History Music / FrankZappa

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/FreakOutAlbum'' (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]]. The "Official Release" banner is also used for new posthumous releases that've been officially sanctioned by the Trust. 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.

* SpaceWhaleAesop: [[ScriptWank According to the song itself]], the moral of "Billy the Mountain" is "A mountain is something you don't want to fuck with".

* ScriptWank: Parodied in "Billy the Mountain", where the moral is a (intentionally) SpaceWhaleAesop.

+ 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/{{Cardiacs}}, 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}} Music/TheResidents...

* AntiLoveSong: Most famously on ''Music/FreakOut!'', but throughout his discography.

** ''Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets'': An album of straight doo-wop songs, removed form their era.

** Perhaps the {{Trope Maker|s}}, "[[AntiLoveSong I Ain't Got No Heart]]" from ''Music/FreakOut!'' is a DoubleSubversion.
** "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny" from ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' is a ''Last Song'' Nightmare. [[note]]Of course, that album was intended to be played before ''Music/LumpyGravy'', so conceptually it leads into an even weirder album which ends with the instrumental version of the straightforward and upbeat "Take Your Clothes Off"...which leads into the third album, released over 30 years later, ''Music/CivilizationPhazeIII'', which is a Last ALBUM Nightmare, depending on how you look at it.[[/note]] To a lesser extent "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" on ''Music/FreakOut!'' could be perceived the same way.

** Became increasingly prevalent as the years passed, although it was there from the start - it was ''unheard of'' for an unknown rock group to release a double album at the time ''Music/FreakOut!'' appeared, and by some accounts it's the first rock double album of any kind. The fact that Tom Wilson produced it probably helped the group's fortunes a lot - Wilson had, by that point, gotten the kind of stature that basically meant any act he produced could do pretty much anything they wanted, as long as he signed off on it (which he usually did - he was a smart enough producer to trust his artists' instincts).

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, Music/PinkFloyd[[note]]The band famously [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9bn24rxrI jammed]] with Zappa at a music festival once in 1969; Zappa notably looked like the OnlySaneMan during the entire performance, not just among the band but among ''everyone else at the festival'', high-as-dicks audience included[[/note]], 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 (and he certainly didn't forget his roots working with Zappa; hell, "City of Tiny Lites" would fit right in with Belew's later work with King Crimson).

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 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

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]]. The "Official Release" banner is also used for new posthumous releases that've been officially sanctioned by the Trust. 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.

* '''''Music/FreakOut''''' (1966)

** The album ''Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets'', made along with the Mothers of Invention, is an affectionate parody of [[TheFifties fifties]] doo-wop music. Borders on IndecisiveParody, as the sound was so authentic that many radio stations believed it to be made by another band entirely.

** "It Can't Happen Here" from ''Music/FreakOut'':

* UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}}: ''You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4'' includes a spoof of the classic "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", done as a spoken broadcast of a game between the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs]], with a sort-of rendition of the actual lyrics at the end.

** ''Music/FreakOut!'' is often considered the first rock concept album (if Music/TheBeachBoys' ''Music/PetSounds'', which came out a month before it, isn't[[note]]the songs on ''Pet Sounds'' are thematically unified but Brian Wilson has hinted that it may not have been consciously intended as a concept album[[/note]]), so it could be listed as the UrExample, [[TropeMakers Trope Maker]], and/or TropeCodifier. The following two Mothers albums, ''Music/AbsolutelyFree'' and ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'', were heavier concept albums than ''Freak Out!'', with the latter being a satire on all sides of the Flower Power movement: the hippies that abandoned their cause to conform to a lifestyle of flowers and weed, and the fakes who would join them to look hip; the parents who didn't pay attention to their kids; and the police who would eventually brutalize those kids.

** ''[[Music/JoesGarage Joe's Garage]]'': A man is jailed for playing in a rock and roll band in a time when music is outlawed. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot Falls off the rails hard]] by the end.

