Isn't this the first album after Billy and Dusty grew theirs though? If I recall correctly, they went into a full hermit mode for a while after the "Texas World Tour" or whatever it was called and never shaved again.
The vocalist for Sharp Dressed Man and La Grange is guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons. The three members on the album cover are Billy Gibbons (guitar/vocals), Dusty Hill (bass/vocals), and the only member without a bread: Frank Beard (drums).
This song is about the brothel in La Grange (The Chicken Ranch) that the Best Little Whorehouse is Texas is based on. It existed for Generations for Texas boys and men between Houston, San Antonio and Austin and points around. Everyone knew about. It needed great song to memorialize it.
La Grange is the county seat of Fayette County, Texas. In the 1970’s, there was an oil boom, in Fayette, Lee, Washington, and Bastrop Counties. That oil boom was called the Austin Chalk play; named after the geologic formation that was yielding the crude oil. Cities like La Grange, Giddings, Round Top, and Brenhan, were overrun with oilmen. Hard-drinking roughnecks, welders, and truck drivers, far from home (with pockets full of cash), were living in any shelter they could find. The old townsfolk, would rent out rooms, sheds, trailers, and tents to the “oilfield trash”, as the townsfolk called them. Oil company “landman” were making millionaires out of small time ranchers. Diners and restaurants had two menus; one for “Roughnecks” and one for “Locals”. Oil drilling in the Austin Chalk was highly unpredictable, in the 1970’s (before horizontal drilling and fracking). Oilmen (all of them) were taking big risks; and not only with their cash, but also with their lives. Drilling rigs were crazy dangerous in the 1970’s. Money was flowing, everywhere. Lots of winners and losers. Lots of fist fights, when roughnecks weren’t being paid; because of oil business bankruptcies. Just as many roughnecks demanded fat paychecks, from desperate small oil companies; because other drillers were shorthanded and were poaching each other’s roughnecks. The Chicken Ranch was at “ground zero” for the flood of “rednecks with pay checks”, and ranchers with more money than brains. Not enough songs and stories, have been written, to capture the craziness of that boom, and the characters that emerged in La Grange !
It was the 1900's... 1970's to be precise... I met these guys in 1980 and spent about 4 days with them. My best friend's dad's best friends. Went shooting, fishing and camping. About 5 days and 4 nights. I was 9. They played around the campfire every night. I had NO clue who they were!
Grr-range. First time I saw them I was in High School and they came on stage dressed in Stetson cowboy hats, rhine stone shirts, boots, belt and buckles which threw off the whole crowed because we were wondering how we ended up in a country & western concert. Then they started playing this song and just blew the whole crowd away. This song is about a house of ill repute ( The Chicken house) that was sort of famous or infamous when the fight to close it went all the way to the capital in Austin. There was a play and movie about it with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds call the "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" The chicken house was shut down in 1973 the same year this song came out.
@@johnrobb8435I saw that on Broadway in 1980, when we visited New York. A business friend of my uncle invited us there. I was barely 17 back then. Thought it was a little weird choice, but OK, but as german I did not get much of the intricacies of any lewd remarks anyhow. Was a fascinating city - we also were on the WTC. Is a strange feeling that this no longer exists...
The riff was in a beer commercial. Heard it on the X or Tush are both great. My absolute favorite is Waiting for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago. They must be played together.
John Lee Hooker and dozens of older, foundational blues players sounded like this. The voice in this one is an affectation that they put on for their most authentic Delta blues songs.
This album came out when I was in high school. I was rebuilding a Volkswagen engine at a friend's house, and he put this album on. We didn't have time to go in and change the album, and the turntable was on auto-repeat, so one side played over and over again for hours while we worked. Good times.
My pot dealer buddy back in the 70s always had Tejas on the turntable playing when I'd stop by. The same side, for several months. I finally flipped it over for him and we listened to that side for a couple of months 😆
One of my favorite songs to get a speeding ticket with. JUST COOOL. If it's 100 degrees in the shade, and you're just getting off of work, crank this thang up.
