ZZ Top

Over the course of their thirty-year career, ZZ Top transformed from home-cooked boogie-blues-rockers to iconic pop culture mainstay. The band was formed in 1970 with members from two rivals; singer/guitarist Billy Gibbons of the Moving Sidewalks and drummer Frank Beard and bassist Dusty Hill from the American Blues. ZZ Top began their Texas invasion, hitting it big with their third album, and Tres Hombres took their country upbringing on a "Worldwide Texas Tour" that lasted a year and a half. Following the tour, ZZ Top relaxed over a three-year hiatus and came back in '79 with a very loud bang. 1981's Eliminator album took the band to new commercial heights, fusing their Texas blues with modern synthesizers and dance rhythms. Singles "Sharp Dressed Man," "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Legs" shot up the charts, and MTV helped the bearded band discover a younger audience to boost record sales. ZZ Top's chart-topping reputation dulled a bit in the '90s, but the band remains an American rock story, building music from the roots of R&B, blues and Texas fun.