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Review by Mark Leviton, Creem, March 1971
THIS ALBUM IS a preview of what is the ultimate rock opera-symphony, 200 Motels, which is constantly growing and taking on amazing proportions. ...
Frank Zappa: The Lost Episodes
Review by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, March 1996
DESCRIBED BY UTILITY Muffin Kitchen engineer Spencer Chrislu as a "sort of stealth project", this excellent little album of studio leftovers was put together by ...
Audio interviews
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1988
The head Mother is brutally frank about the record-buying public and the bankruptcy of pop songwriting; on being exposed to Varese; learning to "draw" music as a kid; the difference between songwriting and composition, and deconstructs the modern pop song (and a whole lot more).
File format: mp3; file size: 81.9mb, interview length: 1h 29' 29" sound quality: ***
List of articles in the library
The Mothers of Invention: If You Get A Headache…
Report and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 15 July 1966
MOTHERS AND fathers, you thought the Beatles were bad. You got up in arms about the Rolling Stones. Sonny and Cher made you cringe. Well, ...
Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, November 1966
IF YOU want to know why so many British artists return from the States and get disgruntled with their home scene, ask Eric Burdon. I ...
Frank Zappa: "Son of Suzy Creamcheese"
Profile and Interview by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 25 December 1966
THE MOST original new group to simmer out of the steaming rock 'n' roll underground in the last hour and one-half is an audacious crew ...
Mothers Of Invention: Freak Out! (Verve)
Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 4 March 1967
Freak Out with the Mothers ...
My Favorite Records: Frank Zappa, Boss Mother
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, August 1967
IF YOU WANT to learn how to play guitar, listen to Wes Montgomery. You also should go out and see if you can get a ...
Frank Zappa: Meet the Boss Mother, Sussing Out Britain...
Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 26 August 1967
IF AFFLUENCE and power is the Great American Dream, Frank Zappa is the Great American Nightmare. ...
Frank Zappa's Comments on The Mothers of Invention's album Absolutely Free
Interview by Miles, International Times, 31 August 1967
When Zappa arrived in London in the summer of 1967, he naturally looked to the underground press for support, just as he did in Los ...
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 30 September 1967
MOTHERS — ALMOST A FREAK OUT, NOT A LOVE IN, DEFINITELY A SEND-UP! ...
Frank Zappa: Head Mother Speaks
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Fifth Estate, 1 December 1967
HIS NAME has a certain zing to it. Zappa – a name you don't easily forget. Like the man, Frank Zappa, leader and creator of ...
Review by Miles, International Times, 12 July 1968
WITH THE guile and cunning of a Zaptieh, Zappa presents his first 'solo' record: a ballet, an opera, a collage of all the elements then ...
Frank Zappa: Reviled, Revered Mother Superior
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 5 October 1968
FEAR OF THE abnormal isn't a trait confined to Americans, but they do seem to express their fears more vociferously than most. ...
Zappa, Vegetables And Uncle Meat...
Report and Interview by Hugh Nolan, Disc and Music Echo, 5 October 1968
THE FOLLOWING scene is not recommended for the squeamish, children below the age of three months, soldiers, policemen, politicians or vegetable-lovers (but may be seen ...
The Mothers of Invention: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 2 November 1968
WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THE MOTHERS COULD BE BORING? ...
Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 24 December 1968
"AN ELECTRIC caterwauling of power... burning it, flashing it, whirling it down some arc of consciousness, the sound screaming up to a climax of vibrations ...
Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention: The Truth Is, They're Not As Ugly As Their Pictures
Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 7 June 1969
Watching With Mothers: Chris Welch survives a week with Frank Zappa ...
Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 June 1969
Update, 2019. FRANK ZAPPA was always friendly when he and I met, between 1968 and 1970. This may have been because I took him seriously, ...
The Mothers of Invention: Uncle Meat (Transatlantic)
Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 14 June 1969
A DOUBLE volume set of madness, absurdity, serious music, rock and roll, electronics and sprecht stimme by Frank Zappa. Suzie Creamcheese and the Mothers presents ...
Interview by Miles, International Times, 29 August 1969
FRANK: There are some things I'd like to clarify about my editing technique. The editing technique is an extension of the composition because, as I ...
The Mothers Are Dead, But Zappa's Still Very Much Alive
Report and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 25 October 1969
THE MOTHERS are dead. Killed by a public apathy towards a style of music which the rest of the world will catch up with maybe ...
