Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa was rock and roll’s sharpest musical mind and most astute social critic. He was the most prolific composer of his age, and he bridged genres – rock, jazz, classical, avant-garde and even novelty music - with masterful ease. Under his own name and with the Mothers of Invention, Zappa recorded 60 albums’ worth of material in his 52 years. Many were double albums or CDs, making his output even more impressively huge. Not surprisingly, he was occupied nearly every waking hour by the composing, recording, editing and performing of music. He also found time to produce and collaborate with acts as widely varied as Captain Beefheart, Jean-Luc Ponty, Grand Funk Railroad, Wild Man Fischer, the London Symphony Orchestra and Berlin’s Ensemble Modern.
Zappa challenged the status quo on many fronts. As a plainspoken curmudgeon, he confronted the corrupt politics of the ruling class and held the banal and decadent lifestyles of his countrymen to unforgiving scrutiny. He pioneered the artist-run independent record label, launching his Straight and Bizarre imprints back in 1969 and later founding the Zappa, DiscReet and Barking Pumpkin labels. In the Sixties, he mocked middle-class mores in “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” (from Absolutely Free) and sang about the climate of racial inequality and discord on “Trouble Every Day” (from Freak Out). In the Seventies, he satirized everything in sight, including disco music (“Dancin’ Fool,” from Sheik Yerbouti) and new-age movements (“Cosmik Debris,” from Apostrophe). In the Eighties, he enjoyed his one and only Top Forty hit, “Valley Girl,” and took on the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), delivering memorable testimony about the First Amendment at a congressional hearing.
Rock Hall’s Tribute to Frank Zappa
Featuring Warren Zanes Ph.D., public programming producer and advisor to the Education Department
This winter, the Museum and Red {an orchestra} honored Frank Zappa, a rare musician who was as comfortable in the world of the rock band as he was in the world of the orchestra. A host of talent visited Cleveland and celebrated this legendary musician, including guitarist Adrian Belew, the longtime Zappa sideman Ike Willis and his PROJECT/OBJECT, author/musician Paul Zollo and composer/cellist Tomas Ulrich.
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