Awful loss for Texas and the music world. If you haven't watched the documentary on Netflix it is excellent.

Another band I missed out on seeing live.

sad day

That's sad. Grew up listening to ZZ Top. Saw them at the Rodeo a couple different times a long time ago, they put on a great show. Gonna go listen to Tres Hombres right now

They've been around since 1971 and you couldn't be bothered to go ****ing see them?


Remind me to never take medical advice from you.

I've always really liked ZZ Top, but somewhere in my early 40s, I matured into a true fan and they became my favorite band. I got too old for The Cult, and I wasn't chasing girls or working out, so Guns n Roses and Van Halen got fewer plays. But ZZ Top is appropriate blues/boogie for an aging rocker. Great rhythm that doesn't cause a head-bang headache.

With only three guys, there were no free-riders. Each was crucial for the sound. It's a shame that the band will never be the same, but no one can argue that they didn't give us enough great music and concert videos during their 50+ year run.

RIP Dusty.

I watched the documentary on Netflix last year, until then I really was only aware of their hits. I had a couple months where I really dove into their catalog on spotify, it was fun.

Some quotes from Dusty:


"I always had kind of a baby face and when I started playing people didn't take me seriously."

"No, I never envisioned the band lasting this long. But then again, I can't envision next week, even though I have a schedule."

"I remember when our first album came out. After one of our gigs, we went across the border to Mexica and the band in the bar was doing covers of our songs. I don't think they understood a word they were singing but they did the songs perfectly.

"I'm living proof that Hepatitis C can be contained but ZZ Top cannot."

"I'm a sex symbol. Is that wild? It blows me away. I mean, I've always known it, I just figured nobody else did."

"I was 19 or 20 the last time I shaved."

"You know how a dog and its owner start to look alike after a while? Well that's me and Billy [Gibbons]."

"Being a musician in Texas had its own set of risks."

"All we did was take what we were and bring it forward. We obviously had a great amount of pride in being from Texas.


This photo was taken in 1973.

Just thinking out loud here, but they should shave off his beard, preserve it, and join it with Billy's when his time is up to put those things in a museum.

62strat said:

---

Just thinking out loud here, but they should shave off his beard, preserve it, and join it with Billy's when his time is up to put those things in a museum.

---

No, man - he's got to take that beard with him to the afterlife, kind of like how ancient pharaohs were buried with all of their gold and wives and stuff.

Brian DeSpain said:

---

ZZ Top spring of 1971 playing the Little Cypress Mauriceville High School prom. The band started to take off nationally but honored the contract and played the prom. The school had to have major security to keep fans from trying to sneak in to see them. This picture is from the schools yearbook.

---

"They" played at A&M Consolidated's JR/SR in 1969. Were known as the Moving Sidewalks at that point. Not sure if Dusty was on board at that time though.

Spyderman said:

---

Brian DeSpain said:

---

ZZ Top spring of 1971 playing the Little Cypress Mauriceville High School prom. The band started to take off nationally but honored the contract and played the prom. The school had to have major security to keep fans from trying to sneak in to see them. This picture is from the schools yearbook.

---

"They" played at A&M Consolidated's JR/SR in 1969. Were known as the Moving Sidewalks at that point. Not sure if Dusty was on board at that time though.

---

Dusty wasn't in moving sidewalks. That was gibbons' band.

62strat said:

---

Spyderman said:

---

Brian DeSpain said:

---

ZZ Top spring of 1971 playing the Little Cypress Mauriceville High School prom. The band started to take off nationally but honored the contract and played the prom. The school had to have major security to keep fans from trying to sneak in to see them. This picture is from the schools yearbook.

---

"They" played at A&M Consolidated's JR/SR in 1969. Were known as the Moving Sidewalks at that point. Not sure if Dusty was on board at that time though.

---

Dusty wasn't in moving sidewalks. That was gibbons' band.