Report and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 8 November 1969
Frank Zappa breezed into London last week in an orange tee-shirt. His aim was to launch the British end of his record label, Straight, who ...
Frank Zappa: It's All In Self-Defence
Interview by Jonathon Green, Friends/Frendz, 22 November 1969
SURROUNDED BY The Business, eating through all the courses of a 'luncheon', gradually accumulating more and more different varieties of food and drink inside — ...
Review by Felix Dennis, Oz, 1970
A review by A.J. Weberman Jnr. ‘The world’s only living Zappaologist’. MY OLD man’s become something of a celebrity these days. Seems like every time ...
Review by Lester Bangs, Rolling Stone, 7 March 1970
THIS RECORDING brings together a set of mostly little-known talents that whale the tar out of every other informal "jam" album released in rock and ...
Frank Zappa: Hot Rats (Reprise stereo RSLP 6356; 40s 8d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 March 1970
WIDE RANGE FROM ZAPPA ...
Frank Zappa: Hot Rats (Reprise)
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 21 March 1970
Hot Rats is hot stuff! ...
Zappa Press release, on disbanding Mothers, 1970
Report by Miles, International Times, 9 April 1970
"The Mothers of Invention, infamous & repulsive rocking teen combo, is not doing concerts any more." ...
You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here: Frank Zappa
Profile and Interview by David G. Walley, Rock, 8 June 1970
"Always wondered whether I could make it in society because it's a drag when you're rejected..." ( Frank Zappa c. 1965) ...
Frank Zappa: Listen With Mothers
Profile and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 11 July 1970
FRANK ZAPPA has emerged as one of the most interesting, lucid, energetic, entertaining and creative figures in contemporary music. He has frequently complained of being ...
Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 24 August 1970
WITH HIS latest assortment of the Mothers of Invention, which was on display Friday evening at the Santa Monica Civic, Frank Zappa, America's most beloved ...
Frank Zappa: A Frank Talk With Zappa On Being A "Rebel Chief"!
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, 29 August 1970
AFTER A recent concert in Texas, Frank Zappa was accosted by a very smart elderly man, and three society women. "We want you to know ...
The Mothers Of Invention: Weasels Ripped My Flesh (Reprise MS 2028)
Review by Miles, Strange Days, 23 October 1970
"IT'S WEIRD, I like it" said Denise after hearing Weasels Ripped My Flesh. It is very important that you too should know about this latest ...
Interview by Miles, unpublished, November 1970
This interview recorded at Rattner's on 2nd Ave, New York City, on the 14th November 1970. After we'd eaten we escaped the rude noisy waiters ...
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: The Coliseum, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 5 December 1970
PROBABLY only Frank Zappa and his musicians could properly review their concerts at London's Coliseum on Sunday. So much happened in each two-hour segment, one ...
Frank Zappa: Was this the real Ruben Sano standing up at last?
Report and Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 23 January 1971
FRANK ZAPPA sauntered in, poured himself into the chair at the front of the room, folded his arms, crossed his legs and assumed the appearance ...
Interview by Miles, International Times, 28 February 1971
Interview with Frank Zappa – recorded at Rattner's on 2nd Ave. New York City November 14th 1970. Interview continued in an empty dressing room, backstage ...
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: Fillmore East, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 7 June 1971
Zappa's Musicians Rock Through Epic Of Stylized Traveler ...
Howard Kaylan: Mother Was A Turtle
Interview by Harold Bronson, Rolling Stone, 16 September 1971
LOS ANGELES – Working in the Turtles, working in the Mothers, it's all the same, Harold Kaylan says. But he has undergone a transition nevertheless. ...
Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 26 November 1971
Update, 2020. "Perverted, outrageous, violent, repulsive, ugly, tasteless. A travesty. That's what's good about them". This was a quote about the Rolling Stones, recorded around ...
The Foulk Brothers: Pop Promoting Blues
Report by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 1972
"RONNIE..." RONALD Foulk's secretary broke into the conference. "Will you accept a transfer call from America?" ...
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Beat Instrumental, January 1972
Frank Zappa was staying at the London hotel which possesses the actual loo shown on his internationally famous poster. When I arrived at the reception ...
Frank Zappa: Portrait Of The Artist As A Businessman
Interview by Paul Phillips, Rob Partridge, Cream, January 1972
"IF you’re making £10 a night, you’ll be screwed. When you’re making £1,000 a night, you’ll still get screwed... only you’re being screwed for more." ...
