Tracklist front / back album covers
Side one
1. "(Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree" 2:32
2. "Brown Sugar" 5:22
3. "Squank" 2:46
4. "Goin' Down to Mexico" 3:26
5. "Old Man" 3:23
Side two
1. "Neighbor, Neighbor" 2:18
2. "Certified Blues" 3:25
3. "Bedroom Thang" 4:37
4. "Just Got Back from Baby's" 4:07
5. "Backdoor Love Affair" 3:20
Total length: 35:16
ZZ Top Band Members / Musicians
Billy Gibbons – guitar, vocals
Dusty Hill – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocal on "Goin' Down to Mexico", co-lead vocal on "Squank"
Frank Beard – drums, percussion (credited as "Rube Beard")
Producer – Bill Ham
ZZ Top's First Album is a studio album and the debut album by the American rock band ZZ Top. It was produced by manager Bill Ham, and was released on January 16, 1971, on London Records. Establishing ZZ Top's attitude and humor, the album incorporated blues, boogie, hard rock, and Southern rock influences. Thematically, the album is lively, playful and at times brash, filled with the band's personal experiences and sexual innuendos that became central to the group's image. "(Somebody Else Been) Shakin' Your Tree" was the only single released from the album.
ZZ Top[a] is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, the band comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound based on Gibbons' blues guitar style and Hill and Beard's rhythm section. They are popular for their live performances, sly and humorous lyrics, and the similar appearances of Gibbons and Hill, who were rarely seen without their long beards, sunglasses, and hats.
ZZ Top formed after the demise of Moving Sidewalks, Gibbons' previous band. Within a year, the members signed with London Records and released ZZ Top's First Album (1971). Subsequent releases, such as Tres Hombres (1973) and Fandango! (1975), and those albums' singles, "La Grange" and "Tush", gained extensive radio airplay. By the mid-1970s the band became renowned in North America for its live act, highlighted by its performances during the Worldwide Texas Tour from 1976 to 1977, which was a critical and commercial success.
ZZ Top Band Members / Musicians
Billy Gibbons – guitar, lead and backing vocals (1969–present)
Frank Beard – drums, percussion (1969–present)
Elwood Francis – bass, lead and backing vocals (2021–present)
Dan Mitchell – drums (1969)
Lanier Greig – bass, Hammond organ (1969; died 2013)
Billy Ethridge – bass (1969–1970)
Dusty Hill – bass, backing and lead vocals, keyboards (1970–2021; died 2021)
Pete Tickle – acoustic guitar on "Mushmouth Shoutin'" from Rio Grande Mud (1971)
Terry Manning – synthesizer, drum machine on Eliminator (1982)
James Harman – harmonica on "What's Up with That" from Rhythmeen (1996); Mescalero (2002); La Futura (2012) (died 2021)
Marimbas de Chiapas – marimba on Mescalero (2002)
Dan Dugmore – pedal steel guitar on Mescalero (2002)
Joe Hardy – piano, Hammond B3 organ on La Futura (2012) (died 2019)
Dave Sardy – piano, Hammond B3 organ on La Futura (2012)
Jeff Beck – guitar on "Hey Mr. Millionaire" from XXX (1999)
John Douglas – drums, percussion (2002)
ZZ Top Discography Full
1971 ZZ Top's First Album
1972 Rio Grande Mud
1973 Tres Hombres
1975 Fandango!
1976 Tejas
1979 Degüello
1981 El Loco
1983 Eliminator
1985 Afterburner
1990 Recycler
1994 Antenna
1996 Rhythmeen
1999 XXX
2003 Mescalero
2012 La Futura
Live albums
2008 Live from Texas
2009 Double Down Live
2016 Tonite at Midnight: Live Greatest Hits from Around
2022 RAW ('That Little Ol' Band From Texas' Original Soundtrack)
Filmography
In addition to recording and performing concerts, ZZ Top has also been involved with films and television. In 1990, the group appeared as the "band at the party" in the film Back to the Future Part III and played the "Three Men in a Tub" in the movie Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme. ZZ Top made further appearances, including the "Gumby with a Pokey" episode of Two and a Half Men in 2010 and the "Hank Gets Dusted" episode of King of the Hill in 2007. The band also guest hosted an episode of WWE Raw. Billy Gibbons also had a recurring role as the father of Angela Montenegro in the television show Bones; though the character is never named, it is strongly implied that Gibbons is playing himself. Their song "Sharp Dressed Man" was one of the theme songs used for the television show Duck Dynasty, and on the series finale of the show they appeared with Si Robertson as a vocalist to perform the song on stage during Robertson's retirement party. Black Dahlia Films, led by Jamie Burton Chamberlin, of Seattle and Los Angeles, has contributed documentaries and back line screen work (the footage on back screens during live shows) and has become an integral part of the band's film-making.
In November 2020, it was announced that the 2019 Netflix documentary That Little Ol' Band from Texas was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Music Film with the award ceremony scheduled for March 2021.
