My final submission is a little band from Texas formed in 1969. I think I first heard of them, like many of my generation, when they achieved international super-stardom in 1983. Their album from that year, Eliminator, is their most popular and well selling one to date.
By 1983 they’d begun to completely change their sound from groovy, blues-inspired rock into more new-wave, synth-heavy radio rock. They became common on MTV, with their tongue-in-cheek, sexy videos making the regular rotation. I wasn’t very fond of ZZ Top back then, but that would change.
In my early teens when I was listening solely to classic rock after having been burned out on the other radio stations in DC, I was reintroduced to ZZ Top via their older work. I found it very engaging. They had some funky hooks, playful lyrics, and scorching guitar licks. They were heavy! I’d never thought of them as being so good, but damn was it some fine music.
Jimi Hendrix went on the Tonight Show in the late 1960s and told Johnny Carson that Billy Gibbons, then of the band the Moving Sidewalks, would be the next big guitarist in rock. Gibbons went on to form ZZ Top with bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard. Their lineup has been constant since.