I first liked ZZ TOP when the ELIMINATOR album came out with all their hit singles like 'Sharp Dressed Man', 'Gimme all your lovin' and 'LEGS'. I then heard THIS song, and my love for them went to another level and I started delving into their older tracks and discovered how truly amazing they are as musicians. Both the guitar work, and the drumming, is just incredible, on a consistent basis. To me, they are simply legendary! Thanks for reviewing their songs here! Keep smiling👍
The Biggest Little Band in Texas! That was how the band was referred to in the 70's and this was their sound (more blues based) until the 80's when 2 things magically happened. They weren't afraid of a little modern technology that changed their guitar sound and the explosion of MTV which gained them a ton of new fans. Older sound songs Tush, Pearl Necklace, Heard it on the X, Jesus Just Left Chicago. Newer sound, Legs, Gimme All Your Lovin, Velcro Fly, TV Dinners, Rough Boy, Got Me Under Pressure!
The riff is ‘Boogie Chillun’ and the vocal style including the ‘How, How, How is from ‘Boom Boom’, both by John Lee Hooker. This is sung by guitarist Billy Gibbons who also sang ‘Sharp Dressed Man’. Thus was recorded in Memphis and he did the bizarre voice with the sound engineer while the record producer was out gathering food. The producer hated it but they insisted it very left in.
Just an awesome band, I maybe a little Bias, As I am from Houston,Tx. and grew up on ZZ Top. And I love there music and Back in the beginning and still to this day, This one of my favorite ZZ Top tunes.
This is my dads favorite band and something I heard very often growing up. I’ve been able to see them multiple times live and they are just the dope at dudes. Billy is legendary guitarists favorite guitarist. Sad we lost Dusty, but he left us with some of the greatest jams ever made.
John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom.Boom Was the inspiration for this track and deserves a reaction. Billy Gibbons & Company historians of black blues and founded a blues museaum and Society. Of course they're from Houston.
You must check out "Waitin' For The Bus / Jesus Just Left Chicago" on the same album. Two different songs but they meant to be listened to back to back. So good! Enjoying your channel. Thanks!
ZZ Top has always been 3 guys. As someone else said, the third member is the drummer. The Tres Hombres album is from their pre-MTV era. "Sharp Dressed Man" however, is from the MTV era. They've got lots of great tunes from both eras. I saw them at the Abilene Civic Center in 1974, great show! Another song you might want to check out is "Tush".
This was in the early days when they were a badass blues/southern rock band. Sharp dressed man was after they became a boring pop band. They were great. Good reaction.
I’ve seen them probably 20 times since the 70’s and they are still touring with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Last time was in Lubbock Texas with Skynyrd about 10 years ago. Fantastic show!
I think my dad played this when I was about six or so. I didn't really. get into them until Eliminator but knew a lot of their songs. This one still is my favorite. Billy Gibbons was the shit. I read that at one time Jimi Hendrix said that Billy was the best guitarist on the planet at that time while he was in the band Moving Sidewalks. That's crazy. Still one of my favorite bands ever.
Imagine hearing this blast out over the radio for the first time. Even in times of so much creativity and experimentation in music, this sounded like nothing we had heard -- so fresh and raw. I saw them shortly after this came out and was blown away by the wall of sound coming from 3 people.
'The Chicken Ranch', outside LaGrange, Texas, was an "illegal" brothel tgat was famous. A movie called 'The Best Little Whorehouse' in Texas' is about the place. Movie starred Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton.
I'm with you, Phil - that voice took me by surprise the first time I heard it, too. I don't know how to describe it either... although "congested" comes to mind...
The only movie I can think of where La Grange was used was in the bar fight scene in Jackie Chan's " Shanghai Noon." I'm sure there are others, but that's the one I remember.
Sharp Dressed Man was from the 80s, when several 70s bands (Heart, Yes, Aerosmith, ZZ) went with more of a pop/rock sound. This album, Tres Hombres, came out in '73, and is pure Texas blues/rock. The whole album kicks ass. I much prefer it to their 80s stuff, although don't dislike that, just like their 70s stuff a lot more.
That album, Tres Hombres, is a genuine classic. No telling how many copies I've worn out in my lifetime. This is earlier ZZ Top, before Sharp Dressed Man. I prefer this era of their career but I love all their music. One of my favorite bands.
