Editing ZZ Top (section)

=== Formation ===
Billy Gibbons had formed the band [[Moving Sidewalks]] in Houston in 1966 with Dan Mitchell on drums, Tom Moore on keyboards, and Don Summers on bass. The group earned Gibbons local recognition, with their single "99th Floor" becoming a hit in Houston. After opening for various popular groups such as [[the Doors]], [[Jimi Hendrix]], and the [[13th Floor Elevators]], Moving Sidewalks eventually released the album [[Flash (Moving Sidewalks album)|''Flash'']] (1969). By this point, both Moore and Summers had been drafted into the [[United States Army]] to fight in the [[Vietnam War]], and Gibbons and Mitchell subsequently recruited bassist-keyboardist Lanier Greig, thus forming the first iteration of ZZ Top.<ref name="HC">{{cite news |last=Dansby |first=Andrew |date=February 16, 2013 |title=Greig, early ZZ Top member, dies at 64 |url=http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Lanier-Greig-musician-and-early-ZZ-Top-member-4284956.php |access-date=July 28, 2014 |newspaper=[[Houston Chronicle]]}}</ref> The name of the band was Gibbons' idea; the band had a small apartment covered with concert posters, and he noticed that many performers' names used initials. Gibbons particularly noticed [[B.B. King]] and [[Z. Z. Hill]], and thought of combining the two into "ZZ King", but considered it too similar to the original name. He then figured that "king is at the top" which gave him the idea of naming the band "ZZ Top".<ref>{{cite web|title= Uncle Joe Benson – The Story: ZZ Top 9-11-15 The Stor |publisher= [[SoundCloud]] |access-date= September 13, 2015 |url= https://soundcloud.com/uncle-joe-benson/the-story-zz-top-9-11-15 |archive-date= October 7, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151007205644/https://soundcloud.com/uncle-joe-benson/the-story-zz-top-9-11-15}}</ref> 

ZZ Top was managed by [[Bill Ham]], a [[Waxahachie, Texas]], native who had befriended Gibbons a year earlier. They released their first single, "Salt Lick", in 1969, and the B-side contained the song "Miller's Farm". Both songs credited Gibbons as the composer. Shortly after the recording of "Salt Lick", Greig was replaced by bassist Billy Ethridge, a bandmate of [[Stevie Ray Vaughan]]'s, and Mitchell was replaced by [[Frank Beard (musician)|Frank Beard]] of [[American Blues]].