Zappa - The End

And so the mystical, talented enigma that was Frank Zappa was taken away before he could ever complete all that he wanted to do. He claimed to have been "done", but given more time, given more technology who knows what treats Zappa could have churned out?

Zappa may have stated over and over again that he did not care to be remembered and yet, here we are. Tribute bands spring up all the time, courses are taught in which one analyzes his works, his albums continue to sell and the world has not forgotten about Frank. On the contrary, it may be safe to say they are just as fascinated by him now as they were when The Mothers first burst onto the scene. Perhaps even more.

Zappa was a talented guitar player, a talented composer of both satirical music and of more serious, classical compositions, he was a social historian and journalist and he always brought the best out in all of the musicians who had the honor to work with him.

And so, I end Evolution / Revolution , but not without a signature Zappa quote that personally puts a smile on my face and that perhaps perfectly encapsulates everything that was Frank Zappa: "People suck."

Zappa - The Last Years

In 1990 Zappa was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The tumor had gone undetected for 8 to 10 years and it was now clear he would never be cured. Unfortunately, he had to pass up a lot of opportunities due to his illness and it truly slowed him down. He had to be in bed early, some days he couldn’t work at all and he was forced to take drugs, the one thing he had opposed all his life.

In 1991 he felt better and wanted to run for office, but he soon got really sick again and also realized that most Americans didn’t know of him or didn’t like him. It wouldn’t have been a very successful campaign.

That same year he decided to bootleg the bootlegs of his albums, which were floating around. That way he would get his royalties. He released Beat the Boots Vol. 1 in eight CDs and Vol. 2 the following year in seven CDs. Unfortunately, the box sets were soon split up and the albums sold separately without as much as a notice that they were bootlegs. This resulted in fans thinking that Zappa’s attention to quality had finished and his reputation was tarnished.

In 1992 he was commissioned to write a piece for Germany’s Ensemble Modern and so came the pinnacle of his “serious” music career. They had played the work as precisely and accurately as no one ever had and Zappa was ecstatic. The audience loved it too and there was a twenty-minute applause session after the performance!

In his last years Zappa became more sociable. He reconciled with Don Van Vliet and Gail began to organize “Margarita Fridays” for him. Every Friday night there would be a social gathering at their house and all of Zappa’s favorite musicians and people would come by.

Civilization Phase III, the follow up to Lumpy Gravy, was his last work. He even told Gail that he had nothing more to do once it was done. Done mostly on the synclavier, he ensured that no one would ever be able to play it live because it was just too complex. The album came in funeral packaging and consisted of two black CDs. One of its greatest tracks – N ’ Lite – was described in the LA Times: “No piece of music in history contains so much densely packed, meticulously arranged, diverse sound. The composer described the work simply as “a frightening son-of-a-bitch.” [Miles p. 375] If Zappa was leaving, he was going out with a bang!

Zappa died on December 6th, 1993 and was buried with an espresso machine and cayenne pepper – two things he might find extremely handy. His grave is unmarked and shows that he wasn’t lying when he said that he didn’t care about being remembered.

The Entrepreneur – The ‘80s / ‘90s

In 1980 Zappa founded Barking Pumpkin Records and secured a distribution deal with CBS.

Zappa went on to take on, or try to take on, business endeavors in Russia making deals to release records, license products, be a consultant etc. His visit to Czechoslovakia in the ‘90s, where he was seen as a God, led to him being named their official Representative of Trade, Tourism and Cultural Matters. Openly insulting the U.S.A. lead to the U.S. becoming infuriated and posing an ultimatum: “Either do business with the United States or you can do business with Zappa. What’ll it be?” [Miles p. 361] He was demoted to an unofficial cultural emissary.

The Performer – The ‘80s / ‘90s

One of Zappa’s strangest and certainly most memorable performances came in July 1980 in Palermo, Sicily. With anti-American thoughts instilled in most Europeans he was regularly greeted with things being thrown on stage while in Europe, but Palermo took the cake. The military was there along with cops who began spraying teargas into the audience. The incident resulted in three deaths and turned Zappa off touring until 1984.

In 1988 he got another band together, made up of his favorite players. He made them learn 100 songs and they then hit the road and recorded their live performances so Zappa could have material for albums at a cheaper price than studio recording. The tour was a success and Zappa managed to get 11,000 people registered to vote at the booths propped up at his shows.

