Sad news…

Dusty Hill, one of the original members of the iconic blues/rock band ZZ Top passed away yesterday.

They were one of my favorite bands from the 1970s through today, a blend of various music styles, and hilarious music videos.

The cars were also iconic, owned by Billy Gibbons the lead singer. The Eliminator was probably the most well known one.

Dusty Hill played bass, driving the beat with his guitar and writing many of the songs the group was famous for with Gibbons. He jokingly called his beard a Texas goatee…

RIP sir, your music will live on and inspire more generations in time!

Comments

Sad news… — 21 Comments

  1. One of my tasks as I was courting my gift-from-God, happily-ever-after trophy wife Vanessa, the elegant, foxy, praying black grandmother of Woodstock, GA, was to introduce her to significant elements of my culture (Redneck Biker). Along with giving her a copy of “Starship Troopers” to read, we watched “The Big Lebowski” and “Princess Bride” together. For music, through me she discovered The Allman Brothers Band, Steppenwolf, and Z Z Top.
    I think it was the intro music of “Sharp Dressed Man” that induced her affection for the Duck Dynasty show.
    We will not see another of his kind.

  2. Great band. I remember well the Mexican food spread in the interior of the Tres Hombres album. Still makes me hungry. Rest easy Dusty.

  3. Given that the members were together in the original form since 1970, this makes ZZ Top the band with the longest consistent lineup in the history of music (51 years.)

    • That’s great that they stayed together all those years. And sad to see them broken apart now in this manner.

      Looks like Weird Al has 12 years to go to equal them.

  4. I’ve never been a huge fan. I’d listen and enjoy if it came on the radio but never enough to go buy the albums. Some of their early stuff was pretty incredible, before they hit the big time with the songs everyone knows. Definitely talented and still not sure why they never clicked with me. Amazing that such a popular rock band a) stayed together and b) didn’t have any members die sooner. They were supposed to play at the state fair in Washington later this summer. I assume the other two will be there but it won’t be the same. They will be missed.

  5. I was talking to Charlie Daniels manager when I worked security at Job #2. I told him I had seen Charlie, Marshal Tucker and ZZ Top play at the Spectrum some time in the 70’s. ZZ Top was so loud that the volume pushed the crowd back 10 feet.

    They played here in Bowling Green a few years back and drew a pretty respectable crowd at the ball park. The volume was nowhere near what I recalled and the band seemed to be enjoying the day.

    I doubt the band will play anymore. RIP Dusty.

  6. They were local boys that started by playing at proms, and at a small grocery store turned into a bar. Even then, they had a huge amount of followers for their exposure, and I don’t think anyone was surprised, when they made the big time.

    May he rest in peace.

  7. All- Thanks for the comments. Yes, the longest running band with the same members… Of course not doing drugs ‘might’ have had something to do with that. 🙂

    • The drummer Frank Beard was into drugs and spent almost a year getting clean. During the break Gibbons and Hill travelled and quit shaving waiting on Beard to return. That became the look MTV made so popular. The irony was that Frank Beard could not grow any beard worth a damn and decided to stay with just the mustache.

  8. My wife is a ZZTop fan. Took me to a “tribute band” gig by “The Beards”. BAD. BADD, BADDDDDDD!!

  9. ZZ Top’s cover of ‘Viva Las Vegas’ has been in my playlist for a bit.

    Guess the angels will be learning the joys of the bass as opposed to the harp, at least for a bit. 🙂

    Vaya con dios, Mr. Hill.

  10. It’s odd; ZZ Top is one of the bands that mostly doesn’t click with me, except for a handful that I *really* like.

    FWIW: Billy Gibbons was killing some time on tour and went to a car show, where he saw “The California Kid” on display. He wound up having Pete & Jake’s make him a copy, except with “ZZ” graphics.

    When Universal needed a “hot rod” for the movie, they went to Pete & Jake’s and arranged to rent one of their shop cars. Pete Chapouris’ car was a chopped, full-fendered black ’34 Ford with flames. His business partner Jake Jacobsen had a similar car, except it was bright yellow and fenderless. Universal thought the black car fit better with the “outlaw” image they wanted for the lead character, so they picked that one, added some lettering, and made the movie with it.

    Not too many bands with a car as famous as they are. The Eliminator is way cooler than the Monkeemobile, anyway…

  11. All- Thanks for the comments. I hated to do it, but I pulled the first post in a long time for off topic BS… TRX- Yep, Pete and Jakes is well known in SoCal.

  12. We are diminished. RIP, Bluesman.

    ” and it sure ’nuff got cold after the rain fell”

  13. I swopped seats with Dusty one time. He took over the bass seat, and I slid over into a guitar part. Dusty insisted that I keep playing after the customary 3 songs. We played for about 6 hours