An open letter to America on the behalf of ZZ Top

Dear America,

This is your friend Piccu and I want to talk with you today about ZZ Top. ZZ Top was formed like a 1,000 years ago and they have contained the same three guys for the whole run, Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. They are a power trio and that is pretty cool. You don’t have that many power trios in today’s music, much less power trios that have been together for 37 years. ZZ Top is just plain cool. In fact, ZZ Top is so cool that Jimi Hendrix said Billy Gibbons was his favorite guitarist. I can stop there, if Jimi thinks you are bad a**, then you are bad a**.

Why am I writing to you America? Well I’ll tell you, I just read a piece on Yahoo informing me that Zed Zed, as I call them sometimes, has just split with their management and their record company and it seems that no one cares. I also read that ZZ Top’s last tour consisted mainly of casinos and state fairs. When you begin to hit casinos and state fairs, you are just about done with this world. All apologies to Journey and Styx.

This p*##es me off to no end. The Top is an icon in the history of music. I will admit that they have put out some clunker albums in the last couple of decades. Hello Antenna, XXX, and Recycler. But they have had two great cds with Rhythmeen and their latest Mescalero. On those two discs, ZZ Top went back to the basics of great backroom boogie Texas blues and quit the gimmicky/keyboardy rock they got hooked on in the 80’s.

Right now it seems that ZZ is out there without a record deal, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I think they could sign with an independent label and go farther back to their roots and release super blues records and tour clubs for decades. In fact, I think they should start their own label and sign unheard blues bands and introduce the world to great unsigned talent. Whatever the case, this lack of support must stop.

Now America, go to Amazon.com and search for ZZ Top or just click the link provided. Look for a collection called Six Pack and order it immediately. I bought this when it first came out and paid roughly $50 for it. You can now get it for $11 used on Amazon. This collection contains ZZ Top’s first 6 albums; every one of them is a pure delight. They will make you a fan of the blues even if you hate the blues. If you like what you hear, check out some others I have named like Rhythmeen, Mescalaro and DeGuello. These are all great albums.

After all that, anytime you see that ZZ Top is playing in your neck of the woods, go see them. Support a great band. Stop seeing crap. Even though they may be a little geezerly, they still rock live. I know, I have seen them. Also, anytime they release an album, even if it sounds like crap, buy it. Even if it sucks, at least you know it is by a band that cares about real music. Not these cookie cutter types that are put together by marketing teams.

If we can all do this and band together as a country, I believe that we can get the Top back on top and touring arenas in the next decade. Thank you for your time and your support of ZZ Top.