History Music / FrankZappa

* {{Mondegreen}}: His cover of Music/JimiHendrix's "Purple Haze" from ''Music/AreYouExperienced'' uses the widely noted mondegreen "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" amongst other lyric changes ForTheLulz.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: "King Kong" from ''Music/UncleMeat''.

+ Music/TheBeatles, Music/JohnLennon, Music/YokoOno, Music/JimiHendrix, Music/CaptainBeefheart, Music/TheStooges, Music/AliceCooper, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/GeorgeClinton, Music/SteveVai, Music/JethroTull, Music/DeadKennedys, Music/TalkingHeads, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Music/TheyMightBeGiants, Music/{{Primus}}, Music/{{Phish}}, Music/{{Ween}}, Music/TenaciousD, Pere Ubu, Music/DavidBowie, Music/BrianEno, Music/IggyPop, Music/{{Devo}}, Music/{{Kraftwerk}}, Music/OingoBoingo, Music/SystemOfADown, Music/KingCrimson, Creator/HirokazuTanaka, Music/{{Merzbow}}, Music/SoftMachine, Music/StevenWilson, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, Music/JohnFrusciante, Music/InsaneClownPosse, Music/{{Radiohead}}, Music/TheMarsVolta, R. Stevie Moore, Music/{{Magma}}...

* BadassMoustache: Even a trademark logo.

+ Music/TheBeatles, Music/JohnLennon, Music/YokoOno, Music/JimiHendrix, Music/CaptainBeefheart, Music/TheStooges, Music/AliceCooper, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/GeorgeClinton, Music/SteveVai, Music/JethroTull, Music/DeadKennedys, Music/TalkingHeads, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Music/TheyMightBeGiants, Music/{{Primus}}, Music/{{Phish}}, Music/{{Ween}}, Music/TenaciousD, Pere Ubu, Music/DavidBowie, Music/BrianEno, Music/IggyPop, Music/{{Devo}}, Music/{{Kraftwerk}}, Music/OingoBoingo, Music/SystemOfADown, Music/KingCrimson, Music/{{Merzbow}}, Music/SoftMachine, Music/StevenWilson, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, Music/JohnFrusciante, Music/InsaneClownPosse, Music/{{Radiohead}}, Music/TheMarsVolta, R. Stevie Moore, Music/{{Magma}}...

Some of his songs were used during the first two seasons of ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'' as a tribute and his son, Dweezil, was cast as the voice of Duckman's moronic, Valley Boy son, Ajax. Two years later a group of Zappa fans in Lithuania paid to have a bronze bust of Zappa erected in downtown Vilnius, although Zappa wasn't Lithuanian and had never visited the country. It went on to become Vilnius' [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/may/09/news second-most-popular tourist attraction]]. In 2008 a replica was erected in Baltimore, which actually ''was'' his birthplace. Magazine/RollingStone recognizes him as the twentieth greatest guitarist of all time on their list of [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone100GreatestGuitaristsOfAllTime 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time]].

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 -- December 4, 1993) was a famous CrazyAwesome and prolific composer/musician, singer, guitarist, RecordProducer, film director and anti-censorship activist. His [[ArchivePanic massive]] [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder 75-album output]], both solo and with his band The Mothers of Invention, is largely known for [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly spanning almost every genre known to man]] from [[HardRock straightforward rock 'n roll]] to [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible free-jazz, musique concrète]] and classical music, alternating between heavy experimentalism and accessible catchiness and being chock-full of satirical, absurd, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments gut-bustingly funny]] lyrics. While he had occasional brushes with mainstream fame in TheSeventies and TheEighties, the bulk of his career was spent as a legendary cult figure, boasting a small but devoted fandom and critical acclaim.

* MemeticMutation: His cover of Music/JimiHendrix's "Purple Haze" from ''Music/AreYouExperienced'' uses the widely noted mondegreen "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" amongst other lyric changes ForTheLulz.

* {{Mondegreen}}: His cover of Music/JimiHendrix's "Purple Haze" from ''Music/AreYouExperienced'' uses the widely noted mondegreen "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" amongst other lyric changes ForTheLulz.

* PhoneBooth: Studebaker Hoch (fantastic new superhero of the current economic slump) and Gross Man both run into a phone both to transform.

