In 2012, System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian told Prog why people should give more credit to Frank Zappa’s talents – arguing that those talents went far beyond his impressive musical creativity.
“Zappa was definitely a mad genius. I don’t remember when I got into him exactly, but it was after I was a teenager. I discovered his solo work and his albums with The Mothers Of Invention, and then I started collecting everything. I have his orchestral work with ensembles – all of it is really interesting.
The thing that first grabbed me was his inventiveness; his ability to switch genres within a song so easily and so interestingly. Also his lack of fear in incorporating other elements into his music, and the way he conducted live bands and orchestras and utilised a lot of improvisational elements.
- “Posh tossers singing about nothing because they had nothing to protest about… it was part of the job to destroy Genesis and Yes”: Punk pioneer Captain Sensible loved plenty of prog – but had to hide it
- “I’ve had prog dates because of our concerts… the great thing is that you don’t have to explain your weird musical tastes!”: Focus guitarist Menno Gootjes’ prog life
And then there was Zappa’s guitar playing. He’s still way underrated, a phenomenal player.
Production-wise he used techniques that were ahead of his time, like taking a guitar solo from one of his live concerts and plugging it into a new album. We’re talking about the era of tape here, bro. To time-stretch sounds using Pro Tools or Logic is one thing, but to do it using tape is something else.
There was more to Zappa than just his music: there was his political stances, and his speeches before Congress in the US
I did a cover of Yellow Snow for a compilation that the Zappa family put out, which led to me visiting his wife Gail, and seeing his studio and his archives in the vaults. This guy recorded everything – video, audio, everything. There was a 2,000 square foot room stacked floor to ceiling full of his work, and getting to see and hear some of that was one of the funnest things I did.
But there was more to Zappa than just his music: there was his political stances, and his speeches before Congress in the US, in which he spoke out against the censorship issues that arose during the 80s Reagan era.
The fact that he managed to mix the political with the comical and the absurd, without comprising his output, is another big influence.
A good place to start would be with his album Apostrophe ('). I really like that record. Zappa was incredible and influential. He was an icon.”
