Through the 1970s, Texan trio ZZ Top played music blending the boogie of Canned Heat with elements of Southern rock to produce an infectious style of blues rock. With hits like the irresistible “La Grange” they became a popular live attraction as well as selling plenty of albums. But that was nothing compared to the success they achieved after incorporating aspects of synth-pop in the early 1980s and going stratospheric with the LP Eliminator.
Released in March 1983, Eliminator was ZZ Top’s eighth studio album. It boasted no less than four hit singles, sold 11 million copies worldwide, and turned the beardy band into a global phenomenon. Significantly, the success was powered by a series of slick, cheeky videos that were on high MTV rotation.
“Gimme All Your Lovin’” was the first cab off the rank. Here we met Billy Gibbons’ customised 1933 Ford coupe, decked out in its Eliminator colours. The band—a trio of hairy fairy god-mothers—fade in and out, facilitating a young motor mechanic’s road trip fantasy. The same basic storyline reoccurs in “Sharp dressed man” and peaks in “Legs”. The clips are funny and cartoonish, cool and self-mocking; a guilty pleasure that royally entertains. It’s Cinderella with stilettos and fishnet stockings.
And what is the sound powering these hugely catchy hits and indeed most of the tracks on Eliminator? Essentially, just like the sales assistant in the “Legs” video, it’s a makeover and polishing of the existing raw material. The gravelly guitar sound is still a core component, but synth sequences, an updated drum sound and the general production sheen have turned ZZ Top’s basic boogie into a dazzling Eighties floor-filling sound.
“Gimme All Your Lovin’” is a strong opening track, a great tune with a fine signature guitar solo, all powering along at the rapid tempo of hit songs of the day. This ramping up of the beats-per-minute count was enthusiastically adopted by Gibbons, just as he was inspired by the synthesiser sounds of Depeche Mode and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. It’s there in the second song too, the even faster “Got Me Under Pressure”.
“I Need You Tonight” is a slow blues, providing a pleasant contrast to earlier, sweatier songs. As always, fine guitar solos from Gibbons lift this chugging blues song beyond the ordinary as the band stretch out for six minutes, the longest track on the LP. We go up a gear for the last song on side one, “I Got the Six” which reminds me of Eighties AC/DC; fast hard rock—head banging 201.
“Legs” was the final single from Eliminator and it opens side two of the album. The apotheosis of the synth-boogie style, it is, for all its dodgy lyrics, totally irresistible. It is possibly one of my favourite drum-machine driven tracks, ever. And that includes the stellar work of Georgio Moroder. “Thug” is a gangster style story and one of the most synth-sounding tracks on the album, with its popping Eighties bassline and programmed percussion. For me, the other standout track on the second side is the tongue-in-cheek “TV Dinners”; ZZ Top are at their best when reminding you not to take them too seriously, like on this slow electric groove.
As the Allmusic guide summarises, Eliminator is “glossed up new wave blues rock.” In the right mood, its unlikely cool and shimmering production are unashamedly glorious.
First published at Discrepancy Records, 15 August 2024. Reprinted with kind permission.
It is unusual, unprecedented even, to find a post so fresh from the Discrepancy showroom revving its engine at Vinyl Connection. The intention is to celebrate the blogging career of Joe, Mr 1537, who loves this LP unreservedly and wrote about it back when we were all a lot younger (here) and some of us even had hair. My amateur Lego minifigure photos are a tribute to Joe; his wit, enthusiasm, love of absurd hair metal and frighteningly broad streak of adolescent humour. Of course, he does ZZ Top minifigs so much better. None of your pirates and press-ganged Wookies for Joe; with his guys you can hear the Texan accents.
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vinylconnection.com.au 
A testament to this album:
I just finished (minutes ago) a show on the top rock tracks from 1984. And several people listed songs from this album, which was 1983. The songs were that strong, that they kept going on the radio and video into 1984. Remarkable.
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Isn’t that cool? And what’s more, if you did a poll on “best” music videos of the 80s, I reckon a couple of these would achieve a podium finish.
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Are you familiar with a band called “Boss”? The came up a number of times.
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Not known to me, I’m afraid. Will investigate.
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All I know is they are Australian and opened for Maiden on an Australian tour.
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Now that is a high class support gig!
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I saw them on this tour…they were great and still the best light show I’ve ever seen. I still favor the 1970s sound they had but this one was huge. Now as a teen…those three lovely ladies in the videos kept me coming back…not to mention good songs.
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It was the perfect combo at the time, eh? How excellent to have seen them live, Max. Nice one.
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While it was the “Eliminator” album that brought ZZ Top on my radar screen and I still like it despite the ’80s synth sounds, once I explored the Texans’ early albums, I quickly realized I prefer their more traditional blues rock. I have a lot of time for songs like “Brown Sugar”, “Waitin’ For the Bus”, “La Grange” and “Tush,” one of my all-time favorite blues rockers.
I got to see ZZ Top once, in May 2018. While their set featured many gems, their performance felt a bit distant and routine to me. That became even more evident, once John Fogerty who shared the bill with them came on stage. While it was hard to tell whether ZZ Top enjoyed what they were doing, there was no question about Fogerty’s sentiments. The man was having a ball on that stage!
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The 80s were a time of wax and polish, weren’t they?
Shame about the routine performance. I imagine it is not easy to be playing much the same set for forty+ years! But then, Fogerty has been doing it even longer, so there’s a puzzle.
Thanks for sharing your ZZ-story, Christian. I’m with you (and many others) in preferring the 70s material in terms of sound, but you sure can’t beat Eliminator for out-and-out fun. 🙂
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Eliminator is an excellent listen, start to finish. I saw them on the La Futura tour and they were fantastic.
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That was a strong album too, wasn’t it?
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Yep, it was a good colab with Rick Rubin.
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What I loved about ZZ Top was that they were always winking at their audience. They half-heartedly acted as Texas bad boys, but I recall from so many interviews with them that their roots were deep in soul, R&B, and sixties rock. Eliminator had so many hits for them! I can still close my eyes and see those MTV videos from that album. Great memories. – Marty
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Exactly, Marty! The videos show that tongue-in-cheek wink-wink characteristic very clearly. The spinning wooly guitars are my favourite!
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This was the very first album I ever bought. I was 10 years old. Got it on cassette in Florida on a family trip.
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Those ‘firsts’ really imprint, don’t they!
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Yup, and I chose… wisely.
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I’m all confused about who’s take I’m reading. Those Lego guys have me all messed up.
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Hehehe… they’re w a t c h i n g you, CB!
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I’m just going to hit the hay and now I will be really freaked out. Bruce and Joe fighting for the control of CB’s mind.
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What can I say? thank you Bruce, that is so kind. I’ve been taking a bit of a break from the airwaves recently, just too much real life going down recently – I HATE that it gets in the way of my blogging.
But thank you, this kind of (vinyl) connection is just what keeps me blogging. And this LP just never, ever gets old. I’ve heard ‘Gimme All Your Loving’ sped up slightly and played out in dance clubs, it works.
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💙
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