Frank Zappa: Rude, Pompous…And Frank
Interview by Keith Altham, Record Mirror, 1 January 1972
EVERY ONE has a right to an opinion but there are some who believe he has no right to express it in public. There are ...
Frank Zappa: Zappa On Rock, Porn And Blues
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
HE LOOKS a bit like an identi-kit picture of our own most infamous anarchist Guy Fawkes, this much-vaunted, often-maligned rock guitarist who more than anyone ...
Frank Zappa on Death, Rock Writers, Money
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 February 1972
ZAPPA IS NOT renowned for his appreciation of rock writers and their work, and he makes his point quite forcibly on the subject. ...
Captain Beefheart: Zappa stole my ideas, says the Captain
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc, 1 April 1972
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART is talking about his home, Eureka, where the snails are THIS big — he indicates about nine inches with his hands — and ...
Frank Zappa: Fearless Frank Tells What He'll Lay On You At The Oval Concert
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
IT'S THE Frank Zappa show ... starring Larry The Dwarf with his guests Suzy Creamcheese, Ruben Sano, and Willie The Pimp. ...
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 23 September 1972
FRANK ZAPPA is back in Britain for the first time since the attack which nearly ended his career. On the eve of last Saturday's Oval ...
Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley: Felt Forum, New York NY
Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 28 September 1972
JOY JUICED ...
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc, 10 March 1973
… from Zappa, whom Caroline Boucher visited at his Hollywood home ...
Frank Zappa: The Great Southern and Western Expedition Is On!
Report and Interview by Arthur Levy, Zoo World, 23 April 1973
"THE FIRST TIME I ever took the Mothers out on the road I approached it from a sociological point of view. ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
"ZAPPA'S IN TOWN," they said. "Wanna go along and talk to him?" Oh sure, sez I, always glad to have a chat with Frank. So ...
Frank Zappa: Past Flops And Future Shocks
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 25 August 1973
HIS ARMS AROUND a red-haired girl whose ample chest was covered with a Mighty Thor t-shirt, debonair Frank Zappa (32) sank deeper into the couch, ...
Frank Zappa: Penguins in Bondage and Other Perversions
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
WHERE WERE WE? Oh yeah, Frank Zappa. Anyway, ol' Frank is sitting in his hotel room above Kensington, discoursing on this and that and demonstrating ...
Ugly, vulgar, insulting — Zappa scores!
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, November 1973
The Mothers: Overnite Sensation (Discreet)Faust: Faust IV (Virgin) ...
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: Over-Nite Sensation (Discreet)
Review by Noe Gold, Crawdaddy!, December 1973
THERE HE sits, perched atop his Olympian toadstool, dropping farts and thunderbolts into a tape recorder. Few have escaped his world unscathed by his grungy ...
Frank Zappa: Ultra-modern String Bean
Profile and Interview by Jon Tiven, Sounds, 22 December 1973
ALTHOUGH depicted as vicarious forms of slimy nightmare, Frank Zappa is NOT creepy. When asked about days of old (when everyone was groping around, trying ...
Frank Zappa: Apostrophe(') (Discreet)
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 May 1974
Zappa's touch of genius ...
Frank Zappa: Outrage And Invention
Profile by Michael Gray, Melody Maker, 6 July 1974
FRANK ZAPPA is the only West Coast musician who emerged in the 1960s without giving free promotion to the California Tourist Board. ...
Frank Zappa: Roxy And Elsewhere
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
CAPSULE REVIEW for the Busy Reader: if you like Apostrophe and Over-Nite Sensation better than any of Uncle Frank's other efforts, then ooze into your ...
Frank Zappa: Relax, Frank. We Ain't No Liggers. A Few Of Us Just Came To Join In…
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
WHY IS Stephen Stills not smiling? To be more precise, why are those noble, rugged features sporting an expression roughly equivalent to that of a ...
How To Write, Sub, And Lay Out A Frank Zappa 'Lookin' Back', part 1
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
"LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING. You've got our recordings, you've seen us work a few times, you interviewed me three or four times, you've read a ...
How To Sub And Lay Out A Frank Zappa Lookin' Back Part 2
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974
"PERHAPS THE most unique aspect of the Mother's work is the conceptual continuity of the group's output macrostructure. ...