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: ''Music/FreakOut'' was one of the first rock double albums in history, though on the CD release it all fits on one disc. Other double albums in Zappa's catalogue are ''Music/UncleMeat'', ''Film/TwoHundredMotels'', ''Music/ZappaInNewYork'', ''Thing Fish'', ''Make A Jazz Noise Here'', all the ''You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore'' albums, ''Playground Psychotics'', ''Civilization Phaze II'' the triple album ''Music/ShutUpNPlayYerGuitar'' and ''Music/{{Lather}}'' which was planned as a quadruple vinyl album (it became a triple CD set).

* EpicRocking: He did this countless times throughout his career; one of his best known examples is the seven minute guitar solo during "Willie the Pimp" on ''Music/HotRats'' or the epic jams that take up the final tracks of ''Music/FreakOut'' and ''Music/UncleMeat''. Other extreme examples are "Billy the Mountain" from ''Music/JustAnotherBandFromLA'', which was known to get as long as forty minutes sometimes during live performances, and the sort-of sequel "The Adventures of Gregary Peccary" from ''Music/StudioTan'' and ''Music/{{Lather}}'', which in the album version is twenty-one minutes long and in one live performance is ''thirty-three''. "Black Napkins" is twenty-eight minutes long on the deluxe reissue of ''Music/ZappaInNewYork''. ''Absolutely Free'' could also be considered an example; it essentially consists of the 19:46 title suite (not to be confused with the identically named and much shorter song on ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'', which is a completely different composition) and the 18:49 "The M.O.I. American Pageant", but these are each divided into several tracks. There are plenty of other examples, many of which also hover around the twenty-minute mark; you could probably fill four or five [=CDs=] with different songs Zappa stretched out to the twenty-minute mark in various performances throughout the years.

* IAmSong: "I'm the Slime" from ''Music/OverNiteSensation'', "Help I'm a Rock" from ''Music/FreakOut'', "Pick Me, I'm Clean" from ''Music/TinseltownRebellion'' and "I'm a Beautiful Guy" from ''Music/YouAreWhatYouIs''.

** "You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here" from ''Music/FreakOut'' is a total Lampshade Hanging.

** ''Music/FreakOut'': Psychedelic rock, love song parodies, political protest songs and complete madness.

* NonSequitur: From "Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder" from ''Music/FreakOut'':

* ProtestSong: Zappa wrote many satirical songs depicting the society he lived in, but also criticized American politics: "Trouble Every Day" (''Music/FreakOut''), "Who Needs the Peace Corps?" (''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney''), "Plastic People" (from ''Music/AbsolutelyFree''),...

* QuestioningTitle: Zappa has a few songs with such titles: "Who Are The Brain Police?", "How Could I Be Such A Fool?" (''Music/FreakOut''), "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" (''Music/AbsolutelyFree''), "Are You Hung Up?", "What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?" (''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney''), "Didja Get Any Onya?" (''Music/WeaselsRippedMyFlesh''), "Would You Go All The Way?" (''Music/ChungasRevenge''), "Do You Like My New Car?", "What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?" (''Music/FillmoreEastJune1971''), "What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning?", "Would You Like A Snack?" (''Film/TwoHundredMotels''), "Eddie Are You Kidding?" (''Music/JustAnotherBandFromLA''), "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?" (''Music/RoxyAndElsewhere''), "Honey Don't You Want A Man Like Me?" (''Music/ZappaInNewYork'', ''Music/{{Lather}}''), "Whatever Happened To All The Fun In The World?" (''Music/SheikYerbouti''), "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" (''Music/JoesGarage''), "What's New In Baltimore?" (''Music/FrankZappaMeetsTheMothersOfPrevention''), ''Music/DoesHumorBelongInMusic'', "Swans? What Swans?" (''Music/{{Guitar}}''), "But Who Was Fulcanelli?" (''Music/Guitar'').

** "Trouble Every Day" from ''Music/FreakOut'', the song that got the Mothers of Invention a record deal in the first place, is a Take That to the mid-60s American broadcast media and the way that they cover current affairs; it's like mid-60s [[Music/BobDylan Dylan]] singing Creator/NoamChomsky.

