anniversary - January 12, 1995: Frank Zappa is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Hoodoo
Frank Zappa
Induction Year: 1995
Induction Category: Performer
Inductee: Frank Zappa (guitar, keyboards, Synclavier, vocals; born
December 21, 1940, died December 4, 1993)
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.
He was born Frank Vincent Zappa in Baltimore, Maryland. Gifted with a
keen interest in music from an early age, he became conversant in
everything from doo-wop - to which he cast an affectionate nod on the
album Cruising With Ruben and the Jets - to the �serious� music of
classical composers Bartok and Stravinksky and avant-garde pioneers
Varese and Shoenberg. In 1965, Zappa joined the Mothers of Invention
(previously the Soul Giants and later, simply the Mothers), who were
deliberately and diabolically unconventional. From the way they dressed
to the music they played, Zappa intended the Mothers to be provocative,
controversial and unafraid of the consequences. He often quoted mentor
Edgard Varese�s credo, �The present-day composer refuses to die!�
Zappa brought a high degree of compositional sophistication to a genre
that had typically taken its cues from the simplistic chord progressions
of songs like �Louie, Louie.� At the same time, Zappa freely
acknowledged the naive genius of �Louie, Louie� and the unalloyed
brilliance of Fifties doo-wop and R&B, even incorporating them into his
program material. Zappa greatly extended the range of rock, composing
oratorios, symphonic pieces, ballets, digitized extravaganzas for the
Synclavier keyboard, and satirical musicals. A brilliant guitar soloist
who recruited similarly adventurous musicians, Zappa helped further the
art of improvisation in a rock context. Over the years, his ensembles
included such notable musicians as keyboardist George Duke and guitarist
Steve Vai.
Throughout his career, Zappa darkly but humorously depicted a landscape
of wasted human enterprise largely driven by Pavlovian desires for
consumer goods, sports and sex. His brutal jibes began with the first
release by the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out (1966), and continued to
the posthumous release of his final recorded work, Civilization Phaze
III (1995). He reserved some of his keenest insults for rock
journalists, which he once described as �people who can�t write
interviewing people who can�t talk for people who can�t read.� But
mainly he vented against mindless hedonism and the dumbing down of
popular culture.
Rock�s foremost satirist tempered his borderline misanthropy with a high
regard for human potential and a fierce belief in free speech and the
ideal of democracy. Zappa frankly hated much about what America had
become in the late 20th century, expressing deep disgust in this couplet
from We�re Only In It for the Money�s �Concentration Moon�: �American
way, try and explain/Scab of a nation driven insane.� His finest hour as
a songwriter/satirist may have been �Brown Shoes Don�t Make It,� a
seven-minute suite from a self-described �underground oratorio� that
appeared on the second Mothers album, Absolutely Free (1967). In this
audacious indictment of the American Dream gone awry, Zappa foresaw
coming trends, equating political power with personal immorality (�A
world of secret hungers perverting the men who make your laws�),
reproving the vapid pastimes of a dim-witted citizenry (�Do your job and
do it right/Life�s a ball!/TV tonight), and pointing out the stultifying
effects of the corporate state upon the individual (�Be a loyal plastic
robot for a world that doesn�t care�).
Zappa�s work sold largely to a core audience who faithfully attended his
concerts and bought his records. His popularity with a broader audience
peaked in 1973-74 with the albums Over-nite Sensation and Apostrophe,
which married crude humor and virtuoso playing; both went gold (500,000
copies sold). Zappa finally infiltrated the Top Forty in 1982 with
�Valley Girl,� a keenly observed satire of California �airhead� culture,
complete with slang-driven repartee from daughter Moon Unit. This song�s
title subsequently became a national catchphrase. At last being given
some overdue recognition by the music industry, Zappa also went on to
win a Grammy for his 1986 album Jazz from Hell.
With an unswerving conviction in his own rectitude, Zappa remained an
often brilliant voice of dissent to the end of his career. When the
music industry began branding albums with voluntary warnings about
offensive content under pressure from the PMRC in the mid-Eighties,
Zappa wrote a disclaimer of his own, which he stickered on his releases:
�WARNING! This album contains material which a truly free society would
neither fear nor suppress. The language and concepts contained herein
are guaranteed not to cause eternal torment in the place where the guy
with the horns and pointed stick conducts his business. This guarantee
is as real as the threats of the video fundamentalists who use attacks
on rock music in their attempt to transform America into a nation of
check-mailing nincompoops (in the name of Jesus Christ). If there is a
hell, its fires wait for them, not us.�
In 1993, Frank Zappa died at age 52 of prostate cancer, but not before
culling, mixing and sequencing enough material from his vast archive to
ensure the release of even more albums long after his passing.
TIMELINE
December 21, 1940: Frank Vincent Zappa (a.k.a. Frank Zappa) is born in
Baltimore, Maryland.
May 22, 1963: Frank Zappa opens Studio Z in Cucamonga, California.
May 10, 1964: The first edition of Frank Zappa�s long-running group, the
Mothers, performs in Pomona, California.
June 30, 1964: Frank Zappa joins The Mothers, later to be amended to the
Mothers of Invention.
February 26, 1965: �Freak Out,� the debut album by the Frank Zappa-led
Mothers of Invention, is released. This double album contains �Help I�m
a Rock� and �Trouble Every Day.�
June 26, 1967: At the height of the �Summer of Love,� the Mothers of
Invention release �Absolutely Free,� a dark-themed album from the
anti-establishment mind of bandleader Frank Zappa.
