ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons unexpectedly became a fan of the British synth-pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark after seeing them on television in 1980. The encounter helped reshape ZZ Top’s sound, showing how a blues-rock band could draw inspiration from new wave technology and achieve a major commercial reinvention.

Gibbons was struck by OMD’s synthesiser-led approach and incorporated synthesisers and drum machines into ZZ Top’s music, beginning with 1981’s El Loco. That direction was developed more fully on 1983’s Eliminator, whose polished electronic rhythms and video-driven singles helped make it the band’s international breakthrough.