** "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet", from ''Music/FreakOut''.

No relation to the ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGear other]]'' Zappa (although he did get the name from him). Or the blacksmith from VideoGame/ChronoCross (though with the game's repeated musical {{Shout Out}}s, he may be...)

* AllThereInTheManual: A lot of times, the liner notes spell things out and explain some of the in-jokes, word salads, satirical intentions, and weird lyrics (Zappa felt that having the liner notes and album jacket to look at and touch was part of what fans treasured about the music buying experience.) Indeed, several songs in the late 70s and early 80s were based entirely around in-jokes, such as "Punky's Whips" (see AttractiveBentGender.) Beyond that though, there's still his autobiography which explains a lot, also the snippets of vital info you get from reading the oceans of Zappa info available on the net. Many Zappa confederates and well-wishers have stepped out from behind the curtains over the years to explain motivations or in-jokes or origins of songs. Also, Zappa's vast non-American audience is frequently confused by Zappa's satirically America-centric references, his younger audience is frequently confused by his unspeakable filthiness, and his modern audience is confused by his (often deliberately) dated references. These people gather all over the internet to enlighten each other in public. There's a lot out there to take in.

* {{Anorgasmia}}: On the album ''Music/FillmoreEastJune1971'' the track "Do You Like My New Car?" features a sketch where Howard plays himself, while Mark plays a groupie who is in awe of Howard's "professionalism as a rockstar." In other versions of the sketch (the Fillmore album doesn't make it clear), she tells him that she "can't come" unless he sings "his big hit record" to her. Being part of The Mothers Of Invention Howard of course never had a hit single, but [[spoiler:since he used to be a member of The Turtles too he just sings "Happy Together" to her.]] This sketch was also based on reality, as Howard did once encounter a groupie who had this request.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: From versions of "Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?" from ''Music/ZappaInNewYork'' performed in the '80s (examples can be found on, at the very least volumes 3 and 6 of the ''You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore'' series): "He called her a pig, a slut, and a whore, a bitch and a Republican." The last of those epithets is likely to be interpreted as the most offensive.[[note]]Notably, he also revised Betty's favourite group from Helen Reddy to Music/TwistedSister in this era. In a coincidence, that group's frontman Dee Snider was, alongside Music/JohnDenver, the only other musician besides Zappa to testify at the PMRC hearings, but Zappa had already started performing the revised lyrics before that occurrence.[[/note]]

* UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}}: ''You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4'' includes a spoof of the classic "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," done as a spoken broadcast of a game between the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs]], with a sort-of rendition of the actual lyrics at the end.

* CallBack: His music is filled with these; he called it "Conceptual Continuity." Musical and lyrical elements recurred from songs to song; for example, "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" from ''Music/StudioTan'' and ''Music/{{Lather}}'' has both musical and lyrical references to earlier-released songs such as "For Calvin (and His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)" from ''Music/TheGrandWazoo'' and "Billy the Mountain" from ''Music/JustAnotherBandFromLA''. The callbacks even extend to works of other artists he produced; Music/CaptainBeefheart's "The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)" from ''Music/TroutMaskReplica'' contains elements of the Mothers' "Charles Ives" (which appears on ''You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 5'' as well as the coda to "Didja Get Any Onya?" on the Rykodisc CD edition of ''Music/WeaselsRippedMyFlesh'').

** Also "That's right, you heard right..." and "Aw-reety, aw-righty" and "Hello/Goodnight, boys and girls". Zappa ''loved'' cheesy showbiz catchphrases. His invariable sign-off at the end of a concert was a straightforward "Thanks for comin' to the concert, good night."