* CreatorInJoke: Zappa had so many in-jokes with his bandmates that he wrote multiple songs about them. Only a few of them have been fully explained, and only one – "The Jazz Discharge Party Hats" from ''TMusic/TheManFromUtopia'' – explains the joke for the audience (the joke in question was why certain members of the band wore women's panties on their head during concerts.) Other in-jokes are mentioned in passing in concerts, such as Zappa offhandedly mentioning in "Titties & Beer" from ''Music/ZappaInNewYork'' that the Devil (played by drummer Terry Bozzio) jerks off to a picture of Angel guitarist Punky Meadows (which got its own in-joke song, "Punky's Whips". See AttractiveBentGender.)

[[index]]

[[/index]]

After his death, Frank's wife Gail managed the ''Zappa Family Trust'', which is responsible for overseeing re-issues of his discography, overseeing the use of Zappa's works in other media, as well the [[http://zappa.com release]] of new posthumous releases. In 2012, the Trust collaborated with Universal Music Enterprises to put out a massive CD reissue campaign of Zappa's canonical back-catalog, compiling every studio and live album released during his lifetime (including the three that Warner Bros. released behind his back) plus the 1996 posthumous release ''Music/{{Lather}}'' under the "Official Release" banner; these reissues are nowadays considered the definitive CD releases of Zappa's material, with only a small number of exceptions[[note]]mainly those that preserve the 80's remixes over the original LP ones, e.g. ''Music/FreakOut'' (the 2006 ''MOFO Project/Object'' CD contains the original mix), ''Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets'' (the 2010 ''Greasy Love Songs'' CD contains the original mix), and ''Music/RoxyAndElsewhere'' (the original Barking Pumpkin CD is the only one to contain the original mix of "Cheepnis")[[/note]]. When Gail passed away in October of 2015, Amhet and Diva were placed in charge of the Trust, much to the chagrin of their siblings.

!! Zappa albums with pages on TV Tropes (studio albums in '''bold'''):

!!! '''''Frank Zappa Meets the Tropes of Prevention''''':

* LargeHam: Terry Bozzio, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Captain Beefheart, Adrian Belew... really, Frank's band was a WorldOfHam.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While Frank could be difficult to deal, he nevertheless showed devotion to many of the people in his life and fought passionately for personal freedom.

After his death, Frank's wife Gail managed the ''Zappa Family Trust'', which is responsible for overseeing re-issues of his discography, overseeing the use of Zappa's works in other media, as well the [[http://zappa.com release]] of new posthumous releases. In 2012, the Trust collaborated with Universal Music Enterprises to put out a massive CD reissue campaign of Zappa's canonical back-catalog, compiling every studio album released during his lifetime plus the 1996 posthumous release ''Music/{{Lather}}'' under the "Official Release" banner; these reissues are nowadays considered the definitive CD releases of Zappa's material, with only a small number of exceptions[[note]]mainly those that preserve the 80's remixes over the original LP ones, i.e. ''Music/FreakOut'' (the 2006 ''MOFO Project/Object'' CD contains the original mix), ''Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets'' (the 2010 ''Greasy Love Songs'' CD contains the original mix), and ''Music/RoxyAndElsewhere'' (the original Barking Pumpkin CD is the only one to contain the original mix of "Cheepnis")[[/note]]. When Gail passed away in October of 2015, Amhet and Diva were placed in charge of the Trust.

Despite his anti-establishment stance, Zappa was a major supporter of advancements in technology in music. He was one of the first non-classical, non-jazz artists to embrace digital recording, sourced out indie label Creator/{{Rykodisc}} to provide officially-sanctioned CD releases of his work (and this was long before they hit it big with the Music/JimiHendrix and David Bowie back-catalogs; incidentally, Bowie's decision to license his catalog to Rykodisc was directly inspired by Zappa's use of the label), and was an early adopter of the Synclavier digital synthesizer and sampler. The instrument would become an increasingly prominent feature in Zappa's work as the years went on and his music grew more complex, leading Zappa to believe that his work had reached a point where performing it with actual musicians would be next-to-impossible (the Modern Ensemble's performance of "G-Spot Tornado" on ''Music/TheYellowShark'' would at least partly trounce that notion). Zappa even predicted the rise of digitally downloaded music, albeit envisioning it as being a phone line-based service (seeing as how the internet at the time wasn't the publicly available and widely versatile that it is today).

He once appeared in a ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' episode, voicing the Pope (which was edited due to censor complaints). He also appeared in an episode of ''Series/MiamiVice'', playing the role of a coke lord. Zappa also hosted an episode of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' during its fourth season (1978-1979), which didn't go over so well with the cast at the time, who saw Zappa's mugging and calling attention to the cue cards during sketches extremely irritating (the only cast member who liked Frank Zappa and was glad that he hosted was Creator/JohnBelushi). He published his autobiography, ''Literature/TheRealFrankZappaBook'', in 1989.

