Frank Zappa's Revenge - Revision history

Spider of Destiny at 16:43, 7 June 2026

2026-06-07T16:43:08Z

Duncan at 21:18, 12 October 2021

2021-10-12T21:18:39Z

Jason.Kreitzer: Pages are being combined.

2021-08-27T18:31:10Z

Pages are being combined.

Jason.Kreitzer at 18:42, 30 July 2021

2021-07-30T18:42:50Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 15:55, 30 July 2021

2021-07-30T15:55:51Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 16:47, 17 July 2021

2021-07-17T16:47:50Z

Spider of Destiny at 19:59, 17 November 2020

2020-11-17T19:59:26Z

Spider of Destiny at 07:36, 1 May 2019

2019-05-01T07:36:59Z

Spider of Destiny at 17:22, 17 December 2010

2010-12-17T17:22:08Z

Spider of Destiny at 17:21, 17 December 2010

2010-12-17T17:21:42Z

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 "The problem is twofold," Zappa says. "On one hand, they think that I just might be an anecdote for some of the problems that exist on television today. On the other hand, somewhere along the line, somebody in an office goes, 'We can't do this. We can't take a chance on this guy. There's no telling what he'll do once he gets out there.' "
-A case in point was Zappa's scheduled appearance as host of [[wikipedia:The Late Show (1986 TV series)|The Late Show]] (starring [[wikipedia:Joan Rivers)|Joan Rivers)]] just a few weeks ago. His much-ballyhooed appearance wound up being canceled at the last minute when, according to Zappa's press office, [[wikipedia:Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] got cold feet over the political nature of his guests, journalist [[wikipedia:Daniel Schorr|Daniel Schorr]] and Gerard Straub, a former host of the 700 club and author of a scathing inside look at religious broadcasting entitled [[Salvation For Sale]]. Fox wanted prime time personalities, Zappa wanted people with something to say. Fox wanted hunks' and bimbos, Zappa wanted issues and answers. Fox just said "No way."<ref>See also article: [[Frank Zappa Zapped by "Late Show"]]</ref>
+A case in point was Zappa's scheduled appearance as host of [[wikipedia:The Late Show (1986 TV series)|The Late Show]] (starring [[wikipedia:Joan Rivers)|Joan Rivers)]] just a few weeks ago. His much-ballyhooed appearance wound up being canceled at the last minute when, according to Zappa's press office, [[wikipedia:Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] got cold feet over the political nature of his guests, journalist [[Daniel Schorr]] and Gerard Straub, a former host of the 700 club and author of a scathing inside look at religious broadcasting entitled [[Salvation For Sale]]. Fox wanted prime time personalities, Zappa wanted people with something to say. Fox wanted hunks' and bimbos, Zappa wanted issues and answers. Fox just said "No way."<ref>See also article: [[Frank Zappa Zapped by "Late Show"]]</ref>
 To illustrate the seriousness of Zappa's quest for television time, he even went so far as to approach the people at Disney. As in [[wikipedia:The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney]]. Just how does Frank Zappa expect to relate to the image-minded moguls at Disney? I asked.