** Jimmy Carl Black had "Hi there, boys and girls. I'm Jimmy Carl Black, and I'm the Indian of the group."

* 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 ''Music/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.)
* CurseCutShort: On his episode of ''A&E Biography'', he explained that, at the time he renamed the Soul Giants "The Mothers," the word ''mother'' was short for ''motherfucker'' and was slang for "great musician," and that the Mothers were a ''group'' of ''motherfuckers.'' The record company insisted that they change the name, so the line is,

* EvilMentor: One night, the green but eager original line-up of Music/AliceCooper caused an entire club to walk out. A music manager named Shep Gordon saw the strong reaction they caused and realized their powers could be harnessed for more profitable use. He took them to see Zappa, who signed them for this own label (he was impressed when they mistook his instructions and showed up at 7 am completely ready to play, and the Alice Cooper band idolized Zappa). Once they were on the label, their maniacal labelmates The [=GTOs=] starting dressing the boys from Alice Cooper and giving them their signature bizarre look. Soon, these young "shock rockers" have a reputation, enough so that someone thinks it's cool to throw a chicken at them on stage. The lead singer, Alice Cooper himself, said that as a young man from Detroit he really didn't know from chickens and assumed that if he threw the stupid bird back it would fly away, right? It didn't and was famously torn apart by fans. Of course, Alice Cooper earned national news headlines for deliberately and Satanically killing a chicken on stage. Frank Zappa called Mr. Cooper the very next day and asked about the "Chicken Incident." Zappa heard the true story and immediately said "Well, whatever you do, don't tell anyone you didn't do it."

** The film version of ''Music/UncleMeat'' kept on production well after 1968, to the point where a song recorded in ''1982'' made the cut before the project was ultimately shelved. (An unfinished version got a direct-to-video release in 1987.)

** In the 1970s Zappa hired a music copyist to copy a bunch of music he'd written; these were the days before it was possible to get computers to do that. As the work went on (music copying takes a long time), the copyist found out that he and his wife were going to have a baby. Towards the end of the job, the copyist was worried that he was about to have a newborn child and be out of a job. Zappa said goodbye to the guy and let him go, and then the next day rang him up and told him "I feel bad letting you go like this when you could really use the money. I'll find more work for you to do." He kept the copyist on the payroll for several more months.

* LiveAlbum: Zappa has released an alarming amount of live albums in his career. Many of his releases that are considered proper "albums" have been fully live albums, such as ''Music/SheikYerbouti'' and ''Music/BongoFury''. Many of them featured studio overdubs, while some featured studio compositions interspersed with the live material (like ''Music/WeaselsRippedMyFlesh''.) Notable albums include:

** ''Ahead of Their Time'', ''Hammersmith Odeon'', etc.: Full versions of performances which were previously excerpted and overdubbed for studio albums (''Hammersmith'' being the basis of ''Sheik Yerbouti'', for example.)

* PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil: Naturally, as someone who was fiercely against censorship, Frank was not afraid to hurt people's feelings if it meant avoiding worthwhile satire. He famously defended "Jewish Princess" on the grounds that "Unlike unicorns, [[TruthInTelevision they actually exist]]." This eventually warranted a compilation album of his most overtly politically incorrect songs, ''Have I Offended Someone?''.

* ProfessionalWrestling: "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" from ''Music/SheikYerbouti'' mentions a "no holds barred tag team grudge match."

* ReligionRantSong: "Dumb All Over," "Heavenly Bank Account," "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing" from ''Music/YouAreWhatYouIs''. "Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk" from ''Broadway The Hard Way'' is a Type 3.

* RewrittenPopVersion: ''The Black Page'' is featured twice on ''Music/ZappaInNewYork'' in different versions, with the second version specifically described and announced as the "easy, teenage, New York version."

** Music/LouReed and Zappa never got along; Zappa had no time for Reed's glorification of drug use, although he admired some of Reed's songs, notably "Femme Fatale" and "All Tomorrow's Parties", and praised ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico'' in a 1967 interview. Their rivalry makes it especially ironic that Reed was chosen to induct Zappa into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, saying in his induction speech "I admired Frank greatly, and I know he admired me", although in 1966 Reed's verdict on Zappa had been quite different: "He's probably the single most untalented person I've heard in my life. He's a two-bit, pretentious academic, and he can't play rock 'n' roll, because he's a loser."

