30 Years Ago: ZZ Top Releases ‘Afterburner’

On this day 30 years ago (Oct. 28, 1985), ZZ Top released the album Afterburner. The band's ninth album, it was a financial success going several times platinum and launching several hit singles including "Sleeping Bag," "Rough Boy," and "Velcro Fly."

The band kept the synthesizers around for "Afterburner," which followed the success of ZZ Top's blockbuster, 10 million plus selling album "Eliminator." A rating of 3 out of 5 stars was given by rock critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic. He stated, "Well, if you just had you're biggest hit ever, you'd try to replicate it too. And if you were praised for being visionary because you played all your blues grooves to a slightly sequenced beat, you'd probably be tempted to not just continue in that direction, but to tighten the sequencer and graft on synthesizers, since it'll all signal how futuristic you are. Problem is no matter how much you dress ZZ Top up, they're still ZZ Top. Sometimes they can trick you into thinking they're a little flashier than usual, but their still a lil' ol' blues band out of Texas, kicking out blues-rockers."

The band achieved their first number 1 Mainstream Rock track with the single "Sleeping Bag."