ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill dies at 72

Dusty Hill, the bass player who anchored the rock ’n’ roll band ZZ Top for more than 50 years, has died at age 72. Dusty and Beard headed to Houston, spending a little time playing in an imposter version of the British Invasion band the Zombies — Hill later couldn’t explain how that happened, dismissing the whole situation with “It was the ‘60s, man” — before they teamed up with Billy Gibbons, a guitarist who led the psychedelic outfit the Moving Sidewalks. “ZZ Top’s First Album” arrived in 1971, but the band hits its stride on 1973’s “Tres Hombres,” honing its heavy blues and amplifying its Texas roots in both words and image. The boogie-rock groove of “La Grange” brought them their first hit — the single just missed Billboard’s Top 40 —and a photograph of a Tex-Mex feast from Houston’s Leo’s Mexican Restaurant, splashed across the album’s inner gatefold sleeve, launched ZZ Top as de facto ambassadors for Texas culture. When the group returned with “Degüello” in 1979, it brought an unforgettable new image — Gibbons and Hill both sported massive beards — and a more modern sound, incorporating the sleek sonics of new wave, a shift evident on the singles “Cheap Sunglasses” and “Pearl Necklace.” ZZ Top continued to slyly adapt musical fashions without abandoning their blues base, a combination that turned them into superstars when the fledgling cable network MTV embraced the singles from 1983’s synth-heavy “Eliminator.” Accompanied by tongue-in-cheek videos where the group, often flocked by women with big hair and short skirts, bestowed good fortune in those in need, “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs” became smash hits on MTV and radio, turning ZZ Top into the rare ‘70s rock band that thrived in the 1980s.