How To Complete The Subbing And Layout Of A Very Long Frank Zappa Lookin' Back, Part 3
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
THE ALBUM and movie of 200 Motels erupted late in 1971. Both received near-unanimous critical meat-axe jobs and both were ignominious commercial failures. United Artists, ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words', 1975
ALTHOUGH PRIMARILY considered a composer, Frank Zappa's lyrics reflect his unique approach to rock 'n' roll almost as well as his music does. Combining a ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
Mothers albums nestle amongst the legal papers. A stereo system has been set up in front of The judge. The scene is Law Court Seven. ...
Frank Zappa: What Did You Do In The Revolution, Dada?
Essay by Karl Dallas, Let It Rock, June 1975
Karl Dallas asks the pertinent questions... ...
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
THE FIRST WORD of this review is "deteriorate." It means to Lose Your Magic. ...
Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart: Bongo Fury
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
THE STORY SO far. ...
Zappa and Beefheart: Penguins In Bondage
Interview by Robot A. Hull, Creem, January 1976
Master MasterThis is recorded thru uh flies ear 'n you have t' have uh flies eye t' see it it's the thing that's gonna make ...
Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart: BLLLAAAaaaaahhhhh
Memoir by Miles, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976
Actually, it didn't work. However, something that did work was the re-uniting of THE CAPTAIN and FRANK ZAPPA a few months ago for a tour ...
Tom Wilson: The Man Who Put Electricity Into Dylan
Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 31 January 1976
TOM WILSON is an elegant, very tall (6ft 4in) black American, a former Harvard man who talks a little like Bill Cosby but whose pencil-thin ...
Frank Zappa: Any Resemblance is Purely Conceptual
Report and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
MILES SCOOPS THE POOP ON UNCLE FRANK ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 December 1976
THIS ALBUM is neither Bizarre nor DiscReet, but that's neither here nor there. ...
Interview by Susin Shapiro, Sounds, 18 December 1976
'Sure, but I'm not ready yet. I'd be a perfect President. I'd not only win, but I'd be good at the job.' Sez Frank Zappa ...
Frank Zappa: Zoot Allures (Warner Bros. BS 2970)
Review by Robert Duncan, Rolling Stone, 30 December 1976
WITH REGARD to poo-poo, snot, vomit, depersonalized sex, booze, zoot suits and the banality of mainstream rock, Frank Zappa, one of rock's original angry young ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, January 1977
FRANK ZAPPA – guitarist, composer, producer, avid roller derby fan, and leader of the Mothers Of Invention – is, at 36, probably the elder statesman ...
Review and Interview by Susin Shapiro, Gig, February 1977
A WRITER FRIEND of mine is fond of saying: "If you fear something enough don't run scared, confront it directly." The idea being that no ...
Overview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 12 February 1977
A long look back at F. Vincent Zappa and his very special bands from LA (and other places) ...
Frank Zappa: Father Of Invention
Profile by Ed Jones, The Spectator, 19 February 1977
TWO YOUNG SCOTSMEN were beside me in the front stalls of the Hammersmith Odeon last week, both extremely genial and very evidently the worse (or ...
Frank Zappa: Frank Panned (Almost)
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 19 February 1977
Frank Zappa: The Rainbow Theatre, London ...
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 19 February 1977
Frank Zappa: Hammersmith Odeon, London MILES gets his time organised ...
Frank Zappa: Zoot Allures (Warner Bros.)
Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, March 1977
Zappa and crew, contemplating a tap dance, a pose debonair. ‘Just smile, sugar.’ ...
Frank Zappa: O.K. Frank, Let It Roll…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 March 1977
IS THE CONCEPTUAL CONTINUITY of your output macrostructure still operative? "Yes," nods Frank Zappa solemnly. ...
Frank Zappa: Carry On Composing
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 28 January 1978
No Edgar Varèse trip for Frank Zappa, who's just sold out four shows at the Hammersmith Odeon (not bad for a hippie in '78, eh?). ...
Frank Zappa: Stern Words in Knightsbridge
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
…when cynical ol’ Uncle Frank knocks punk, record companies and U.S. presidents, and reveals the CIA plot to spike San Francisco… ...
Frank Zappa: Zappa Digs Sabs Shock!
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 28 January 1978
Sandy: Can I ask you firstly about one of my own obsessions, Kim Fowley, (Oh No! – Ed) Who was on the Freak Out album, ...
Frank Zappa: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 4 February 1978
GOOD EVENING ladies and gentlemen. The lights have gone down, the Zappa band are all ready, so let's get on with the show, 'cos that's ...