La Grange is a little town between Austin and Houston. That was a prime location for politicians from Austin, and businessmen from Houston. This was early ZZ Top when their music was more blues/rock. Sharp dressed man is more recent ZZ Top when they were more commercial. Some fans love their earlier music more, and some, love their later music. I think they have been/are returning to their roots with their latest music.
I have been to the studio where ZZ Top recorded their first several albums. It was almost a religious experience knowing that songs like La Grange, Jesus Just Left Chicago, and Hot Blue and Righteous were bouncing off of those walls. The studio is in Tyler, Texas, about 200 miles north of Houston.
What a great song. A very brief span of vocals and then the remainder of the song a vehicle for Billy Gibbons' blazing guitar skills. Old timey Texas blues! A+ ~~ I've enjoyed seeing ZZ Top play this song in shows on hot summer nights in Tupelo, Mississippi, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Billy Gibbons on lead vocals. You cannot go wrong with a ZZ Top song. Loved that shuffle gallop on the drums by Frank Beard. A classic guitar riff and they have a lot of them.
When I seen them in San Diego ZZ Top with opening acts:Blue Öyster Cult and Johnny & Edgar Winter! It was by far the loudest, rockingest, party I've ever been to! Wanted to share something back. I really enjoy getting to watch people discover new music. And look forward to seeing you guys in my notifications.
This is ZZ Top before they became mainstream. I wasn’t ever told about the vocal homage to John Lee Hooker, but being a huge fan of The Blues Brothers movie as soon as I heard “haw haw haw haw” in this I knew it was. I imagine live this is a song that only ended when they’d had enough of playing. It could go on for ever. Great reaction. Now go watch the John Lee Hooker sequence in Blues Brothers…
“Heard it on the X” is a great song by them. It’s about the late night radio stations in Mexico back in the day that were much more powerful than the stations in the USA were allowed to be. They blasted blues music and could be heard all over Texas. Cheers from West Texas!🇺🇸🇨🇱🤘🏻😎
Texas Blues at their finest. As we say down here, It don't get much better!! Great reaction guys. As we say here in Texas; y'all be safe. Hope you had a wonderful holiday.
Creators of the Texas Blues. That’s the sound you hear from ZZ Top and SRV. Y’all have to go down this amazing rabbit hole! First, learn the band and members first through a documentary…Sill blow your mind!
I think it was in 1972 in okc at the Myriad. The first concert I ever went to.....it was Ten Years After and ZZ Top opened for them.... Great Concert..... two of the best guitarist around...awesome
Legendary tune and band! My brother lives in a town called LaGrange, though not Texas!Back in the day great music did not have to be filled with nonsense vocals that filled every second of a song. They used to let the music breathe!
When I was a teenager in a small town in the Hill Country of Texas, in the '60's, the Chicken House in La Grange was legendary. I'm sure someone has mentioned that there was a movie about it starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton. Thanks for reacting to La Grange!
Billy Gibbons has a low, gravely speaking voice. He has done some voiceovers, for example as a narrator for Hand Built Hot Rods, a show for car enthusiasts. It adds a level of cool to anything. He also is an ordained minister; saw him impromptu-marry a couple at a ZZ Top concert. This guy is one of a kind.
Fun fact from a documentary that featured interviews with the band members. There was a point in time where the band took a hiatus and didn't speak with each other during that time because they were busy with their personal lives. Prior to the hiatus both Billy and Dusty were either clean shaven or had short beards. Without realizing or communicating with each other the both grew their beards long during the hiatus. Neither knew the other had let it grow out until they resumed working together as a band. That became their signature look.
There's a backstory on this song... the guys were on a break in the studio and just fooling around with this John Lee Hooker sound and the engineers had kept the tape running. When the engineers heard this they made "keep going, keep going" motions to them. What you just listened to is what they originally did fooling around. They tried several different takes but none of them were as good as the original. This is Texas Blue Rock! Love it! You should also listen to John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom (which has it's own backstory!). It's a classic blues!