@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 "The problem is twofold," Zappa says. "On one hand, they think that I just might be an anecdote for some of the problems that exist on television today. On the other hand, somewhere along the line, somebody in an office goes, 'We can't do this. We can't take a chance on this guy. There's no telling what he'll do once he gets out there.' "
-A case in point was Zappa's scheduled appearance as host of [[wikipedia:The Late Show (1986 TV series)|The Late Show]] (starring [[wikipedia:Joan Rivers)|Joan Rivers)]] just a few weeks ago. His much-ballyhooed appearance wound up being canceled at the last minute when, according to Zappa's press office, [[wikipedia:Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] got cold feet over the political nature of his guests, journalist [[wikipedia:Daniel Schorr|Daniel Schorr]] and Gerard Straub, a former host of the 700 club and author of a scathing inside look at religious broadcasting entitled [[Salvation For Sale]]. Fox wanted prime time personalities, Zappa wanted people with something to say. Fox wanted hunks' and bimbos, Zappa wanted issues and answers. Fox just said "No way."<sup>[[#Note1|[1]]]</sup>
+A case in point was Zappa's scheduled appearance as host of [[wikipedia:The Late Show (1986 TV series)|The Late Show]] (starring [[wikipedia:Joan Rivers)|Joan Rivers)]] just a few weeks ago. His much-ballyhooed appearance wound up being canceled at the last minute when, according to Zappa's press office, [[wikipedia:Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] got cold feet over the political nature of his guests, journalist [[wikipedia:Daniel Schorr|Daniel Schorr]] and Gerard Straub, a former host of the 700 club and author of a scathing inside look at religious broadcasting entitled [[Salvation For Sale]]. Fox wanted prime time personalities, Zappa wanted people with something to say. Fox wanted hunks' and bimbos, Zappa wanted issues and answers. Fox just said "No way."<ref>See also article: [[Frank Zappa Zapped by "Late Show"]]</ref>
 To illustrate the seriousness of Zappa's quest for television time, he even went so far as to approach the people at Disney. As in [[wikipedia:The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney]]. Just how does Frank Zappa expect to relate to the image-minded moguls at Disney? I asked.
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 But as is usually the case when Zappa is stonewalled by the mundane regularity of corporate thinking, he does an about-face and takes the hard way out, by forming corporate thinking, he does an about-face and takes the hard.
-Billboard magazine reports this week that Zappa has formed his own video company called Honker Home Video (named after his nose, of course) which will soon release [[Baby Snakes (The Film)|Baby Snakes]] – The Complete Version, his 1980 concert film; [[The True Story Of 200 Motels]] – a Dutch video documentary on the making of his 1970 movie [[200 Motels]]; [[Video From Hell]] – a satirical magazine-format video; [[Uncle Meat (The Film)|Uncle Meat]] – the original movie project begun in 1967, and [[An American Dissident]], a collection of Zappa interviews and "documentary stuff" that will largely document his testimony on Capitol Hill regarding censorship in rock music.
+Billboard magazine reports this week that Zappa has formed his own video company called Honker Home Video (named after his nose, of course) which will soon release [[Baby Snakes (The Film)|Baby Snakes]] – The Complete Version, his 1980 concert film; [[The True Story Of 200 Motels]] – a Dutch video documentary on the making of his 1970 movie [[200 Motels]]; [[Video From Hell]] – a satirical magazine-format video; [[Uncle Meat (The Film)|Uncle Meat]] – the original movie project begun in 1967, and ''An American Dissident''<ref>This does not seem to have been made and is not related to [[An American Dissident: un tributo a Frank Zappa]]</ref> , a collection of Zappa interviews and "documentary stuff" that will largely document his testimony on Capitol Hill regarding censorship in rock music.
 In a manner of speaking, Frank Zappa has somehow managed to beat the system.
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 Like [[wikipedia:Orson Welles|Orson Welles]] aging and venomous Charles Foster Kane, whose last-gasp spit in the face of authority held an undying aspiration to "be everything that you hate," Frank Zappa' gets his revenge. A sweet revenge. A justifiable revenge.
 ==Notes==
-#<div id="Note1">See also article: [[Frank Zappa Zapped by "Late Show"]]</div>
+<references/>
 [[Category:Articles about Zappa]]
 [[Category:1987]]

