ZZ Top: C/D

He was one of those "secondary vocalists" who always provide a lift when they take over the mic.

Adding as well that the fact Billy has publicly raved about Depeche and OMD helping them connect with the 80s and beyond, well there ya go. https://t.co/y8XxgeqXuA

— Ned Raggett (@NedRaggett) July 28, 2021

In addition to being early adopters of label-mates Prince and the B-52's.

I also recall somewhere Gibbons mentioned how OMD introduced them to the Fairlight when they were both booked on a TV show.

Loved Devo, too — they were definitely pretty wide open to a lot of different stuff, which is commendable.

More from OMD

Very sad news. Very different musical genre but we have such fond memories of our first Old Grey Whistle Test with them and they told us that we influenced their guitar moves in the 80’s electro boogie videos.

RIP Dusty https://t.co/RY7yTO1CE8

— Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (@OfficialOMD) July 28, 2021

Oh wow, their first domestic network TV performance on Carson from '86, with
the still-alive Doc Severinsen and Tonight Show horn section sitting in!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eibFiNSZEC8

my first memory of the top came during their super bowl halftime performance, when they drove out onto the field in their eliminator car with their beards and performed with james brown (and, ahem, the blues brothers). how could you forget that?

oh shit

I completely forgot that came as late as 1997. If you'd have asked me this morning I would have sworn that was 1992 at the latest.

their first domestic network TV performance on Carson from '86

that is wild!!

(86 being their first but also Doc’s beard lol)

Their manager Bill Ham kept tight reigns on them to preserve the 'mystique'. They didn't do proper TV until their first European tours in '79-'80.

On The Test in '80:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPzYwp8DNuU

RIP Dusty Hill of ZZ Top.
You’ll be remembered best for pulling pranks on your cousin Hank. pic.twitter.com/Yemn692FyG

— ORANGE CRUSH (@orangecrushart) July 28, 2021

Crazy to think that he was probably a better singer than Gibbons. The three of them really were about as perfectly matched a trio as there's ever been.

Their manager Bill Ham kept tight reigns on them to preserve the 'mystique'. They didn't do proper TV until their first European tours in '79-'80.

More 1980 goodness, this time in Germany. Come for the "Fool For Your Stockings" and stay for Billy's sermonizing & a roughhousing of "Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT3Kh-GgMbU

Goddamnit fucking all to hell, RIP. My dad taught me about obsessive music fandom through his love for ZZ Top, they were a staple of so many road trips, bar trips, and conversation.

My kneejerk reaction track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBphGUNRZx8

I can’t find a clip but during the mid-80s I recall a short MTV news segment showing ZZ playing at some outdoor or rooftop event & covering “Mr. Tambourine Man” with Dusty on lead. Could be faulty memory but decades later I still recall how startlingly great it was - especially with Dusty/Billy harmonies.

Lovely story, hope it’s set to public

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159368670241136&id=545041135&_rdr#!/story.php?story_fbid=10158888724166208&id=584631207

I once had the most perfect exchange with ZZ Top’ Dusty Hill on the @CMT Awards/Nashville red carpet.
And I mean…perfect. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ldjukcodo5

— Suzanne Durham (@jeezusmaryandjo) July 28, 2021

Great stories.

blasting Fandango and really appreciating all these posts, thanks everyone

feeling this rn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3OWtGybPlo

dude: she’s probably thinking about other men

me: I just don’t get how ZZ Top wrote such a sexy song about frozen food

— Cat Jones (@catjonessoda) December 23, 2020

lmao

That version of Cheap Sunglasses on the Old Grey Whistle test vid posted above is straight fire

RIP Dusty. Another one from that 1980 Rockpalast set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c7d8BYJy8I

Saw him outside a bar in New Orleans during Mardi Gras sometime in the mid-80's. My friends thought he was Billy Gibbons. "Well, NO, but I've been told I look like a friend of his." He was extremely gracious and accommodating to a bunch of drunken college dudes.

speaking of getting paid, their cover of dj dmd's "i gotsta get paid" is prob my favorite late-career moment of theirs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaIZWjItReI

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2021-07-29/let-dusty-sing-one-zz-tops-dusty-hill-1949-2021-and-the-pursuit-of-the-perfect-note/

“In the beginning, we were playing a show,” Beard chuckled. “I think it was at the Cotton Bowl. It was 50,000 people there or whatever, but you could hear this one voice crying out from the crowd: ’LET DUSTY SING ONE!’

