Afterburner (album)

Afterburner is the ninth studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top, released in 1985. Afterburner was a financial success, going several times platinum and launching several hit singles, the most successful of which was "Sleeping Bag" which peaked at No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the UK, it was the band's second album to be certified by the British Phonographic Industry, attaining Gold (100,000 units) in 1985. In 1990, it was certified Platinum (300,000 units), to date their final Platinum certification in the UK.

The song "Can't Stop Rockin'" was used in the 1993 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. The song "Velcro Fly" was an element in Stephen King's The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands; Eddie keeps hearing drums playing in the distance and thinks it sounds like, then later realizes it is, the drum track for "Velcro Fly".

Reception
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic retrospectively gave it 3 stars out of 5, stating: "Well, if you just had your biggest hit ever, you'd probably 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 they're still a lil' ol' blues band from Texas, kicking out blues-rockers. And blues-rock just doesn't kick when it's synthesized. [...] All this means that Afterburner is merely a product of its time -- the only record ZZ Top could have made at the time, but it hardly exists out of that time."

Robert Christgau gave a B score, stating: "With sales on Eliminator over five mil almost by accident, this hard-boogieing market strategy is defined by conscious commercial ambition--by its all but announced intention of making ZZ the next Bruce/Madonna/Prince/Michael, with two beards and a Beard at every checkout counter." Christgau cited "Rough Boy" and "Velcro Fly" as the highlights of the album.

The album was the band's first to hit number 1, topping the charts in New Zealand. It peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200, at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, and at number 6 on the Australian albums chart.

Track listing
All songs by Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard.


 * Side one
 * 1) "Sleeping Bag" – 4:03
 * 2) "Stages" – 3:32
 * 3) "Woke Up with Wood" – 3:45
 * 4) "Rough Boy" – 4:50
 * 5) "Can't Stop Rockin'" – 3:02


 * Side two
 * 1) "Planet of Women" – 4:09
 * 2) "I Got the Message" – 3:27
 * 3) "Velcro Fly" – 3:29
 * 4) "Dipping Low (In the Lap of Luxury)" – 3:11
 * 5) "Delirious" – 3:41

Personnel

 * Billy Gibbons – guitar, lead (1-4, 6-9) and backing vocals
 * Dusty Hill – bass guitar, backing and lead (5, 10) vocals, keyboards
 * Frank Beard – drums

Production

 * Producer – Bill Ham
 * Engineers – Joe Hardy, Bob Ludwig
 * Art director – Jeri McManus
 * Design – Jeri McManus
 * Art work – Barry E. Jackson

Charts
Album – Billboard (United States)

Singles – Billboard (United States)