Eliminator (album)

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Eliminator
ZZ Top - Eliminator.jpg
Studio album by
ZZ Top
ReleasedMarch 23, 1983
Recorded1982
StudioArdent Studios (Memphis, Tennessee)
Genre
Length45:00
LabelWarner Bros.
ProducerBill Ham
ZZ Top chronology
El Loco
(1981) 		Eliminator
(1983) 		Afterburner
(1985)
Singles from Eliminator
  1. "Gimme All Your Lovin'"
    Released: April 1983
  2. "Sharp Dressed Man"
    Released: July 1983
  3. "TV Dinners"
    Released: December 1983
  4. "Legs"
    Released: May 1984

Eliminator is the eighth studio album by American rock band ZZ Top. It was released on March 23, 1983, by Warner Bros. Records. Recorded in Tennessee during 1982, the album was produced by the band's manager Bill Ham and peaked at the top of the charts in many countries. "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man", "TV Dinners", and "Legs" were released as singles. A Diamond certified album, Eliminator is ZZ Top's most commercially successful release, with sales of over 10 million copies in the United States alone.

Eliminator saw ZZ Top incorporate synthesizers and drum machines into their blues rock sound, producing a "tighter" album. The album used music videos as successful promotional tools — the videos for "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" received regular rotation on MTV and helped the band gain popularity a younger base. A customized 1933 Ford coupe, depicted on the album cover, could be seen in the videos. Following Eliminator′s release, ZZ Top embarked on a worldwide concert tour.

Rolling Stone named Eliminator number 398 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[6] It was listed at number 39 in The 100 Greatest Albums of the 80s. A remastered version was released in 2008.

Recording[]

On their previous album, El Loco (1981), ZZ Top worked with engineer Linden Hudson, who introduced them to synthesizers[7] and drum machines.[8] Guitarist Billy Gibbons was inspired by British electronic acts such as Depeche Mode and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to explore electronic music technology.[9] He said that Hudson "had no fear and was eager to experiment in ways that would frighten most bands. But we followed suit, and the synthesizers started to show up on record."[7]

Gibbons said in 2012 that he first used a drum machine for Eliminator, which was the first album on which ZZ Top "paid serious attention" to timing and tempo, and that it was "timed and tuned very tight".[7] Gibbons felt that the synthesizers "created a nice platform that allowed the guitar to stand on its own", and that as the synthesizers could play an octave lower than a bass guitar, they created "a nice full bed of sound" that contrasted with his guitar.[7] The use of synthesizers marked a change in sound for ZZ Top and drew speculation that Hill and Beard did not play on the album. Hill compared the reaction to Bob Dylan's controversial move to rock music.[10]

Writing dispute[]

According to David Blayney, ZZ Top's stage manager, Hudson and Gibbons used the electronic instruments to write and record demos for Eliminator without the involvement of Beard or bassist Dusty Hill.[10][11] Rolling Stone writer Deborah Frost reported that Hudson presented Gibbons with research finding that 120 beats per minute was the most popular tempo in rock music, inspiring Gibbons to record most of Eliminator at that tempo.[12] ZZ Top's management company Lone Wolf denied that Hudson was involved, and credited the album concept to Gibbons and manager and producer Bill Ham.[10] In his biography of the band, Blayney wrote that "Linden Hudson in a fair world should have had his name all over Eliminator and gotten the just compensation he deserved. Instead he got ostracized."[11] Hudson successfully sued ZZ Top for $600,000 after he was neither credited nor paid for writing the song "Thug".[10]

Cover[]

"Eliminator" coupe

The cover depicts the Eliminator, a customized 1933 Ford coupe commissioned by Gibbons.[10] In 1976, Gibbons met with Don Thelen of Buffalo Motor Cars in Paramount, California and Ronnie Jones of Hand Crafted Metal with some help from Sid Blackard, to build the car. It was built with a Corvette-style engine fabricated by Hand Crafted Metal.[citation needed] It was finished in 1983 and called the Eliminator. The car has become recognizable for its red finish and graphics, and is in several of the band's music videos, plus appearances in television, movies, auto shows, and charity events.[citation needed]

Promotion and release[]

"Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" were released as singles, backed by music videos that depicted America as "a land of rock and roll, cars and girls".[10] According to Texas Monthly, the album's synthesizer sound was "perfect" for the MTV audience, who had previously seen ZZ Top as an "old-fogey band".[10] The videos earned ZZ Top awards for Best Band and Best Group Video at the 1984 MTV Awards.[10]

The guitars used in the "Legs" music video, shown in 2007 at the former Dallas Hard Rock Cafe

Eliminator was released worldwide on March 23, 1983. Three of five singles appeared in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Gimme All Your Lovin'", released in April 1983, went to the number two position.[citation needed] It was the first ZZ Top album to become a worldwide success, and made the band "bona fide pop stars", according to the Financial Times.[9] By December 1996, Eliminator had sold more than 11 million copies in the US.[10]

Critical reception[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4.5/5 stars[3]
Robert ChristgauB+[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide3.5/5 stars[14]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music5/5 stars[15]

