Talk:ZZ Top
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I've incorporated the following miscellaneous entry made by 81.250.180.111 on June 12th into the page and deleted the original text, but I leave the original here in case someone else wants to do something different... -- Ds13 01:13, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)
- The band have a second degree particular texas humor (Woke Up With Wood...) Billy GIBBONS (Rev' GIBBONS) have a very bluesy guitar touch with worldknown heavy sound that you can identify at the first note. They are three really sons of Robert Johnson, the proof is that they are sponsor of the Delta Blues Museum. There an important fan activity around the "BoyZZ" due to the Peter Zurich's website www.lowpft.com and a fabulous shows library maintened by Gregory K. DEETER (Houston Texas) with the help of Albert PHELIPOT in sound re-engineering (Vosges FRANCE) on www.zzlive.com (twice unofficial sites) ZZ TOP really shows their talent on stage and today explore new musical ways.
[edit] Dusty Hill Vocalist
I noticed that the first paragraph lists BFG as the vocalist, however, I think that Dusty Hill is the primary vocalist???
- This is not true. Dusty sings some songs, but most are sung by Billy. -Ilithios
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- It's partly true, in that Dusty sang on the hits "Tush", "Heard It On the X", as well as "Viva Las Vegas". Dusty also filled in lead vocals on a lot of live material as evidenced by the recorded 1980 Rockpalast show. 68Kustom (talk) 01:58, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] La Grange
Anyone ever hear this song?? It's the same tune as the chirstain Rock Song Spirit in the Sky. This creeped me out the first time, because this is one of the all time catchiest tunes, so they stole one of their most popular songs from Spirit in the Sky.
- Not so. The bass lines are similar but not the same, the meter of the song is different, the chord progression is similar but not exactly the same, the melody is completely different (Spirit in the Sky has sort of a happy melody, Lagrange is more bluesy). Also, Spirit in the Sky is not a christian rock song... the writer, Norman Greenbaum, is Jewish and wrote as a tongue in cheek commentary. Paulmeisel 02:56, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
- In actuality, they both stole these riffs from folks like John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley, at least in so much as there is stealing when it comes to blues riffs. -Ilithios
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- I'd say "LG" also bears a LOT of resemblance to a speedier "Green Onions"! To say ZZ plagiarized the riff is a bit harsh. Musicians often take up pieces another's work and embellish them. 68Kustom (talk) 02:01, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
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- It would be nice if there was an actual musician in here but then there wouldn't be a discussion. And all yous guys could get back to fixing this crappy article. Because as it stands it's embarrassing. Leave the music to the musicians. Try hard.
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Chart History:
Where is the statistics for ZZ Top on the Hot 100 singles chart? You can't tell me that they never had a #1 single- Jason
I can tell you that quite definitively. Because it is so.
[edit] Would you care to tell us what Billy Gibbons said
In the very last sentence of the last paragraph of the introductory section, the author says that Billy Gibbons recently revealed the origin of the ZZ Top name in his new book. Well, pal, the next sentence would be a damn good place to tell us what he revealed. Hokeman 02:00, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
- Came here to post this. Could someone who's read the book please enlighten us?
[edit] Come on People -Billy, Dusty and Frank deserve better than this
The extended hiatus in the late 1970's was also due to the death of Bill Ham's wife.
I'll give you a hint: The Delta Blues Museum is located in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Many consecutive ZZ Top albums were recorded in Memphis. That might warrant mentioning in the article.
Which band member accidently shot himself and in what region of his body? Better check your facts again.
The article says that Gibbons got his nickname "Reverend" because he became an ordained minister so he could perform a wedding. How about he became a Notary Public in the State of Texas so he could perform a wedding. Becoming an ordained minister just so you could perform one wedding would be a little much.--Hokeman 17:04, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
- Yes they do deserve better. Everyone does. But that's not going to change the 'tardos' hanging out here. They're beyond hope. Bloody wikitardos. IQs smaller than their shoe sizes. Wikipedia sucks.