March 4, 1968: �We�re Only in It for the Money,� by the Mothers of
Invention, is released. Composed by bandleader Frank Zappa, it satirizes
hippie culture and the Beatles� �Sgt. Pepper.�
June 30, 1968: Frank Zappa releases �Lumpy Gravy�.
April 21, 1969: Frank Zappa�s Mothers of Invention release �Uncle Meat,�
a sprawling and largely instrumental double-album masterwork.
June 16, 1969: �Trout Mask Replica,� by Captain Beefheart and His Magic
Band, is released. This avant-garde classic is produced by Frank Zappa
and released on his Straight record label.
October 15, 1969: �Hot Rats,� a largely instrumental solo album by Frank
Zappa, is released. It contains one of his signature compositions,
�Peaches En Regalia.�
March 29, 1970: The Mothers of Invention hit #17 in the UK and #94 in
the US with �Burnt Weeny Sandwich�.
March 30, 1970: Frank Zappa hits #9 in the UK with �Hot Rats�.
May 15, 1970: The Mothers of Invention perform with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta. Frank Zappa cues the
esteemed conductor with the command, �Hit it, Zuben!�
May 15, 1970: Frank Zappa�s film, �200 Motels�, premieres.
June 5-6, 1971: A memorable two-night stand by the Mothers, featuring
Frank Zappa, results in the popular live album �Fillmore East, June 1971.�
June 6, 1971: John Lennon & Yoko Ono jam with Frank Zappa at the
Fillmore East in New York City, recorded for subsequent release on the
Plastic Ono Band album �Sometime in New York City�.
September 7, 1973: �Over-nite Sensation,� by the Mothers (a.k.a. Frank
Zappa and band), is released. One of Zappa�s most popular released, it
contains the favorites �Dirty Love� and �Dinah-Moe Humm.�
March 22, 1974: �Apostrophe,� Frank Zappa�s highest-charting album, is
released. It reaches #10 and becomes Zappa�s second consecutive gold album.
April 11, 1975: The six-week �Bongo Fury� tour, on which Frank Zappa and
the Mothers are joined by Captain Beefheart on vocals, commences.
November 16, 1975: Frank Zappa hits #6 in the US with �Bongo Fury�.
August 9, 1976: �Good Singin,� Good Playin���a Grand Funk Railroad album
produced by Frank Zappa�is released.
October 21, 1978: Frank Zappa hosts �Saturday Night Live.�
March 3, 1979: Frank Zappa releases �Sheik Yerbouti,� a double album
that contains the disco parody single �Dancin� Fool.�
September 3, 1979: Frank Zappa releases �Joe�s Garage Act I,� followed
two months later by �Joe�s Garage, Acts II & III.� Zappa describes his
magnum opus as �a stupid story about how the government is going to try
to do away with music.�
May 11, 1981: Frank Zappa releases four albums in one day: �Tinseltown
Rebellion� (a double album), �Shut Up �N Play Yer Guitar,� �Shut Up �N
Play Yer Guitar Some More,� and �Return of the Son of Shut Up �N Play
Yer Guitar.�
September 4, 1982: �Valley Girl,� co-written by Frank Zappa and daughter
Moon Unit, enters the Top Forty, where it will peak at #2.
September 13, 1982: Frank Zappa hits US #32 with �Valley Girl�,
featuring his daughter Moon Unit.
September 18, 1985: Frank Zappa delivers a brilliantly cutting monologue
on censorship before the State Committee on Commerce, Science and
Transportation, rebutting efforts by the Parents Music Resource Council
(PMRC) to have warning labels placed on albums.
November 21, 1985: �Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention,�
featuring the epic �Porn Wars,� is released.
March 2, 1988: The album �Jazz from Hell� wins Frank Zappa a Grammy for
Best Rock Instrumental.
June 9, 1988: Frank Zappa performs at the Palasport, in Genoa, Italy. It
is his final performance on his final tour.
November 2, 1993: �The Yellow Shark,� an album of Frank Zappa conducting
the Ensemble Modern, who perform 19 of his compositions, is released. It
is the last album by Zappa released in his lifetime.
December 4, 1993: Frank Zappa dies of prostate cancer at home in Los
Angeles, California.
January 12, 1995: Frank Zappa is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame at the tenth annual induction dinner. Lou Reed is his presenter.
September 24, 1996: Frank Zappa�s legendary �L�ther� - originally
intended for release as an four-LP set in 1977 but rejected by his
record label � is posthumously issued as the artist intended as a
three-CD set on the Ryko label.
- - -
From - http://www.rockhall.com/podcasts/tribute-to-frank-zappa/
Rockin' Podcasts
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.
Listen (5:43) http://www.rockhall.com/downloads/podcasts/zappa.mp3
- - -
From - http://www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs-km/
500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll
Selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum curatorial staff
and a number of rock critics and historians, these 500 songs are some of
rock and roll�s most popular and influential recordings. Arranged by
artist and song title, the songs cover a variety of musicians and genres
illustrating the evolution of rock and roll over the last century.
# The Mothers Of Invention - Brown Shoes Don�t Make It
--
"Think with your dipstick, Jimmy."
Look up the word 'dive' in the dictionary.
After the initial definitions regarding
aquatic and aeronautical topics, you'll
see a photo of this joint.