Ther are always 3 peple inn ther videos. They are 3 members and 2 of them are singing. They are an old band. Born Joe Michael Hill in Dallas, he, Gibbons and Beard formed ZZ Top in Houston in 1969, naming themselves in part after blues singer Z.Z. Hill and influenced by the British power trio Cream. Their debut release, “ZZ Top's First Album,” came out in 1970.
Those 3 guys can put out One hell of a sound. I saw them back in the day in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with the J Giles band. You should check those guys out too. ZZ top is unique in their sound. Southern people of just about any age knows ZZ Top.❤😂
What you heard before by them was MTV ZZ Top, by which time they had become a caricature of themselves for the masses. This is beer drinking, hell raising ZZ Top, which was a whole different kind of animal. On that note, I would suggest "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" for more of THAT ZZ Top. Thanks for the upload.
Same three guys, same three chords, for 50+ years. Best three piece band in Texas. RIP Dusty.
Best 3 piece band ever!
Best three piece band - period.
@@singluna888Wynd your neck in,, ever heard of RUSH 🤟🏴
@@peterarmstrong6928 Yup heard of them...still not ZZ top.
Their drummer is Frank Beard who came up as a jazz drummer. He is an amazing drummer. Strangely he is the only one without a beard.
Yet, there are still three Beards in the band. =D
Dusty stopped growing his now.
and in my opinion very underrated!!
@@Tijuanabill Funny!
Isn't this the first album after Billy and Dusty grew theirs though? If I recall correctly, they went into a full hermit mode for a while after the "Texas World Tour" or whatever it was called and never shaved again.
The riff and the vocal style are homages to bluesman Johnny Lee Hooker
Spot on.
Boogie Chillin', John Lee Hooker
Canned Heat did a homage in the 60's with their Refried Boogie
@@StefanPina They also collaborated with Hooker.
i know, Canned Heat - Hooker 'N Heat
One of the most iconic songs in music, with one of the most instantly identifiable guitar riffs. Best driving music ever.
The vocalist for Sharp Dressed Man and La Grange is guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons. The three members on the album cover are Billy Gibbons (guitar/vocals), Dusty Hill (bass/vocals), and the only member without a bread: Frank Beard (drums).
This song is about the brothel in La Grange (The Chicken Ranch) that the Best Little Whorehouse is Texas is based on. It existed for Generations for Texas boys and men between Houston, San Antonio and Austin and points around. Everyone knew about. It needed great song to memorialize it.
La Grange is the county seat of Fayette County, Texas. In the 1970’s, there was an oil boom, in Fayette, Lee, Washington, and Bastrop Counties. That oil boom was called the Austin Chalk play; named after the geologic formation that was yielding the crude oil.
Cities like La Grange, Giddings, Round Top, and Brenhan, were overrun with oilmen. Hard-drinking roughnecks, welders, and truck drivers, far from home (with pockets full of cash), were living in any shelter they could find. The old townsfolk, would rent out rooms, sheds, trailers, and tents to the “oilfield trash”, as the townsfolk called them. Oil company “landman” were making millionaires out of small time ranchers. Diners and restaurants had two menus; one for “Roughnecks” and one for “Locals”.
Oil drilling in the Austin Chalk was highly unpredictable, in the 1970’s (before horizontal drilling and fracking). Oilmen (all of them) were taking big risks; and not only with their cash, but also with their lives. Drilling rigs were crazy dangerous in the 1970’s.
Money was flowing, everywhere. Lots of winners and losers. Lots of fist fights, when roughnecks weren’t being paid; because of oil business bankruptcies. Just as many roughnecks demanded fat paychecks, from desperate small oil companies; because other drillers were shorthanded and were poaching each other’s roughnecks.
The Chicken Ranch was at “ground zero” for the flood of “rednecks with pay checks”, and ranchers with more money than brains.
Not enough songs and stories, have been written, to capture the craziness of that boom, and the characters that emerged in La Grange !
I will describe his voice for you....Iconic!
Rusty gravel in an old sock.
Pomposity of a mountain top level .
.
The embodiment of Texas Blues
one guitar, one bass, one drummer. thats it. fkng texas magic.