---

And only Gibbons - from ZZ Top. Moving Sidewalks was a psychedelic blues band had an album nd a few singles. After 2 of their guys got drafted Gibbons and the drummer Dan Mitchell were the only ones left, they added Lanier Greig as the original ZZ Top. But they did not last long and were replaced by Hill and Beard before the first ZZ Top album.


Side note: Dusty Hill previously played in a couple of bands with his brother Rocky Hill in Dallas.They had a drummer originally who was Morgan Fairchild's brother. He was later replaced by Frank Beard. That band American Blues went down to Houston but Rocky soon left it and they ended up joining with Gibbons in ZZ Top.

Zombie Jon Snow said:

---

62strat said:

---

Spyderman said:

---

Brian DeSpain said:

---

ZZ Top spring of 1971 playing the Little Cypress Mauriceville High School prom. The band started to take off nationally but honored the contract and played the prom. The school had to have major security to keep fans from trying to sneak in to see them. This picture is from the schools yearbook.

---

"They" played at A&M Consolidated's JR/SR in 1969. Were known as the Moving Sidewalks at that point. Not sure if Dusty was on board at that time though.

---

Dusty wasn't in moving sidewalks. That was gibbons' band.

---

And only Gibbons - from ZZ Top. Moving Sidewalks was a psychedelic blues band had an album nd a few singles. After 2 of their guys got drafted Gibbons and the drummer Dan Mitchell were the only ones left, they added Lanier Greig as the original ZZ Top. But they did not last long and were replaced by Hill and Beard before the first ZZ Top album.

---

Not that I'm some zz top fanatic or history buff, but right on Frank Beard's wiki page:

"In May 1969, he joined The Moving Sidewalks, a band that would become ZZ Top in July 1969"

62strat said:

---

Zombie Jon Snow said:

---

62strat said:

---

Spyderman said:

---

Brian DeSpain said:

---

ZZ Top spring of 1971 playing the Little Cypress Mauriceville High School prom. The band started to take off nationally but honored the contract and played the prom. The school had to have major security to keep fans from trying to sneak in to see them. This picture is from the schools yearbook.

---

"They" played at A&M Consolidated's JR/SR in 1969. Were known as the Moving Sidewalks at that point. Not sure if Dusty was on board at that time though.

---

Dusty wasn't in moving sidewalks. That was gibbons' band.

---

And only Gibbons - from ZZ Top. Moving Sidewalks was a psychedelic blues band had an album nd a few singles. After 2 of their guys got drafted Gibbons and the drummer Dan Mitchell were the only ones left, they added Lanier Greig as the original ZZ Top. But they did not last long and were replaced by Hill and Beard before the first ZZ Top album.

---

Not that I'm some zz top fanatic or history buff, but right on Frank Beard's wiki page:

"In May 1969, he joined The Moving Sidewalks, a band that would become ZZ Top in July 1969"

---

Well it's wrong or misleading.

Read the ZZ Top Wiki:

"ZZ Top formed after the demise of Moving Sidewalks, Gibbons' previous band."

"The original line-up was formed in Houston and consisted of Gibbons, bassist/organist Lanier Greig, and drummer Dan Mitchell."

"They released their first single, "Salt Lick", in 1969, and the B-side contained the song "Miller's Farm". Both songs credited Gibbons as the composer. Immediately after the recording of "Salt Lick", Greig was replaced by bassist Billy Ethridge, a bandmate of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Mitchell was replaced by Frank Beard of American Blues. Due to lack of interest from the major American record companies, ZZ Top accepted a record deal from London Records, the American affiliate of the British Decca Records label. Unwilling to sign a recording contract, Ethridge quit the band and Dusty Hill, Frank Beard's American Blues bandmate, became his replacement. After Hill moved from Dallas to Houston, ZZ Top signed with London in 1970. They performed their first concert together at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Beaumont, Texas, on February 10, 1970.


See.... Beard and Hill were NEVER in Moving Sidewalks. And they joined an already formed ZZ Top as replacements but prior to the first ZZ Top album.

So they were two completely different bands other than Gibbons.