+++ NAME: Linden Hudson (77 years old)(secretly famous, see below for details).

+++ www.facebook.com/linden.hudson.7/

+++ forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/welcome-linden-hudson-of-z...

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+++ HOME: Texas Gulf Coast, Metro Area, USA

+++ PROFESSIONAL LIFE: Linden Hudson: freelance Location Sound Engineer for Video & Film production 30 years (semi-retired). Linden's worked TV interviews with 4 USA PRESIDENTS (secret service clearance). He's worked in the NASA audio department (6 shuttle missions), did a day shoot with/for FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, did tv jobs for 2 SUPER BOWLS & a WORLD SERIES . Traveled worldwide for hundreds of film/video jobs. Linden's worked cop show crack house busts, high speed chases & crime scenes. Worked in hurricanes for CBS, ABC, NBC News Florida to Texas & he’s worked network TV on some of histories worst disasters (F5 tornado aftermath, Moore OK), Oklahoma City bombing, robberies, murder trials. He's been in caves in Mexico with PBS. Worked with countless stars & superstars.

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SECRET FAME: Before Film & Video biz, Linden spent 20 years as a recording studio engineer, recording bands.

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My work on Eliminator (1983) marked the peak of my involvement with ZZ Top. I spent a year collaborating with Billy Gibbons at Frank Beard’s home studio, where we built demos, shaped arrangements, and laid down technical blueprints. I introduced synthesizer-driven bass lines, programmed drums, and crafted the pumping synth effect that ended up defining “Legs.”

Demos for tracks like “Thug,” “Under Pressure,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” and “TV Dinners” came out of those sessions. I programmed the drums, sequenced the synths, and in some cases wrote key musical or lyrical motifs. I had a theory about ideal BPM—around 120 to 124—that guided the pacing and helped shape the album’s commercial energy. Eliminator went on to sell over 11 million copies in the U.S. and earned diamond certification.

Over time, biographers like David Blayney, Deborah Frost, and David Sinclair began crediting me as a major architect of the album’s sound. Even Billy eventually acknowledged my role—decades later. Nearly every serious retrospective agrees: my input helped ZZ Top break into mainstream pop without losing their identity. The sequencers, drum machines, and electronic textures I brought in didn’t just modernize their sound—they built a blueprint for blending rock with dance music. That shift drove the MTV hits and reshaped their global image.