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.
