ZZ Top

Tonight: ZZ Top at Hard Rock Cafe

ZZ Top Signs to Rick Rubin's American Recordings

Billy Gibbons Pt. 3: "We Were Fairly Confident," Taking Eliminator to the Dance Floor, The Videos, Eliminator In Hindsight

Free Birds and Drop Kick Chihuhahas

New Year's Eve Houston at Bayou Place

Living the Unexamined Life, Happily

ZZ Top is still bad, but now they're planet-wide. And they ain't thinking too hard about it

Will the Texan 30 Rock Writer Please Get in Touch?

This is starting to mess with Rocks Off's head just a little. Last week's Janis-Joplin-movie subplot made him wonder, because it was hardly the first time Southeast Texas was used as a punchline, but now he's sure there's some sort of subversive Lone Star conspiracy afoot behind the scenes&nbs ... More >>

Static

This is starting to mess with Rocks Off's head just a little. Last week's Janis-Joplin-movie subplot made him wonder, because it was hardly the first time Southeast Texas was used as a punchline, but now he's sure there's some sort of subversive Lone Star conspiracy afoot behind the scenes&nbs ... More >>

Songs You Didn't Get As a Kid

Did you know that ZZ Top's "Pearl Necklace" is essentially about a man ejaculating onto a woman's neck? No? Well, neither did I when I was 12. That is just disgusting. It is a disgusting, insanely catchy song, and I had no idea what it was about until I was an adult. I thought it was about a wo ... More >>

Clubland

Did you know that ZZ Top's "Pearl Necklace" is essentially about a man ejaculating onto a woman's neck? No? Well, neither did I when I was 12. That is just disgusting. It is a disgusting, insanely catchy song, and I had no idea what it was about until I was an adult. I thought it was about a wo ... More >>

Aftermath: ZZ Top at RodeoHouston

Mark. C. Austin/ Click here for a slideshowAftermath can not begin to tell you how much of a beacon ZZ Top was for him over the past few days. The lil' ol' band from Texas' RodeoHouston finale may not have had anything to do with SXSW per se, but knowing the first thing he woul ... More >>

ZZ Top's Dusty Hill is 60 Today

You didn't think we'd get out of here without wishing happy birthday to Houston's own Dusty Hill, the ZZ Top bassist who turns 60 today, did you? Hell no! To celebrate - and give any neophytes an idea of just how widely loved the Top really is - here's a pair of covers from about as far apart as you ... More >>

The Greatest Texas Rock Album of All Time

You didn't think we'd get out of here without wishing happy birthday to Houston's own Dusty Hill, the ZZ Top bassist who turns 60 today, did you? Hell no! To celebrate - and give any neophytes an idea of just how widely loved the Top really is - here's a pair of covers from about as far apart as you ... More >>

Various Artists

Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top (RCA)

Tonk Blokes And the Mean Streets Of Da R.O.

Ten things I read about Houston on Urbandictionary.com, the Wikipedia of the hood

Calvin Owens Orchestra, Barbara Lynn, Evelyn Rubio, Pete Mayes, Rue Davis, Tweed Smith

The Calvin Owens Orchestra and special guests perform 9 p.m. Saturday, August 4, at the Howling Coyote, 6536 FM 1960 West, 281-444-3401.

A Revolting Show

The Calvin Owens Orchestra and special guests perform 9 p.m. Saturday, August 4, at the Howling Coyote, 6536 FM 1960 West, 281-444-3401.

Amplified

Eliminated

Los Super 7

Heard It on the X

Lost in the "Woods"

Negative Space Gallery's new show has bark and bite

Oh, Won't You Stay

ZZ Top brings down the curtain at a venerable venue

Best Seafood Restaurant

Goode Co. Texas Seafood

The Chips Are Down

Unable to secure a new location, Leo's Mexican Restaurant says adios -- for now

Before We Go: Devin the Dude, ZZ Top, Camp Jam Houston, The Orb, Something Fierce and More

Free Press Houston has added Devin the Dude, whom Rocks Off is currently trying to track down for a prospective new feature (email us, mang!) and Prince Paul to its Summer Fest August 8 and 9 in Eleanor Tinsley Park. See FPH's or Pegstar's Web sites for ticket info (hint: it's $7 per day). Yesterday ... More >>

Do You Look Like Aerosmith's Steven Tyler or One of ZZ Top?