The band soon began having problems with their bass player, Thunes, who Zappa asked to lead rehearsals for him. Zappa liked him, but everyone else hated him. When someone finally brought it up, Zappa asked the band if they would continue touring if Thunes stayed on and everyone said “no” thinking Zappa would find a replacement. Instead he fired them all and that was it for the tour. The band couldn’t “win,” he was in charge! The material he had taped then lead to two albums Broadway the Hard Way and The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life.

Zappa never toured nor played guitar again after that. With two exceptions. In 1991, he visited Prague and Hungary to celebrate the retreat of Soviet soldiers from these countries and had to pick up the guitar once again to be part of the festivities.

The Composer – The Rest of the ‘80s

Zappa was introduced to the synclavier, which did away with his need for musicians. After having discovered an 18th C. Italian Cellist from Milan under the name of Francesco Zappa, he decided to test the limits of the synclavier by recording his classical music on it. The result sounds machine-made, there is no denying it.

Zappa then released Them or Us on which he involved his kids: Moon was on vocals and Dweezil is on guitar on Sharleena. Then came Thing Fish in 1984. Originally planned to be a film, the plans fell through and a three album set was released instead. Composed in a week over his Christmas break, the result is rather mediocre and not many found it appealing. All he had to say was: “Like hydrogen, stupidity is one of the building blocks of the universe. As you come to grips with the splendor of stupidity itself, the process of being alive not only becomes more tolerable, but can even be enjoyable.” [Miles p. 330]

Then came the idea to re-release his entire catalogue. Getting the master tapes from MGM (after the lawsuit had finished) he claimed that they had been badly stored and of bad quality. He never bothered to ask them to look for copy and safety masters, which they surely had, and instead decided to add new drums and bass tracks. Fans were outraged as the albums lost their character and ambiance and as Zappa freely replaced the work of the original Mothers members.

Jazz from Hell from 1986 was almost entirely done on the synclavier, and sounded like it. The instrumental album garnered two Grammy nominations. He won the Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

The Social Critic – Zappa vs. PMRC

In the ‘80s the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) waged a war on the music industry, wanting to introduce a labeling system for music similar to that used on films. Made up of wives of powerful politicians, the record companies soon agreed to print ‘Parental Guidance: Explicit Lyrics” stickers on albums. That was not enough. The PMRC wanted more drastic measures.

Never one to sit back and watch the right to free speech be challenged, Zappa decided to speak up. He fought the “cultural terrorists” head on, giving his testimony in court and trying to show the PMRC was out of line. Incidentally, the ordeal gave him fuel for a new album – Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Prevention. (We’re Turning Again, which put down the entire 60s youth movement, was found to be vicious and exposed Zappa as a “cold nihilist with no emotions and no feelings for anybody else” [Miles p. 339]

The Man – Early ‘80s

Zappa had an ongoing habit of sabotaging the beauty of his best music with ugly lyrics and titles. All because he firmly believed that music was not a vehicle for emotional expression. As his idol Stravinsky once said, and was something he deeply identified with; “Expression has never been an inherent property of music” [Miles p. 287]

Frank didn’t do love, and his wife Gail was the first to support that claim. They rarely spoke to each other and his kids were always taught not to disturb him. He never saw what all the fuss was about and commented: “Along with all the love and admiration that’s going to come from the people that would keep you from being lonely, there is an emotional freight you have to bear from people who are wasting your time, and you can’t get that back. So when you’re lonely and all by yourself, guess what you have? You have all your own time. That’s a pretty good fucking deal ... every time you’re out being sociable and having other people be “nice” to you so you don’t feel “lonely” they are wasting your time.” [Miles p. 298]

As Miles points out this strong stance against love and sociability, along with a workaholic attitude, is a common barrier used by those with low self-esteem.

When his kids were fifteen Zappa took them out of school and made them take equivalency tests. He thoroughly believed that the school system dumbed you down into conformity. Taking it one step further, he decided that he wouldn’t pay for their college education, thus deterring them from going. Moon became a respected writer (acting didn’t work out), but she could have benefited from a degree. Dweezil immersed himself in music.

The Composer – Early ‘80s

Zappa’s dreams were finally coming true: his “serious” compositions were now being widely accepted in contemporary music circles. The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) performed some of his music and the Inter Contemporain ensemble of Paris commissioned a piece.

