In one of rock’s great ironies — the only man in ZZ Top without an iconic beard happened to have Beard as a last name.
Despite what some people think, this wasn’t some pre-planned joke by the band. Frank Lee Beard was born in 1949. Twenty years later, he’d join ZZ Top, but at that early point of their career, the band was (relatively) clean shaven.
Throughout the ‘70s, ZZ Top established itself as the premiere purveyors of country-fried blues rock. The band was successful, but towards the end of the decade they were burned out. In 1977, the trio’s members – Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Beard – opted to take a break. When they reconvened two years later, things looked very different.
The Origins of ZZ Top’s Beards
During ZZ Top’s hiatus, Gibbons traveled the world, Hill took a job at an airport and Beard tried to get sober. Coincidentally, none of the men made shaving a priority. In the documentary ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas, Beard recalled being surprised when he saw his bandmates.
“I had a beard, but it wasn’t (even) near the beard they had,” the drummer remarked. “So I shaved it pretty right after we got back together when I saw they (had much more beard than I had).”
READ MORE: Top 10 ZZ Top Frank Beard Songs
“Frank didn’t mind being beardless,” Gibbons chimed in. “After all he had the name and he could go in the shopping mall without being interrupted.”
In a separate interview, Gibbons was even more forthright regarding the facial hair origins. “We’d gotten really, really lazy,” he admitted to the Caller-Times. “Nobody had bothered to shave. In simple terms, that’s exactly how it started.”
ZZ Top Refused to Shave
While ZZ Top’s long beards became an iconic part of their appearance, Beard opted to maintain a mustache instead. While the original reason was because he couldn’t maintain face fur as impressive as his bandmates, there was also a more practical purpose: Gibbons and Hill had beards that stretched all the way down to their chest. If he’d matched that look, Beard’s beard could have become a hindrance while drumming.
ZZ Top’s image became an important part of their history, with Gibbons and Hill even turning down $1 million from Gillette to shave their famous facial hair. Beard, meanwhile, saw the humor in being the band’s only beardless member – even if it wasn’t originally planned that way.
Ranking Every ZZ Top Album
From the first album to ‘La Futura,’ we check out the Little ‘ol Band From Texas’ studio records.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