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 "I've got [[Wikipedia:CNN|CNN]] on now with the sound down and I've seen the story go by three times now. What happened?" he asked with a renewed interest in our conversation.
-I began to fill him in on all the unsavory details: [[Tammy Bakker|Tammy Faye]]'s drug dependency, Jim's motel madness with a church lady, the cover-ups, blackmail money and the "friendly" takeover of Bakker's time-share ministry by [[Jerry Falwell]], when Zappa began to quietly snicker. It was a sinister, self-appreciating laugh (an unwitting imitation of [[wikipedia:Creature Feature (WTOG)|Dr. Paul Bearer]]'s famed chortle) and Zappa's devious, though rarely exhibited, shit-eating grin was easily detectable despite over 2000 miles of telephone line. It was clearly evident ... Zappa was pleased.
+I began to fill him in on all the unsavory details: [[Jim Bakker|Tammy Faye]]'s drug dependency, Jim's motel madness with a church lady, the cover-ups, blackmail money and the "friendly" takeover of Bakker's time-share ministry by [[Jerry Falwell]], when Zappa began to quietly snicker. It was a sinister, self-appreciating laugh (an unwitting imitation of [[wikipedia:Creature Feature (WTOG)|Dr. Paul Bearer]]'s famed chortle) and Zappa's devious, though rarely exhibited, shit-eating grin was easily detectable despite over 2000 miles of telephone line. It was clearly evident ... Zappa was pleased.
 Though the events of the day were no real surprise to him, the PTL scandal was a vindication of sorts for Zappa, an artist who prides himself on spotlighting the hypocrisy lingering behind even the noblest of public facades. Though it goes largely unnoticed by the critics who routinely attack the lyrical frivolity of much of his work, Zappa has had his moments. Whether it was his unflattering portrayal of the hip, counterculture during the Summer of Love, his sexually sordid imagery in "[[Jewish Princess|Princess]]" (which earned him a lawsuit from the [[wikipedia:B'nai B'rith|Jewish Defense League]]) or the subtle irreverence inherent in almost all of his "serious" orchestral compositions, Zappa's targets are broad and all-encompassing.

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 "The business of touring has degenerated to the point where the audience expects you to go onstage and recreate your video. Most groups won't take the chance to deviate because they're out there promoting an album. That's the sole purpose of the tour. They're not there to make history; they're just there to do commercial."
-As if a ten-record set isn't enough, Zappa is also putting the finishing touches on a second volume of his [[London Symphony Orchestra Vol. I & II|London Symphony Orchestra]] tapes, which will include seldom performed orchestral works like "[[Bob In Dacron]]" and "[[Strictly Genteel]]." Also In the works is a three-record box-set from Zappa's 1974 tour of Finland called [[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 2|The Helsinki Tapes]], which includes (among other things) an audience member who kept yelling for the band to play "[[Whipping Post]]" ([[The Allman Brothers Band]] classic), a request deemed so bizarre by Zappa that he had the band work it up for performance the next night and it's been a staple of the group's live shows ever since. Currently available is a 35-minute cassette distributed by [[Guitar Player Magazine]] entitled [[The Guitar World According To Frank Zappa]] that features a handful of selections that will soon be available on Zappa's upcoming [[Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (The Series)|Shut Up And Play Your Guitar]], 3-record box-set, Vol. Two. And he's just completed the CD transfer for [[Joe's Garage Acts I, II & III]], a 1977 recording that will be available in about 6 to 8 weeks as a double compact disc from Rykodisc.
+As if a ten-record set isn't enough, Zappa is also putting the finishing touches on a second volume of his [[London Symphony Orchestra Vol. I & II|London Symphony Orchestra]] tapes, which will include seldom performed orchestral works like "[[Bob In Dacron]]" and "[[Strictly Genteel (The Track)|Strictly Genteel]]." Also In the works is a three-record box-set from Zappa's 1974 tour of Finland called [[You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 2|The Helsinki Tapes]], which includes (among other things) an audience member who kept yelling for the band to play "[[Whipping Post]]" ([[The Allman Brothers Band]] classic), a request deemed so bizarre by Zappa that he had the band work it up for performance the next night and it's been a staple of the group's live shows ever since. Currently available is a 35-minute cassette distributed by [[Guitar Player Magazine]] entitled [[The Guitar World According To Frank Zappa]] that features a handful of selections that will soon be available on Zappa's upcoming [[Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar (The Series)|Shut Up And Play Your Guitar]], 3-record box-set, Vol. Two. And he's just completed the CD transfer for [[Joe's Garage Acts I, II & III]], a 1977 recording that will be available in about 6 to 8 weeks as a double compact disc from Rykodisc.
 Releasing this unending supply of recorded output would be artistic suicide for your average performer, but Zappa claims that his core of devoted fans keep begging for more.