👊🏻🫡😎🤘🏻
ZZ TOP "Blue Jean Blues"...Nuff Said. 🔥
My favorite ZZ Top song.
It was the 1900's... 1970's to be precise... I met these guys in 1980 and spent about 4 days with them. My best friend's dad's best friends. Went shooting, fishing and camping. About 5 days and 4 nights. I was 9. They played around the campfire every night. I had NO clue who they were!
Now THERE is an awesome memory!
ZZ Top is a true power trio. Live, they are as powerful as pretty much any band I saw. The Reverend Billy Gibbons has many sounds to his voice.
Grr-range. First time I saw them I was in High School and they came on stage dressed in Stetson cowboy hats, rhine stone shirts, boots, belt and buckles which threw off the whole crowed because we were wondering how we ended up in a country & western concert. Then they started playing this song and just blew the whole crowd away.
This song is about a house of ill repute ( The Chicken house) that was sort of famous or infamous when the fight to close it went all the way to the capital in Austin. There was a play and movie about it with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds call the "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" The chicken house was shut down in 1973 the same year this song came out.
The house of ill repute was actually called the Chicken Ranch…
"The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" was actually a Broadway play before it was made into a movie.
@@jlhilbert1 Correct
@@johnrobb8435I saw that on Broadway in 1980, when we visited New York. A business friend of my uncle invited us there. I was barely 17 back then.
Thought it was a little weird choice, but OK, but as german I did not get much of the intricacies of any lewd remarks anyhow.
Was a fascinating city - we also were on the WTC. Is a strange feeling that this no longer exists...
That’s Billy Gibbons on guitar and vocals. Anybody that toured and hung out with Jimi Hendrix back in the day, you know is gonna be badass!!
My first concert. Best three-man band ever. Peace, Love!!
" I'm Bad I'm Nation Wide " ZZ TOP
The riff was in a beer commercial. Heard it on the X or Tush are both great. My absolute favorite is Waiting for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago. They must be played together.
I always liked"Legs". The strip clubs always played it, so I've been told 🙃😇
3 guys 1 drummer 1 bass guitar 1 guitar doing lead and rhythm. Badass definitely.
John Lee Hooker and dozens of older, foundational blues players sounded like this. The voice in this one is an affectation that they put on for their most authentic Delta blues songs.
I am 68 years old still rocking strong because I came up in the 70s with this great classic guitar rock and roll
Same here at 70& counting! Rock till you die😅
This tune got A LOT of play on the jukebox when I was a teenager. I think we wore that 45 record out! I still love ZZ's unique sound. 👍
Billy himself described his voice as a rusty zipper… Love these guys… Formed in Houston, Texas.
Heaven, Hell or Houston
This album came out when I was in high school. I was rebuilding a Volkswagen engine at a friend's house, and he put this album on. We didn't have time to go in and change the album, and the turntable was on auto-repeat, so one side played over and over again for hours while we worked. Good times.
My pot dealer buddy back in the 70s always had Tejas on the turntable playing when I'd stop by. The same side, for several months. I finally flipped it over for him and we listened to that side for a couple of months 😆
One of my favorite songs to get a speeding ticket with. JUST COOOL. If it's 100 degrees in the shade, and you're just getting off of work, crank this thang up.
I first liked ZZ TOP when the ELIMINATOR album came out with all their hit singles like 'Sharp Dressed Man', 'Gimme all your lovin' and 'LEGS'. I then heard THIS song, and my love for them went to another level and I started delving into their older tracks and discovered how truly amazing they are as musicians. Both the guitar work, and the drumming, is just incredible, on a consistent basis. To me, they are simply legendary! Thanks for reviewing their songs here! Keep smiling👍
The Biggest Little Band in Texas! That was how the band was referred to in the 70's and this was their sound (more blues based) until the 80's when 2 things magically happened. They weren't afraid of a little modern technology that changed their guitar sound and the explosion of MTV which gained them a ton of new fans. Older sound songs Tush, Pearl Necklace, Heard it on the X, Jesus Just Left Chicago. Newer sound, Legs, Gimme All Your Lovin, Velcro Fly, TV Dinners, Rough Boy, Got Me Under Pressure!
