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.