In 1983 he asked Kent Nagano (conductor of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra) to fly with him to London and conduct the LSO. Kent agreed noting that, “not only were they complex, but they were well written compositions.” Zappa’s work soon earned him respect from all of the musicians, even though it was “difficult music for the conductor to count [...] and also exercised little-used upper and lower ranges of instruments that were difficult to play, particularly in such unusual time signatures” [Miles p. 312] Zappa wasn’t pleased at all and called it a disaster. With four and a half days of rehearsal for music, which normally would merit four or five months, it’s safe to say Zappa was being overly harsh and demanding.

However, his “regular” music wasn’t fairing any better. People now often found him to be out of touch with the younger generation and his audiences became constantly smaller. Blaming punks for it all he was provided with new ammunition and so came Tinseltown Rebellion. The album featured more tracks against the women’s liberation movement, now accompanies by songs describing how punks were all insincere, plastic and hypocritical.

1981 welcomed three volumes of Shut Up and Play Your Guitar, which solely featured his best guitar solos from the years he had spent on the road.

In 1982 Zappa bought the Beach Boys’ mobile recording truck and was then able to record all of his live performances and most of the albums that followed used live material which he cut and paste according to his mood and desire. That same year came an unexpected radio hit for Zappa – Valley Girl. Moon had been craving to spend time with her dad and she slipped a note under his studio door proclaiming that she wanted to sing on one of his songs. One night, Zappa took her up on it. He woke her up in the middle of the night and asked her to do a monologue in her famous San Fernando Valley Girl accent. It was a hit with folks who mistakenly thought the song was celebrating Valley Girls and it lead to a line of merchandise including clothing, dolls, cosmetics and more. It even earned them a Grammy nomination!

The Composer – 1979 - 80

In 1979, when the costs of renting out studio time were simply becoming too high, Zappa opted to build his own - the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen (UMRK). He was finally independent, with his own studio and record company and a distribution deal with Phonogram.

1980 saw the release of his first album on his own record, Sheik Yerbouti (a pun on the hit by K. C. and the Sunshine Band), which was a rock opera recounting the story of an American rock and roller in a country where rock is seen as the root of all evil. The album reached No. 21 on Billboard, but not without some controversy over his explicit lyrics. All Zappa had to say was: “I’m a journalist of sorts. I have a right to say what I want to say about any topic. If you don’t have a sense of humor, then tough titties.” [Miles p.274] As many later went on to note Zappa was perhaps an integral part of the pop art movement, just like Warhol. After all, it was characteristic of the pop art movement not to romanticize or beautify their images, just like Zappa with his truthful, unapologetic interpretations of the world around him, which most could not handle.

The album also features his first use of “Xenochrony” on Rubber Shirt. “He would select a number of different tapes – all at the same tempo – and play them simultaneously to create a track in which the relationship of the instruments to one another is totally random.” [p. 271]

The Performer – 1978 – 79

Zappa approached his audiences as an older, wiser patriarch. He somehow believed that perhaps if he antagonized them enough they might rebel against bosses, teachers, parents and maybe even the government. He always wanted to entertain them however, and give them good value for their money. He just hoped to do so whilst educating them. Zappa lectured his audiences on the evils of Warners, TV evangelism, Nixon and even set up voter registration booths at his shows.

Miles believes that “Zappa could never respect his audiences [because] if he did he might have to listen to their criticisms.” [p. 265]

The Entrepreneur – Zappa vs. Warners

When his contract ended, Zappa still owed Warners four CDs, which he delivered: Studio Tan, Hot Rats III, Zappa’s Orchestral Favorites and Zappa in New York. Sixty days later and he still hadn’t gotten paid so, he sued them for breach of contract.

Zappa in New York was out first and was the most vilified for sexist, sexually explicit lyrics. Illinois Enema Bandit is, for example, outright offensive as Zappa takes joy in a robber who sexually assaults women, and he goes on to claim that they all secretly love it. He always hated the women’s liberation movement and this song certainly showed it.

Warners released Studio Tan next with their own sleeve and no liner notes, Sleep Dirt (originally Hot Rats III) came in ’79, as well as Orchestral Favorites.

The albums had been released without consulting Zappa, came with new packaging, no liner notes and were all edited for content. What’s more Zappa wasn’t paid any publishing or artist royalties.

Could you blame him for hating on them and taking them to court?!

The Entrepreneur - 1976

In September Zappa had his last ever tour with a line-up called The Mothers. He then proceeded to fire and sue Herb Cohen and his lawyer brother for stealing from DiscReet (and could no longer use the name “The Mothers.”) Zappa didn’t agree with the artists Cohen was signing and he claimed that Cohen had used his royalty checks to pay for production costs of Beefheart’s album, when Zappa was away on tour.

