They’re Old They’re Nationwide After 26 Years, Zz Top Remains A Top-Notch Live Draw On The Road

At this point, 26 years into ZZ Top’s career, most Americans are familiar with the band’s trademarks: The long beards, the cheap sunglasses and the hot rods.

Yes, but what about the ZZ Topper, a gel-filled mattress pad that protects against bed sores? Actually, the band was forced to sue the manufacturers of the ZZ Topper in 1995 for trademark infringement.

I bring this up for one reason: When somebody names a personal hygiene product after you, you know you’ve really hit the big time.

Maybe it would be an exaggeration to call ZZ Top an American institution (it ain’t exactly the Library of Congress), but it is no exaggeration to call the band at least a Texas institution. In 1991, then-Texas Gov. Ann Richards declared ZZ Top Day in Texas, for “bringing the powerful beat of Texas boogie to enthusiastic audiences across the globe.” Gov. George W. Bush even got into the act this year, posing with guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard.

They are, in fact, the prime purveyors of a particular brand of Texas blues-rock. Most of us are familiar with their biggest hits, “Tush,” “Legs,” “Sleeping Bag” and “Gimme All Your Lovin.” If you know those songs, you know the band’s blues-based, distortion-toned formula.

This three-piece combo has been around since 1969, but was strictly a Texas phenomenon until 1973 when “Tres Hombres” went to No. 8 on the Billboard album chart.

From then on, ZZ Top was “nationwide,” to borrow a term from one of their own songs (“I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide”).

The albums “Fandango,” “Tejas” and “Deguello” followed in the ‘70s, but it wasn’t until “Eliminator” in 1983 that ZZ Top truly catapulted into superstar status. That album sold 7 million copies and stayed on the Billboard charts for nearly two solid years, making it one of the longest-charting rock albums of all time. It had legs, in show-biz parlance, which was fitting because “Legs” was the hottest single on the album.

“Eliminator” and its follow-up album, “Afterburner” in 1985, made ZZ Top one of top-selling acts of the ‘80s, and also one of the top concert draws. In fact, the band was the biggest concert draw of any act in America in 1986.

The ‘90s haven’t been quite as hot for ZZ Top, but the band is still impressive. They continue to be a top-notch live draw, with elaborate sets and stage gimmicks. Their most recent album, “Rhythmeen,” came out in October, and Billboard called it “their finest in years.”

And if ZZ Top isn’t enough blues-rock for one concert, then this Gorge show also features another good-time guitar rocker, George Thorogood.

Thorogood made his reputation with such riff-heavy classic rockers as “Bad to the Bone” and “Move It On Over.” He, too, has a new album, “Rockin’ My Life Away,” filled with covers of John Hiatt, Frank Zappa, Merle Haggard, Elmore James and Slim Harpo tunes.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT ZZ Top and George Thorogood will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at The Gorge. Tickets are $43.05 and $27.40, available at Ticketmaster outlets or call (509) 735-0500.