ZZ top

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ZZ top
ZZ Top (2008)
ZZ Top (2008)
General information
Genre (s) Texas blues , blues rock , boogie , southern rock , hard rock
founding 1969
Website www.zztop.com
Founding members
Billy Gibbons
Billy Etheridge (1969)
Lanier Greig (1969)
Dan Mitchell (1969)
Current occupation
Vocals, electric guitar
 Billy Gibbons
Vocals, electric bass
 Dusty Hill (since 1969)
Drums
 Frank Beard (since 1969)

ZZ Top [ ˌziziˈtɑːp ] is an American rock band that was formed in 1969 in Houston , Texas . With their mix of Texas blues , blues rock , boogie , southern rock and hard rock , ZZ Top had great success, especially in the 1980s, and filled concert halls and stadiums on extensive tours. The band members since 1969 are Billy Gibbons , Dusty Hill and Frank Beard . Since the late 1970s, Gibbons and Hill have been wearing the long beards that have become the group's trademark, appear in long trench coats and wear heavily tinted sunglasses and stetsons .

Band history

Foundation phase

After the end of Gibbons Band, The Moving Sidewalks, he decided in the summer of 1969 to put together a new band with which he wanted to orientate himself more towards blues and rock music . Billy Etheridge, who had already played with Jimmie Vaughan , offered to play bass. In addition to Gibbons keyboardist Lanier Greig and drummer Dan Mitchell, the original line-up of the band, which shortly afterwards renamed itself to ZZ Top. According to Gibbons, the name pays homage to his musical role models ZZ Hill and BB King . However, the combination ZZ King made too much reference to BB King, so he decided on ZZ Top. Top (German: 'top') is an equivalent to King (German: 'King'), because a king is always at the top. A little later Greig left ZZ Top again. The remaining trio made their first musical attempts on a ranch in Texas and decided a little later to put the marketing of the band in the hands of a manager . The choice fell on Bill Ham , a friend of John Mayall . Shortly thereafter, ZZ Top recorded the first single Salt Lick / Miller's Farm at Doyles Jones Recording in Houston . Since the record deal with London Records was not yet signed, Bill Ham released the single on his record label Scat Records. The single had modest success, aired on local radio stations and given the group appearances across Texas. Within a short time the line- up was changed again, for bassist Etheridge came Dusty Hill and for drummer Mitchell Frank Beard . Both had played for American Blues by then. In this line-up, ZZ Top first appeared on February 10, 1970 in Beaumont . In the summer of 1970 the recordings of the debut album ZZ Top's First Album followed , which was officially released in January 1971.

Breakthrough in the United States

At first there were no major sales successes, only the single (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree with the B-side Neighbor, Neighbor was able to place in the local charts of music channels such as KAYC among the top ten . In the following months, ZZ Top was on tour with various Texan musicians and bands such as Doug Sahm and Sunny and the Sunliners and the group appeared in support of Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley and Janis Joplin . During the touring, ZZ Top wrote the songs for the second album Rio Grande Mud and recorded it during the tour breaks. The album was released in 1972 and brought ZZ Top the first listing on the Billboard 200 at number 104, the single Francine reached number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100 . Due to the success, the group made their first tours as headliners . With the 1973 album Tres Hombres, ZZ Top consolidated their image as a “Texan braggart” and landed their first hit, La Grange . Following the album, the band toured the USA for several years with almost no breaks , only interrupted by the studio recordings on the B-side of the 1975 album Fandango! . This tour marathon ended with the 1975 Worldwide Texas Tour . For this tour, ZZ Top had its own stage developed, which thematically revolved around the state of Texas. The band took around 75 tons of sound and lighting technology with them to around 100 appearances in the USA. The highlight of the show was the presentation of animals native to Texas such as buffalos , bulls and snakes on stage. With the tour, ZZ Top made about 10 million US dollars. Outside the US, the tour did not bring the hoped-for commercial success. Band biographer Jürgen Seibold suspects that this was not insignificantly due to the fact that the animals could not be brought abroad because of the quarantine regulations .

