Musician, Sixties counter culture icon, freedom of speech campaigner, strident critic of religion, ripping guitarist, distributor of bonkers offspring names (Moon Unit, Dweezil), lyricist of the social, political, and, for a time, Czechoslovakia's Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism.
A prolific career which took in doo-wop, rock, jazz, and classical music, ended with his premature death from prostate cancer in 1993, after an incredible 62 albums (which with posthumous releases has risen to 100).
It all began with his band The Mothers of Invention, and their debut album Freak Out!, released in 1966, immediately establishing Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music. The sound was raw, the songs titles were 'out there' (Who Are The Brain Police? and Help I'm A Rock are two examples) but the arrangements were sophisticated, with lyrics praising non-conformity, disparaging authorities, and his work would increasingly come to find a place for seemingly conventional love songs.
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Frank Zappa is considered to be one of the most influential rock musicians of the late twentieth century. Between the start of his career in the late fifties and his death in 1993 he recorded and rele..
On September 19, 1985, Frank Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organizati..
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