Although the title seems like this is the end of the road for our Frank Zappa reflections, it's far from it. The title just seemed like a good way to sum up how Frank Zappa the person saw Frank Zappa the 'legend,' and how he wanted his legacy to be remembered. Frank Zappa will be remembered for far more than his musical compositions, he will be remembered for his lifestyle, replete with brash attitude and outbursts, outrageous costumes and get ups, crazy interviews and film making, and of course his love of music.
Even though there are only five criteria that we’re to be looking at for the purpose of this blog, in theory, one entry per criteria, at this point doesn’t seem like the best of ideas. His personality, musicianship, entrepreneurial spirit, as well as his perspective on society are all part of what make up Frank Zappa, the man.
Hidden within the humorous aspects of his music, lied a relentless assault on mainstream society and its perceived norms. FZ wasn’t afraid to take on any subject, no matter what the consequences of his actions might be. He vilified his audiences live, alienated many listeners with his boundary pushing blocks of sound on record, and enraged record companies and the whole recording industry to the point where they stopped putting out his records they way he wanted them to or stopped putting them out at all and never helping him get any radio airply. In the realm of live entertainment, the example, given in the Miles text, of the show at the Berkeley Community Center in 1968 where Zappa had all of the concertgoers doing jumping jacks in the aisles, telling them that they were being told what to do by the Government the same way that he was telling them to do the jumping jacks, is the perfect example of how Zappa treated his fans. Even though he believed oin giving the concertgoer a performance that was entertaining and had good value for the money paid to enter, he looked down on them, regardless of whether or not they were enjoying the show (too stoned or rowdy) or just sitting in their seats (England). To Uncle Frank, as he was known, they were beneath him and he had the air of an elder trying to enlighten them, to help them see through their drab existence. As a musician with hit songs, Zappa found playing songs repeatedly to be a bore, so live, even fan favorite numbers such as “Dinah More Humm,” were played at faster tempos so they wouldn’t last as long.
In the beginning of his career, FZ used the Byrds as a business model, co-opting their style to appeal to their fan base. He did this as a marketing ploy, infiltrating their scene and putting forth an image of what he wanted the scene to think he was in order to create an allure around him. He took this image making into every aspect of his career, from clothing worn by his band members to album jackets.
This type of control also led to Freak Out! being released as a double album, a compromise being agreed upon between Frank and MGM that created the first rock double-album. Among other things such as album pricing and publishing royalties, to get his first album out, Zappa agreed to alter the name of his band from The Mothers, which the record executives took to be a short form of “motherfucker” to The Mothers Of invention.
Regardless of the name change, radio refused to play Frank Zappa’s music. The refusal of radio to play his music, allowed Zappa the opportunity to create continuous composing on record, allowing for musical pieces to be linked without having to separate the songs by inserting a noiseless break, like in traditional top 40 music. This type of creative composing forced Zappa to recruit talented musicians, a hiring trend he continued for the rest of his career. In the mid to late 70’s, playing with FZ became a stepping-stone for many young musicians. He would pluck these musicians from relative obscurity; picking Adrian Belew up from Nashville after seeing him perform in a Roy Orbison cover band to getting keyboardist Tommy Mars from a Kodiak, Alaska lounge bar, then stretch their musical abilities to their fullest potential. One of Zappa’s prominent talents was getting the most out of his musicians.
As much as his musicians were replaceable, FZ was hesitant to lose them. Often times, he would pay his musicians out if his own pocket, waiting on a future payment (that sometimes never showed up). Unfortunately for Zappa, in 1971, when he was attacked on stage and spent months in recovery, his band members jumped ship and joined other bands, leaving Zappa feeling slighted and creating a strict employee-employer relationship between Frank and his musicians that continued for a long time. (edotors note– karma (see below)
Prior to his accident in 1971, this type of employer attitude had Zappa firing the original incarnation of the Mother, the reasons being hotly contested, as well as the creation of Bizarre, a record label run by Frank and his partner/manager Herb Cohen.
Although there is much more to the story of Frank Zappa; his social criticisms, as well as what made him the man he was will be dealt with in the next instalment. Until then, please click HERE to listen to "Dinah-More-Humm." Enjoy.