Frank Zappa: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
"FRANK ZAPPA is the leader and musical director of the Mothers Of Invention. His performances in person with the group are rare. His personality means ...
Frank Zappa: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 4 February 1978
Cynical Zappa ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
Not Funny But Frankly ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
STUDIO TAN drops into the industry's autumn orgy unheralded. ...
Frank Zappa: Joe's Garage ; Richard and Linda Thompson: Sunnyvista
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1979
ROCK AND ROLL survives on an illusion of dynamism built upon critical inertia, upon endlessly repeated truths such as the oft-heard oppositions of 'old/new wave' ...
Frank Zappa: Sheik Yerbouti (CBS)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
THE MODERN-day composer refuses to die and, sadly, so too does Frank Zappa. ...
Frank Zappa: The Myth Of Joe's Garage
Interview by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 13 December 1979
I'M STANDING ON the loading platform at L.A. International Airport at 2:30 in the morning, listening to a prerecorded voice that keeps repeating "...the white ...
The Concise NME Guide To Electronic Music & Synthesised Sound PART TWO — Synthesisers
Overview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
POMP THE trouble with synthesisers is actually playing them, accepting their status as sound-generators and starting from scratch. Mechanical keyboards were included in early synth ...
Frank Zappa: America's Weirdest Rock Star Comes Clean
Interview by John Swenson, High Times, March 1980
FRANK ZAPPA is probably the most misunderstood man in the history of popular music. ...
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 6 April 1980
FRANK ZAPPA'S CONCERT at the Sports Arena tonight will be his first local appearance in 2 years, but rock's iconoclastic satirist certainly isn't viewing it ...
Interview by John Swenson, Guitar World, March 1982
FRANK ZAPPA was at the Palladium in New York for his perennial Pumpkin Day concert celebration with his most loyal fans. ...
Frank Zappa: Only In It For The Money
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Creem, November 1982
FRANK & MOON ZAPPA GO AM ...
Frank Zappa: Surreal Anarchy From The Mother Superior
Retrospective by Miles, The History of Rock, 1983
Frank Zappa was born a composer. Had he been born in a different time or place, he would probably have become a 'serious' composer. But ...
Report by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 15 January 1983
"OH GAWD! Can anyone tell me the way to London Wail?"The fat flustered city gent looks like he's been stuck in the middle of the ...
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 22 January 1983
Frank Zappa/London Symphony Orchestra: Barbican Centre, London ...
Frank Zappa: The '60s Mother Still Breaks Social, Musical Convention
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 1984
STOP THE presses! Frank Zappa, that mother of a curmudgeon, has been spotted actually smiling! Get out the red ink – he even chuckled once ...
Billy James on Columbia, Elektra and the L.A. music industry
Interview by Richie Unterberger, unpublished, 1986
Author’s note: This was based around one of the first significant historical interviews I did. The essay wasn't published anywhere, just typed out for a ...
Interview by Noe Gold, Guitar World, April 1987
FRANK ZAPPA'S fully-equipped home recording studio is where he'd most rather be. "I never go out," he says, though his Laurel Canyon home commands a ...
The Rock & Roll Disc Interview: Frank Zappa
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, December 1987
FRANK ZAPPA is nothing if not an American original. As American youth swarmed to record stores in search of Monkees and Archies records (it ...
Profile by Richard Gehr, The Village Voice, 17 February 1988
If I may be so crass as to adjudge a rock icon by his fans, I'd say Frank Zappa might have a demographics problem. Admittedly, ...
Frank Zappa: Frank's Wild Years
Interview by Andy Gill, Q, December 1989
AT DEAD OF night, behind barred gates and video security cameras up in the Hollywood Hills above Los Angeles, a tall, angular man with neatly ...
Review by Andy Gill, Q, August 1990
UNCLE FRANK'S EXTENSIVE reissues programme continues apace with eight more blasts from various bits of his past. ...
Frank Zappa: The Mother of Inversion
Profile and Interview by Richard Gehr, Fanfare, 30 June 1991
FRANK ZAPPA is a long-standing foe of warning about violent or sexually explicit lyrics – advocated by the Parents’ Music Resource Center and adopted by ...
Review by Andy Gill, Q, November 1991
JUST WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS, to quote Uncle Frank: yet another record label, and eight more Zappa albums hot on the heels of his two ...
