Frank Zappa

The first time I heard this name was in middle school. I must’ve been in 6th grade when I overheard a couple of older kids talking about guitarists.

And that was it.

At the time my favorite band was AC/DC, particularly because of Angus Young who I swore was the greatest guitar player that ever lived. His opening one-handed riff on Thunderstruck was absolute proof of his ability. Mind you this was the opinion of a 12-year-old boy.

Needless to say I don’t think I would’ve appreciated Frank Zappa if I had listened to him then. To this day I still don’t remember exactly when I was introduced to his music but it was many many years after first hearing his name.

There was always a mysterious aura around him that I didn’t really understand until I was hooked on one of his albums: Apostrophe. Mainly, it was the song Montana, which featured Tina Turner and The Ikettes as backing vocals.

I don’t know how I discovered the album, but thinking about it now, it feels as if I had always known about it.

“Frank Zappa”

Such a distinct name of a person with a distinct face and distinct music.

I vividly remember one time listening to the track mentioned above while on a road trip with my family. I was in junior college and I was specifically hung on a section of the song that starts at 3 minutes and 22 seconds where it shifts tone and the vocals and vibraphone take the lead. Distorted and stretched by Frank via post-production editing, the rhythms were hypnotic and it was like nothing else I had heard before.

From that moment on I delved into his extensive discography, ignoring the blatant comedic and ideological stuff and going straight for the raw musical gems.

What first attracted me to Frank Zappa was trying to understand how someone could write serious music and pair it with non-serious lyrics and themes. In other

words, why would he spoil a song by making fun of it? I must state though that I don’t really think that his music is spoiled, but to many it could have that effect.

I stayed listening to Frank Zappa because despite the “funny” lyrics and wacky sounds in his songs, the music itself appealed to my musical curiosity. Having already listened to and exhausted such heavy hitting bands like Pink Floyd and Genesis, Frank gave me more than what they could’ve given me and all without the pretentiousness of it. When I watched his live performances his band looked as if they were having fun, unlike other bands with members who seemed concentrated and by themselves on stage.

To think that such uniquely complicated compositions could come from a man who arguably could be considered the wacky inflatable tube man of music – it would leave somebody scratching their heads and wondering about the guy.

Extensive Discography

In Frank’s discography you’ll find music from genres ranging from doo-wop to jazz to classical music to straight up rock n roll. Without a doubt he filled a void alone that would’ve otherwise required a dozen other groups.

Sometimes truly misunderstood, I think Frank appealed to the erratic thinkers. His music is sometimes like flipping through channels on TV — you get a taste of everything.

His music inspired me to be creative… or rather when I was feeling creative I found myself listening to Frank Zappa more often. Maybe it’s because he always was outspoken about going against the herd mentality and not following fads. His music is an example of someone doing something unique simply because it appeals to them personally.

Could he have written popular music? Most definitely, but what I’ve respected about Frank all these years was his desire to go against the grain and not simply for the sake of doing so but oftentimes to send a message or to point out bad ideas in the music industry or in society.

Without pretensions or credit, Frank Zappa wrote music that has had a significant influence on the music of today. Be it by fusing different genres together or pioneering the use of electronic instruments like the Synclavier.

Frank also has written many compositions that would be considered “classical music,” some even performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and more recently by the Finnish chamber music group, Ensemble Ambrosius.

Who is Frank Zappa?

Briefly, Frank Zappa was born in Baltimore, MD on December 21, 1940. He was the eldest of four children and grew up in an Italian-American household. His father worked in a chemical warfare plant operated by the U.S. Army. His family moved a lot throughout the country but while living in San Diego, CA he joined his first band as a drummer. There, after his parents bought a phonograph, Frank discovered a wide range of music like R&B, jazz, blues, classical but most importantly a composition titled “Ionisation” by composer Edgar Varesse, which influenced Frank the most. After that he moved to a few other cities in California including Lancaster, San Bernardino, and finally settling in Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. He died on December 4, 1993 from prostate cancer.

The older I grew the more I became interested in Frank Zappa as a person. I had watched interviews and even read his autobiography titled “The Real Frank Zappa Book.”

In that book I got the answer to how he viewed himself as a creator. When presented with the question of what he does for a living his response was:

What made him unique?

Frank Zappa is possibly the only rockstar that wrote all his music in Standard Music Notation. Ever heard of “The Black Page?” Frank wrote prolifically but sometimes his ambitions were too tough for humans to play. Sometimes the musicians hired to play Frank’s music would dread it, often referring to these pages as “black pages” due to the amount of notation written on the lines. As a sort of joke, Frank composed some music and officially titled them “Black Page No. 1 & 2”

This brings me to a couple reasons as to why Frank was able to accomplish what he did.

Apart from being an intelligent workaholic, Frank only hired the best musicians, and believe it or not he didn’t tolerate drugs in his band. He needed sharp, responsible players and he held everyone to a high professional standard. I imagine Frank like a militant leader, everyone in the band respecting him because he was the real deal man with a vision while they were there simply for the ride.

Much respect is given to Frank by rocking as hard as he did while implementing many (by rock standards) unorthodox instruments. What other person in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame could you say made their name by using such instruments like the kazoo, xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, and all those loopty loop sounding whistles? Not to mention his absurd lyrics.

Conclusion

To this day there’s a slight sense of embarrassment when you mention that you’re a Frank Zappa fan because you know others wouldn’t understand. They’ll listen to a song or two (from Spotify’s top tracks) and be put off by the cartoon-sounding music and “stupid” lyrics, ultimately finding him too weird. It’s a surface-level pigeonhole that Frank put himself in, which would’ve been tragic if not for his strong cult-like following and the hundreds of hours worth of timeless music. He never appealed to the public, he simply released music, allowing them to take what they wanted.

If you want to get into Frank Zappa I would recommend the albums: Hot Rats, Apostrophe, Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, One Size Fits All, Zoot Allures, Orchestral Favorites & Francesco Zappa for a Synclavier fix.