Gibbons described the years of almost uninterrupted touring as a "grueling and horrific experience" and after the release of their next album Tejas in early 1977 the three musicians took a break. Frank Beard retired to the Caribbean , Dusty Hill to Mexico and Billy Gibbons to Europe. During this time, the musicians maintained loose contact by telephone or fax. Gibbons and Hill grew their full beards, which later became their trademark. The complete absence from the tour and the media fueled rumors that ZZ Top had broken up. In 1979 the Warner Music Group signed ZZ Top and released Degüello .

International breakthrough

Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons in 1983

At the beginning of 1980, ZZ Top went on tour again after a three-year break. The appearance on April 19, 1980 in the Rocknacht of WDR is seen as the initial spark for the commercial breakthrough in Europe . The program was broadcast by numerous European channels as part of Eurovision and it was the first time that ZZ Top was seen live on European television. The 1981 album El Loco was the first album by the band to enter the German album charts. The first tour through Germany followed in October 1981, and in May 1982 a performance in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle was recorded and broadcast on television by ZDF as part of the RockPop in Concert series.

The final international breakthrough came with the 1983 album Eliminator . The band combined their guitar blues with modern synthesizers on this and some of the following albums . This approach to contemporary tastes and the widely acclaimed video clips in the then still young medium of music channels such as MTV made the album reach sales of several million. The most successful singles were Gimme All Your Lovin ' , Legs and Sharp Dressed Man . ZZ Top finally became a top international act .

1983 turned out to be the most commercially successful year in the band's history to date. The tour for the album recorded 56 stops in the USA with around 1.5 million tickets sold and around four million copies of the album were sold worldwide. The musicians were particularly pleased with the commercial success in Great Britain that began in 1984, as English musicians such as the Rolling Stones or Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead were among the band's main influences. Also in 1984, Gillette offered Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill $ 1 million each for beards shaved off for an advertising campaign. The musicians declined the offer. With the 1985 album Afterburner , ZZ Top reached the climax of their musical career. In the USA alone around 3 million copies were sold and the album reached the top ten in numerous national hit parades. The world tour, which began in December 1985, comprised a total of 212 appearances, the highlight of the appearances in Europe were four sold-out shows at London's Wembley Stadium in autumn 1986. The tour concluded in March 1987 in Honolulu . During the tour there were disputes between the main sponsor Miller Brewing Company and the opening act The Black Crowes , because the band saw their independence restricted by the rules of the sponsorship agreement . Just a few weeks after the tour began, this led to the opening act being kicked out. After the tour there was a three-year break, during which the band barely appeared musically. Approx. In 1987, the band's management took legal action against a representation in the popular adventure game Space Quest I by Sierra Entertainment , where they were seen in a space bar, for copyright infringement . In order to avoid a legal dispute, Sierra voluntarily removed the relevant passage, although the company was of the opinion that ZZ Top should not be portrayed in a bad light, but this was the case with unauthorized commercial use of third-party symbols, names (possibly brands ) and identities doesn't matter. ZZ Top made further headlines when the musicians announced in October 1987 that they had booked three seats for the first passenger flight to the moon. In 1988, ZZ Top donated $ 1 million to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale . ZZ Top's participation in the film Back to the Future III caused a further stir . First, the band was supposed to contribute a song to the film soundtrack with Doubleback and for this reason visited the filming in 1989. Director Robert Zemeckis took this opportunity and shot a scene with the three musicians in which they played doubleback on traditional instruments in a saloon.

From 1990 until today

ZZ Top (2010)