** Zappa had a regular habit of quoting other people's songs (as well as his own) to give specific flavour and context to his own works. These included jazz and pop standards, traditional pieces, classical works and songs from his contemporaries. Several of Zappa's musical quotations were context-sensitive, especially in live jams during the 70s, where the quotation was cued by Zappa making a reference to it onstage, or wasrehearsed into the song to evoke a certain feeling (such as the 1932 song "Isn't It Romantic?" being inserted into a few lines of "Punky's Whips" from ''Music/ZappaInNewYork'' to emphasize how wacky the romance in the song is.) The traditional compositions "God Bless America", "America the Beautiful" and "Marine's Hymn" are regularly quoted throughout Zappa's discography, as well as the rhythm and blues song "Louie Louie". Various works from Music/IgorStravinsky and Music/GustavHolst were quoted early on in his career, on ''Music/AbsolutelyFree'' and ''Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets''.
** The notes for "The Chrome-Plated Megaphone of Destiny," the instrumental at the end of ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'', instructs listeners to read Creator/FranzKafka's "In the Penal Colony" before listening to it.

* SpaceWhaleAesop: [[ScriptWank According to the song itself]], the moral of "Billy the Mountain" is "A mountain is something you don't want to fuck with."
* TheSpartanWay / [[StageMon Stage Dad]]: He loved family life and relished being a father... But his whole life and in fact his whole house were configured to serve his musical career. His entire family was swept up in its orbit, and they've all helped out one way or another. The nightmarish practice and touring schedules of his bands. Living with Zappa meant living for Zappa's music.

* SpoofAesop: "A mountain is something you don't want to [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]] with."

Well I told him right then," Fido said, "'It should be easy to see\\

* ValleyGirl: Codified the trope with his 1982 hit single "Valley Girl" from ''Music/ShipArrivingTooLateToSaveADrowningWitch''.

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 -- December 4, 1993) was a famous CrazyIsCool 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 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.

* UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}}: ''You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4'' includes a spoof of the classic "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," done as a spoken broadcast of a game between the [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs]], with a sort-of rendition of the actual lyrics at the end.

** The album ''Music/ThingFish'', about a mutated gang of black stereotypes with dresses growing out of their bodies putting on a Broadway show, in which they urinate on the audience. The two audience members remaining are chained up and forced to watch a character eat the raw digestive system of a pig surrounded by zombies. Various bizarre events ensue, involving a woman having simulated sex with an enormous briefcase, a man being defecated on by a deformed ventriloquist dummy while in bare-chested S&M gear, and an ending which has no resolution whatsoever, as dwarfs holding onions spill out of the set and several characters begin randomly having anal sex as a song from earlier in the album is played backwards. This also falls under WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs, HeadTiltinglyKinky, AntiquatedLinguistics and a variety of other tropes.

+ 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/{{Cardiacs}}, 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}}...

* ScriptWank: Parodied in "Billy the Mountain", where the moral is a SpaceWhaleAesop.

* SkewedPriorities: In "Billy the Mountain", the US government is more concerned that the title character is a [[DraftDodging draft dodger]] than the fact he is living a trail of death and destruction wherever he goes.

* SpaceWhaleAesop: "A mountain is something you don't want to fuck with."

* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion / ReCut: Zappa decided to heavily alter much of his catalog when it was reissued on compact disc, due to the improved mixing and recording technology which he believed allowed him to improve the quality of the albums. A few of these, most notably ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' and ''Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets'', had newly recorded instrumentation. Purists derided these initial reissues, which emerged between 1986 and 1995. The 2012 reissues, distributed by Universal, were largely sourced from the original, unaltered master tapes, in response to fans' poor reception of the altered versions. It should be noted that some albums, such as ''Cruising'' and ''Music/UncleMeat'', are simply better mastered copies of the 1986-1995 altered versions. A full list of comparisons between nearly every pressing of each album, can be found [[http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/vinylvscds/index.html here.]]

* MatzoFever: "Jewish Princess" from ''Music/SheikYerbouti''.

** "Stuff Up the Cracks" from ''Music/CruisinWithRubenAndTheJets'' has the singer pleading his girl not to leave him, or else he'll [[SuicideAsComedy kill himself with oven gas]].

