Frank Zappa

"She had a snake for a pet and an amulet, and she was breeding a dwarf, but she wasn't done yet…"-Frank Zappa, "Camarillo Brillo"

My buddy Paul hipped me to Frank Vincent Zappa one day while we were en route to his girlfriend's house. "What the hell are we listening to?!" It was an acceptable reaction to music that was without a doubt "out there". The song blaring out of his stereo speakers was a Zappa song that I consider a masterpiece (in hindsight at least) "Peaches En Regalia". The bizarre sonorities, odd time signatures, and…"did I just hear a kazoo?!" weren't initially my cup of tea. Then I heard the double album that changed my perspective on avant-garde music forever: Apostrophe/Over-Nite Sensation. It was musically brilliant, lyrically crude, and downright genius! And what could one expect from an artist who drew inspiration from modern classical music (is that an oxymoron?) composers such as Stravinsky and Stockhausen other than an unappreciated genius? Zappa, a Southern California native, formed the legendary Mothers of Invention in 1966 (the band was initially called "The Mothers", but Zappa's record label, Verve, felt it was too offensive and added "of Invention" to the band's name.) Their breakout LP was entitled Freak Out! and blended Zappa's infatuation with Stravinsky, doo-wop, and psychedelic rock into a very unique sound. In the 1970s, Zappa reassembled the Mothers and recorded several legendary cult rock albums and films. 

Among these are two of my favorites Apostrophe/Over-Nite Sensation and the rock opera Joe's Garage. Zappa produced a prodigious amount of work, most of which a single collector wouldn't be able to amass in a single lifetime. Below are some of mine and Ethan's  favorite Zappa tracks that we recommend:

1) "I'm the Slime" (Album: Over-Nite Sensation): An amazing track that castigates the absurdities of the corporate media. Oh, and did I mention the ladies screaming the "I-am-the-slime-from-your-vid-e-o!" refrain are Tina Turner and the Ikeetes?

2) "The Black Page" (Album: Zappa In New York): This song was a prerequisite for any instrument playing musician who wanted to join Zappa's touring band. The song derived its title from the fact that the song's sheet music had so many notes that it looked like a "black page". The syncopation in this song alone is golden.

3) "Peaches En Regalia" (Album: Hot Rats): The aforementioned song that introduced me to the bizarre world of Frank Zappa. It's certainly not the first song I recommend anyone listen to in order to become a huge Zappa fan. The instrumental stuff can be a little far out.

4) "Bobby Brown Goes Down" (Album: Sheik Yerbouti): A song that's a tad bit crude lyrically but sheds light on Zappa's sense of humor. I once put this on around some friends who weren't hip to Zappa and they asked "is this Ween?"

5) "Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up" (Album: Joe's Garage): Ike Willis' vocals on this track still give me goosebumps. It's a track about a sappy garage band member who gets his heart broken by the girl of his dreams (funny how some things never change)

6.)"Absolutely Free" (Album: We're Only In It For The Money): For the sake of time I'll just include one song off the Mother's best effort and it's hard to choose just one. This is representative of Zappa's rebellious stance on the hippie movement, which he called out for being phoney and no different than any corporate fad- thus foreshadowing the yippie fallout after the movement had run it's course. Key Line- "Flower Power Sucks!"

7.) "Mr. Green Genes" (Album: Uncle Meat): I have no fucking clue why Zappa had so many meditation on vegetables (the Mother's album Absolutely Free is full of them), but this is a shorter distillation of the epic that appears on Hot Rats- "Son of Mr. Green Genes." It's psychedelic and abstract so the vegetable fetishism kinda manages to serve it well witht he low horn rumble of Ian Underwood and the omniscient xylophones of the Mothers. 

8.) "Hungry Freaks Daddy" (Album: Freak Out!): A good introduction of Zappa's critical songwriting style of the late 60's, he calls out conformist America "All the corny tricks you try will not forestall the rising tide of hungry freaks, daddy!" He begs the subject of his vitriol and the listener to check themselves, lest, they wreck themselves.

9.) "Willie The Pimp" (Album: Hot Rats): This is a match made in heaven- Zappa and Captain Beefheart. Beefheart's creepy Delta blues drawl works perfectly to describe unsavory events, but that is just the first few minutes, the real meat of this track is the virtuosic solos Zappa rips for over 7 minutes. In another players hands that would be self-indulgent, yet this is one of the greatest solos of all time, so sit down and shut your trap and get your face melted before it all comes together in the final 30 seconds. 

10.) "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" (Album: Freak Out!): Yeah...a freak out pretty much- savage, slightly groovy and infinitely weird.

Enjoy lemmings!

-Rodney & Ethan

Bonus! Zappa pwning noobs on Crossfire in 1986