Page "ZZ Top" Paragraph 9

The Eliminator album was not without controversy.

According to former stage manager David Blayney ( 15 years with ZZ Top ) in his book, Sharp Dressed Men, sound engineer Linden Hudson co-wrote much of the material on the album as a live-in high-tech music teacher to Beard and Gibbons.

And, despite continued denials by the band, it settled a five-year legal battle with Hudson, paying him $ 600, 000 after he proved he held the copyright to the song " Thug " which appeared on Eliminator.

David Blayney further described, in his book, the role Linden played in the process of planning and preparing Eliminator.

This was well demonstrated in the writing and making of a demo of the song " Under Pressure ".

Billy and Linden wrote the whole song and created a recorded demo all in one afternoon without either Dusty or Frank even knowing about it.

Linden created the bass on a synthesizer, created drums on a drum machine and helped Billy Gibbons write the lyrics ; Billy performed the guitars and vocals.

David Sinclair, of the London Times, described in his book The Story of ZZ Top how Linden Hudson drew Billy's attention to the possibility of using a drum machine for the final recording of the Eliminator album.

Deborah Frost, writer for Rolling Stone magazine, described in her book ZZ Top – Bad And Worldwide how Linden Hudson researched popular song tempos, then presented Billy Gibbons with the results of his studies.

Linden's data suggested that 120 beats per minute was the most popular tempo in the rock music market at that time.

Billy decided to go for it and recorded most of the Eliminator album at that tempo.