ZZ Top always proclaimed that they were just “that little ol’ band from Texas.” But luckily, nobody believed was ever tricked by this kind of modesty. ZZ Top wasn’t just one of the premier blues-rock bands of all time; it was also a tremendously successful proposition. Known across the world, ZZ Top is one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
This feels like a good time to honour the legacy of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard (ironically, the sole member to sport a moustache and not a beard). These are the best 10 songs ever recorded by ZZ Top.
The Greatest 10 Songs by ZZ Top
10. “Jesus Just Left Chicago”
ZZ Top, at its core, was a roots band. Billy Gibbons tells of the reaction to hearing blues, country or folk music on the radio for the first time. That feeling had not yet left the musician when he recorded “Jesus Just Left Chicago.”
A slow blues number, “Jesus Just Left Chicago” celebrates the Christian roots of the old South, as well as the band’s heroes, musicians like Muddy Waters.
9. “Cheap Sunglasses”
ZZ Top’s never pretended to be something that they were not. The beards, Texan accent, or love of life’s simple pleasures never departed.
But that’s precisely how they created one of the most distinctive looks in the whole of pop-rock. “Cheap Sunglasses” is a love song for one of the fashion items that none of the members of the band could do without.
8. “Just Got Paid”
ZZ Top’s musicians were, as far as fans were concerned, the salt of the Earth. And, to their credit, the band’s songs always stood rooted in topics that fans could understand and appreciate.
“Just Got Paid” is about the daily grind, about greed and ambition. But it’s all the first caught in the wheels of that blues shuffle that really make this unforgettable. It’s a groove that I can’t help but play on a six-string from time to time.
7. “Doubleback”
ZZ Top could be a mighty pop band. That’s what they realized in the 80s, what music fans registered and what movie producers liked. Getting the Texas band to collaborate on the mammoth movie franchise “Back to the Future” seemed like a no-brainer.
On first inspection, “Doubleback” is large and cartoonish. That’s just what “Back to the Future III” needed, sure. But listen closer, and you’ll hear a hard-rocking poppish sound that’s some of the band’s best.
6. “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers”
Had the 1980s megahits not happened, ZZ Top’s part in the history books would still be safe. The entry would, no doubt, focus on just what a strong, reliable and funny boogie-rock band the Texans presented to the public across the 1970s.
ZZ Top’s third album, “Tres Hombres”, sharpened the group’s formula to near perfection. “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” is an ode to all of the mean, dirty clubs who would have them play early on and the people who attended those shows.
5. “My Head’s Mississippi”
Don’t let anyone tell you that ZZ Top abandoned the blues. Sure, by the early 1990s, Gibbons and co. were professional hitmakers. Sure, the band had had a steamy, passionate affair with the MTV promotion machine.
“My Head’s Mississippi” lets the band work their way up from a great blues riff and a boogie groove. It’s the production choices which helped, for better or worse modernize the track. It’s one of the best ZZ Top ever produced around that period.
4. “Legs”
ZZ Top’s rise to worldwide fame in the 1980s was presented as one of the unlikeliest success stories in rock. But look back, and it all makes sense.
In 1983, MTV was desperate for music videos with which the station could fill up air time. ZZ Top’s image had always been there. And the hookiness of “Legs” is undeniable.
The boogie-rock of the band is still there, albeit blended with modern production elements. “Legs” remains one of the best songs of the early 1980s.
3. “Tush”
Southern rock is often about the simple, great things that keep people going. “Tush” doesn’t hide away from what it’s about – getting out there and getting laid.
Sung by the ever-ebullient bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill, “Tush” received major airplay and helped to turn ZZ Top into one of the biggest rock bands in the U.S. Years later, that riff hits just as hard.
2. “Sharp Dressed Man”
There’s a swagger to “Sharp Dressed Man” that no amount of 80s music production can hide. This song could’ve been a hit, even as a simple blues-rock number. But, with 80s-style production and some power behind it, this became a global sensation.
The “Eliminator” album was one of the biggest releases of 1983. As for ZZ Top, they were a band that nobody could dislike.
1. “La Grange”
There aren’t many bands that can play a groove so well that audiences would prefer it to last forever. That’s exactly what ZZ Top could do.
“La Grange” is built on a simple blues riff. But it’s the boogie that Hill and Beard put into it that really helps Mr. Gibbons tell the story of a Texas brothel and deliver some of his best guitar solos. “La Grange” has cemented its place in history and is, indeed, one of the greatest songs ever released.
