Sharp Dressed Man

ZZ Top, 1983. Solo by Billy Gibbons.

A synth-era hit with blues-guitar teeth.

The solo arrives after the second chorus and runs for over a minute, one of Billy Gibbons' longest statements on Eliminator. Accounts of the gear differ, but the sound is clear: greasy slide phrases and sharp, bluesy bends layered over a relentless, machine-steady groove. The contrast between the glossy synth-era production and the raw blues guitar is what makes the song work. It proved that a band could chase the sound of the 1980s without losing its roots, and the full-length break is a highlight of the video too. Listen for the slide lines weaving around the fretted bends; the two layers make the solo feel thicker and more swaggering than a single guitar could.

Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top is ranked #73 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Billy Gibbons and the song was released in 1983. It appears on 10 lists, placing as high as #34 (Classic Rock (Louder)).

The story of Sharp Dressed Man

By the early 1980s ZZ Top were reshaping their Texas boogie for a new decade. During the run-up to Eliminator, pre-production engineer Linden Hudson introduced Billy Gibbons to drum machines and helped program rhythm patterns and set tempos for demos. The resulting songs locked the trio's blues riffs to steady, machine-like pulses and synthesizer textures, and Sharp Dressed Man was among the first ZZ Top tracks to fold synths into the sound. Gibbons later summed it up as a pairing of a techno beat with bar-band blues.

The song's premise is simple: good clothes make a man irresistible. According to Songfacts, Gibbons found the phrase via a film character billed as the Sharp-Eyed Man, possibly in the 1981 thriller The Amateur, and twisted it into a hook about sartorial swagger. The credited writers are Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard, although Hudson's broader role on the album later became the subject of a successful lawsuit over songwriting credit.

Eliminator was cut in 1982 at Ardent Studios in Memphis, at engineer Terry Manning's home studio and at Beard's home setup in Texas, with manager Bill Ham credited as producer. Manning engineered and mixed the record and contributed keyboards and programmed drums, and singer Jimi Jamison added background vocals to this track. Gibbons recalled that rhythm parts were doubled heavily and the amplifiers were simply turned up to full volume, and that mixes were checked for how they sounded on car speakers.

Warner Bros. released the song as a single in July 1983 backed with I Got the Six, trimming it to about three minutes. Its video, directed by Tim Newman, picked up the story from Gimme All Your Lovin' and is often cited as the first sequel music video, with a parking valet transformed by three women and the band's red Eliminator coupe. Heavy MTV rotation carried the song to No. 8 on Billboard's rock chart and the UK Top 30.

The solo

The solo arrives after the second chorus and runs for over a minute, one of Gibbons' longest statements on Eliminator. Songfacts reports that it combines two layered guitar lines: one played with a slide on a Fender Esquire and another on Pearly Gates, Gibbons' 1959 Les Paul, in standard tuning. The Eliminator article, by contrast, says Gibbons tracked much of the album on Dean guitars fitted with DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups, running into a Legend hybrid amplifier captured with an AKG 414 condenser, so accounts of the exact rig differ. Either way, the break mixes greasy slide phrases with sharp, bluesy bends over the relentless drum-machine groove, and the single edit shortened the instrumental sections while the video kept the full take. Guitar World ranked it No. 43 among the 50 greatest guitar solos in 2009.

Legacy

Sharp Dressed Man became one of ZZ Top's signature hits and a centerpiece of their MTV breakthrough, with its video forming a loose trilogy alongside Gimme All Your Lovin' and Legs. Guitar World placed its solo among the 50 greatest in 2009. The track has been a soundtrack fixture, appearing in Evan Almighty and TV shows from Miami Vice to Twin Peaks, and after the 2020 documentary That Little Ol' Band from Texas it re-entered Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart at No. 14.

Top 10 facts about Sharp Dressed Man

Songfacts says the title idea came from a film character credited as the Sharp-Eyed Man, possibly from the 1981 movie The Amateur.
Songfacts
It was one of the first ZZ Top songs to use synthesizers, which Gibbons called a marriage of a techno beat and bar-band blues.
Songfacts
The solo layers a slide part on a Fender Esquire with a standard-tuned line on Gibbons' 1959 Les Paul, Pearly Gates.
Songfacts
Singer Jimi Jamison sang background vocals on the track, and Bob Ludwig mastered it.
Wikipedia
Guitar World ranked the solo No. 43 in its 2009 list of the 50 greatest guitar solos.
Wikipedia
The video continued the story of Gimme All Your Lovin' and is described as the first sequel music video.
Songfacts
A beer company reportedly paid for product placement in the video, but MTV refused to air those shots.
Wikipedia
Pre-production engineer Linden Hudson, who introduced Gibbons to drum machines, later won a $600,000 judgment over songwriting on Eliminator.
Wikipedia
Gibbons recalled that Eliminator's rhythm tracks were heavily doubled with the amps turned all the way up.
Jas Obrecht
After the 2020 documentary That Little Ol' Band from Texas, the song reached No. 14 on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
Wikipedia

Live versions

Live from Texas (Nokia Theatre, Grand Prairie) (2008) Filmed and recorded November 1, 2007 and released in 2008 as part of the band's official live album and video.
Orange Bowl halftime show (2008) ZZ Top played the song during halftime of the 2008 Orange Bowl college football game.
VH1 Fashion Awards (1997) A fitting showcase: the band performed it surrounded by male models and dancers.
The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour (with Lynyrd Skynyrd) (2023) The co-headlining tour was named after this song and Skynyrd's Simple Man.

Notable covers

Brad Paisley (2002) Country version on the tribute album Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top.
Nickelback (2007) Performed as a tribute at VH1 Rock Honors; Gibbons had guested on Nickelback records.
Weezer with ZZ Top (as Wee-Z Top) (2015) Joint mash-up performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live's Mash Up Mondays.

In our lists

See Them Live — #20
The Road Trip 50 — #18
The 25 Greatest Blues Rock Guitar Solos — #20
The 1980s — #15
Solos in Hit Singles — #18
Played on a Les Paul — #19
Most Divisive — #21

Sources

Who played the guitar solo on Sharp Dressed Man?

Billy Gibbons played the solo on ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man (1983).

What guitar was used on the Sharp Dressed Man solo?

A gibson les paul, according to widely reported accounts.

Where does Sharp Dressed Man rank among the greatest guitar solos?

#73 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 79 published lists; it appears on 10 of them.

Who wrote Sharp Dressed Man?

It is credited to ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard.

What album is Sharp Dressed Man on?

It appears on ZZ Top's 1983 album Eliminator, released by Warner Bros. and produced by Bill Ham.

What guitar did Billy Gibbons use on the Sharp Dressed Man solo?

Songfacts says he layered a slide part on a Fender Esquire with a line on his 1959 Les Paul, Pearly Gates; other accounts say Eliminator was largely tracked on Dean guitars.

Who are the women in the Sharp Dressed Man video?

The three women who transform the valet are Jeana Tomasino, Kymberly Herrin and Danièle Arnaud.

Is there a drum machine on Sharp Dressed Man?

The Eliminator sessions made heavy use of drum machines and synths, introduced by engineer Linden Hudson and programmed with Terry Manning, giving the song its steady mechanical pulse.