After Zappa refused to send the master tapes of Beefheart’s album, Bat Chain Puller, to Virgin Records for release until he got his money back, everyone claimed that this was proof enough that Zappa only cared about money and not art and that he was acting like the big record companies he hated. The CD was still not released when Zappa died. Zappa was just a smart business man and when he knew something was owed to him he went out and got it. He preached proactivity and he certainly followed his own advice.

When the case reached court in 1977, Zappa asked that DiscReet be dissolved since Cohen mishandled the firm and misappropriated its assets.

The Composer / Performer – 1976

With time Zappa began to love more and more recording his live shows and later using the tapes on albums, whether in full or partially. His bands were so well rehearsed that they always sounded great and all he had to do was head into the studio for some overdubbing, where needed.

Zoot Allures came out in October 1976 and was originally titled Night of the Iron Sausage. It sold 110,000 copies in its first week, with almost no promo at all, which was quite a feat. Putting the album together was a slow and tedious process as Zappa couldn’t use his master tapes which were frozen at DiscReet (Zappa was suing Cohen and hoping to dissolve the company. More on this in the next post.) So, Zappa made due with the safety copies he had. Whenever Zappa left the studio he took a safety copy of his work with him because as he explained: “When I go home after 20 hours in the studio, what am I gonna listen to? Bob Dylan records?" [Miles p. 254]

Discreet wasn't the only company Zappa was not happy with. He was almost utterly infuriated with Warners, and would soon become even angrier when they'd begin withholding royalties from him. (More in upcoming posts.) As always, Zappa was not shy about speaking his mind and began hanging a banner proclaiming “Warners sucks!” on stage at his shows. He justified it by saying,“This is my first release for Warners, not DiscReet; it’s not subsidiary, it’s not a little independent record company. It’s “Hey I’m on your mainline label, now what are ya gonna do about it? So far they’ve done diddly shit.” [p. 257]

The Entrepreneur - 1975

After a four year wait the case of Bizarre Records vs. The Royal Albert Hall finally reached the court. The trial’s judge took time to listen to the entire soundtrack of 200 Motels, in court, and a cultural gap soon became evident. (The Court had to use a dictionary of slang to grasp the meaning in the music.

The case claimed that the Royal Albert Hall breached its contract with Zappa by banning the Mothers from playing due to the nature of their explicit lyrics. Zappa’s main argument was that if they would have consulted him he would have amended the offensive lyrics.

A verdict was reached and the judge agreed that the Hall committed a breach of contract, but it didn’t award anything to Zappa (whose legal fees ended up being 20,000 pounds!)

Later, not letting defeat stand in his way and, as always, fighting for what he believed in and not letting anyone outsmart him nor take advantage of him, Zappa (along with Herb Cohen) sued MGM for two million dollars worth of royalties withheld from them for five Mothers compilations which had been released in North America, and eleven unauthorized ones released in foreign countries.

The Composer - 1975

1975 saw One Size Fits All, which, according to Zappa, featured; “Some story-type songs, but it’s pretty much rock-and-roll oriented. You could actually dance to this record.” [Miles p.245] The record peaked at No. 26, but Zappa was so proud of some of the work that Sofa No. 1 appeared on five other albums and Sofa No. 2 on six.

At this point Zappa had made up with Beefheart (who played harmonica on the album under the name of Bloodshot Rollin’ Red) but he continued to complain about his inability to memorize lyrics and stay on beat. By the end of the tour the two were once again not speaking to each other. Beefheart then launched the Magic Band and recruited Jimmy Carl Black.

The Composer / Musician - 1974

By 1974 Zappa fell into a routine in which half the year was spent on tour and the rest in his basement studio. Zappa described his workaholic schedule in greater detail: “If I’m not rehearsing I spend about 16, 18 hours a day down here [in the studio] writing music; typing, working on a film ... and if I’m not here, I usually do about 10, 14 hours in the studio, seven days a week, until rehearsal schedule starts. The only thing I would see as a worthwhile interruption would be 100 per cent concentration on a feature film.” [Miles p. 242] As we can see Zappa never really gave up the passion and hope of making another major movie production.

That year Roxy and Elsewhere was released and reached No.27 on the charts. Zappa hit the road and while in Finland recorded two live sets, which weren’t released until 1988 as You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore 2.