An in-depth look into the life and work of musician Frank Zappa.
The year is 1991, Frank Zappa is backstage at a sold-out show in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Previously, in 1989, the country had just undergone The Velvet Revolution, and the concert was a celebration of its Post-Soviet rule. Frank Zappa didn’t despise communism. He had already visited the USSR a few times in the past and experienced more than most westerners. His main concern was with the countries in the USSR that had been suffering under embargoes and other forms of economic warfare caused by the Cold War with the West.
Directed by Alex Winter, “Zappa” follows a structured narrative told through old interviews mainly by the titular artist himself, using unreleased music from his massive vault, and a plethora of home video footage. Ever since he was a young boy, Zappa had a fascination with film editing and chemistry and he amusingly recalls how he learned to make gunpowder at the age of six. His father worked at Edgewood Army Arsenal, which developed the nefarious poisons GB and VX gas which were used by the Nazis during WWII. In an old interview, FDR declares the gas is in the plant is lethal enough to kill over 680 million people. Due to his father’s profession and proximity to the plant, gas masks and chemistry equipment were strewn about the house and these scientific objects had a profound impact on the young boy. After a few years, Zappa’s father decided to take a better job in California and better air quality for Frank’s severe asthma.
I find it impossible to tie one specific genre to Zappa‘s prolific body of work and in his own words, he wonderfully describes how his taste and compositions became so eclectic. Beginning with classical music, he avoided obvious titans like Beethoven and Mozart, opting instead for Edgard Varese, an obscure composer whose works were unorthodox. Next, he mentioned his love for both traditional Blues and Rhythm and Blues records and memorized the catchy riffs and chord changes that made them so appealing. In 1956 he astonished local citizens of his small Californian town by forming an integrated band with black and white musicians playing side by side. This alone is a progressive achievement that should be remembered and celebrated. After working odd jobs and some copywriting work for advertising firms, he began to compose film scores and experimenting with different artistic designs. In Cucamonga, California, he built Studio Z, a tiny place to record with limited food but had every electronic device he needed. After staging a stag party and simulating sex noises on a record, his studio was shuttered by San Bernardino’s Vice Squad and Zappa was sent to prison for six months. This experience made him realize he needed to move to a major city and avoid small towns with small minds.
In a clever move, he decided to relocate to Los Angeles where he formed a band named The Mothers of Invention. They played on the Sunset Strip at famous venues like Whiskey-A-Go-Go, increasing their number of fans and band members. The band gained notoriety for playing songs over twenty minutes long with subversive lyrics and unique melodies. In interviews collected over the years, his bandmates share insightful and humorous anecdotes like how Zappa would expect them to know what song he wanted to play next, even though they never formed a setlist. As luck would have it for the band, a music manager caught one of their blues-oriented songs during a time period where white guys playing the blues were popular and he signed the band on the spot. One of the members hilariously mentions that the manager didn’t realize that their band was unusual and would be mixing a lot of genres. After a couple of records, the band moved to New York City to garner more attention and played six nights a week for five months straight in an intimate theatre. The hard work paid off and The Mothers of Invention became a cult success.
Zappa met his wife Gail and the couple moved to a beautiful rustic log cabin in the heart of Laurel Canyon. I was fortunate to have spent quite a bit of time near his home and this neighborhood is one of the most iconic parts of the city. Zappa’s home was an unofficial headquarters for the period’s top artists including but not limited to David Bowie and The Rolling Stones. But it didn’t stay that groovy, the Manson Family had set up camp on the mountain behind their property and the murders changed a loving atmosphere into a cloud of paranoia. Not only did the hippie dream die but so did The Mothers of Invention who broke up in that fateful year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-nine.
“Zappa” isn’t biased, infidelity and his anti-drug stance are shown openly and unpolished. In 1971 he was attacked by a mentally ill attendee who threw Zappa off the stage leading to a serious injury that left him wheelchair-bound for a year or so. Since he was unable to perform, he employed a talented animator and the two began making stop-motion films with massive clay sets and figures. Clearly, he was an innovative artist and never stopped working. He crossed multiple mediums of art famously collaborating with Lenny Bruce, one of the greatest controversial comedians in the 1960s. His influence is prevalent with examples like Sergeant Pepper Lonely Hearts Club showing The Beatles attempting to capture the sound of his classic album Freak Out.
This documentary is a wonderful and honest ode to an incredible artist and his methods to topple mainstream thinking. He mentions performance tactics like trying to annoy his audiences into a revolutionary way of living. He wanted people to question their environment and speak out if they hated it. He wanted to change the world but also wanted to perform only what he felt like playing. Alice Cooper, who was signed to Zappa’s independent Bizarre Records, interestingly posits that Zappa never wanted to make a hit record and would “intentionally sabotage his own albums.” Zappa was appropriately outraged by the commodification of music and thought it was absurd that album sales determined who was the “greatest” artist. With the onslaught of the Reagan Presidency came more corporate takeover of media and radio, closing out the thousands of independent radio stations and making companies like Clear Channel the hegemonic ruler of art.
One of my favorite achievements of his was hiring the London Symphony orchestra to perform his compositions. There’s a clip where David Letterman asked, “how did you get such a prestigious orchestra to perform your works?” Zappa replied, “by paying them a lot of money.” This clip is one of many displaying his honest wit, but most importantly being very aware of how the world works and what makes it turn. Before his untimely death, he became even more outspoken over politics and censorship. He was booked on every major news outlet and talk show in the 1980s, sporting a clean-cut hairstyle to slyly get in the door by “appearing” conservative.
In Select Theaters and On-Demand November 27th
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