Here are five tunes to blast this weekend in honor of late ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard

Like a great many rock and blues fans around the globe, I was really sorry to hear the news that Frank Beard, the ironically beardless drummer of the legendarily bearded ZZ Top, had died at the age of 77.

The band is in the midst of a tour, plans to continue, but will do so with only one original member, vocalist and axeman Billy Gibbons, following the 2021 death of bassist Dusty Hill.

I was admittedly late to the ZZ Top part in my music listening journey, but over the last few years they’ve become one of my go-to bands.

Just good old-fashioned blues-rock tunes about cheap sunglasses, women with legs who know how to use them, and men who are sharply dressed.

So, let’s pay homage to Mr. Beard and run through a few songs we should all be blasting this weekend in his honor.

It’s kind of wild that a song about waiting for a bus has one of the most infectious grooves in the band’s body of work, but it does.

"Waitin’ for the Bus" kicks off ZZ Top’s 1973 album "Tres Hombres," and it lets you know that you’re in for some serious, down-and-dirty blues rock.

The main riff is one of my favorites and is just one of those that makes you involuntarily nod your head with a "stinkface."

You know the look.

Beard’s playing is stellar, especially during the harmonica and guitar solos, and then they segue seamlessly into a straight-ahead blues tune in "Jesus Just Left Chicago."

Now that’s how you start a record.

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One of the last things you’d think you’d ever hear out of a blues band from Texas is them throwing some synthesizers into the mix, but ZZ Top did it, and it’s brilliant.

"Eliminator" is an all-time album from top to bottom, and is really the sound I think of when I think of ZZ Top.

"Gimme All Your Lovin’" is a classic in its own right, and I love the opening drum part from Beard that gets the song going.

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In fact, I think almost everyone can tell what song is about to start with those first two snare hits.

That’s practically the definition of an iconic song in my book.

And the chorus? Good luck not singing along to it.

This list may make it obvious, but I’d say my two favorite ZZ Top albums are "Tres Hombres" and "Eliminator."

Kind of strange because the first is a classic, down-and-dirty blues-rock record, while the other has deliciously ‘80s synthesizers thrown into the mix on top of it.

That doesn’t seem like it should work, but it obviously does.

I love that they didn’t go overboard with synths and drum machines; they used them to accent what they were already doing. "TV Dinners" is a prime example of it.

The rhythmic synth part just adds to what Beard is playing and completes a song with an undeniable groove to it.

There aren't many records that have tried to mesh a traditional style of music like blues with what was cutting-edge technology at the time.

Believe me, I've looked for them, and I think the closest modern album to those ZZ Top gems from the 1980s is Sturgill Simpson's 2019 album "Sound & Fury."

I had never heard of this gem off of "Deguelo" until I was watching the documentary "ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas," and it blew my mind.

It has this big, ugly riff — a description I offer in the most complimentary way imaginable — that makes little to no musical sense, and I'm pretty sure that's because it’s supposed to sound like an engine.

You’d think it would be almost impossible to come up with a drum part to go with that bizarre riff, but Frank Beard pulled it off.

He somehow managed to play a part that adds to the machine-like sound of the riff, but is still musical with a cool backbeat to it.

It’s so, so good, and while that opening riff is the one that stands out because it is so unusual, the one that comes later in the song (it kind of reminds me of the closing riff from the Black Sabbath song "War Pigs") is a winner as well.

I was introduced to this tune after hearing one of my favorite bands, Clutch, do a cover of it.

So, I went back to "Tres Hombres" and checked it out.

It’s another song that starts with a cool little fill from Frank and another that has a bit of an off-kilter feel to it.

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As we touched on with "Manic Mechanic," Beard’s playing feels so thoughtful and serves the song so well.

The best part, in my opinion, is when they veer away from the money riff and into a quick, flowing, almost epic-sounding bridge section where the drums really shine.

What a tune.