Reviewing the album in Record, Samuel Graham expressed mixed feelings about its adherence to the familiar ZZ Top motifs. While he found it a relief that the band had not veered down a commercially driven route, he remarked that the album's failure to stretch out from established stylistics made it over-familiar and lacking in variety compared to the band's last three albums. He praised the tracks "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Legs", "Thug", and "I Need You Tonight", but concluded "we've heard most of this before. Eliminator, then, will probably satisfy ZZ Top's boogie chillin' faithful. But it's a lateral move at a time when Gibbons, Hill and Beard could be stepping forward."[16]

In 2000, the album was voted number 355 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[17] In 2005, it was listed in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[18]

Electric Six covered the song "I Got the Six" on their album Mimicry and Memories (2015).[19]

Track listing[]

All songs written by Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard unless otherwise noted.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Gimme All Your Lovin'"Gibbons, Hill, BeardGibbons3:59
2."Got Me Under Pressure"Gibbons, Hill, BeardGibbons3:59
3."Sharp Dressed Man"Gibbons, Hill, BeardGibbons4:13
4."I Need You Tonight"Gibbons, Hill, BeardGibbons6:14
5."I Got the Six"Gibbons, Hill, BeardHill2:52
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Legs"Gibbons, Hill, BeardGibbons4:35
2."Thug"Gibbons, Hill, Beard, Linden HudsonGibbons4:17
3."TV Dinners"Gibbons, Hill, BeardGibbons3:50
4."Dirty Dog"Gibbons, Hill, BeardGibbons4:05
5."If I Could Only Flag Her Down"Gibbons, Hill, BeardGibbons3:40
6."Bad Girl"Gibbons, Hill, BeardHill3:16

Personnel[]

ZZ Top

Production

Charts and certifications[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Eliminator - ZZ Top | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  2. ^ Prown, Pete; Newquist, HP (1997). Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 91. ISBN 9780793540426.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Allmusic review". Retrieved June 8, 2013.
  4. ^ "ZZ Top".
  5. ^ https://ultimateclassicrock.com/zz-top-deguello/
  6. ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d June 2013, Joe Bosso 03 (June 3, 2013). "Billy Gibbons talks ZZ Top: The Complete Studio Albums (1970-1990)". MusicRadar. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
  8. ^ Sinclair, David (1986). Tres Hombres - The Story Of ZZ Top. London: Virgin. p. 76. ISBN 0-86369-167-6.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Hann, Michael (November 12, 2018). "Gimme All Your Lovin' was a perfectly calibrated rock song — and was admired and covered by electronic acts". Financial Times. Archived from the original on August 9, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2021.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Patoski, Joe Nick (December 1996). "Still ZZ after all these years". Texas Monthly.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Blayney, David (1994). Sharp Dressed Men. New York: Hyperion. pp. 196–203. ISBN 0-7868-8005-8.
  12. ^ Frost, Deborah (1985). ZZ Top - Bad And Worldwide. New York: Rolling Stone Press / Macmillan. p. 115. ISBN 0-02-002950-0.
  13. ^ "Consumer Guide Reviews: Eliminator". Robert Christgau. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  14. ^ Cross, Charles R. (2004). "ZZ Top". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 907–8. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  15. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  16. ^ Graham, Samuel (June 1983). "Eliminator review". Record. 2 (8): 28.
  17. ^ Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 139. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  18. ^ Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 105. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
  19. ^ "Final track listing for Mimicry and Memories". Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  20. ^ ^ Blayney, David (1994). Sharp Dressed Men. New York: Hyperion. pp. 196–203. ISBN 0-7868-8005-8.
  21. ^ ^ Deborah Frost (1985). ZZ Top - Bad and Worldwide. New York: Rolling Stone Press. ISBN 0020029500.
  22. ^ David Sinclair (1986). Tres Hombres: The Story of ZZ Top. 95 pages. Virgin Books, 1986, ISBN 0-86369-167-6.
  23. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 348. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  24. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – ZZ Top – Eliminator" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  25. ^ "Officialcharts.de – Top 100 Longplay". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  26. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – ZZ Top – Eliminator". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  27. ^ "Swisscharts.com – ZZ Top – Eliminator". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  28. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – ZZ Top – Eliminator". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  29. ^ Jump up to: a b "Charts.nz – ZZ Top – Eliminator". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  30. ^ "ZZ Top | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  31. ^ "ZZ Top Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  32. ^ "ZZ Top – Billboard 200 Albums (Year end)". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  33. ^ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1984". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  34. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2000 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
  35. ^ "Austrian album certifications – ZZ Top – Eliminator" (in German). IFPI Austria.
  36. ^ "Canadian album certifications – ZZ Top – Eliminator". Music Canada.
  37. ^ Jump up to: a b "ZZ Top" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  38. ^ "Les Albums Double Platine" (in French). Infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on October 27, 2013. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  39. ^ "French album certifications – ZZ Top – Eliminator" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  40. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (ZZ Top; 'Eliminator')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  41. ^ "New Zealand album certifications – ZZ Top – Eliminator". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  42. ^ "British album certifications – ZZ Top – Eliminator". British Phonographic Industry.Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Eliminator in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  43. ^ "American album certifications – ZZ Top – Eliminator". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links[]

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