With the album El Loco (1981), they began to experiment with synthesizers and drum machines.
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.Īfter a hiatus, ZZ Top returned in 1979 with a new musical direction and image, with Gibbons and Hill wearing sunglasses and matching chest-length beards. Subsequent releases, such as Tres Hombres (1973) and Fandango! (1975), and the singles ' La Grange' and ' Tush', gained extensive radio airplay. Within a year, they signed with London Records and released ZZ Top's First Album in 1971. ZZ Top formed after Gibbons' previous band, Moving Sidewalks, disbanded in 1969. 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 had developed a signature sound based on Gibbons' blues guitar playing style and Hill and Beard's rhythm section. 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 is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969.