When ZZ Top became a band way back in 1969 — yes, it’s sort of hard to believe ZZ Top have been together for over 40 years! — they were a Texas Blues band.  Here is the album cover for one of their first efforts — “One Foot in the Blues” — a funky and cool Blues creation of grinding harmonics and driving rhythms. 
Here are the boys as they were:


Here are ZZ Top today! 

Can you match up the old faces with the new facades?

ZZ Top are just as relevant today as they were four decades ago.  How
did they create such staying power?  They stuck around because their
music — in the spirit of its base — is still wrought out of the sounds and
stories of the early Blues.

So many current rock superstars got their inspiration for creation from The Blues and, if you listen closely enough, you can still hear those colorful tritones in their new music now.

When you visualize ZZ Top today, you probably think of Billy Gibbons and his killer African hat, and you feel historic, gravelly, music that still pierces your bones.

If, however, you step back in time with an ear on “One Foot in the
Blues” — you will find the musical roots of the boys that blossomed
into the men of today — and who all set a whole new standard for The
Blues by playing with dirt in their boots and Texas in their soul.

2 Comments

  1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    Gordon Davidescu says:

    When I think of ZZ Top I think of the early 1980s videos where they performed feats of greatness using nothing but their guitars and ZZ Top car keys. Their musical is as enjoyable today as it was then and they haven’t stopped recording — which makes it even better.

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Yes, the car and “the wave” are the icons of their mainstream success. They’ve still continued to expand and grow beyond the 80’s, though. They are relevant today because they are still based in, and blessed by, their use of universal Blues.

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