“It was his mom!” he laughed. “She was about 60 years old at the time! So, we’ve always got to think about that one: ’Let Dusty sing one!’

He smiled, taking another puff on his cigarette. “I like the ones Dusty sings.”

“That’s true, yes!” Hill roared via telephone two days later. “The thing is, my mom, bless her heart, she was my biggest fan all my life. Every band I was in before this one, I did all the singing. So, she wasn’t quite used to the shared responsibility!” he laughed. “A good Texas mother. But not everybody’s mother would yell that in front of everybody.”

haha that is great

Tejas is such a cool/weird sounding record

I swear a lot of the guitar sounds like it was done DI right into the board

on many days, it's my fav record by them.

the closing instrumental is lovely

yes! it's basically Calexico

On wiki Billy says: "It's fair to say that this is a transitional record, although I'm not really sure what we were transitioning from and what we were becoming. (laughs) It may be representative of how rapidly things were changing in the studio.

The equipment was becoming more modernized, and the way that music was being recorded was different – things were moving faster. It was still pre-digital, but there was better gear that was more readily available. We made use of it all."

When I did a deep dive into their discography a couple years ago this album was a total surprise to me, as it wasn't really part of their more straight-ahead blues rock past, and nothing on it made it to classic rock radio afaik.

yeah it's a bit lower-key in general, an especially noticeable change of vibe after the rip-roaring fandango. the dusty-sang "ten dollar man" goes about as hard as anything they've done, tho.

Tejas is seriously underrated. Like their first two, it was really hurt by being only available in the CD era in the Six Pack mixes for so long. I notice it's not up any more, but STE's AMG review of it was awful. The production and songwriting are terrific, with interesting left turns like the Poppy Country Rock of "It's Only Love", the straight-up Country of "She's A Heartbreaker", the tightly-wound Funk* of "Snappy Kakkie", and the aforementioned proto-Calexico "Asleep In The Desert".

*Despite reportedly being f'd up on heroin at the time, this album might be Beard's finest hour.

btw, speaking of ZZ Top, I've never been able to figure out the source of the rhythm guitar when Billy is soloing (like in the above Cheap Sunglasses clip). Guy off stage?

Sounds like an electric piano to me. Definitely some off-stage keyboards.

I don't hear a fourth player. I figure the little sci-fi laser sounds are probably triggered by Frank, but everything else is Gibbons stepping on different pedals.

i thought hill was the guy who played the keyboards? at least on record

Man, another reason to hate Amazon. I've actually had the 10xCD Complete Studio Albums in a wish list for months now, waiting for a slow week to pick it up. It had been $30 for months, including yesterday morning. Now it's $50. I mean, still a bargain, but god it feels ghoulish to spike like that for this reason.

Yeah, Dusty played keys on Tejas. On the OGWT clip Frank is just hitting a syndrum type thing for the "pew! pew!" sounds. But there's no pedals on the stage in front of Billy. (Something I also noticed when I saw them in 2019, stage was spartan.) There's some techno trickery going on in those keyboard sounds, but I'm not quite sure what.

I watched this rig rundown video (featuring Elwood Francis, who's going to be playing bass on the upcoming tour dates) a few years ago; it's from 2015:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x_kg6pOvGU

On that "Cheap Sunglasses" there's def. something playing some ... passing chords? I don't know the right terminology, something beneath Billy's solo. You can hear it around 4:55 or so. At least with Frank you can def. see him hit the Synare.

It's awesome that Elwood Francis has a beard. Or at least he does here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6kDtG8Q5kk

ZZ Top on the Mt. Rushmore of bands to listen to while shooting pool.

who else you got?

Thin Lizzy and two of Stones/Faces/Tom Petty.