ZZ Top  is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. The band has, since 1970, consisted of bassist and lead vocalist Dusty Hill, guitarist and lead vocalist Billy Gibbons (the band's leader, main lyricist and musical arranger), and drummer Frank Beard. "As genuine roots musicians, they have few peers", according to former musician, critic and collector Michael "Cub" Koda. "Gibbons is one of America's finest blues guitarists working in the arena rock idiom [...] while Hill and Beard provide the ultimate rhythm section support."

ZZ Top's next album was even more successful. Eliminator, released in March 1983, featured two top 40 singles ("Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Legs"), and two additional Top Rock hits ("Got Me Under Pressure" and "Sharp Dressed Man"), with "Legs" peaking at no. 13 on the Club Play Singles chart. Eliminator was a critical and commercial success, selling more than 10 million copies, and several music videos were in regular rotation on MTV. The band also won their first MTV Video Music Awards in the categories of Best Group Video for "Legs", and Best Direction for "Sharp Dressed Man". The music videos were included in their Greatest Hits video, which was later released on DVD and quickly went multiple-platinum. However, the Eliminator album was not without controversy. According to former stage manager David Blayney in his book "Sharp Dressed Men", sound engineer Linden Hudson co-wrote much of the material on the album while serving as a live-in high-tech music teacher to Beard and Gibbons. Despite continued denials by the band, it settled a five-year legal battle with Hudson, paying him $600,000 after he proved he held the copyright to the song "Thug".  Despite not selling as many copies as Eliminator, 1985's Afterburner became the band's highest-charting album, racking up sales of five million units. All of the singles from Afterburner were Top 40 hits, with two ("Sleeping Bag" and "Stages") hitting no. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The music video for "Velcro Fly" was choreographed by pop singer Paula Abdul. ZZ Top's grueling Afterburner World Tour lasted well into 1987, which also saw the release of The ZZ Top Sixpack, a three-disc collection of ZZ Top's albums from 1970 to 1981, with the exception of Deguello. The albums ZZ Top's First Album, Rio Grande Mud, Tres Hombres, Fandango, and Tejas were remixed to have a more contemporary sound.  Recycler, released in 1990, was ZZ Top's last studio album under contract with Warner Records. Recycler was also the last of a distinct sonic trilogy in the ZZ Top catalogue, marking a return towards a simpler guitar-driven blues sound with less synthesizer and pop bounce than the previous two albums. This move did not entirely suit the fan base that Eliminator and Afterburner had built up, and while Recycler did achieve platinum status, it never matched the sales of those albums.

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