Normally, I'd be giving you a Lollapalooza-related Tuesday Top Ten about now, but I'm going to have to postpone that until next week because last week, the rock and roll world lost a legend with the passing of ZZ Top bassist and sometimes lead singer Dusty Hill at the age of 72.
Though ZZ Top is continuing to press on without Hill -- per his wishes, longtime band guitar tech Elwood Francis has filled in for Hill -- his death truly marked the end of an era, as ZZ Top had been the longest-tenured band in rock and roll (and probably music in general) that had the same lineup. For the past 51 years, ZZ Top has been Hill, guitarist and main lead singer Billy Gibbons, and drummer Frank Beard. They never broke up. They never switched anyone out. It was just those three, showing the world that Texans could rock just as well as anyone.
They formed in 1970 and rose to fame in the mid to late '70s, before taking a couple years off between their legendary World Wide Texas Tour -- which featured live animals on stage, various Texas-related stage props, and a stage the shape of Texas, among other things -- and the release of 1979's Degüello album. When they came back, Hill and Gibbons were sporting their now-iconic lengthy beards -- and, ironically, Beard did not have one -- and they changed their sound from more of a blues rock and boogie rock base to experimenting with synthesizers, new wave, and hard rock as they cruised through the '80s and the MTV Era with great success, eventually being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. If you haven't seen their Netflix documentary, ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band From Texas, I highly recommend it. I don't think I had ever seen Hill and Gibbons without beards before!
Anyway, I own ZZ Top's first ten studio albums, so in honor of Hill, I'm going to give you my favorite song from each of those albums.
1. ZZ Top's First Album (1971): "Brown Sugar"
"Brown Sugar" is pure electric blues, starting off slow with only Gibbons and his guitar for the first verse, before the other two kick in for a ballsy, bluesy rocker.
2. Rio Grande Mud (1972): "Just Got Paid"
This might be my favorite ZZ Top song. It starts off with a great guitar riff that repeats throughout the song. It's another electric blues rock song, and it's a song that everyone should listen to on payday.
3. Tres Hombres (1973): "La Grange"
Tres Hombres was the band's breakthrough album, becoming their first Top 10 album in the U.S. It was a tough choice between "Jesus Left Chicago" and "La Grange," but I had to go with the latter. Not only is it one of their signature songs -- with it's nod to John Lee Hooker -- but as someone who lived in Texas and then moved to a town in Illinois called LaGrange, it hits home on several levels for me, even if my LaGrange didn't have a brothel like the one that inspired this song (and also inspired The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)
4. Fandango! (1975): "Balinese"
The first half of this album is all live tracks (and is fantastic), and the second half is new studio tracks, including another one of their signature songs, "Tush," their first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. I'm going with "Balinese," another song about a club in Texas. Hill handles lead vocals on this one. Both this and "Tush" were featured in Dazed and Confused, which is one of my favorite movies.
5. Tejas (1976): "Ten Dollar Man"
This is another one where Hill handles lead vocals, and he rips it up on this one, as does the rest of the band.
6. Degüello (1979): "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide"
As I mentioned above, the band started to change their sound and experiment more with this album, though I'm going with one of the more straightforward blues-based rock songs on the album.
7. El Loco (1981): "Pearl Necklace"
The guys in the band were fun-loving guys who often had tongue-in-cheek lyrics, and this is probably the most tongue-in-cheek song in their catalog. It also showcased the band's changing sound, as it's almost new wave. And I have always loved the line in the chorus "She was gettin' bombed / And I was gettin' blown away." Not that you had any doubt what the song is actually about.
8. Eliminator (1983): "Got Me Under Pressure"
This was the band's biggest album (certified diamond in the U.S.) and the album that really cemented their success in the '80s and on MTV, with songs like "Legs," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Gimme All Your Lovin'." It's a pretty straightforward hard rock song with a fast pace and an infectious beat.
9. Afterburner (1985): "Woke Up With Wood"
While I also love "Sleeping Bag" on this album (which was a Top 10 hit in the U.S.), I'm going with another double entendre song. Every guy can relate.
10. Recycler (1990): "My Head's In Mississippi"
This album featured "Doubleback," which was featured as the closing credits song in Back to the Future Part III, in which the band had a cameo. That and two other songs on the album topped the Billbaord Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and one of those was "My Head's In Mississippi," a nice little rocker.
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