The riff is ‘Boogie Chillun’ and the vocal style including the ‘How, How, How is from ‘Boom Boom’, both by John Lee Hooker. This is sung by guitarist Billy Gibbons who also sang ‘Sharp Dressed Man’. Thus was recorded in Memphis and he did the bizarre voice with the sound engineer while the record producer was out gathering food. The producer hated it but they insisted it very left in.
ZZ makes a lot of sound for three musicians.
WOOOHOOOO!!! ZZ TOP!!! ENJOY!!! I tend to enjoy ALL their songs - but: I'm particularly fond of their older tunes (like this one)!!!
Earlier ZZ Top stuff is a lot more blues/rock than later stuff, where they got a lot more "poppier".
Awesome - that’s how you describe it. His voice is very deep naturally and he’s just using it in that way - with a little added emphasis
I’ve always loved the groove and vocals of this song. Every time this comes on the radio my wife has to say how she doesn’t like this song. 😂
I would've filed for divorce the first time she said it, lol
My wife says turn it up! 😊❤
hahahaha great wife@@TrianglesAndCircles
Play her some John Lee Hooker.
I'm bad I'm nationwide is a fire ZZtop song❤Much love from Canada❤🇨🇦
Just an awesome band, I maybe a little Bias, As I am from Houston,Tx. and grew up on ZZ Top. And I love there music and Back in the beginning and still to this day, This one of my favorite ZZ Top tunes.
i’ve been listening to zz top since i was 3 yrs old, i absolutely love them
ZZ Top
Blues Boogie Rock
They have an amazing catalog of songs to react to
This is my dads favorite band and something I heard very often growing up. I’ve been able to see them multiple times live and they are just the dope at dudes. Billy is legendary guitarists favorite guitarist. Sad we lost Dusty, but he left us with some of the greatest jams ever made.
John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom.Boom
Was the inspiration for this track and deserves a reaction.
Billy Gibbons & Company historians of black blues and founded a blues museaum and Society.
Of course they're from Houston.
You must check out "Waitin' For The Bus / Jesus Just Left Chicago" on the same album. Two different songs but they meant to be listened to back to back. So good! Enjoying your channel. Thanks!
ZZ Top has always been 3 guys. As someone else said, the third member is the drummer. The Tres Hombres album is from their pre-MTV era. "Sharp Dressed Man" however, is from the MTV era. They've got lots of great tunes from both eras. I saw them at the Abilene Civic Center in 1974, great show! Another song you might want to check out is "Tush".
My grandfather grew up in the town right next to LaGrange. At that time the "business" mentioned in this song was literally the only business in town.
This was in the early days when they were a badass blues/southern rock band.
Sharp dressed man was after they became a boring pop band.
They were great.
Good reaction.
got that right
Visiting Texas years ago, driving down the highway, and La Grange comes on the radio just as I am passing the La Grange EXIT! 😄
I’ve seen them probably 20 times since the 70’s and they are still touring with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Last time was in Lubbock Texas with Skynyrd about 10 years ago. Fantastic show!
This one's always been my #1 ZZ Top song.♥
I've been playing guitar since 1965. This is one of my favorite solos. Fun to play
I think my dad played this when I was about six or so. I didn't really. get into them until Eliminator but knew a lot of their songs. This one still is my favorite. Billy Gibbons was the shit. I read that at one time Jimi Hendrix said that Billy was the best guitarist on the planet at that time while he was in the band Moving Sidewalks. That's crazy. Still one of my favorite bands ever.
My favorite song from this group!
Imagine hearing this blast out over the radio for the first time. Even in times of so much creativity and experimentation in music, this sounded like nothing we had heard -- so fresh and raw. I saw them shortly after this came out and was blown away by the wall of sound coming from 3 people.
I do remember. It was awesome.
"That lil' 'ol Blues band from Texas !" R.I.P., Dusty ...............
Great 3 piece legendary band ..great sound..yes southern accent..great reaction guys
'The Chicken Ranch', outside LaGrange, Texas, was an "illegal" brothel tgat was famous. A movie called 'The Best Little Whorehouse' in Texas' is about the place. Movie starred Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton.
