Frank Zappa in 1968: a renegade at the cutting edge of a generation’s musical and anti-establishment strivings.
Even after his premature death, Frank Zappa continues to be identified as an cult hero. A prolific composer, he made standard rock albums as well as experimental music—all critically acclaimed.
Francis Vincent Zappa was born in Baltimore to second-generation Greek parents on December 21, 1940. As a teenager, he played drums and guitar in local bands. He collected rock’n’roll, rhythm-and-blues (R&B), and doo-wop records, and recordings of compositions by contemporary classical composers.
In 1964, Zappa joined the Soul Giants, who became the Mothers; in 1966 they released their first album, Freak Out! as the Mothers of Invention. Some of Zappa’s early songs, such as “Help, I’m a Rock,” use sprechstimme, a non-pitched vocal style that predates rap. He often used the Edgard VARÈSE-influenced technique of quickly alternating between short musical phrases in sharply contrasting styles. Other pieces reveal his interest in complex rhythmic meters of jazz.
On his own label, Zappa helped record other performers, such as Alice Cooper and Captain Beefheart. Zappa’s first solo album, Hot Rats (1969), featured his virtuosic guitar playing. In 1970, when he completed the score for his cult film 200 Motels, his live soundtrack was accompanied by Zubin MEHTA and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The 1970s brought accidents, lawsuits, and legal battles, and the band’s equipment was destroyed in a fire at Montreux. That same year, 1971, Zappa was seriously injured after being pushed off the stage during a concert in London. His concerts were banned because of obscenity, and a lawsuit was filed protesting one of his songs. He made his final albums with the Mothers, Live at the Fillmore Fast and Just Another Band from LA, in 1971 and 1972.
After the group disbanded, Zappa focused on his own projects. “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” became his first hit single in 1973, and his next was “Valley Girls” in 1982, with his daughter Moon Unit. His successful album Shut Up’n Play Yer Guitar was released in 1981. Zappa’s perfectionism led to a high turnover of session musicians, and he turned to the Synclavier, a multi-track synthesizer, to give him total control of composition and performance. His Synclavier-generated album Jazz From Hell won him a Grammy Award in 1987.
Frank Zappa in 1968: a renegade at the cutting edge of a generation’s musical and anti-establishment strivings.
In 1982, Zappa produced a concert in New York featuring the music of Varese. In 1984, Pierre BOULEZ conducted Zappa’s works on the album The Perfect Stranger. During the late 1980s, Zappa remastered performances from the 1960s, releasing them in the series You Can’t Do that on Stage Anymore, and also wrote his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book In 1991, however, Zappa was diagnosed as having cancer. He died of the disease on December 4, 1993.
A serious composer, Zappa nevertheless maintained a sense of humour. He has been called “rock music’s closest equivalent to the legacy of Duke ELLINGTON.”
Timothy Kloth
SEE ALSO:
DOO-WOP; ROCK MUSIC.
Gray, Michael. Mother! The Frank Zappa Story
(London: Plexus, 1994)
Kostelanetz, Richard, ed. The Frank Zappa Companion
(London: Omnibus Press, 1997).
200 Motels; Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of
Prevention; Freak Out!; Hot Rats; Jazz from Hell.