* SurprisinglyGentleSong: His lyrics were usually either pointed political/sociological satire or a BawdySong about groupies and the like. He absolutely despised SillyLoveSongs and didn't care about be taken seriously, making most of his music comedy stuff. Yet Zappa could write very heartwarming music if he wanted, notably in his guitar solos and some of his instrumental compositions, but also in genuine non-comedy songs like "Lonely Little Girl" (''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney''), All tracks on ''Music/CruisinWithRubenAndTheJets'', "Valerie" (''Music/BurntWeenySandwich''), "Twenty Small Cigars" and "Sharleena" (''Music/ChungasRevenge''), "Tears Began To Fall" (''Music/FillmoreEastJune1971''), "Village Of The Sun" (''Music/RoxyAndElsewhere''), "Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up" (''Music/JoesGarage'') and "Alley Cat" ("The Lost Episodes").

No relation to the ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGear other]]'' [[NamesTheSame Zappa]] (although he did get the name from him). Or the blacksmith from VideoGame/ChronoCross (though with the game's repeated musical {{Shout Out}}s, he may be...)

* ''Music/SheikYerbouti'' (1979)[[note]]Live album with heavy studio overdubbing; Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} classifies it as a live album.[[/note]]

Oh, and he gave his four kids really [[AwesomeMcCoolName weird but cool names like Moon Unit Zappa, Dweezil Zappa, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan Zappa and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen Zappa]]. Moon is probably best known for her vocals on Zappa's highest-charting single, 1982's "Valley Girl", and Dweezil has toured with many former Zappa band members over the past several years, playing much of his father's repertoire in a series of successful concert tours billed as ''Zappa Plays Zappa''.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Art Tripp

* BlackComedy: The album ''Thing Fish'', about a mutated gang of black stereotypes with dresses growing out of their bodies putting on a Broadway show, in which they urinate on the audience. The two audience members remaining are chained up and forced to watch a character eat the raw digestive system of a pig surrounded by zombies. Various bizarre events ensue, involving a woman having simulated sex with an enormous briefcase, a man being defecated on by a deformed ventriloquist dummy while in bare-chested S&M gear, and an ending which has no resolution whatsoever, as dwarfs holding onions spill out of the set and several characters begin randomly having anal sex as a song from earlier in the album is played backwards. This also falls under WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs, HeadTiltinglyKinky, AntiquatedLinguistics and a variety of other tropes.

* SuicideAsComedy: His song "Suicide Chump" from ''Music/YouAreWhatYouIs'' must be the most hilarious song ever written about suicide.

* FilkSong: ''Cheepnis'' from ''Music/RoxyAndElsewhere'' is a song about monster movies with [[SpecialEffectsFailure unconvincing special effects]].

* {{Corpsing}}: He often included moments like these on his albums.
** During ''White Ugliness'' and ''I Don't Think I Can Go Through This Again'' on Music/LumpyGravy, people crack up in laughter.
** Zappa cracks up during the intro of "Muffin Man" from ''Music/BongoFury''.
** Zappa cracks up several times on ''Music/JoesGarage'', usually whenever the word ''plooking'' is mentioned.
** ''You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore Vol.3'' features singer Ike Willis repeatedly breaking off in mid-line to exclaim, for no apparent reason, "Hi-ho ''Sil-verrr''!", to the point that even Zappa can't sing for laughing. When that joke wears out, Ike and other bandmates find more exclamations to throw in there to keep Zappa laughing.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: You have all the weird original characters from Zappa's songs, all the weird and talented musicians who play the songs and get mentioned in the songs like characters, and all of the weird non-musicians and hangers-on who get mentioned just as frequently.

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 -- December 4, 1993) was a famous CrazyIsCool 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.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: The [[TropeMakers Trope Maker]], arguably.

* {{Pornstache}}: Zappa's long black moustache.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Naturally, as someone who was fiercely against censorship, Frank was not afraid to hurt people's feelings if it meant avoiding worthwhile satire. He famously defended "Jewish Princess" on the grounds that "Unlike unicorns, [[TruthInTelevision they actually exist]]." This eventually warranted a compilation album of his most overtly politically incorrect songs, ''Have I Offended Someone?''.