Frank Zappa

From Philosopedia

Zappa, Frank (21 Dec 1940 - 4 Dec 1993)

Zappa was born in Baltimore and moved at age ten with his family to California. His father was a Sicilian-born meteorologist. Zappa, a musician, vocalist, and composer not only of popular but also of highly structured serious music, came to prominence in the 1960s with his Mothers of Invention band.

A rock icon as bandleader, guitarist, composer, satirist, and political commentator, he became known for challenging the dominant culture as well as the counterculture, the group used guest musicians, colorful props, and improvisational dialogue.

The London Symphony Orchestra performed Zappa Volume One and Zappa Volume Two. 200 Motel was a semi-autobiographical movie and gave his account of the rock scene in American music. Pierre Boulez conducted Zappa’s The Perfect Stranger. Germany’s Ensemble Modern performed his The Yellow Shark. He won a Grammy Award for Jazz From Hell, an album of instrumentals written and performed on the state-of-the-art Synclavier computer synthesizer. When the Communist system began to collapse, Zappa traveled to Eastern Europe, befriending Czech president Vaclav Havel and serving as an unofficial American envoy for trade and culture.

In the 1980s he became known for his sarcastic aim at the religious right and for championing the First Amendment:

• Anybody who claims that the Road to Righteousness is mapped out in some book (or pamphlet) he’s waving around is an asshole (at least) or (more likely) a fanatic, in the clinical sense of the word.

A lapsed Catholic, he said,

• Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned - I support your right to enjoy it. However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect for the rights of those people who do not wish to share your dogma, rapture, or necrodestination.

Despite his acceptance in serious music institutions, Zappa is usually thought of as “the Wild Man of Rock.” He particularly appealed to those who felt “I just don’t fit in,” for he responded with the comforting sentiment Who cares?

His children were memorably named Valley Girl Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet and Diva. He once sold a photo of himself on the toilet and labeled it, “Phi Zappa Crappa.”

He released more than 50 albums before his untimely death at 52 from prostate cancer. Upon his death, Zappa’s family announced that “Composer Frank Zappa has left for his final tour.”

{FFRF; Gary Yokie, “A Tribute,” Secular Nation, Fall 1994}