Live Nation has come through with a four-pack of lawn tickets to the classic-rock show of the summer, Aerosmith and Houston's own ZZ Top July 18 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, and Rocks Off sure as hell ain't gonna give this away for some cheap-ass trivia question. Naw, this time we're gonn ... More >>

Last Call for ZZ Top/Aerosmith Lookalike Contest

Courtesy Tom Degler Rocks Off is a little disappointed we haven't gotten more response to our call for ZZ Top and Steven Tyler lookalikes - we are giving away a four-pack of lawn tickets to Friday's ZZ/Aerosmith show, after all. Yes, it's a little hot for all that facial hair, but we're fairly sure ... More >>

Our Favorite ZZ Top Covers: QOTSA, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Tina Turner and... Rapeman?

[Note: Now with added Ministry.] Counting down to Friday's ZZ Top/Aerosmith show in The Woodlands is starting to feel like the week Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers played there last year: a steady build of anticipation and antsiness, until Friday we're flat-out squirming to get out of the office. ... More >>

Tres Hombres

Discovering why ZZ Top is "critic-proof"

Vintage ZZ Top Artwork and Houston's Hippie Past

scarletdukesCan you guess which one is Billy Gibbons? Chris GrayWhat goes around comes around. The same week ZZ Top is playing The Woodlands (which you may have read about on Rocks Off once or twice this week), the Buffalo Bayou Partnership announced it's renovating the International Coffee Buildin ... More >>

Slide Show: ZZ Top's Roots and Influences

One of the most influential Southern rock bands of all time, ZZ Top has, of course, been influenced by those who came before. You can see shades of the boys with the beards in each of the following bands - acknowledged by music critics, and in some cases the band itself, as huge influences on ZZ Top ... More >>

The Best ZZ Top Videos (We Could Find Online)

Not one but two gentlemen with long beards may be sneaking down your chimney today. They will leave memorabilia such as guitar picks and signed drumsticks, and if you've been a good boy or girl all year, may even give you a free guitar lesson. Instead of milk and cookies we're told they prefer Lone ... More >>

Aftermath: ZZ Top and Aerosmith at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Photos by Mark C. Austin Make all the Guitar Hero jokes you want. Whatever it is that's kept ZZ Top and Aerosmith in the public eye for almost four decades - video games or beards-n-babes videos, Back to the Future cameos or Michael Bay ballads, bee-stung lips or cheap sunglasses - they've never for ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: Houston and "Brazoria"

The final installment of our Five States of Texas project brings it all back home, to the new state of Brazoria, encompassing all of Southeast Texas from the Brazos Valley to Sabine Pass. ​Patron Saint: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. A master of rock and roll, country, Cajun/Creole, blues and jazz, n ... More >>

"Buddha Bubba": Billy Gibbons and Bill Narum's Fellow Artists Comment on the ZZ Top Graphic Designer's Passing

​When Rocks Off learned that Texas countercultural icon and longtime ZZ Top graphic designer Bill Narum passed away Wednesday night, one of the first things we did was reach out to the ZZ camp for a statement. The Lil' Ol' Band from Tejas' publicist just got back to us with a message from the ... More >>

Rocks Off Exclusive: Hear The Wild Moccasins' "Skin Collision Past" Right Here

​ Wednesday night, Rocks Off got our hands on the first fruits of the new Wild Moccasins album, Skin Collision Past. The title track finds the band trying out a new sprawling yet angular sound, with new strains of Britpop coursing throughout the tracks' three and half minutes. The new full-length ... More >>

ZZ On NPR -- Everyone In Houston Has A Story About Them

A few weeks after they taped the show when it came here, you can listen to the bearded ones of ZZ Top as they play "Not My Job" on NPR's Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me."Were three guys; we know three chords," Dusty Hill says of recording the group's new album."Everyone in Houston has a ZZ Top story -- eit ... More >>

ZZ Top Takes Manhattan, Loudly And "Perfectly"

Mark C. AustinZZ Top at the Woodlands, July 2009​Rocks Off has had next Friday, when ZZ Top and Tom Petty play The Woodlands, circled in red on our Rhino Records wall calendar for months. God, is that next Friday already? We added a few more red rings this morning after we read The New York Ti ... More >>

Friday Night: ZZ Top At The Woodlands

Photos by Jim Bricker​ZZ Top Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 24, 2010 People talk all the time about the depleting ozone layer, melting polar ice caps, melting polar bears, ravaged rain forests, shortages of crude oil, but that can all go to Hell. When ZZ Top is gone from this Eart ... More >>

Happy National Taco Day From ZZ Top, Moby, Arcade Fire...

