ZZ Top Once Turned Down A Million Dollars Each To Shave Their Beards

In the image driven excess of the 1980s, when rock bands were cashing cheques for just about anything, ZZ Top were offered a deal so ridiculous it still sounds fake.

Shave their beards on television and they walk away with $1 million each with no strings attached, and they said no.

The story has floated around rock folklore for years, but Billy Gibbons has now confirmed it outright on a recent episode of Jay Mohr’s Mohr Stories podcast, according to Gibbons, the offer came straight from razor giant Gillette at the peak of the band’s MTV era visibility.

“They deny it,” Gibbons said. “It was a million dollars per man.”

At the time, ZZ Top were untouchable, ‘Eliminator’ had turned the Texas trio into pop culture fixtures, their beards as recognisable as the spinning hot rods and pin up aesthetics glued to their videos, shaving them off wouldn’t just be a cosmetic change, it would erase the brand.

Before giving Gillette an answer, Gibbons rang legendary rock publicist Bob Merlis for advice, the response was classic Merlis:

“He said, ‘The money’s good, you might as well consider doing it but I’m not so sure any of you guys know what’s under there’,” Gibbons recalled.

That line landed harder than the cheque, the band passed and according to Gibbons, fans were relieved, the beards stayed and the myth grew.

Accidental success

What makes the story even better is that the beards weren’t originally a calculated move, they were accidental. During a break in the mid ’70s, Gibbons and the late Dusty Hill simply stopped shaving, when asked years later why it happened, Gibbons boiled it down to pure indifference.

“One word: lazy,” he told Dan Rather.

“Dusty and I, what started out as a disguise, turned into a trademark.”

Ironically, drummer Frank Beard has spent most of his career clean shaven, a long running joke that only adds to the band’s deadpan humour.

With ZZ Top hitting the road again in 2026, the beards remain intact, a million dollars richer? No. But still unmistakably ZZ Top, and that’s worth more than any razor deal ever could be.