At their peak, ZZ Top—Texas’s greatest unabashed promoters of good, thoroughly unclean fun—proved themselves more than capable of laying down infectious boogie-rock grooves over playfully provocative lyrics that drip with innuendo. Whether singing an homage to a West Texas whorehouse or chronicling the travels of a latter-day Jesus, they aimed to tease and please, and never failed to entertain.
Playlist 1
Playlist 1 chronicles my favorite era of ZZ Top’s career, when they were a straight-up boogie-rock three-piece, starting with highlights from the best album of that period, Tres Hombres (1973), and then jumping back to sample from their first two albums before continuing through the start of the ‘80s. Great stuff here.
Playlist 2
This LP-length playlist shows ZZ Top at their mid’80s commercial peak, when they added synths to their boogie-rock sound and ruled the airwaves (and MTV). Although I prefer their earlier work, I’m not immune to the charms of this era. I certainly prefer this to most other mainstream rock of the time, by a wide margin.
Cover Art:
- Tres Hombres and El Loco: Source, Discogs.com, Fair use.
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