Sharp Dressed Man

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

Single by ZZ Top

title: "Sharp Dressed Man" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1983-singles", "zz-top-songs", "songs-written-by-frank-beard-(musician)", "songs-written-by-dusty-hill", "songs-written-by-billy-gibbons", "warner-records-singles", "1983-songs", "mtv-video-music-award-for-best-direction", "song-recordings-produced-by-bill-ham"] description: "Single by ZZ Top" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Dressed_Man" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Single by ZZ Top ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

Field	Value
name	Sharp Dressed Man
cover	ZZTop SharpDressedMan Single 1983.jpg
type	single
artist	ZZ Top
album	Eliminator
B-side	"I Got the Six"
released	July 1983
recorded	1982
* Blues rock{{cite news	first
* synth-pop{{cite web	url
* Southern rock{{cite web	url
* electronic rock<ref name	"Evans 2024"{{cite book
url	https://books.google.com/books?id=EID8zgEACAAJ}}
label	Warner Bros.
producer	Bill Ham
prev_title	Gimme All Your Lovin'
prev_year	1983
next_title	TV Dinners
next_year	1983
::

Blues rock
synth-pop
Southern rock
electronic rock{{cite book|title= Listening to the Music the Machines Make: Inventing Electronic Pop 1978-1983|first=Richard|last=Evans|date= August 6, 2024|chapter= 1983.3|page= 446|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=978-1-915841-45-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EID8zgEACAAJ}} | length =
4:13 (album version)
3:01 (single edit) | label = Warner Bros. | writer =
Billy Gibbons
Dusty Hill
Frank Beard | composer = | lyricist = | producer = Bill Ham | prev_title = Gimme All Your Lovin' | prev_year = 1983 | title = | next_title = TV Dinners | next_year = 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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 Bros. 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. After negotiating, he returned to direct the video for "Legs".

Charts

::data[format=table] | Chart (1983–1985) | Peak position | |---|---| | Australian Kent Music Report | 66 | | Belgian VRT Top 30 | 15 | | Dutch Singles Chart | 9 | | Irish Singles Chart | 8 | | U.K. Singles Chart | 22 | | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 56 | | U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 8 | ::

::data[format=table] | Chart (2020) | Peak position | |---|---| | | | ::

::data[format=table] | Chart (2021) | Peak position | |---|---| | | | ::

Year-end charts

::data[format=table]

Chart (1985)	Position
Dutch Top 40	81
::

Certifications

Personnel

Billy Gibbons – vocals, lead and rhythm guitars
Dusty Hill – bass, keyboards
Frank Beard – drums
Linden Hudson – preproduction engineer
Terry Manning – engineer

References

Gundersen, Edna. (December 21, 2013). "Catalog box sets sum up Beatles, Dylan, Eagles, Ramones". [[USA Today]].
(February 2, 1996). "ZZ Top: Rhythmeen". RollingStone.com.
McCarthy, Amy. (March 26, 2024). "20 essential Southern rock classics". Yardbreaker.
Blayney, David. (1994). "Sharp Dressed Men". Hyperion.
Staff. (January 2009). "The 50 Greatest Guitar Solos".
"ZZ Top's New Documentary Spurs Rock Chart Debuts, Streaming & Sales Gains".
Sheffield, Rob. (July 29, 2021). "How ZZ Top Conquered MTV With the 'Eliminator' Trilogy".
(2012). "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution". Penguin.
(2012). "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution". Penguin.
Kent, David. (1993). "Australian Chart Book 1970–1992". Australian Chart Book.
"Top 40: ZZ Top – Sharp Dressed Man". Top40.nl.
"Sharp Dressed Man". [[The Official Charts Company]].
"Music: Top 100 Songs {{!}} Billboard Hot 100 Chart".
"Rock Music: Top Mainstream Rock Songs Chart".
Frost, Deborah. (1985). "ZZ Top – Bad and Worldwide". Rolling Stone Press.
Sinclair, David. (1986). "Tres Hombres: The Story of ZZ Top". Virgin Books.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::