Eliminator (album)

Eliminator
Studio album by
ZZ Top
ReleasedMarch 23, 1983
Recorded1982
Studio
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, and rose high on the charts in many countries. Four hit singles were released—"Gimme All Your Lovin'" which reached the American Top 40, "Sharp Dressed Man", "TV Dinners" and their most successful single, "Legs". Eliminator is ZZ Top's most commercially successful release, with sales of 11 million and diamond certification in the US.[4]

Since El Loco in 1981, the bandleader, Billy Gibbons, had been moving ZZ Top's boogie and blues rock style towards the popular new wave style. For Eliminator, he increased the tempo and used more synthesizers and drum machines, producing a "tighter" album with a steady, driving beat.[1] The pre-production engineer Linden Hudson collaborated with Gibbons in Texas on the tempo and songs. The producer Bill Ham and the engineer Terry Manning joined Gibbons in Memphis, Tennessee, to edit the songs, replacing much of the contributions of bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard. Ham claimed the album was solely the work of ZZ Top, but in 1986 Hudson won a lawsuit establishing himself as composer of the song "Thug".

Music videos for "Gimme All Your Lovin'", "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" received regular rotation on MTV and helped ZZ Top gain popularity with a younger base. A customized 1933 Ford coupe, depicted on the album cover, appeared in the videos. Following Eliminator's release, ZZ Top embarked on a worldwide concert tour.

The video for "Legs" earned the band the MTV Video Music Award for Best Group. Rolling Stone named Eliminator number 398 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[5] It was listed at number 39 in The 100 Greatest Albums of the 80s, and it was also included in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[6] A remastered version was released in 2008.

  1. ^ a b c 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. ^ "ZZ Top Vs. Blue Oyster Cult - Ultimate Classic Rock Hall of Fame, Round One". Ultimate Classic Rock. December 5, 2013.
  4. ^ Patoski, Joe Nick (December 1996). "Still ZZ After All These Years". Texas Monthly.
  5. ^ "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. May 31, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  6. ^ Dimery, Robert (2005). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (1st ed.). London: Cassell Publishing. p. 511. ISBN 978-1844037353.