Despite his anti-establishment stance, Zappa was a major supporter of advancements in technology in music. He was one of the first non-classical, non-jazz artists to embrace digital recording, sourced out indie label Creator/{{Rykodisc}} to provide officially-sanctioned CD releases of his work (and this was long before they hit it big with the Music/JimiHendrix and David Bowie back-catalogs), and was an early adopter of the Synclavier digital synthesizer and sampler. The instrument would become an increasingly prominent feature in Zappa's work as the years went on and his music grew more complex, leading Zappa to believe that his work had reached a point where performing it with actual musicians would be next-to-impossible (the Modern Ensemble's performance of "G-Spot Tornado" on ''Music/TheYellowShark'' would at least partly trounce that notion). Zappa even predicted the rise of digitally downloaded music, albeit envisioning it as being a phone line-based service (seeing as how the internet at the time wasn't the publicly available and widely versatile that it is today).

Despite his anti-establishment stance, Zappa was a major supporter of advancements in technology in music. He was one of the first non-classical, non-jazz artists to embrace digital recording, sourced out indie label Creator/{{Rykodisc}} to provide officially-sanctioned CD releases of his work (and this was long before they hit it big with the Music/JimiHendrix and David Bowie back-catalogs), and was an early adopter of the Synclavier digital synthesizer and sampler. The instrument would become an increasingly prominent feature in Zappa's work as the years went on and his music grew more complex, leading Zappa to believe that his work had reached a point where performing it with actual musicians would be next-to-impossible (the Modern Ensemble's performance of "G-Spot Tornado" on ''Music/TheYellowShark'' would at least partly trounce that notion).

Frank was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1990; it was already terminal, and it's thought he was suffering with it for up to a decade prior. He devoted his remaining years to work with the Synclavier, and continued a prolific production schedule. He died in 1993, 17 days short of his 53rd birthday.

!! Zappa albums with pages on TV Tropes:

* ''Music/FreakOut'' (1966)
* ''Music/AbsolutelyFree'' (1967)
* ''Music/LumpyGravy'' (1968)
* ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' (1968)
* ''Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets'' (1968)
* ''Music/UncleMeat'' (1969)
* ''Music/HotRats'' (1969)
* ''Music/BurntWeenySandwich'' (1970)
* ''Music/WeaselsRippedMyFlesh'' (1970)
* ''Music/ChungasRevenge'' (1970)

* ''Music/WakaJawaka'' (1972)
* ''Music/TheGrandWazoo'' (1972)
* ''Music/OverNiteSensation'' (1973)
* ''Music/{{Apostrophe}}'' (1974)

* ''Music/OneSizeFitsAll'' (1975)

* ''Music/ZootAllures'' (1976)

* ''Music/StudioTan'' (1978)
* ''Music/SleepDirt'' (1978)

* ''Music/SheikYerbouti'' (1979)
* ''Music/JoesGarage'' (1979)

* ''Music/YouAreWhatYouIs'' (1981)

* ''Music/ShipArrivingTooLateToSaveADrowningWitch'' (1982)
* ''Music/TheManFromUtopia'' (1983)
* ''Music/LondonSymphonyOrchestra'' (1983/1987)
* ''Music/ThePerfectStranger'' (1984)
* ''Music/ThemOrUs'' (1984)
* ''Music/ThingFish'' (1984)
* ''Music/FrancescoZappa'' (1984)
* ''Music/FrankZappaMeetsTheMothersOfPrevention'' (1985)

* ''Music/JazzFromHell'' (1986)

* ''Music/CivilizationPhazeIII'' (1994)
* ''Music/{{Lather}}'' (1996)

After his death, Frank's wife Gail managed the ''Zappa Family Trust'', which is responsible for overseeing re-issues of his discography, overseeing the use of Zappa's works in other media, as well the [[http://zappa.com release]] of new posthumous releases. When Gail passed away in October of 2015, Amhet and Diva were placed in charge of the Trust.

+ Music/TheBeatles, Music/JimiHendrix, Music/AliceCooper, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/GeorgeClinton, Music/SteveVai, Music/JethroTull, Music/DeadKennedys, Music/TalkingHeads, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Music/TheyMightBeGiants, Music/{{Primus}}, Music/{{Phish}}, Pere Ubu, Music/DavidBowie, Music/BrianEno, Music/{{Devo}}, Music/{{Kraftwerk}}, Music/SystemOfADown, Music/KingCrimson, Music/{{Merzbow}}, Music/SoftMachine, Music/StevenWilson...