[edit] Hall of Fame
On person said 2003, one said 2004. Which is it? these kind of contradictions make what could be a great website into an unreliable jumble of crap. I personally don't know or I'd fix it, so someone do it.Gopherbassist 00:54, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Suggest merge of Bill Ham into ZZ Top
Suggest merge of Bill Ham into ZZ Top. Bill Ham was ZZ Top's manager and publicist, which isn't enough to meet the notability criteria of WP:BIO. ("Widely recognized entertainment personalities and opinion makers (ie - Hollywood Walk of Fame)") But he deserves a better mention in the ZZ Top article. --John Nagle 06:00, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
Can't say I agree with this, but that's why I started the article. Ham is widely known to be instrumental to this band's success, in much the same way that George Martin was to the Beatles--or, perhaps more appropriately, like James Guercio of the group Chicago, having constructed their entire image and run all their publicity as well as produced all their albums and all their stage show productions. I'm also a little startled to see that some of the personal data on him was simply removed, such as the horrible murder of his wife in the 1990s. Ham is also legendary for having managed to get the band some exceptionally good record deals. --Dean Esmay 05:42, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Trivia
Why does the Trivia include every instance of any movie ever using a ZZ Top song on its soundtrack?
- No kidding. This is one of the most ridiculously overgrown trivia sections I've ever seen. At the very least, it could be broken down into sections or something, but the best thing is to incorporate anything that can reasonably be worked into the article, then cut out the rest. --Lawikitejana 05:30, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
Chicken Farm? Chicken *Ranch*.
and, what happened to the trivia section? it was apparently entirely deleted:
<i># (cur) (last) 15:48, 26 April 2007 Cubs Fan (Talk | contribs) (22,872 bytes) # (cur) (last) 10:37, 24 April 2007 SmackBot (Talk | contribs) m (27,386 bytes) (Date/fix the maintenance tags or gen fixes)</i>
--Luminifer 09:37, 24 June 2007 (EST)
"ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" is an unlockable song on the video game Guitar Hero, for the Playstation 2."
- so what? Another example of deletable triv. 128.40.71.130 16:00, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
Okay, here is the trivia section. I think it includes lots of info that should be included in the article. I agree that it is long but I disagree that deleting it without mentioning by 68.122.2.12 was the right thing to do. Jenser 17:09, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
- Jimi Hendrix named Billy Gibbons his favorite guitar player during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. [1]
- Punk icons Black Flag were great fans of ZZ Top. Get In The Van (singer Henry Rollins' tour diary from his stint in Black Flag) makes frequent mention of ZZ Top.
- Billy Gibbons has often been referred to as The Reverend Willy G. In 2002, he made that title official and was ordained so he could perform a Dallas wedding.
- In December 1984, Dusty Hill accidentally set off a derringer he kept in his boot and shot himself in the stomach. He fully recovered.
- The band appeared in the film Back to the Future Part III playing period (i.e. 1885) equivalents of their instruments. They performed a very "unplugged" version of "Doubleback"; the original version of the song (recorded with their customary modern instruments, of course) played over the closing credits of the film.
- The inside sleeve of the album Fandango, features an overhead shot of U.T. Memorial Stadium, taken Sept. 1, 1974, where ZZ Top headlined that evening to a crowd of 80,000 at what was billed as "ZZ Top's First Annual Texas Size Rompin' and Stompin' Barndance and Barbecue".
- ZZ Top is a sponsor of the Delta Blues Museum. In 1988, the band commissioned John Bolin to create an electric guitar made from timber salvaged from the cabin in which electric blues pioneer Muddy Waters (nee McKinley Morganfield) was born. The resulting instrument (dubbed "Muddywood") is a white solid-bodied guitar with a green stylized image of the Mississippi river running from the headstock to the end of the guitar body. It was later sent on a tour of various Hard Rock Cafe locations to promote the Delta Blues Museum, and is now on display at the museum's Clarksdale, Mississippi headquarters.
- In keeping with the tejano flavor of the band, Billy Gibbons uses a modified antique Mexican peso coin instead of a guitar pick. It is rumored that the peso helps produce the distinctive chirping sound prominent on "Squank", "La Grange" and other songs, but this sound can be achieved without it (the technique is known as a pinch harmonic). Gibbons is often credited as inventing this sound, but there are earlier recordings of it (for instance by Leslie West on his first album).
