Tragedy struck in 1991 when manager Bill Ham's wife, Cecile, was murdered. Fox's Back To The Future 3, in the town dance scene. Appearances in 1990 included a movie cameo, playing themselves in Michael J. ZZ Top undertook another lengthy break before returning with the impressive "Recycler" in 1990. It did feature some excellent individual moments in "Sleeping Ba"' and "Rough Boy", and the cleverly titled "Velcro Fly". The follow-up, 1985's "Afterburner", was another strong album, although it could not match earlier sales. The transitional "El Loco" followed in 1981 and although it lacked the punch of its predecessor, preferring the surreal to the celebratory, the set introduced the growing love of technology that marked the group's subsequent releases. Another copyright suit was brought by a co-writer of John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen", the alleged basis of "La Grange". Despite continued denials by the band, it settled a five-year legal battle with Hudson, paying him $600,000 after he allegedly proved he held the copyright on the song "Thug". Hudson claims that in addition to not getting songwriting credit, Bill Ham worked to cover up his contributions to the album. According to former roadie David Blayney in his book, Sharp Dressed Men, sound engineer Linden Hudson co-wrote much of the material on the album as a live-in, high-tech music teacher to Beard and Gibbons. The synthesizers and drum machines caused controversy in other ways as well. The next album, "Eliminator," became ZZ Top's best-selling album (10 million copies in the USA) and featured musically controversial electronic instruments. Revitalized by their break, the trio offered a series of pulsating original songs on "Deguello" as well as inspired recreations of Sam And Dave's "I Thank You" and Elmore James' "Dust My Broom". They resumed their career in 1979 with the superb "Deguello", by which time both Gibbons and Hill had grown lengthy beards without each other knowing!. Manager Bill Ham stayed busy, however, shrewdly negotiating a lucrative recording contract with Warner Brothers that is still talked about in the music business. They took a break that ended up lasting three years. Also included was "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers", the would-be anthem.Īlthough their concert earnings were now in the tens of millions, by the end of the tour the group was exhausted. Its hit song "La Grange", about a whorehouse, was allegedly based on John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen." It is still the band's signature riff tune. The third LP, "Tres Hombres" in 1973, brought them national attention and a Platinum album. Five other records followed on the London Records label. The trio spent its first few years playing mostly regional concerts until Houston record producer Pappy Daily cut a deal to finance "ZZ Top's First Album" in 1970. "King" being at the top, he said "Okay, so it's gonna be ZZ Top." Even more bizarre, Gibbons and Hill sport two of the longest beards in all of show business, while Frank Beard is clean shaven. Gibbons thought, "Jeez, ZZ and King, that's a good combo," but decided ZZ King was too similar to B.B. He noticed how many of the names contained initials: O.V. His small apartment was lined with posters that listed what Blues artists were coming to town. According to Gibbons, he named the band in the very early days of its existence, when the lineup consisted of himself, Lanier Greig and Dan Mitchell. Billy Gibbons (guitar), Dusty Hill (bass guitar) and Frank Beard (drums) have been pounding out their hard, Southern style Rock for nearly 50 years. ZZ Top originally contained three completely different musicians than the band we know today, but eventually evolved into a line-up that would last from 1970 to the present day.
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