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 -- December 4, 1993) was a famous CrazyAwesome and prolific composer/musician, singer, guitarist, RecordProducer, film director and anti-censorship activist. His [[ArchivePanic massive]] [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder 75-album output]], both solo and with his band The Mothers of Invention, is largely known for [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly spanning almost every genre known to man]] from [[HardRock straightforward rock 'n roll]] to [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible free-jazz, musique concrète]] and classical music, alternating between heavy experimentalism and accesible catchiness and being chock-full of satirical, absurd, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments gut-bustingly funny]] lyrics. While he had occasional brushes with mainstream fame in TheSeventies and TheEighties, the bulk of his career was spent as a legendary cult figure, boasting a small but devoted fandom and critical acclaim.

Many other famous musicians worked with him at various points, such as [[Music/{{Cream}} Jack Bruce]], Aynsley Dunbar, Mike Keneally, Music/SteveVai [[note]]Vai, when he was a 17 year old, sent a note-perfect transcription Zappa's guitar solo "The Black Page" to him, so he hired him as a transcriber, eventually promoting him to 'stunt guitarist' for his live band in the early 80s.[[/note]], Jean Luc-Ponty, Music/JohnLennon and Music/YokoOno, and friend (and occasional [[TheRival rival]]) and collaborator [[Music/CaptainBeefheart Don Van Vliet]]. Avant-garde guitarist Adrian Belew also got his big break working with Zappa, and managed to work with both Music/DavidBowie and Music/TalkingHeads off of the strength of his contributions to Zappa's music (having impressed Music/BrianEno enough to make him recommend Belew to both artists); in turn, his work with Bowie and [=GaGa=] led to him becoming the frontman for Music/KingCrimson between 1981 and 2008.

+ Music/TheBeatles, Music/JimiHendrix, Music/AliceCooper, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/GeorgeClinton, Music/SteveVai, Music/JethroTull, Music/DeadKennedys, Music/TalkingHeads, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Music/TheyMightBeGiants, Music/{{Primus}}, Music/{{Phish}}, Pere Ubu, Music/DavidBowie, Music/BrianEno, Music/{{Devo}}, Music/SystemOfADown, Music/KingCrimson, Music/{{Merzbow}}, Music/SoftMachine, Music/StevenWilson...

+ Music/TheBeatles, Music/JimiHendrix, Music/AliceCooper, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/GeorgeClinton, Music/SteveVai, Music/JethroTull, Music/DeadKennedys, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Music/TheyMightBeGiants, Music/{{Primus}}, Music/{{Phish}}, Pere Ubu, Music/DavidBowie, Music/BrianEno, Music/{{Devo}}, Music/SystemOfADown, Music/KingCrimson, Music/{{Merzbow}}, Music/SoftMachine, Music/StevenWilson...

+ Music/TheBeatles, Music/JimiHendrix, Music/AliceCooper, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/GeorgeClinton, Music/SteveVai, Music/JethroTull, Music/DeadKennedys, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Music/TheyMightBeGiants, Music/{{Primus}}, Music/{{Phish}}, Piere Ubu, Music/DavidBowie, Music/BrianEno, Music/{{Devo}}, Music/SystemOfADown, Music/KingCrimson, Music/{{Merzbow}}, Music/SoftMachine, Music/StevenWilson...

+ Music/SteveVai, Music/JethroTull, Music/DeadKennedys, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Music/TheyMightBeGiants, Music/{{Primus}}, Music/{{Phish}}, Music/DavidBowie, Music/SystemOfADown...

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 -- December 4, 1993) was a famous CrazyAwesome and prolific composer/musician, singer, guitarist, RecordProducer, film director and anti-censorship activist. His massive [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder 75-album output]], both solo and with his band The Mothers of Invention, is largely known for [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly spanning almost every genre known to man]] from [[HardRock straightforward rock 'n roll]] to [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible free-jazz, musique concrète]] and classical music, alternating between heavy experimentalism and accesible catchiness and being chock-full of satirical, absurd, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments gut-bustingly funny]] lyrics. While he had occasional brushes with mainstream fame in TheSeventies and TheEighties, the bulk of his career was spent as a legendary cult figure, boasting a small but devoted fandom and critical acclaim.