Recycler appeared in the fall of 1990, followed by a tour of North America. The special thing about the album was that there were six tips on the inside of the CD booklet that could be used to save planet earth. Although the theses are not to be understood as deadly serious, the musicians have developed a basic awareness of nature conservation, which they wanted to express with these theses. The year 1991 was under the impression of the murder of the wife of the band manager Bill Ham. In 1992, after the release of the best-of album Greatest Hits, the record deal with Warner ran out. ZZ Top won a new contract with RCA Records , which was worth around 55 million US dollars. The next album Antenna was originally supposed to be released in early 1993, but wasn't released until January 1994. In the mid-1990s, ZZ Top was represented with two titles in the soundtrack of the feature film From Dusk Till Dawn . After the obligatory tour, the follow-up album Rhythmeen was released in 1996 . The special thing about this album was that ZZ Top completely dispensed with post-production such as overdubs , most of the material was recorded live in the studio. In 1999 ZZ released Top XXX , followed by an extensive world tour that took the band to Australia and New Zealand. After the tour ended, the band went back to the studio to record Mescalero , which was finally released in 2003. Also in 2003, ZZ Top took part in the TV show Crossroads , where country musicians met artists from other genres. ZZ Top's partner was Brooks & Dunn . In 2004 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . On the occasion of the Billboard Music Awards 2006 Billy Gibbons played the song Tush from the 1975 album Fandango! With Nickelback and Kid Rock . . After a long break, the next studio album La Futura was released at the end of 2012 . In the summer of 2019 ZZ-Top toured Europe and played eight concerts in Germany. In 2019, a British-Canadian-American documentary was made with the title That Little Ol'Band From Texas .

further activities

Ford Coupe Eliminator

The classic cars

Since the 1970s, cars have been the second essential component of the band's image, alongside the flair for attractive women. The first vehicle was a Ford Coupé , built in 1933, which ZZ Top had restored and converted into a hot rod from the mid-1970s . As the Eliminator Coupe , the vehicle graced the cover of Eliminator . The second vehicle that caused a stir was the Leapin 'Limo , the first time in the music video for Velcro Fly could be seen. It was a Pontiac Streamliner " Silver Streak " from 1948, which was stretched 40 inches by a Californian tuning company.

The musicians also prefer high-performance vehicles privately, Frank Beard competed in various IMSA races from around the mid-1980s . Dusty Hill owns a car collection to which u. a. also owns the 33 Ford Three Windows (Eliminator).

Movie and TV

In addition to their cameo in Back to the Future III , the band made short appearances in various television productions. Billy Gibbons played Angela Montenegro's father in the US television series Bones between 2005 and 2011 . ZZ Top also made a cameo on the television series Two and a Half Men . In Season 7, Episode 21 (The Grandfather Clock ), they appeared twice to drugged Charlie Harper at his beach house.

Wrestling

ZZ Top songs have been used in wrestling series. So coverte Kid Rock in 2002, the song Legs for the WWF sampler WWF Forced Entry . Wrestler Jimmy Valiant was inspired by ZZ Top for his outfit and appeared in fights as Boogie Woogie Man with a full beard like Hill and Gibbons.

Discography

Studio albums

year Title
music label 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US USTemplate: chart table / maintenance / charts non-existent
1971 ZZ Top's First Album
London 		- - - - -
First published: January 16, 1971
1972 Rio Grande Mud
London 		- - - - US104 (10 weeks)
US
First published: April 4, 1972
1973 Tres Hombres
London 		- - - - US8th
gold
gold

(81 weeks)US
First published: July 26, 1973
Sales: 550,000
1975 Fandango!
London 		- - - UK60 (1 week)
UK 		US10
gold
gold

(47 weeks)US
First published: April 18, 1975
Sales: 693,800
1977 Tejas
London 		- - - - US17th
gold
gold

(24 weeks)US
First published: February 9, 1977
Sales: 500,000
1979 Degüello
Warner Bros. 		DE-
gold
gold
DE 		- CH19 (2 weeks)
CH 		- US24
platinum
platinum

(39 weeks)US
First published: Aug 27, 1979
Sales: 1,250,000
1981 El Loco
Warner Bros. 		DE52 (2 weeks)
DE 		- - UK88 (2 weeks)
UK 		US17th
gold
gold

(22 weeks)US
First published: August 1981
Sales: 500,000
1983 Eliminator
Warner Bros. 		DE25th
Triple gold
× 3
Triple gold

(44 weeks)DE 		AT-
gold
gold
AT 		CH11 (20 weeks)
CH 		UK3
Quadruple platinum
× 4
Quadruple platinum

