Remembering Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was born December 21, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland. Frank was the eldest of four children. He was raised in an Italian-American household. His father, Frank Sr. was a chemist who invented mustard gas. Zappa was often sick as a child. He suffered from asthma, earaches and sinus problems. He often wonders if it had anything to do with the fact that he played with mustard gas as a child.
In March 1965, Zappa was approached by a vice squad undercover officer. Frank accepted an offer of $100 to produce a suggestive audio tape for an alleged stag party. Zappa and a female friend recorded a faked erotic episode. When Zappa was about to hand over the tape, he was arrested. The police stripped the studio of all recorded material. Zappa was charged with “conspiracy to commit pornography”. This felony charge was reduced. He was sentenced to six months in jail on a misdemeanor, with all but ten days suspended. His brief imprisonment left a permanent mark. It was central to the formation of his anti-authoritarian stance.
Freak Out
The Mothers of Invention released their debut album, ‘Freak Out’, in June 1966. It was the second rock double album ever released. Freak Out immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music. Frank provided an antidote to the “relentless consumer culture of America”. It was during this time that Zappa met Gail, the future Mrs. Zappa. They married in 1967, had four children and remained together forever.
Zappa created his own record label. He managed and produced albums by Alice Cooper, The GTO’s, Wild Man Fischer and Frank Sinatra Jr. After he disbanded the Mothers of Invention, Zappa released the acclaimed solo album Hot Rats (1969). It features, for the first time on record, Zappa playing extended guitar solos and contains one of his most enduring compositions, “Peaches en Regalia”. Zappa was a huge influence on the Jazz Rock Fusion genre. Many solo albums followed and Zappa created an incredible catalog of amazing groundbreaking music.
After Frank & Gail died, the Zappa children had a very public battle over his musical legacy and rights. In a brilliant legal maneuver, Dweezil officially changed his name to Frank Zappa. Dweezil threatened to grow a mustache exactly like his father’s signature fu manchu look. “If that sonofabitch grows a mustache like dad, I will shave it off while he’s sleeping!” said Ahmet Zappa. “I run this family now. Maybe Dweezil should have let me play with his evel knievel stunt cycle when we were kids. Then we wouldn’t be going through these problems now. All he had to do was be nice to me.”
Musical Genius
Remembering Frank Zappa on his birthday. He was a virtuoso, composer, arranger, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and band leader. Zappa wrote the funniest lyrics you ever done heard. Frank produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse rock musicians of his era. A true musical genius who was so far ahead of his time that we still haven’t fully caught up yet.
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