One of the greatest party songs of the 1970s. Many remembrances of good times with this one.
One of the biggest songs of 70s rock radio 👍💯🔥
The only ZZ I take seriously is 70s ZZ.
These guys were killers.
Tejas is favorite ZZ album.
I was in a band and we played this song nearly every gig. It’s fun to play
This is the first song i learned to play on acoustic guitar back in the 70's =) Great Song Great Reaction !
He was in his early twenties singing this song. Crazy hard.
It's one guitar and one bass and one drummer. That Lil ol band from Texas 🎉
I'm with you, Phil - that voice took me by surprise the first time I heard it, too. I don't know how to describe it either... although "congested" comes to mind...
you know for old people like me it's great to know all those bands and songs
67 and I'm lovin' it!
The only movie I can think of where La Grange was used was in the bar fight scene in Jackie Chan's " Shanghai Noon." I'm sure there are others, but that's the one I remember.
ZZ Top is just too cool! 😎 Unique sound!! Both in looks and in sound! 🔥🔥🔥
Great reactions!!👍👍
Sharp Dressed Man was from the 80s, when several 70s bands (Heart, Yes, Aerosmith, ZZ) went with more of a pop/rock sound. This album, Tres Hombres, came out in '73, and is pure Texas blues/rock. The whole album kicks ass. I much prefer it to their 80s stuff, although don't dislike that, just like their 70s stuff a lot more.
"Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Tubesteak Boogie" would be good next.
His voice definitely isn't twangy. Best three piece rock band in my lifetime. 🇨🇱🎸🎵🇺🇲
That album, Tres Hombres, is a genuine classic. No telling how many copies I've worn out in my lifetime. This is earlier ZZ Top, before Sharp Dressed Man. I prefer this era of their career but I love all their music. One of my favorite bands.
Under pressure live from Texas is an excellent video for appreciating ZZ Top.
La Grange is a little town between Austin and Houston. That was a prime location for politicians from Austin, and businessmen from Houston.
This was early ZZ Top when their music was more blues/rock.
Sharp dressed man is more recent ZZ Top when they were more commercial. Some fans love their earlier music more, and some, love their later music. I think they have been/are returning to their roots with their latest music.
I have been to the studio where ZZ Top recorded their first several albums. It was almost a religious experience knowing that songs like La Grange, Jesus Just Left Chicago, and Hot Blue and Righteous were bouncing off of those walls. The studio is in Tyler, Texas, about 200 miles north of Houston.
I went to TJC. Our R/TV/F class went to that studio. I appreciate it now more than I did then!!
What a great song. A very brief span of vocals and then the remainder of the song a vehicle for Billy Gibbons' blazing guitar skills. Old timey Texas blues! A+ ~~ I've enjoyed seeing ZZ Top play this song in shows on hot summer nights in Tupelo, Mississippi, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Billy Gibbons on lead vocals. You cannot go wrong with a ZZ Top song. Loved that shuffle gallop on the drums by Frank Beard. A classic guitar riff and they have a lot of them.
I saw them in concert in the early 90's, along with KISS and winger. They were BAD AZZ!! 😎😎😎
When I seen them in San Diego ZZ Top with opening acts:Blue Öyster Cult and
Johnny & Edgar Winter! It was by far the loudest, rockingest, party I've ever been to! Wanted to share something back. I really enjoy getting to
watch people discover new music. And look forward to seeing you guys in my notifications.
This is ZZ Top before they became mainstream. I wasn’t ever told about the vocal homage to John Lee Hooker, but being a huge fan of The Blues Brothers movie as soon as I heard “haw haw haw haw” in this I knew it was. I imagine live this is a song that only ended when they’d had enough of playing. It could go on for ever. Great reaction. Now go watch the John Lee Hooker sequence in Blues Brothers…
“Heard it on the X” is a great song by them. It’s about the late night radio stations in Mexico back in the day that were much more powerful than the stations in the USA were allowed to be. They blasted blues music and could be heard all over Texas.
Cheers from West Texas!🇺🇸🇨🇱🤘🏻😎
Texas Blues at their finest. As we say down here, It don't get much better!!
