As it turns out, the biggest mystery in Texan rock wasn’t how ZZ Top kept their beards so immaculate. It was actually what the hell “ZZ Top” actually stands for.
Now, some 50 years later, fans are only just piecing it together.
The trio—Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and the ironically clean-shaven Frank Beard—formed in Houston back in 1969. They gave us classics like ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’’, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’, and that riff on ‘La Grange’. But somehow, the name origin slipped past even the most diehard fans.
Recently, the internet resurfaced an old theory that Gibbons took inspiration from rolling paper brands—Zig-Zag and Tops. It was 1969, after all. But the more credible (and less baked) version comes from Gibbons himself.
He recalled staring at a wall of blues posters—BB King, OV Wright, ZZ Hill—and the initials caught his eye. “ZZ King” sounded cool, but maybe a bit too close to the real King. So, with some very Texan logic, he figured, “King is at the top… let’s just call it ZZ Top.”
Simple. Weird. Iconic.
The name stuck, the band blew up, and the beards got longer. Hill sadly passed in 2021, but not before giving Gibbons one last order: “Give Elwood the bottom end, and take it to the Top.” So longtime tech Elwood Francis picked up the bass, and ZZ Top kept rolling.
The band are soon set to hit Australian stages. The tour, beginning on April 26 in Ascot, Victoria will see the iconic rockers travel through WA, QLD and NSW. That’s right: five decades in, and they’re still sharp dressed and stadium loud. I would start dusting off that denim right about now if I were you.
And whether the name came from blues legends or blunt papers, one thing’s clear: no other band ever made two random letters sound so damn cool.
Tickets for ZZ Top’s 2025 Australian tour can be purchased here.
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