Songfacts®:

• This was the first ZZ Top single to use synthesizers; the new sound made them a huge commercial success. Lyrically, the song is a variation on a common theme for the band: sex.
• Van Halen followed ZZ Top's lead a few months later when they used synthesizers on their album 1984. Most of their fans didn't mind, since it still featured the guitar of Eddie Van Halen.
• The video was ZZ Top's first and also the first to have a sequel. Wildly successful on MTV, the clip showed a mechanic/gas station attendant who is working when three beautiful women appear in "The Eliminator," which was a 1933 Ford Hot Rod owned by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Our hero gets the keys to the car, and goes for a ride with the ladies, who return him some time later.
  
  In a brilliant move, they left room for a sequel, as he sees the car driving off. The story picks up in the video for "Sharp Dressed Man," where the guy is now a valet. Establishing the car and the girls as iconic images of ZZ Top helped them wow the younger generation. The car was so popular that Gibbons had another one made to take on tour.
• This was the first single from the Eliminator album, which went Diamond, meaning it sold over 10 million copies.
• The video for this song helped pay off the car that starred in it. Billy Gibbons estimates that he spent about $250,000 buying and restoring the car, and was deep in debt on the vehicle. By putting the car in the video, it became a business expense, and thus a write-off. The car was used on the album cover and became a personification of the band.
• The video was directed by Tim Newman (Randy's brother), who did all of the ZZ Top videos with the girls and cars. By using these props, he defined the band's image without making them work very hard. Newman said in the book I Want My MTV: "The song seemed to be about a horny, yearning kid. So I had the idea to base it around a guy who worked at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. I would not be making a huge demand on ZZ Top's acting ability if I cast them in the role of mythological characters."
• That famous ZZ Top hand gesture started with the video for this song. It wasn't planned: The band had to do several takes as the car drove by, and they were instructed to watch it. With about 20 minutes between each take, they came up with the gesture out of boredom.
• One of the girls in the video was Jeana Keough, who was Playboy's Miss November in 1980. She starred in all four videos featuring the Eliminator.