THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

653-ZZ Top-Legs.

1984-Number 16 single.

Best Bit-At 0.20. ZZ Top were Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, and Dusty Hill, can you guess which one didn’t sport a beard.

ZZ Top were formed in Houston, Texas, United States, in 1969, in total there have been seven different members come and go, and at the time of writing they remain active, with the classic line up being Billy Gibbons, (guitar, and vocals) Frank Beard, (drums) and Joseph ‘Dusty’ Hill (1949-2021) (bass and vocals.) ZZ Top were visually unforgettable when performing, as both Billy Gibbons, and Dusty Hill both wore sunglasses, hats, and ‘strikingly’ long beards. The original line up of ZZ Top, which consisted of Billy Gibbons, Lanier Greig, (1948-2013) and Dan Mitchell, and were managed by Bill Ham, (1937-2016) released their first single, the Billy Gibbons composition ‘Salt Lick,’ in 1969. The song met with no commercial success, and by 1970 Frank Beard, and Dusty Hill would replace the previous members, and the line up of ZZ Top was in place for the next 51 years, until the death of Dusty Hill in 2021. At the request of Hill, the groups long term collaborator Elwood Francis replaced Hill in 2021, providing lead vocals, and bass guitar. It was the groups one constant Billy Gibbons who chose the groups name, he had noticed that many acts such as ‘B.B. King,’ and ‘Z.Z. Hill,’ used initials, and he thought of combining the two into ‘ZZ King,’ but considered it too similar to the Blues legends name, so as he had always thought of BB King as a top performer, he came up with ‘ZZ Top.’

The discography of ZZ Top, who can be filed in the genres of ‘Blues Rock,’ ‘Hard Rock,’ ‘Boogie Rock,’ and ‘Southern Rock,’ and have sold in excess of 40 million records worldwide, includes the release of 15 studio Albums between 1971-2012, and 38 singles that have been released between 1969-2012, there are also six official compilation Albums, and four live Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, eight of their singles have reached the top 40, with both ‘Legs,’ (1984) and ‘Sleeping Bag,’ (1985) both peaking the highest at Number 8, while in the UK, they have charted within the top 40 on 10 occasions, with ‘Gimme All Your Lovin,” (1983) and ‘Viva Las Vegas,’ (1992) both peaking the highest at Number 10.

‘Legs’ was the fourth and final single released from ‘Eliminator,’ the eighth studio Album from ZZ Top, from March 1983. The songs writing credit is given to all three of the groups members, Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard, with the production being by Bill Ham. ‘Eliminator’ would prove to be the peak of the groups commercial career, and although it has never peaked above Number 9 on the ‘Billboard 200’ Album chart, it has sold in excess of 11 million copies in America, as well as topping the one million mark in both the UK, and Canada. The making of ‘Eliminator’ continued a shift towards a more radio friendly commercial sound for ZZ Top, which wouldn’t have pleased some of their long term fans, who grew up listening to the more rawer ‘Blues Rock’ the band had played in the 1970’s. ‘Eliminator’ was heavily influenced by the ‘new’ Electronic synthesizers, used by such groups as ‘Depeche Mode,’ (see also best songs 968-261 and 134) and ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’ (see also best songs 720.)

‘Eliminator’ was produced by Bill Ham, who was born Billy Mack Ham, on February 4th, 1937, in Waxahachie, Texas, United States, he died on June 20th, 2016, at the age of 79. Many agree that Bill Ham was instrumental to the success of ZZ Top, as their manager since their incarnation, co-writing songs, constructing their image, and producing every one of the group’s Albums, from their debut, through to 1996’s ‘Rhythmeen’ Album. Ham and ZZ Top parted ways in 2006.

Billy Gibbons has explained how he got the idea for ‘Legs,’ ‘I was driving in Los Angeles, and there was this unusual downpour. And there was a real pretty girl on the side of the road. I passed her, and then I thought, ‘Well, I’d better pull over’ or at least turn around and offer her a ride, and by the time I got back she was gone. Her legs were the first thing I noticed. Then I noticed that she had a Brooke Shields hairdo that was in danger of falling. She was not going to get wet. She had legs and she knew how to use them.’

‘She’s got legs, she knows how to use them, she never begs, she knows how to choose them. She’s holdin’ leg, wonder how to feel them. Would you get behind them, if you could only find them?’