Sharp Dressed Man

"Sharp Dressed Man"
Single by ZZ Top
from the album Eliminator
B-side	"I Got the Six"
Released	July 1983
Recorded	1982
Genre	Blues rock[1] synth-pop[2] Southern rock[3] electronic rock[4]
Length	4:13 (album version) 3:01 (single edit)
Label	Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)	Billy Gibbons Dusty Hill Frank Beard
Producer(s)	Bill Ham
ZZ Top singles chronology
"Gimme All Your Lovin'" (1983) "Sharp Dressed Man" (1983) "TV Dinners" (1983)

"Sharp Dressed Man" is a song by American rock band ZZ Top, released on their 1983 album Eliminator. The song was produced by band manager Bill Ham, and recorded and mixed by Terry Manning. Pre-production recording engineer Linden Hudson was very involved in the early stages of this song's production.^[5]

Composition

The guitar solo in the song was chosen by Guitar World as number 43 in their 2009 list of the 50 Greatest Guitar Solos.^[6]

Appearances

At 2007's VH1 Rock Honors, Nickelback covered the song as a tribute (Billy Gibbons had earlier made a guest appearance on Nickelback's own songs "Rockstar" and "Follow You Home").

ZZ Top played this song at halftime of the 2008 Orange Bowl college football bowl game.

In 2020, the song reentered the Billboard charts following the release of the documentary ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas.^[7]

Music video

The "Sharp Dressed Man" music video continues the story of the "Gimme All Your Lovin'" video, and forms a loose trilogy ending with the video for "Legs". In the video, a male parking valet is remade as a star by a trio of women driving up in the Eliminator car; the band grants him the keys to the car.^[8]

The video was directed by Tim Newman, who had also directed the video for "Gimme All Your Lovin'". Warner Bros. Records record executive Jeff Ayeroff said that Warner did not want to do a second video, but he convinced them to pay more money for the "Sharp Dressed Man" video.^[9] Newman said, "When they asked me to do another one, the idea that you would do a sequel in a form that isn't even a form struck me as funny, in a very insidery way." He said that a beer company, likely Schlitz, secretly paid Warner for a product placement in the video, but MTV refused to air it until the shots were removed. After this damaged his reputation, Newman told Warner he would no longer direct their videos.^[9] After negotiating, he returned to direct the video for "Legs".^[10]

Charts

Chart (1983–1985)	Peak position
Australian Kent Music Report	66[11]
Belgian VRT Top 30	15
Dutch Singles Chart	9[12]
Irish Singles Chart	8
U.K. Singles Chart	22[13]
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	56[14]
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	8[15]

Chart (2020)	Peak position
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[16]	14

Chart (2021)	Peak position
Hungary (Single Top 40)[17]	30

Year-end charts

Chart (1985)	Position
Dutch Top 40	81

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[18] with "I Got the Six"	Gold	400,000^‡
^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Personnel

• Billy Gibbons – vocals, lead and rhythm guitars
• Dusty Hill – bass, keyboards
• Frank Beard – drums
• Linden Hudson – preproduction engineer^[5][19][20]
• Terry Manning – engineer

References

1. Gundersen, Edna (December 21, 2013). "Catalog box sets sum up Beatles, Dylan, Eagles, Ramones". USA Today. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
2. "ZZ Top: Rhythmeen". RollingStone.com. February 2, 1996. Archived from the original on 2009-05-25. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
3. McCarthy, Amy (March 26, 2024). "20 essential Southern rock classics". Yardbreaker. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
4. Evans, Richard (August 6, 2024). "1983.3". Listening to the Music the Machines Make: Inventing Electronic Pop 1978-1983. Omnibus Press. p. 446. ISBN 978-1-915841-45-2.
5. Blayney, David (1994). Sharp Dressed Men. New York: Hyperion. pp. 196–203. ISBN 0-7868-8005-8.
6. Staff (January 2009). "The 50 Greatest Guitar Solos". Guitar World. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
7. "ZZ Top's New Documentary Spurs Rock Chart Debuts, Streaming & Sales Gains". Billboard.com. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
8. Sheffield, Rob (July 29, 2021). "How ZZ Top Conquered MTV With the 'Eliminator' Trilogy". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
9. Tannenbaum, Rob; Marks, Craig (2012). I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. Penguin. pp. 115–120. ISBN 9780452298569.
10. Tannenbaum, Rob; Marks, Craig (2012). I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. Penguin. pp. 115–120. ISBN 9780452298569.
11. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
12. "Top 40: ZZ Top – Sharp Dressed Man". Top40.nl. Retrieved 2014-08-09.
13. "Sharp Dressed Man". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
14. "Music: Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
15. "Rock Music: Top Mainstream Rock Songs Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
16. "ZZ Top Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
17. "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
18. "British single certifications – ZZ Top – Sharp Dressed Man/I Got the Six". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
19. Frost, Deborah (1985). ZZ Top – Bad and Worldwide. New York: Rolling Stone Press. ISBN 0020029500.
20. Sinclair, David (1986). Tres Hombres: The Story of ZZ Top. Virgin Books. ISBN 0-86369-167-6.