ZZ Top debut album, the band released "Rio Grande Mud" (1972), which failed commercially and the promotional tour consisted of mostly empty auditoriums. ZZ Top released "Tres Hombres" in 1973. The album's sound was the result of the propulsive support provided by Hill and Beard, and Gibbons' "growling" guitar tone. Dan Erlewine wrote that the album "brought ZZ Top their first Top Ten record, making them stars in the process". The album included the boogie-driven "La Grange" (written about the Chicken Ranch, a notorious brothel in La Grange, Texas, that also inspired the musical "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"). On the
Famous Maroon Band were thenceforth nicknamed the "Famous Forty". Later on in the 1930s a sportswriter referred to the band as the "Famous Maroon Band" and the name stuck. In the university's new Junction area outside Davis Wade Stadium, the Famous Maroon Band performs and cheers on the crowds and the team at Dawg Walk. The MSU Drumline also performs in exhibition in front of the Leo Seal M Club Centre two hours before kickoff. One hour before the game begins, the band parades through the Junction into Davis Wade Stadium. Before kickoff at Davis Wade Stadium, the band performs its annual pregame