ZZ Top Playing Prom.
The picture above is one that definitely falls under the category of curious contrasts through time. This image is of the rock band Z.Z Top as they prepare to play for their high school prom all the way back in 1970, just months after the band formed. The lineup for ZZ Top was the same back then as it is now; Billy Gibbons playing the guitar and singing, Dusty Hill playing bass and also providing vocals, and Frank Beard playing the drums.
This would be long before the band would begin its signature look with Gibbons and Hill sporting long beards and Frank Beard ironically only having a mustache. Back at this time, the boys were clean shaven, an interesting contrast to how they looked when fame and fortune came their way.
The prom took place in Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School where the boys met. After discovering a mutual interest in playing blues and rock and roll music, they decided to form a band together. The name came from the names of their inspirations, Z.Z. Hill and B.B. King. It was originally ZZ King, but they changed it to Top because they felt King was “on top.”
A peculiar thing about this gig was that they had actually already broken out onto the music scene at this time. They had already signed a music contract with a record label and had some popularity at this time. There were even people from other schools crashing the prom just to see the band perform.