The Entrepreneur: Album #1 - Freak Out!

The business aspect of Zappa’s musical career began to take shape in January 1966 when an A&R scout from MGM-Verve, Tom Wilson, saw a live Mothers show and decided to offer them a record deal. The Mothers signed with MGM-Verve on the 1st of March ’66 and agreed to five albums over a span of two years. Wilson was impressed with their music and outlandish sound and offered The Mothers an almost unlimited budget. Where an average record cost $5000, their debut, Freak Out!, ran costs of close to $21,000.

Although Zappa did not always see eye-to-eye with the record companies, and despised their constant censoring, he wanted his records to see the light of day and as any smart business would do, he made compromises. The first of which was a name change. In those days “Mother” was synonymous with “Mother Fucker,” (a musician who plays his instrument with great ease) and so, they were to be immediately re-dubbed The Mothers of Invention.

Always trying to promote The Mothers and get the word out, Zappa became creative with their advertising budget. He decided to run a column in the Los Angeles Free Press called The Official News of The Mothers of Invention. He tried to point out the faults that needed to be changed in modern consumer society, just like in his music, and through this began alienating fans. He was seen as too parental when he began to preach that the “danger lies in the “Freak Out” becoming an excuse instead of a reason.” [Miles p. 129] Fans began to resent him and his good business sense didn’t stop him from pushing away potential album-buyers and concertgoers. Zappa was never one to pay too much attention to what people thought of him, alienated many, and lost a lot of potential commercial success.