Great reaction guys.
As we say here in Texas; y'all be safe. Hope you had a wonderful holiday.
They formed the band in Houston Texas.
Creators of the Texas Blues. That’s the sound you hear from ZZ Top and SRV.
Y’all have to go down this amazing rabbit hole! First, learn the band and members first through a documentary…Sill blow your mind!
Had the good fortune of seeing them live in 77’ , at a small venue in Portland OR. One of my first 8 tracks from Columbia records 🤣
This song is totally 🔥..period.
They were formed in Houston,Texas. The singer on Sharp dressed man was Billy Gibbons. The singer on here was Dusty Hill RIP.
I think it was in 1972 in okc at the Myriad. The first concert I ever went to.....it was Ten Years After and ZZ Top opened for them.... Great Concert..... two of the best guitarist around...awesome
Billy Gibbons, Jimi Hendrix's favorite guitar player, 3 hombres refers to the members of a band, they're a 3 piece band
ZZ top just good rock'n roll. Grate for driving, road music.
First time in a while I found it worthwile to visit here,but this song is worth it..la Grange with ZZ..
This is my JAM right here.
Rough boys and Jesus just left Chicago are my favorites! Although I don’t believe you could go wrong with any selection from ZZ Top! Amazing guy’s
Legendary tune and band! My brother lives in a town called LaGrange, though not Texas!Back in the day great music did not have to be filled with nonsense vocals that filled every second of a song. They used to let the music breathe!
My first concert was ZZ Top. $8 Ticket/$12 Concert T-shirt
Before the "Eliminator" album.
RIP Dusty.😇
When I was a teenager in a small town in the Hill Country of Texas, in the '60's, the Chicken House in La Grange was legendary. I'm sure someone has mentioned that there was a movie about it starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton. Thanks for reacting to La Grange!
"Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" was the movie.
“Blue Jean Blues”. Give it a listen. Good as it gets
Billy Gibbons has a low, gravely speaking voice. He has done some voiceovers, for example as a narrator for Hand Built Hot Rods, a show for car enthusiasts. It adds a level of cool to anything. He also is an ordained minister; saw him impromptu-marry a couple at a ZZ Top concert. This guy is one of a kind.
Fun fact from a documentary that featured interviews with the band members. There was a point in time where the band took a hiatus and didn't speak with each other during that time because they were busy with their personal lives. Prior to the hiatus both Billy and Dusty were either clean shaven or had short beards. Without realizing or communicating with each other the both grew their beards long during the hiatus. Neither knew the other had let it grow out until they resumed working together as a band. That became their signature look.
You two need this more than any two i have ever seen. Good job! That’s a famous John lee Hooker riff!!!!
There's a backstory on this song... the guys were on a break in the studio and just fooling around with this John Lee Hooker sound and the engineers had kept the tape running. When the engineers heard this they made "keep going, keep going" motions to them. What you just listened to is what they originally did fooling around. They tried several different takes but none of them were as good as the original. This is Texas Blue Rock! Love it! You should also listen to John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom (which has it's own backstory!). It's a classic blues!
Ther are always 3 peple inn ther videos.
They are 3 members and 2 of them are singing.
They are an old band.
Born Joe Michael Hill in Dallas, he, Gibbons and Beard formed ZZ Top in Houston in 1969, naming themselves in part after blues singer Z.Z. Hill and influenced by the British power trio Cream. Their debut release, “ZZ Top's First Album,” came out in 1970.
Those 3 guys can put out One hell of a sound. I saw them back in the day in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with the J Giles band. You should check those guys out too. ZZ top is unique in their sound. Southern people of just about any age knows ZZ Top.❤😂
My favorite ZZ Top tune, just ahead of "Rough Boy".
Don’t forget “Just got paid today” another short banger.
Got me a pocket full of change.
What you heard before by them was MTV ZZ Top, by which time they had become a caricature of themselves for the masses. This is beer drinking, hell raising ZZ Top, which was a whole different kind of animal. On that note, I would suggest "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" for more of THAT ZZ Top. Thanks for the upload.
3 man band. Bass, Lead, both electric, and the drums. Two guys up front that both sing