Gibbons was inspired by British electronic acts such as
Depeche Mode and
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to explore electronic music technology. He often spoke with Hudson about new ideas in music. A former radio DJ, Hudson presented Gibbons with personal research showing that many hit songs were clustered near a
tempo of 124 beats per minute—faster than ZZ Top's normal practice. "Legs" and "Sharp Dressed Man" are both 125 bpm while "Gimme All Your Lovin'" runs at 120. Gibbons felt that the synthesizers "created a nice platform that allowed the guitar to stand on its own", and that as the synthesizers could play an
octave lower than a bass guitar, they created "a nice full bed of sound" that contrasted with his guitar. While the band was off touring, Hudson wrote "Thug" by himself. Carrying the demo tapes created by Gibbons and Hudson, ZZ Top traveled without Hudson to
Memphis, Tennessee, to stay at the
Peabody Hotel while they recorded basic tracks at
Ardent Studios, Hill and Beard laid down
bass guitar and drums, recording their parts onto 2-inch tape. Hill sang his vocals for "I Got the Six". When they were finished, Hill and Beard returned home to Texas. Gibbons, Manning and Ham continued to work on the album without Hill and Beard. Vocal harmonies were supplied by Manning and
Jimi Jamison, the new lead singer of
Cobra. To achieve Gibbons' desired clock-steady rhythm section, most of Hill's bass parts were replaced by Gibbons or Manning playing bass guitar or a
Moog Source—a keyboard synthesizer. A
Memorymoog was also used for supporting synth sounds. Eight years later, Gibbons thanked
Al Jourgensen because his early
Ministry drum samples had been used to polish
Eliminator.
Writing dispute Hudson collaborated on the album tempo with Gibbons, and he co-wrote several songs. The band's longtime stage manager, David Blayney, wrote about the collaboration in 1994 in his book,
Sharp Dressed Men. Hudson's song "Thug" was taken in its entirety: on the album, "Thug" lists Gibbons, Beard and Hill as the songwriters. ZZ Top's management company—Lone Wolf—denied that Hudson was significantly involved, and said that the album concept was solely the work of Gibbons and Ham. Ham claimed that Hudson sold the song outright, but no record of such a sale was brought forward, Blayney wrote that "Linden Hudson in a fair world should have had his name all over
Eliminator and gotten the just compensation he deserved. Instead he got ostracized." ==Vintage car==