(139 weeks)UK 		US9
diamond
diamond

(185 weeks)US
First published: March 23, 1983
Sales: 14,014,821
1985 Afterburner
Warner Bros. 		DE3
Triple gold
× 3
Triple gold

(37 weeks)DE 		AT18 (6 weeks)
AT 		CH2
platinum
platinum

(18 weeks)CH 		UK2
platinum
platinum

(40 weeks)UK 		US4th
Quintuple platinum
× 5
Quintuple platinum

(70 weeks)US
First published: October 28, 1985
Sales: 6,377,795
1990 Recycler
Warner Bros. 		DE4th
platinum
platinum

(44 weeks)DE 		AT15 (8 weeks)
AT 		CH1
platinum
platinum

(26 weeks)CH 		UK8th
silver
silver

(7 weeks)UK 		US6th
platinum
platinum

(37 weeks)US
First published: March 23, 1990
Sales: 2,200,000
1994 Antenna
RCA 		DE3
gold
gold

(22 weeks)DE 		AT2
gold
gold

(16 weeks)AT 		CH3
gold
gold

(18 weeks)CH 		UK3 (6 weeks)
UK 		US14th
platinum
platinum

(23 weeks)US
First published
: Jan 18, 1994 Sales: 2,163,000
1996 Rhythms
RCA 		DE9 (11 weeks)
DE 		AT31 (7 weeks)
AT 		CH8 (8 weeks)
CH 		UK32 (2 weeks)
UK 		US29 (11 weeks)
US
First published: September 17, 1996.
Sales: 391,300
1999 XXX
RCA 		DE11 (8 weeks)
DE 		- CH23 (5 weeks)
CH 		- US100 (4 weeks)
US
First published: September 28, 1999
Sales: 148,400
2003 Mescalero
RCA 		DE9 (6 weeks)
DE 		AT33 (3 weeks)
AT 		CH22 (5 weeks)
CH 		- US57 (3 weeks)
US
First published: September 2003
Sales: 103,000
2012 La Futura
Sony Music 		DE5
gold
gold

(13 weeks)DE 		AT7 (9 weeks)
AT 		CH4 (11 weeks)
CH 		UK29 (3 weeks)
UK 		US6 (8 weeks)
US
Initial Publication: September 11, 2012
Sales: 100,000

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

literature

Web links

Commons : ZZ Top  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top. P. 11.
  2. ↑ a b Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead. P. 24.
  3. ↑ Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead. P. 26.
  4. ↑ Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead. P. 27.
  5. ↑ Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead. P. 30.
  6. ↑ a b Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead. P. 37.
  7. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top. P. 31
  8. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top. P. 33.
  9. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top. P. 46.
  10. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 46.
  11. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 47.
  12. ↑ Andreas Stappert: ZZ Top. Jackpot: $ 1,000,000 . In: Rock Hard . No. 255 .
  13. ↑ a b Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 50.
  14. ↑ a b Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 53.
  15. ↑ Article on schnittberichte.com
  16. ↑ a b Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 54.
  17. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 55.
  18. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 59.
  19. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 60.
  20. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 66.
  21. ↑ Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead . P. 58.
  22. ↑ Backbeats: Mellencamp, Chesnes Meet At The Crossroads . In: Billboard . August 30, 2003, p. 37 .
  23. ↑ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ZZ Top in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  24. ^ Gail Mitchell: Music's Big Night In Vegas . In: Billboard . December 16, 2006, p. 34 .
  25. ↑ ZZ Top: 50 years of ZZ Top: In 2019 the long beards will come to Germany for concerts. November 15, 2018, accessed July 6, 2019 .
  26. ↑ ard.de: ZZ Top: That Little Ol 'Band from Texas. Retrieved August 29, 2019 .
  27. ↑ ZZ Top: That Little Ol 'Band from Texas in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  28. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 25.
  29. ↑ Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead . P. 68.
  30. ↑ Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead . P. 76.
  31. ↑ Seibold: ZZ Top . P. 29.
  32. ^ Carla Hay: Sound Tracks . In: Billboard . March 16, 2002, p. 24 .
  33. ↑ Chart sources: