After being diagnosed with cancer in 1990, FZ, for the last 3 years of his life, continued to put out records, composed pieces for a chamber orchestra, recorded and produced musicians he respected, became involved in a lawsuit, and considered a presidential candidacy.
He won a Grammy for a record he that was considered mechanical and cold, admitting that even though he enjoyed his synclavier, he missed the human element that his music was known for. Always a shrewd "enthusiastic capitalist," in the mid to late 80's, FZ took his new band on the road and had them learn over 100 songs so he could record it and not have to pay for session musicians. Although it ended badly and cost upwards of 400,000$, FZ lost much less than that as he 3+ albums worth of music to release. He then became an Eastern European business tycoon and ambassador (all short lived) and was considered a demi-god in Czechoslovakia. They "got it."
All of this is to say that after a semester of listening and getting to know Frank Zappa, I still don't really like his music, but I can appreciate where it comes from. As for the man, I found that the more I read about him, the more I could see similarities with myself, which allowed me to delve deeper into the meanings and reasons for why he made the decisions that he made, functioned in the specific way he did, and create what he created.
The man was ahead of his time and misunderstood by a large percentage of the general population, but to those who "got" it, he meant more to them than almost anything else in the world.