​Today, October 4, is National Taco Day, and no doubt our friend Jay is somewhere bathing in tacos. Dude has made a healthy sideline just tweeting about tacos. Tacos don't have much to do with music in our minds, unless you count the inside sleeve to ZZ Top's Tres Hombres and its Leo's Mexican ... More >>

What's New In The Houston Scene Since You Were Here Last

Craig HlavatyThe jukebox at Grand Prize Bar. Note George Jones, ZZ Top, Lightnin' Hopkins, Prince...​Imagine that you have been frozen since September, or at least the beginning of the fall college semester. Or maybe you are an adult coming back to Houston to visit the folks, return Christmas ... More >>

Billy Gibbons And Tequila A Winning Combination

ZZ Top's recording date with Rick Rubin inching closer, he says... Photos by Marc Brubaker​Thursday afternoon, Rocks Off got an invite to a launch party for a new tequila on the scene, Pura Vida Tequila. Where else would this party be at but at the newest tequila joint on Washington Avenue, T ... More >>

ZZ Top To Receive Texas Medal Of Arts

Jim BrickerZZ Top at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, September 2010​While they take their sweet time getting around to record that long-anticipated, Rick Rubin-produced next album - which, at this point, could well come out a solid decade after their last, 2003's Mescalero - ZZ Top has be ... More >>

Billy Bob Thornton Producing ZZ Top Biopic, Sources Say

Craig HlavatyBillys Gibbons (left) and Bob Thornton at Fitzgerald's, December 2009​How how how how will this not be Rocks Off's favorite movie of all time after it comes out? If the rumors coming out of Hollywood and last month's SXSW conference are true, the story of that Lil' Ol' Band from T ... More >>

Lyle Lovett, Billy Gibbons Named Official Texas State Musicians

ZZ Top's Dusty Hill and Frank Beard were rumored to be appointed Texas' Offiical 2012 Alternate State Musicians.​With apologies to Townes Van Zandt, there's good news from Austin today. Good news for Houston. The Texas Commission on the Arts has chosen arguably the Houston area's two most rec ... More >>

ZZ Top Debuts New Song... In Space

​The first bit of music from ZZ Top's long-awaited, long-delayed, semi-mythical forthcoming album has leaked... but not anywhere on Earth. Astronaut and friend of ZZ Michael Fossum, currently headed to the International Space Station on a Russian spacecraft, is carrying a copy of "Flyin' High ... More >>

NASA Streams ZZ Top's Brand-New "Flyin' High"

​NASA is now streaming "Flyin' High," that brand-new ZZ Top song bound for the International Space Station Rocks Off told you about yesterday, on its Web site. Now all us Earthlings can listen too.

ZZ Top Will Release New Album By Year's End, Gibbons Says

Jim BrickerZZ Top at The Woodlands, September 2010​After years of hemming and haw-haw-haw-hawing about how far along it is, who they are working with, and whether or not it even actually exists, ZZ Top singer/guitarist (Rev.) Billy F. Gibbons said the trio plans to release its first studio alb ... More >>

New ZZ Top Tribute Disc Frightens, Titillates, And Confuses Us

Photo By Jim Bricker​If you don't know that Rocks Off is a ZZ Top-friendly place, then you have probably only been reading the blog for the past two or three hours. The two men who run this blog love Billy, Frank, and Dusty with the energy from one thousands suns, and their whole catalog runs ... More >>

If Nickelback's Studio Walls Could Talk...

Nickelback on TwitterClick image to enlarge​Late Wednesday night, Nickelback tweeted a picture of a dry-erase board in their studio, with the line "If these walls could talk..." alluding to the bedevilment that a party-hard platinum-selling Canadian rock band must get into while making new mus ... More >>

And, Uh, Um, OOPS: The Third Members Of Great Musical Trios You Probably Can't Name

​Last night we all watched as Governor Rick Perry blanked on the third department he would do away with if he was elected president. It was one of those moments - a la Scanners - when we all tensely waited for his head to explode, figuratively. Of course we love the guy and he's too precious t ... More >>

2012 RodeoHouston Lineup Features ZZ Top, Train, Kid Rock, John Legend, Enrique Iglesias

Photo By Jim BrickerZZ Top onstage in 2010.​The Houston Livestock And Rodeo continues it's march it's non-country waters with today's musical announcement, with Houston's own ZZ Top (March 8), Train (March 16), Kid Rock (February 29), John Legend (March 2), and Enrique Iglesias (March 6) toppi ... More >>