Dusty Hill | Through the Shattered Lens

Yesterday, many of us woke up to this sad message from Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard of ZZ Top:

“We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX. We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the ‘Top’. We will forever be connected to that “Blues Shuffle in C.”

You will be missed greatly, amigo.

Frank & Billy

Dusty Hill was 72 years old and died in his sleep in Houston, Texas. Though it’s already been announced that ZZ Top will continue with longtime band associate Elwood Francis replacing Hill, it’s still hard not to feel that an era has come to a close.

Today’s music video of the day is ZZ Top’s cover of Viva Las Vegas. Rest in Peace, Dusty Hill.

“Gimme all your lovin’
All your hugs and kisses too,
Gimme all your lovin’
Don’t let up until we’re through.”

I didn’t know what blues and blues rock was when I first heard it on the radio and then watched it on MTV. I did know that they had a real unique sound that was very much like rock, but also had a sort of country vibe to it.

One of the first bands of blues rock that I really ended up being a fan of was ZZ Top and it was mainly due to their three videos for three singles off of their Eliminator album. The first one that I saw was for the track “Gimme All Your Lovin’“.

The video itself was just very cool. It had everything a young boy was curious about. Cars, girls and rock and roll. Well, mostly it was the girls and the video to this song introduced the “Three ZZ Girls”.

It was much, much later in high school that I went back to listening to ZZ Top and their songs and realize that they were pretty much singing about sex, sex and more sex to the tune of Texas boogie blues. I ended up loving the band even more then.