Dusty Hill Of ZZ Top Dies…I Was Kicked Out Of Bismarck Show ’91

It was a hot August night...August 3, 1991.

Dusty Hill and ZZ Top coming off a European tour in August of 1991.  From playing in Marseille France a month before, to fun in the Dakotas, ZZ Top was ramping up for another leg supporting their Recycler album and scooping up some more cash.  They had hooked up with up-and-coming soon-to-disappear band Extreme to open up for them.

Scott is soon to get kicked out of this show...

I was co-hosting a ZZ Top KHIT-97 party bus from Minot to see the band.That's right, ZZ Top was Top 40 at the time.  A multi-generational bus filled with moms and daughters and dads and sons...and I later got kicked out of the show.

Harrumpph...

So, we get the group to the Civic Center (it was called that back then), and people began to take their seats.  I was also meeting up with some old friends from across the state- ZZ Top right?

Extreme was opening up for ZZ Top.

So my friends had congregated on the concourse and I was out and about making sure all of our listeners were doing OK with their seats.

Extreme came out and were pretty darn good- I remember them wearing huge boxing gloves. Not sure why.

So, I would occasionally stop by my group that were still lingering around the concourse. It seems, every time that I was gone, security came up to the group and told them they couldn't "linger" where they were. Fair enough. The last time I met up with them, was the time security had decided to usher them (myself included) out the door!

Arguing with security..

I argued with security, I insisted to talk to management!  Management smartly decided to never cross security (wise on their part). So after seeing ZZ Top live for only a song or two, I was disappointed. Did the only thing I could and went across the street for a drink(s).

Dusty sang lead vocals on Tush.

Thing was...the opening number to the show was cheerleader girls dancing around and Billy and Dusty spinning their FURRY guitars while the song continued to play.

Odd.

It was an MTV ZZ Top show that I may not have loved anyway.  How did these guys become MTV superstars? But they did, and fantastic for them.

All you need to know is that they should always be just a that little ol' band from Texas. A fantastic documentary that was just made all about it....maybe still on Netflix? If you even have a bit of ZZ Top in you...you damn sure need to watch this YouTube video.  Then go find the documentary.

RIP Dusty Hill...died at age 72 after more than 50 years with the same band.

Perhaps the greatest American band of all time?

Name me a better one.