of 1970. The official debut took place on January 16, 1971. The composition Somebody Else Been Shaking Your Tree even reached number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite On this achievement, the group ZZ Top enjoyed little popularity, continuing to work diligently in the southern states in the US The band itself defined the style of the album as “abstract blues.” I suggest listening to this debut work.

ZZ Top's First Album

During its further history, the group has released many albums, compilations, individual recordings, clips and singles. The most popular studio ZZ Top albums are: Tres Hombres, released in 1973, the next Fandango in 1975, albums by Tejas, Eliminator and El Loco. It is believed that it was the 1973 album that allowed the band to get the status of real stars, bringing them fame and popularity.

I suggest you listen to the 1983 album called Eliminator.

ZZ Top - Eliminator (Full Album)

Popular compositions

The history of the team contains a great many hits. The most famous ZZ Top songs have become cult. Such compositions include Sharp dressed man, Legs, Gimme all your lovin. The famous film by Quentin Tarantino "From Dusk Till Dawn" contains a soundtrack called She "s just killing me. The authors of the composition are the "bearded" ZZ Top.

ZZ Top

ZZ Top

ZZ Top - She's just killing me

Before the band was about to start recording the next album after a two-year break and a break from touring in 1978, it turned out that Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill had grown very long and thick beards. They did this without any prior agreement, as they rested in different parts light and did not see each other for a long time. Having gathered at the request of the group's manager, the friends barely recognized each other. These beards have become a trademark for the entire group in the future. Drummer Frank Beard did not follow his teammates, although it is his last name that is translated from English as "beard". It turned out very funny and extraordinary.

The music of the group at that time was supplemented by the appearance of a saxophone, but the general style remained the same popular and recognizable blues-rock. The successfully recorded album Deguello scattered around the world, and the new image of the "bearded" performers firmly entered the history of the band.

next distinctive feature This group can be considered a gravitation towards the Spanish language. This is confirmed by the active use of Spanish vocabulary for the titles of albums and compositions, as well as the widespread use of colloquial word forms by Gibbons.

Results

Group ZZ Top has not lost its positions for more than 40 years. Fans waited in anticipation after Mr. Dusty Hill was diagnosed with the hepatitis C virus in 2003. Fortunately, the musician recovered his health and successfully returned to the big stage.

Another studio work called La Futura was released in 2012, and the band members themselves celebrated 45 years since the team was founded in February 2015. The group, which has become a legend of blues and rock for many, continues to successfully perform and give concert sets. On various posters, Internet portals and television channels, there is constantly information that ZZ Top are in a continuous process of active tours.

Clip for a song from the album of the 12th year.

When an article was published about those beards that we immediately remembered about ZZ Top, because these beards just really suit them. Our boss jokes that these guys were born with such beards. So why not write about them today?

This famous American blues-hard-rock band is notable primarily for the fact that for almost 50 years it has not only never changed its composition, but also remained true to its style, unlike those of yours. Metallica.

Young 20-year-old guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons was an avid fan of Elvis Presley. He tried to adopt the King's charismatic walk, behavior and style. No wonder the dude started the band very quickly Moving Sidewalks, which played rather specific music reminiscent of psychedelic rock. The group was widely known in extremely narrow circles and, perhaps, could have become even more popular if the Vietnam War had not suddenly come and almost all of its members had not been taken to fight. Billy found the same ones left after the call of Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. They didn't part again. The guys came up with the name of the new group - ZZ Top. Where did it come from? There is an opinion that it was inspired by the name of the American blues singer Z. Z. Hill or that this is a symbiosis of the names of two famous brands manufacturers of Zig-Zag and Top rolling papers. But this is just a legend.

The band did not miss the opportunity to perform anywhere, because someday you will be lucky anyway, right? So why not take advantage of all the options that life presents us with? And luck smiled at the guys: they were offered to record the first album. It received the unpretentious name "ZZ Top's First Album". The group's attitude to the blues was very frivolous, so their style was even called "Alternative Blues". The disc, although it was noted by many positive feedback, but did not bring the group popularity. The second disc, "Rio Grande Mud", corrected the situation and brought fame to the bearded men. After the guys decided to participate in the promotional tour of the Rolling Stones in 1972.

But the third album, along with the chic composition "La Grange" with cool guitar riffs, made the group popular immediately and quickly. The album went platinum, and the trio, charismatic and confident on stage in their strange biker outfits, instantly became very recognizable. Deciding to consolidate their fame, the guys in 1974 organized an event at the stadium of the University of Texas, called "Texas-Size Rompin' Stompin' Barndance and Bar-B-Q". About 85 thousand people came to the concert. After that, the university administration decided never to hold any concerts in their lives. The ban was lifted only twenty years later.

The promo tour for the third album was very, very epic. The guys promised to bring a piece of Texas with them - the guys kept their promise. The scenery consisted of cacti (where without them), typical Texas ranch corners, barns and local animals. Once, a herd of cattle and a live buffalo were even driven onto the stage. And then one of the band members brought a real rattlesnake onto the stage. In terms of money, the tour was more than just very successful: the guys earned a record $11.5 million.

And in 1979, dudes who met to record a new album, Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill, were surprised to find that they both let go of a long powerful beard without even saying a word. The third member of the group, Frank Beard (his last name, by the way, translates as "beard") did not follow their example - probably because he was already teased with a beard.

The 1983 album "Eliminator" did not appeal to the loyal fans of the blues part of the group, they unanimously said "fu" when they heard the synth, fashionable at that time, in the songs. But the general public liked the electronic motives very much. The group suddenly became terribly popular, their album sold over 10 million copies, and the whole world started talking about bearded men. In the same year, the famous bright red Ford roadster of 1933 appeared in the band's videos, which, along with beards, became their hallmark.

The dudes made their first film appearance in 1989's Back to the Future 3. After that, bearded men often flashed in different shows, and references to their group still flicker in popular books, films and TV shows.

In 2004, the guys received a cushy place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since 2008, the guys have been promising us a new album, but it doesn't exist, although last year information about its release appeared on the official website. Let's wait.

Of course, the bearded guys have done a lot of good for music in general and for rock and roll, blues, metal and psychedelics in particular. These dudes are young at heart, and when we look at the cheerful performance of these resilient eternal old men who have never parted for 50 years, we believe in the beautiful, kind and bright. And they also suit these strange beards.