ZZ Top - Afterburner (30th anniversary)

Tomorrow (October 28th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Afterburner, the ninth studio album from ZZ Top. This 1985 release spent a total of seventy weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 4.

For more from this classic 80's album, click here.

And for even more ZZ Top, click here.

ZZ Top - Eliminator (30th anniversary)

Today (March 23rd) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Eliminator, the eighth studio album from the hard-rocking Texas band ZZ Top. Though the trio had been around for nearly a decade at this point, this record really helped widen their audience base. I know that was the case with me.

Click here for my full review of this iconic early 80's album.

An Officer and a Gentleman (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Matinee Monday.

It was the middle of the summer of 1982 when Richard Gere and Debra Winger were heating up the movie screens in An Officer and a Gentleman, an American drama about a Navy aviation officer candidate (Gere) and a Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant (played by Louis Gossett, Jr.). Winger played the love interest for Gere’s character.

ZZ Top - Afterburner

Happy sixty-second birthday today to singer and guitarist Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Besides four decades of hard rocking blues, Gibbons also has a recurring role on the FOX TV series Bones, playing a fictionalized version of himself as the highly protective father of Angela Montenegro. He also started a successful line of hot sauces and other products under the BFG Brand in 2011.

Back in the 1980’s, ZZ Top was working hard to follow up their hugely successful eighth studio album Eliminator (click here for that review). Their ninth album, 1985’s Afterburner, was a worthy follow up. It went to number 4 on the US Billboard Album chart, number 3 in Sweden, number 2 in the UK and Switzerland, and number 1 in New Zealand.

ZZ Top - A Tribute From Friends

Welcome to a week which will focus on a number of new music releases here on the blog.

The hard-rocking trio from Texas has been together since 1969, mixing blues and boogie rock into the tapestry of the American rock archives. They have sold more than 50 million albums world-wide, half of which in the US alone. They’ve scored eight Top 40 hits and six number 1 hits on the Mainstream Rock charts. In 2004 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It is only fitting, then, that eleven musical acts come together for a CD to celebrate the career of ZZ Top on ZZ Top - A Tribute From Friends which came out this month.

ZZ Top - Eliminator

ZZ Top had been recording since 1971 and had quite a bit of success so far. On March 23rd of 1983, the blues-rock band from Texas put out their eighth studio album Eliminator, and it became their most successful album.

Chart-wise, it went to number 13 in Norway and Sweden, number 11 in Switzerland, number 9 on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 4 in Austria and New Zeland, number 3 in the UK and number 2 in Australia. It was ranked number 39 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Albums of the 80’s and number 396 on that magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list. By 1996 it had achieved Diamond status (selling over 10 million copies world-wide).