View source for Father Of Invention (1993)

[[Wikipedia:People (magazine)|People Magazine]], December 20, 1993.

<p>Four years ago, over a noontime breakfast of espresso, doughnuts and cigarettes, [[Biography|Frank Zappa]] explained why, at 48, he was quitting rock and roll.  "A long time ago, the music business was [[Dada|dada]] - it used to be absurd," said the freak daddy of the most dada rock band of all time, [[The Mothers|The Mothers of Invention]]. "It used to be any kind of world.  Now the music business is people who make endorsements for liquids with bubbles in them."</P>
<P>And for Zappa, the lifelong contrarian whose music mocked and shocked the rock world for three decades, bowed out quietly.   A year later the prolific composer and satirist behind such albums as ''[[Uncle Meat]]'' and ''[[Weasels Ripped My Flesh]]'' would learn that he was suffering from the untreatable prostate cancer that killed him on Dec. 4 at 52.  Though he had been ill for several years, repeated examinations had failed to reveal the cancer until 1990.   "That's why it came as such a shock", Zappa said last spring.   "You can imagine how irate a person might be when you are informed, 'yeah, you've got it, and we can't operate on it.'"</P>
<p>Chemotherapy and one prolonged morphine treatment left the vehemently antidrug Zappa unable to put in his usual 16-hour days composing avant-garde music.   Still, he was able to complete his last work, ''[[Civilization Phaze III]]'', at the L.A. home he shared with his wife of 26 years, [[Gail Zappa|Gail]], 48, and their four children, [[Moon Zappa|Moon]], 26, [[Dweezil Zappa|Dweezil]], 24, [[Ahmet Zappa|Ahmet]], 19, and [[Diva Zappa|Diva]], 14.  Old friends dropped by and even [[Al Gore|Al]] and [[Tipper Gore]] - whose 1985 campaign to sticker rock records drew Zappa's ire - sent a note of encouragement.   Said Zappa protege [[Alice Cooper]], "Everybody that was considered a genius, from [[The Beatles]] to [[Wikipedia: Brian Wilson|Brian Wilson]], looked to Zappa as ''the'' genius."</p>
<P>Though he often said he didn't care how he was remembered, Zappa once framed his own legacy when discussing his 60-odd albums.   "I don't do anything for applause," he said.  "Everything I do is for laughs."</p>

[[Category:Articles about Zappa]]