"Cheap Sunglasses" is a 1980 single by ZZ Top

ZZ Top

ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...

 from their 1979

1979 in music

See also:Record labels established in 1979* 1979 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1979.-January–February:*January 1...

 album Degüello

Degüello

Degüello is the sixth studio album by American blues rock band ZZ Top, released in 1979 . "Degüello" means "beheading" or, idiomatically, "no quarter" in Spanish and was the title of a Moorish-origin bugle call used by the Mexican Army forces at the Battle of the Alamo, Texas, in 1836.Degüello...

. It is one of their most famous songs and includes the use of some odd instruments. The song captures many of the sounds and beats that ZZ Top is famous for. It is also featured on the greatest hits collections ZZ Top's Greatest Hits

ZZ Top's Greatest Hits

Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by American blues-rock band ZZ Top, released in 1992 . "Viva Las Vegas" and "Gun Love" are the two new tracks.-Track listing:...

, Chrome, Smoke & BBQ

Chrome, Smoke & BBQ

Chrome, Smoke & BBQ is a box set by American blues-rock band ZZ Top, released in 2003. This box set is notable for using the original mixes for all of the tracks from the band's first 5 albums for the first time on the CD format...

and Rancho Texicano

Rancho Texicano

Rancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top is a best of album by American blues-rock band ZZ Top, released in 2004 . The title is a portmanteau of "texan" and "mexicano", meaning "Tex-mex Ranch". The compilation is essentially a pared-down version of the box set Chrome, Smoke & BBQ, released the...

. In addition, a live version of the song appears on Chrome, Smoke & BBQ and Rancho Texicano.

In a Guitar World

Guitar World

Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...

article, lead guitarist Billy Gibbons

Billy Gibbons

William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959...

 said that he used a Marshall Major amplifier and a Maestro ring modulator on this song, and that the amplifier had a blown tube during recording which added to the tonal character of the song. The Marshall Major is a 200 watt

Watt

The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...

 version of the classic Marshall 100 watt head made slightly taller.

Charts

Chart (1980)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	89

Other versions

The Warren Brothers released a country version of the song in 2002 for the album Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top

Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top

Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top is a tribute album released in 2002 featuring various country music artists performing classic ZZ Top songs.-Critical reception:...

.

Personnel

• Billy Gibbons
  Billy Gibbons
  William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959...
  
   - lead vocals, lead & rhythm guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Dusty Hill
  Dusty Hill
  Joseph Michael "Dusty" Hill is the bassist and vocalist with the American rock group ZZ Top.-History:Hill was in Dallas, Texas and grew up in the Lakewood neighborhood of East Dallas...
  
   - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Frank Beard
  Frank Beard (musician)
  Frank Lee Beard is the drummer in the rock band ZZ Top. Beard was formerly with the bands The Cellar Dwellars, who originally were a three-piece band, The Hustlers, The Warlocks, and American Blues before starting to play and record with Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill as ZZ Top.Beard was born in...
  
   - drums

Footnotes

1. Alan Paul "Prime Cuts: ZZ Top." Guitarworld.com, December 3, 2009.