An Anthropological Angle

Overall, if I were to name one lastingly significant contribution Zappa made to the world of rock & pop music it would have to be the concept of using band dialogue, character and other captured aspects of the recording process, to give character to an album. I'm sure somewhere in his catalogue Zappa would've had a word for this as I would certainly presume him the inventor of the technique. When one realizes this was the artist solely to invent the concept album (NOT THE BEATLES), there are lots of considerations to make on the part of what that means. What is the concept to Sergeant Pepper's? Does it matter? I think it's pretty obvious but it really has no relation to the melodies or tunes themselves, it comes out textually. One might take a few seconds when they first hear the title track to be like "wait, isn't this the Beatles not...." and then have someone nudge them and say "duude, its like, a concept, y'know. [cough] Here, smoke this [cough], you'll get it." For Zappa his band was his concept and when he could actually get what they said to tape (which was almost all the time), he often put it on the record. His lyrics, generally, were based on things his band members had said, not completely fabricated and oblique, grandiose fantasies. This gives a unique character to his albums and is a tradition that has gone on to become a fairly commonplace staple of rock records. How many times have you heard a 4-count before a punk tune, or the tape roll to catch the drummer saying "was that recording?". While there are different levels of intention with which these are included on a record they ultimately bring the listener closer into the act of recording the song or album and the atmosphere the band themselves give to it. This type of anthropological documentation is most definitely one of Zappa's most significant contributions to the tradition of rock.     

The Zappa That Exploded

The more I research Zappa and come to understand aspects of his expression in his art as well as elsewhere, the more evident the influence William S. Burroughs had on him, becomes. Much of Burroughs proto-sci-fi writings such as The Ticket That Exploded and Naked Lunch seem to have almost directly informed Zappa's consiparcy theories about biological warfare and government-contrived drug proliferation. There was a distinct Burroughs bent to Zappa's most politically outspoken moment, contesting the concept of 'pornographic' lyricism before congress. In Burroughs The Ticket That Exploded he goes for the jugular on this issue, infusing a great deal of hardcore eroticism into the non-linear narrative and interspersing these with cautionary passages encouraging readers to turn off their "image generator". As early as 1962, when the book was published, Burroughs was challenging the very essence of censorship, pointing the finger at western values and the conditioning of the American reader to be offended by mere words. Zappa's continual battle against sexually repressed cultural standards of art and music could potentially have had its roots just as much in Burroughs as in rebelling against his own catholic upbringing.
In his widely publicized rallying against the PMRC in congress, Zappa stood ground few other artists had before and made it known. For a revered rock musician to use their fame in this way was a radical step and Zappa brought to it a conviction, sophistication and artistic standpoint a sensationalist rock-star like Dee Snider (who also participated) didn't have. The transparency of Burrough's influence on Zappa attests to this and his taking action brought new depth to Zappa's complex and personal on-going critique of American pop-culture and politics.

Some things I did not cover in writing about Zappa on drugs

There was a particularly striking quotation I found in the Barry Miles bio, from Ruth Underwood, that brings together several fleeting points in my mind that did not make it into the essay I wrote recently:
"'I was ready to dedicate myself completely to Frank's music. He really new what buttons to push, emotionally and musically. He was a remarkable referee. He knew how to synthesize people's personalities and talents. That's a very rare gift. He wasn't just a conductor standing there waving his arms; he was playing us as people! I became a perfectionist.'" (Miles, 240)
I find this quote fascinating in it's regard to both Miles critcism of Zappa's "up-tight" drug policy as well as that of his continual hiring and firing of band members.
First of all, the kind of experience Underwood is talking about here is one that makes quite clear great reason for Zappa not to want band members high when playing. It is brought up time and again in the book just how much Zappa could assess people's talents, as well as capture on tape colourful moments of their personalities. This was obviously a skill he readily capitalized on stage. Not being on drugs himself, it's clear that Zappa would have a great deal of trouble being this proficient as a conductor should his band be high.
And of course it seems clear that Zappa must have had a similarly great sense of band chemistry, explaining his need to thoroughly rearrange pieces and change line-ups to suit performance needs.
Zappa as a performer had such an excelent capacity in the above-mentioned skill. Rather than focus alone on his already superb guitar-playing skills or enhance himself as a vocalist and frontman, he simply capitolized on his already impressionable and outspoken personality, putting his creative, musical focus into the other members of his band. Providing another calibre of musical performance than had been seen in the rock ouvre at the time, FZ was an unmatched resource to his audience and musicians, going far above and beyond the Santanas or Claptons of the day. 

This is a blog reflecting on the life and works of Frank Vincent Zappa, one of the most prolific, poignant and overlooked composers of the 20th Century...

In addition to being a highly accomplished, original and innovative composer, musician and orchestrator, Zappa is extremely important as one of the century's most outspoken satirists. He changed the fibre of Rock and other popular musical forms not only through his compositional approach but also by the dialogues he introduced into the medium. Zappa was a constant nagging voice to the excesses of American pop culture from the '60s through the '80s, but who nonetheless beguiled and converted many unable to resist a listen to his playfully potent cynicism.