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Mon 17 August 2026 6:00, UK

Billy Gibbons has a really varied taste when it comes to the music he likes to listen to.

Everyone who’s a fan likely knows him as a blues musician, and so they’re probably surprised when they read about him and learn that he was a huge fan of Depeche Mode. That’s no slight on Depeche Mode, but you have to admit, they’re not really the kind of band you could imagine Gibbons ever checking out, and yet, he loved them.

“The sound was just so bombastically beautiful. It was heavy as lead,” he said. “There was no drummer; how could this possibly be? But it was h-e-a-v-y, emphasis on each letter of that word.”

You can hear this variety at the centre of a lot of his music. ZZ Top aren’t a band you can easily categorise; there is blues within their sound, sure, but you also get the likes of funk, rock, and R&B interwoven through it. Gibbons has an in-depth knowledge of different instruments and sounds, which means he can pick out a great performer no matter what kind of genre they’re operating in.

The bar was set very high for him when he was younger. His Dad worked within the music industry and so would often take him to the studio and to different rehearsal spaces to see the musicians that he figured his son would like. You can imagine the kind of musicians that Gibbons was being taken to see when his Dad was making music on the cusp of rock ‘n’ roll, can’t you? Put it this way, two of the first up-close and personal jams we ever witnessed were Elvis Presley and BB King.

“My dad was an entertainer. When I was seven years old, he said, ‘Listen, hop in the car. I wanna take you with me. I’ve got business to take care of at the recording studio,’” recalled Gibbons. “We went into the studio, he parked me in a chair and said, ‘You’ll probably like this, they’re recording a band. I’ll be in the office if you need me…’ It turned out to be a BB King recording session… So, between seeing Elvis Presley and BB King, I thought, ‘Man, this is it. This is for me!’”

Being exposed to such great music so early on, though, didn’t put Gibbons off experiencing other styles and sounds. Take Depeche Mode, for instance. When Gibbons travelled around the world and got to listen to plenty of different bands and musicians, he always kept an open mind and was excited by the prospect of getting to listen to different musicians. He had already, arguably, seen the best of the best before he had even picked up a guitar and learnt to play it, but he was always on the lookout for other people to get excited over.

One of these came in the form of Joe Cocker. He’s a musician who undoubtedly takes Gibbons right back to his roots, as how can you hear a voice like his and not associate it with the blues? It was more than just the voice that Gibbons liked, though. Even after growing up and being surrounded by rock stars, he still found himself in awe of people who were able to carry themselves like rock stars and embody everything that people love about rock ‘n’ roll. This is what Cocker did for him. From the moment they met, Gibbons knew he was in the presence of the very best.

“We first crossed paths at Texas Stadium in Austin, sharing the bill at our First Annual Rompin’ Stompin’ Barn Dance & Bar BQ back in 1974. As it happened, there was no ‘Second Annual’ edition because of all the rompin’ and stompin’ that took place back at the first and last,” he said, concluding, “Suffice it to say Joe was one of a kind, the very embodiment of rock and roll in terms of talent and spirit.”