Mention dance rock and people think of Franz Ferdinand or Duran Duran. But when it comes to the American edition, nothing matches the ferocity or success of ZZ Top's 1983 Eliminator, a landmark blend of traditional Texan boogie blues, New Wave synths and disco-steady beats that sold over 10 million U.S. units. Yielding the band's sleek pop breakthrough, "Legs," and a slew of similarly strutting rock-radio staples, Eliminator announced a major studio reinvention from a hairy Houston threesome previously focused on replicating the grit of their arena-packing Seventies concerts.

Guitarist Billy Gibbons already knew how to fill a power-trio framework with rumbling chords and fat leads that double as propulsive rhythmic blare. Here he adds a badass distortion that complements bassist Dusty Hill's quavering synth frills and drummer Frank Beard's Devo-precise stomp as biker hoedowns like "Gimme All Your Lovin' " and "Sharp Dressed Man" overflow with good-natured testosterone. Only on "Dirty Dog" does the macho get regrettably mean.

This special edition's synth-shorn live tracks assert the punkiness that drove the band's retooled attack, while the music videos included on its bonus DVD suggest how this dusty-jumpsuit-wearing trio joined the era's most immaculate visual icons. Featuring Gibbons' customized 1933 Ford coupe, a triad of freewheeling supermodels that transform ordinary folk into assertive party people, and the band's own goofy hand gestures, the album's multiple MTV smashes tap into that lobe of the American psyche that pours its most irrational fantasies into its mightiest automobiles. ZZ Top became the magic hot rod that helped get a Reagan nation laid.