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 – but you can’t deny it all adds up to a singularly unique sound. Bonus points if you know which of these bands actually contained members of ZZ Top before Dusty, Billyย and Frank joined forces.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.