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ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For 51 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound based on Gibbons' blues style and Hill and Beard's rhythm section. They are known 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 formed after Gibbons' previous band, Moving Sidewalks, disbanded in 1969. Within a year, they signed with London Records and released ''ZZ Top's First Album'' in 1971. Subsequent releases, such as ''Tres Hombres'' (1973) and ''Fandango!'' (1975), and the singles " La Grange" and " Tush", gained extensive radio airplay. 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. After a hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Beard (musician)
Frank Lee Beard (born June 11, 1949) is an American drummer best known as a member of the rock band ZZ Top. Early life Beard was born in Frankston, Texas, and attended Irving High School in Irving, Texas. Career Before joining ZZ Top, Beard was a member of a fake version of the British band the Zombies, which toured in the US without authorization from the original band members, and also was part of the Outlaws with later ZZ Top member Dusty Hill. Other bands Beard and Hill played with early in their careers included the Cellar Dwellers, the Hustlers, the Warlocks, and American Blues. In May 1969, Beard joined The Moving Sidewalks, a band that would become ZZ Top in July 1969. Beard also introduced Gibbons to Hill. After honing their trademark "Texas boogie-blues-rock" style, they released ''ZZ Top's First Album'' on London Records in January 1971. Beard is credited under the nickname "Rube Beard" on the ''ZZ Top's First Album'' and on ''Tres Hombres'', the band's th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ZZ Top's First Album
''ZZ Top's First Album'' is the debut studio album by American rock band ZZ Top. It was produced by Bill Ham, and released on January 16, 1971, on London Records. Establishing ZZ Top's attitude and humor, the album incorporates styles such as blues, boogie, hard rock, and Southern rock influences. Thematically, the album is lively, playful and at times brash, filled with the band's personal experiences and sexual innuendos that became central to the group's image. "(Somebody Else Been) Shakin' Your Tree" was the only single released from the album. Background, recording and release The album was recorded at Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas. ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons said: We had been together for about six months and were knocking around the bar scene, playing all the usual funky joints. We took the studio on as an extension of the stage show. The basics were all of us playing together in one room, but we didn't want to turn our backs on contemporary recording techniques. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Wave Music
New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many popular music styles of the era, including power pop, synth-pop, ska revival, and more specific forms of punk rock that were less abrasive. It may also be viewed as a more accessible counterpart of post-punk. Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and a distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop/rock act – and particularly those that employed synthesizers – were tagged as "new wave". Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself philosophy, the artists were more influenced by the styles of the 1950s along with the lighter s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afterburner (ZZ Top Album)
''Afterburner'' is the ninth studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top, released in 1985. ''Afterburner'' was a financial success, going several times platinum and launching several hit singles, the most successful of which was "Sleeping Bag" which peaked at No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and at No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In the UK, it was the band's second album to be certified by the British Phonographic Industry, attaining Gold (100,000 units) in 1985. In 1990, it was certified Platinum (300,000 units). Recording Like the previous record '' Eliminator'', the credits don't necessarily reflect the actual recordings, although the entire band was involved with the album and Frank Beard has repeatedly stated that he likes the album. According to engineer Joe Hardy, a lot of the album was done on the Fairlight, including all the drums and most of the bass. The album is also notable for several songs being built on sequenced keyboard beds. It was the first ZZ Top ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eliminator (album)
''Eliminator'' is the eighth studio album by American rock band ZZ Top. It was released on March 23, 1983, by Warner Bros. Records, and rose high on the charts in many countries. Four hit singles were released—"Gimme All Your Lovin'" which reached the American Top 40, "Sharp Dressed Man", " TV Dinners" and their most successful single, "Legs". A Diamond certified album in the United States, ''Eliminator'' is ZZ Top's most commercially successful release, with sales of 11 million in the US. Recorded in 1982, the album represents a further step of modernization by bandleader Billy Gibbons. Since ''El Loco'' in 1981, Gibbons had been edging the band's boogie and blues rock sound toward the popular new-wave/ synth-rock aesthetic while retaining ZZ Top's signature electric guitar emphasis. For ''Eliminator'', he increased the tempo and used more synthesizers and drum machines, producing a "tighter" album with a steady, driving beat. Pre-production engineer Linden Hudson collaborate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, RCA Mark II, which was controlled with Punched card, punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer, d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Loco
''El Loco'' is the seventh studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top, released in 1981. The title means "The Madman" in Spanish. The band's guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons has said that the recording of this album was the first time the three members of the band were isolated from one another in the studio, rather than recording simultaneously in the same room. It also foreshadowed ZZ Top's synthesizer-driven direction later in the decade, with early experimentations in synthesizer backing on certain tracks. Background ''El Loco'' was produced by Bill Ham and recorded and originally mixed by Terry Manning. The biographer David Blayney explains in his book ''Sharp Dressed Men'' that the recording engineer Linden Hudson was involved as a pre-producer on this album.Blayney, David (1994). ''Sharp Dressed Men''. New York: Hyperion. pp. 196–203. . Hudson did not receive credit for engineering the tracks on "Groovy Little Hippie Pad" which were used on the final album mix. In 1987 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Worldwide Texas Tour
The Worldwide Texas Tour was a concert tour by American rock band ZZ Top. Arranged in support of their 1975 album ''Fandango!'', the band visited arenas, stadiums, and auditoriums from 1976 to 1977. The elaborate stage production was designed to bring Texas to national audiences, with regional fauna and flora. Encompassing five legs and 97 shows, the tour began in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on May 29, 1976 and ended in Fort Worth, Texas on December 31, 1977. The band's 1976 album '' Tejas'', which elaborated on the tour's artistic theme, was recorded during a break in the tour, and its songs were played in 1977. In 2008, ''Guitar World''′s Alan di Perna called it "one of the most ambitious and bizarre tours in all of rock history". Background ZZ Top's 1973 album ''Tres Hombres'' and supporting single " La Grange" brought them commercial and critical success in the United States. They gained a reputation as one of the top rock acts in the country and earned them the nickname ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airplay
Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in nightclubs and at discotheques between the 1940s and 1960s would also have airplay. Background For commercial broadcasting, airplay is usually the result of being placed into rotation, also called adding it to the station's playlist by the music director, possibly as the result of a Pay for Play sponsored by the record label. For student radio and other community radio or indie radio stations, it is often the selection by each disc jockey, usually at the suggestion of a music director. Geography Most countries have at least one radio airplay chart in existence, although larger countries such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Brazil have several, to cover different genres and areas of the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tush (ZZ Top Song)
"Tush" is a song by American blues rock band ZZ Top and was the only single from their fourth album ''Fandango!''. The song was named the 67th best hard rock song of all time by VH1. Composition The song is a twelve-bar blues in the key of G in standard tuning. Bassist Dusty Hill has said the song was written at a sound check in about ten minutes. The recording was produced by Bill Ham and recorded and mixed by Terry Manning. The title is a double entendre, referring both to slang for buttocks (with the connotation of "a piece of ass"), and slang for "luxurious" or "lavish", according to a 1985 interview with Hill in ''Spin'' magazine. Gibbons said "We were in Florence, Alabama, playing in a rodeo arena with a dirt floor. We decided to play a bit in the afternoon. I hit that opening lick, and Dave Blayney, our lighting director, gave us the hand wirls a finger in the air "Keep it going." I leaned over to Dusty and said, "Call it 'Tush.'" The Texas singer Roy Head had a flip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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