Under the Hood: Dusty Hill Remembers When Blues & Rock Meant Trouble

ZZ Top is a perennial favorite among concertgoers nationwide. Their mixture of straight ahead rock & roll and deep driving blues has proven to be a formula for success. But ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill can remember a time when blues and rock meant trouble.

The neighborhood I lived in, they didn’t listen to that music. And they thought it was going to influence the youth of America badly. I mean Rock & Roll was having a hard enough time, and they did not want to know where that came from. It sounds silly now in a way, but back then these people took it quite seriously. I mean, a lot of people didn’t want to listen to Elvis. That’s now so strange now, but it was true. So they sure didn’t want to listen to Muddy Waters. - Dusty Hill