

They most recently released La Futura (2012) and Goin' 50 (2019), a compilation album commemorating the band's 50th anniversary. The Afterburner tour set records for the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour of 1986.Īfter gaining additional acclaim with the release of their tenth album Recycler (1990), and its accompanying tour, the group's experimentation continued with mixed success on the albums Antenna (1994), Rhythmeen (1996), XXX (1999), and Mescalero (2003). The popularity of these albums' music videos, including those for " Gimme All Your Lovin'", " Sharp Dressed Man", and " Legs", gave them mass exposure on television channel MTV and made them prominent artists in 1980s pop culture. They established a more mainstream sound and rose to international stardom with Eliminator (1983) and Afterburner (1985), which integrated influences from new wave, punk, and dance-rock. With the album El Loco (1981), they began to experiment with synthesizers and drum machines. By the mid-1970s, ZZ Top had become renowned in North America for their live act, including the Worldwide Texas Tour (1976–1977), which was a critical and commercial success.Īfter a hiatus, ZZ Top returned in 1979 with a new musical direction and image, with Gibbons and Hill wearing sunglasses and matching chest-length beards. Subsequent releases, such as Tres Hombres (1973) and Fandango! (1975), and the singles " La Grange" and " Tush", gained extensive radio airplay.

Within a year, they signed with London Records and released ZZ Top's First Album in 1971. ZZ Top formed after Gibbons' previous band, Moving Sidewalks, disbanded in 1969. They are popular for their live performances, sly and humorous lyrics, and the matching appearances of Gibbons and Hill, who wore sunglasses, hats and long beards. ZZ Top had developed a signature sound based on Gibbons' blues guitar playing style and Hill and Beard's rhythm section. For 51 years, it was composed of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021.

ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas.