The Double Life Of Frank Zappa,
Profile and Interview by Michael Gray, Daily Telegraph, 18 September 1992
SINCE CONTRACTING prostate cancer in 1989 Frank Zappa, now 51, has cancelled many public appearances and new projects. Tonight he re-emerges at the Frankfurt Music ...
Mothers of Invention Don Preston and Bunk Gardner
Interview by Phil McMullen, Ptolemaic Terrascope, Winter 1992
DON PRESTON: a man whose career with Frank Zappa spanned the period 1966 to 1974 all told, with time off for good behaviour in between, ...
Captain Beefheart: Dropout Boogie
Retrospective by Miles, MOJO, December 1993
IT WAS 2am, September 1969, and I was having a cup of styrofoam coffee with Don Van Vliet in the 24-hour automated snack-bar of TT&G ...
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, Daily Telegraph, December 1993
A FEW YEARS AGO, Gail Zappa, wife and business partner of the late Frank Zappa, was shopping for groceries in Los Angeles when the cashier ...
Obituary by Michael Gray, Daily Mail, 7 December 1993
FRANK ZAPPA, who has died of cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 52, might well be seen as the last wild man of ...
Obituary by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 18 December 1993
FRANK ZAPPA, who died last week at the age of 52, has long been regarded as one of the most important figures in rock, a ...
Obituary by Andy Gill, Q, February 1994
Francis Vincent Zappa II, 1940-1993 ...
Frank Zappa: Dr Zircon's Secret Lab
Memoir by Miles, MOJO, March 1994
I FIRST MET FRANK Zappa in July 1967, outside the Garrick Theater at 152 Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village. He was standing on the sidewalk, ...
Obituary by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, March 1994
[NOTE: This was part of Mojo’s obituary for Frank Zappa, and was published in March 1994. The brief was simply to look at his career ...
Obituary by Richard Gehr, Spin, March 1994
THE SUMMER between eighth and ninth grades — the same mystical season I smoked pot, read V, and almost had sex with someone else for ...
Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, BAM, 10 February 1995
IF ANYONE OUT there is wondering why Lou Reed (who never had a good word to say about Frank Zappa during Zappa's lifetime) was chosen ...
From Z to A and Back Again, or: QUANTITIES AND LEER
Comment by Ian Penman, The Wire, July 1995
I CANNOT FOR the pop life of me see why anyone over the age of 17 would ever want to listen to Frank Zappa again, ...
Essay by Mark Sinker, The Wire, June 1996
2005 note: Savage Pencil did a nice illustration for this: John and Yoko hilariously naked, among other excellent things. It also elicited an angry postcard ...
Pamela Des Barres: Supergroupie
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 4 January 1997
Legendary supergroupie PAMELA DES BARRES has toured the dark side of rock'n'roll and lived to tell the tale. But what does she make of young ...
Frank Zappa: I was a Teenage Moose Freak!
Report by Rob Chapman, MOJO, December 1998
FREE-FORM RADIO was one of the great innovations of the American Underground. From 1966, when the Federal Communications Commission freed up the FM band, to ...
Book Excerpt by Lenny Kaye, David Dalton, Cooper Square Books (reissue), 1999
"There is no undertaking more challenging, no responsibility more awesome than being a Mother."– RICHARD M. NIXON ...
Frank Zappa: Too Much or Not Enough?
Retrospective by Richard Gehr, unpublished, 11 April 1999
By the time of his death from prostate cancer on December 4, 1993, Frank Zappa's taste for life on the road had all but vanished. ...
Undercurrents #7: Fables of the Deconstruction
Retrospective by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, July 1999
In the latest in our series uncovering the hidden wiring of 20th century music, Edwin Pouncey shows how rock 'n' roll's face was changed forever ...
Flo and Eddie and Marc, Frank and More
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, Goldmine, 2002
THEY WERE THE VOICE of the American 1960s, sainted providers of the angelic harmonies and grooved-out choruses that served up the most innocent psychedelia your ...
Zappa And The Mothers – The Flo And Eddie Years
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, Goldmine, 2002
BETWEEN MID-1970 and the end of 1971, Frank Zappa was at his peak as rock’s premier satirist and spokesman, an 18-month period during which he ...
Kevin Courrier: Dangerous Kitchen – The Subversive World of Frank Zappa
Book Review by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, April 2003
SINCE HIS death from prostate cancer in 1993, Frank Zappa's history and collective improvisations have been celebrated and picked over by a horde of musicologists ...
