“Jeff Beck arranged delivery with Marshall’s first factory arrival into the States, loading ZZ Top’s stage with stacks”: Billy Gibbons tells the tale of how an accident with a knife –and a British guitar great – set them up to conquer the ’80s

ZZ Top's Dusty Hill [left] and Billy Gibbons get their work clothes on as they perform live in 1981.

In the mid-’80s, ZZ Top went from being a group of Texas-bred blues bangers to a chart-topping powerhouse on the strength of albums like 1983’s Eliminator and 1985’s Afterburner. But neither of those now-classic albums could’ve happened without the “bridge album” that preceded them, 1981’s El Loco.

“The band, in the midst of the ongoing roadshows, returned to take advantage of some rare, non-performing days with re-entry into the studio in the early ’80s,” says ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons (via email) when looking back on this tweener period. He adds that the band’s aim was simple: “To make loud noise in Las Vegas, Memphis, Houston and back home in Los Angeles.”