The American rock group ZZ Top was formed in the late 1960s with guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons, bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill, and drummer Frank Beard. Unlike most musical groups, ZZ Top was able to keep the same lineup for more than 40 years and are still an active group, having created 15 studio albums between 1971 and 2012. ZZ Top is famous for their strong blues roots within their music and their powerful, guitar driven sound. In March of 1983, ZZ Top released their eighth studio album, Eliminator, with the help of their new sound engineer Linden Hudson whose suggestions towards a more synthesizer driven sound heavily influence the flavor of this album. ZZ Top did maintain their guitar driven sound throughout the album, but not without powerful dance synthesizers underneath that greatly contributes to the dance rock sound of this album. Although Eliminator was still a very successful album and sold over 10 million copies, the new sound stirred up a fair bit of controversy which, along with a $600,000 lawsuit against Hudson, caused the band to leave Hudson behind and return to their more guitar-centric sound.
Give the album a listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA9NMCs9uqA
Please comment below any thoughts or insights you have to the album.
Wikipedia.org
I am Linden Hudson. I did work tirelessly on the “Eliminator” album. So, let me point out that you really got the story wrong about the lawsuit. You have written that the lawsuit was against Linden Hudson, but I assure you that it was Linden Hudson who directed the lawsuit against ZZ Top, it’s a fact, 100 percent. Also, you said the lawsuit caused the band to go back to their old guitar-centric formula. I assure again, that was not the case on the next few albums after ELIMINATOR. Afterburner continued this trend for sure. But, Linden Hudson (me) was not working with them during AFTERBURNER because he had a pending lawsuit against ZZ Top. Just wanted to point those things out. Signed: Linden Hudson