ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons has confirmed that Gillette once offered the band's members $1 million each to shave off their iconic beards for a commercial.
The 76-year-old guitarist joined comedian Jay Mohr for the Mohr Stories podcast, where he was asked about the razor company allegedly making the lucrative offer for them to shave for a commercial that would run during the Super Bowl.
"It's true," Gibbons said. "But they deny it. It was a million dollars per man."
The legendary Houston band, which included the late long-bearded bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard (who ironically did not sport the same length of facial hair), gave the offer some serious thought, even seeking the advice of veteran music publicist Bob Merlis,
"We called Mr. Merlis," Gibbons remembered. "I said, 'Bob, we got this offer.' 'What?' I said, 'We've been offered a million dollars each to shave on TV.' He said, 'Well,' he said, 'The money's good.' He said, 'You might as well consider doing it, but I'm not so sure you guys — any of you guys — know what's under there.' So we passed. We passed, and our fans loved it. Word got out."
Gibbons and Hill first grew their beards back in the late '70s, while taking a break from music. In a 2024 interview with Dan Rather, Gibbons would explain that they grew their facial hair out of pure laziness, adding, "what started out as a disguise, turned into a trademark."
Fun fact: the only photographic evidence of Frank Beard living up to his name was in a band photo for the inner sleeve for ZZ Top's 1979 album, Degüello. But according to Gibbons, Beard "quickly grabbed the razor and went to town" soon afterwards.
Watch the clip below and check out the full interview here.