- In an interview with BBC TV's Later with Jools Holland, when asked the band's greatest influence, greatest inspiration etc. Billy Gibbons answered every question by pointing at Bo Diddley.
- ZZ Top did a commercial for Honda in Japan for the (almost coincidental) car, the Honda Z.
- Ironically, Frank Beard is the only member of the band without a full beard, only a mustache. He did, however, sport a tidy beard in early 2001 - 2003.
- The band has the distinction of being the hard rock band with the most singles to reach the Hot Dance Music/Club Play, with three. "Legs", "Sleeping Bag", and "Velcro Fly" are the singles that reached this chart.
- The band did an appearance at the end of W.A.S.P.´s video for the song "Blind In Texas", from their album "The Last Command" (1985). In this video, the ZZ Top guys tell the W.A.S.P. boys which way they must go.
- Appeared as Three Men in a Tub in Mother Goose Rock N' Rhyme (1990).
- Jon Glaser does a comedic routine on the Invite Them Up CD/DVD about his dead father being a former member of ZZ Top.
- In the 1998, Alan Ayckbourn play "Comic Potential" the characters Adam and Jacie dance to "My Head's In Mississippi." The play is set in the future and Adam, who has never heard of the group, calls them "Zed Zed Top" (using the British pronunciation of 'Z') when he comes across an old CD of theirs.
- On the cover for the compilation album "Greatest Hits" a stage light covers part of the H cleverly changing the title from "Greatest Hits" to "Greatest Tits"
- In the episode of The Simpsons entitled The Old Man and the Key, when Grandpa Simpson drives off with his girlfriend Zelda, three old men with long beards and sunglasses appear as a clip of "Sharp Dressed Man" is played.
- They appeared on King of the Hill in 2007. Dusty Hill is Hank Hill's cousin. Hill appeared with the rest of band.
- The song Sharp Dressed Man features in the highly acclaimed Playstation 2 game Guitar Hero.
[edit] Missing Picture
I hate to add to the seemingly abundant problems with this page, but it seems the main picture of the band won't load because it 'doesn't exist' on wikipedia... Mk623SC20K 13:30, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Best way to handle post-2000 news?
The article seems to disintegrate into almost bullet-point style entries in the post-2000 section. We dealt with it in the 1990's section, I'm sure it can be cleaned up in this newer section as well. Random name (talk) 11:33, 27 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Original drummer
Did not ZZ Top have a different drummer for its very first 1970 single? 172.162.235.174 05:27, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
- I don't know other players but both Hill and Beard were not playing. Gibbons and some other guys whose names are unknown for me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.105.96.124 (talk) 05:11, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Album pictures
I like this feature you added. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SilverPwnzor (talk • contribs) 21:42, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
[edit] bones
ZZ Top starred n Bones tv. Should be in article - 86.136.48.148 (talk) 02:19, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Spinning guitars
Pardon my ignorance, but I thought the spinning guitar was one of ZZ Top's trademarks. If so, it isn't mentioned anywhere in this article. --ScottAlanHill (talk) 05:21, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Main photo--what!
Hey, the main photo in the article shows only Billy and Dusty, a real insult to "ol' Frank" (as I once heard Billy call him onstage). Seeing as the text states the band has the longest-running original lineup, can't we have a pic with all three guys? 68Kustom (talk) 02:09, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Substantial edit.
Ok, y'all, I edited hard without consulting, but I felt the article needed it. I did not change the general layout or spirit of the original version, but instead added some relevant and verifiable words about ZZ albums, singles, and history.
I also moved the custom guitars info from the intro to the 'cars' section. I still think we need a better photo showing all three ZZs.
I hope I didn't stomp on anyone's boots. 68Kustom (talk) 05:54, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
- Still doin' a bit of fixin', but I think the additions are workin' fine. Please don't do an automatic revert to an earlier version without reading first. I chewed over each change. Creedence is great music for editing. Hope ya like it, ZZ everyone! 68Kustom (talk) 07:04, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Blues Rock or Hard Rock?
Is ZZ Top a blues rock band or a hard rock one? I changed "hard" to "blues" yesterday but someone seem to have reverted it. 89.28.45.40 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 09:34, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