Frank Zappa: The Mother Of All Reinventions
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 21 November 2003
IF CIGARETTES AND COFFEE are available in the afterlife, the shade of Frank Zappa is probably allowing himself a wry smile from beneath his formidable ...
Frank Zappa: Shhhh… Genius At Work
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2004
Zappa spent much of his final 10 years slaving over a hot mixing desk. Sylvie Simmons met him in the studio as he tried to ...
We Need a Frank Zappa for the 21st Century
Comment by Larry Jaffee, Medialine, January 2004
A TRIBUTE TO Frank Zappa was one of the highlights of Surround 2003 at the conference's awards show Dec. 11 at the Beverly Hills Hilton, ...
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, unpublished, Spring 2004
FRANK ZAPPA was an irrelevant, redundant figure by the late ‘70s. The object of dorkish devotion, Ol’ Silly Beard had meandered off into cul de ...
Book Review by Mark Rozzo, Los Angeles Review of Books, 7 May 2006
UP LAUREL CANYON Boulevard at the corner of Lookout Mountain there sits a walled-in postage stamp of lawn and trees. It's a prime slice of ...
ROCK CLIMBING: Jon Stewart Asks, 'Does Humour Belong In Music?'
Column by Jon Stewart, Guitarist, July 2009
HIGH SUMMER, the silly season, is the time to examine humour in music. ...
Post-Modern Rock 'N' Roll Musings: Step One
Retrospective by Robot A. Hull, Rock's Backpages, 4 September 2009
IT BEGAN AS a dream in the minds of two teenage companions, Don Van Vliet and Frank Zappa, isolated in the barren town of Lancaster. ...
Frank Zappa: The Freak-Out List (Chrome Dreams)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gene Sculatti, Ugly Things, 2010
YOU GOTTA HAND it to the folks at Chrome Dreams. Recognizing a good thing, they've come up with yet another "unauthorized" Zappa title (their fifth, ...
Frank Zappa's Manager: A Smile On His Lips, And A Pistol Under The Bar
Obituary by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 19 March 2010
Mick Brown pays tribute to Herb Cohen, who managed Frank Zappa while maintaining an enthusiasm for music, cheese, confectionery and armaments. ...
Herb Cohen: Combative label boss and manager of Frank Zappa and Tom Waits
Obituary by Rob Hughes, The Guardian, 1 April 2010
HERB COHEN, who has died aged 77 of complications from cancer, did not elicit much affection from the artists he managed, but he played a ...
Cucumber sandwiches with Frank Zappa
Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 17 October 2010
Caroline Boucher recalls afternoon tea with California's king of outrage. ...
Gail Zappa: Mother of Re-Invention
Comment by Mark Leviton, Rock's Backpages, 8 February 2013
I'M A HUGE admirer of Frank Zappa, and have been since the mid-'60s. As a music critic I've written about him extensively, and during my ...
Frank Zappa: The Hot Rats Sessions
Review by Tony Burke, Morning Star, 16 January 2020
FIFTY YEARS AGO, Frank Zappa declared (after Edgar Varese) that "the present-day composer refuses to die". How true, and half a century on from the ...
Retrospective by Richard Gehr, Los Angeles Times, 5 March 2020
How Frank Zappa busted up his band, moved to L.A. and helped invent jazz-rock. ...
Miss Mercy, colourful L.A. rock fixture and cofounder of Frank Zappa's GTOs, dies at 71
Obituary by Chris Campion, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2020
MISS MERCY, the effervescent rock 'n' roll superfan who found fame as a member of Frank Zappa's "groupie" girl-group the GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously), died ...
Don Van Vliet and Frank Zappa: Two Peas In A Misshapen Pod
Retrospective by Gary Lucas, Please Kill Me!, 14 January 2021
Guitarist Gary Lucas found himself smack dab in the middle of two of America's musical geniuses, Don 'n' Frank. Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa were ...
Cancel Culture: Starring Iggy, Janis, Zappa & Others
Memoir by Gary Lucas, Please Kill Me!, 25 October 2021
Long before it became a conversation-stopping mantra of the extremist right wing, "cancel culture" visited rock 'n' roll on numerous occasions. Guitarist, deejay, scenemaker and ...
see also George Duke
see also Wild Man Fischer
see also Flo & Eddie
see also GTOs, The
see also Mothers Of Invention, The
see also Ruben and the Jets
see also Grandmothers, The
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