ZZ Top - hard rock or not?

[Texas King]

I think they are.

 

You?

[toymaker]

boogie blues with an edge

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Hard southern rock for sure. They can really rock out when they want, but it's that blues that's at the heart of their sound.

[Maverick]

Texas blues rock, you heard?

[rocket ignites]

How do make a Kleenex dance. You put a little boogie in it.

 

Southern bluesy boogie rock in roll.

[Ancient Ways]

Hard southern rock for sure. They can really rock out when they want, but it's that blues that's at the heart of their sound.

I would definitely not classify them as southern rock. Texas boogie and southern rock completely different animals. I don’t have a problem callin them hard rock but they’re one of the few bands that would be comfortable playing a dance hall while couples did a little two step on the floor in that genre.

[Lorraine]

[Lucas]

"hard rock" would not be the best description ... but I think ZZ Top would fit in on a radio station dedicated to hard rock

 

I would not call them a "hard rock band"

[J2112YYZ]

I have no problem calling them hard rock. Billy can certainly have a heavier kind of guitar tone. Especially when it's compared to other blues based rock players.

 

Maybe hard blues is a better way to describe them.

[goose]

 

[goose]

 

:7up:

[goose]

 

:guitar:

[goose]

 

Damn my soul, that's tasty...

 

:fury:

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Hard southern rock for sure. They can really rock out when they want, but it's that blues that's at the heart of their sound.

I would definitely not classify them as southern rock. Texas boogie and southern rock completely different animals. I don’t have a problem callin them hard rock but they’re one of the few bands that would be comfortable playing a dance hall while couples did a little two step on the floor in that genre.

 

Perhaps I don't know enough about the south, but I was under the impression if a rock band was from the south (or southwest) and had a reasonably bluesy, twangy, or country sound to them, they were pretty much a southern rock band.

 

A few famous bands I'd call southern rock:

CCR

Eagles

Lynyrd Skynyrd (the quintessential one)

R.E.M. (to an extent, they saw themselves as very southern, and many others did)

ZZ Top

The Black Crowes

Allman Brothers Band

 

Seem right by you?

[Rick N. Backer]

Hard southern rock for sure. They can really rock out when they want, but it's that blues that's at the heart of their sound.

I would definitely not classify them as southern rock. Texas boogie and southern rock completely different animals. I don’t have a problem callin them hard rock but they’re one of the few bands that would be comfortable playing a dance hall while couples did a little two step on the floor in that genre.

 

Perhaps I don't know enough about the south, but I was under the impression if a rock band was from the south (or southwest) and had a reasonably bluesy, twangy, or country sound to them, they were pretty much a southern rock band.

 

A few famous bands I'd call southern rock:

CCR

Eagles

Lynyrd Skynyrd (the quintessential one)

R.E.M. (to an extent, they saw themselves as very southern, and many others did)

ZZ Top

The Black Crowes

Allman Brothers Band

 

Seem right by you?

 

I don't think of CCR as a southern rock band, more of a straight classic rock band. Early Eagles were southern rock, but as time went on I think they became more of a classic rock band. REM I think of as an "indie" band more than anything else.

 

To your list I'd add Molly Hatchet, .38 Special, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Blackfoot.

[Rick N. Backer]

Oh, and as to the OP, I think ZZ Top is a hard rock band. I think the problem with placing bands in that genre is that many bands that I think of as "metal bands" (AC/DC and DLR Van Halen leap to mind immediately) are not considered "metal" by a lot of younger fans, but hard rock. I think AC/DC is heavier than ZZ Top.

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

A magnificent mix of blues and boogie.

[treeduck]

Metal!

 

:haz:

[Geddy Jazz]

dunno :unsure:

[Nate2112]

ZZ Top is a heavier, bluesy Dire Straits, at least from what I've heard.

[Stormtron]

Songs like Just Got Paid and Ten Dollar Man rock with the best of them. I have no problem calling them hard rock.

[Tick]

I say no

[treeduck]

ZZ Top is a heavier, bluesy Dire Straits, at least from what I've heard.

[treeduck]

I say no

:atickhum: :atickhum: :atickhum: :atickhum: :atickhum:

:atickhum: :atickhum: :atickhum: :atickhum: :atickhum:

[Stormtron]

ZZ Top is a heavier, bluesy Dire Straits, at least from what I've heard.

 

Yeah, I don't get that either. Dire Straits is laid back and atmospheric, with a lot of their songs having a real cinematic quality. ZZ Top is pretty straight forward bluesy hard rock. The closest they ever came to sounding alike was Knopfler trying to mimic Billy's 80s tone on Money for Nothing.