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 [[Biography|Frank Zappa]] is patiently enduring what is now the second hour of a proposed "20-minute" phone interview when the conversation winds around to one of his favored topics of condemnation: organized religion. To be more specific, television evangelists, and Zappa's reaction to the just-breaking [[Jim Bakker]]/PTL sex scandal story.
-"I've got [[CNN]] on now with the sound down and I've seen the story go by three times now. What happened?" he asked with a renewed interest in our conversation.
+"I've got [[Wikipedia:CNN|CNN]] on now with the sound down and I've seen the story go by three times now. What happened?" he asked with a renewed interest in our conversation.
 I began to fill him in on all the unsavory details: [[Tammy Bakker|Tammy Faye]]'s drug dependency, Jim's motel madness with a church lady, the cover-ups, blackmail money and the "friendly" takeover of Bakker's time-share ministry by [[Jerry Falwell]], when Zappa began to quietly snicker. It was a sinister, self-appreciating laugh (an unwitting imitation of [[wikipedia:Creature Feature (WTOG)|Dr. Paul Bearer]]'s famed chortle) and Zappa's devious, though rarely exhibited, shit-eating grin was easily detectable despite over 2000 miles of telephone line. It was clearly evident ... Zappa was pleased.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
-[[Frank Zappa]] is patiently enduring what is now the second hour of a proposed "20-minute" phone interview when the conversation winds around to one of his favored topics of condemnation: organized religion. To be more specific, television evangelists, and Zappa's reaction to the just-breaking [[Jim Bakker]]/PTL sex scandal story.
+[[Biography|Frank Zappa]] is patiently enduring what is now the second hour of a proposed "20-minute" phone interview when the conversation winds around to one of his favored topics of condemnation: organized religion. To be more specific, television evangelists, and Zappa's reaction to the just-breaking [[Jim Bakker]]/PTL sex scandal story.
 "I've got [[CNN]] on now with the sound down and I've seen the story go by three times now. What happened?" he asked with a renewed interest in our conversation.
@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 "I couldn't do a tour now if I wanted," Zappa says when asked about giving up the road. "I don't play the guitar anymore, I don't have any calluses left and I don't have any enthusiasm for doing it. It's like that part of my life is ... done."
-Zappa curiously pauses before finalizing his statement. More than once, actually. Though he insists that he just can't see himself "going out there and doing it again," he is naturally reluctant to simply close the door on a quarter-century of his life. Although he had, at one time, disbanded his famed [[Mothers Of Invention]] in the late '60s citing "lack of consumer interest," this time, with a viable alternative in the Synclavier to answer his compositional needs, Zappa seems resolute.
+Zappa curiously pauses before finalizing his statement. More than once, actually. Though he insists that he just can't see himself "going out there and doing it again," he is naturally reluctant to simply close the door on a quarter-century of his life. Although he had, at one time, disbanded his famed [[The Mothers|Mothers Of Invention]] in the late '60s citing "lack of consumer interest," this time, with a viable alternative in the Synclavier to answer his compositional needs, Zappa seems resolute.
 "In a way it's heartbreaking for me," Zappa confides uncharacteristically, "because I get letters every day from Europe, Australia, Germany, saying 'Please get back on the road.' But these people just don't know what they're asking. The marketplace determines what will survive and the kind of time and money that I used to invest in those bands, nobody in their right mind would do that today, because you just can't sell enough tickets."

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 He became a "commissioned" rock composer in 1967 when Capitol Records hired him to "compose and conduct" [[Lumpy Gravy]]. It was an unparalleled ''tour de force,'' mixing orchestral music; spoken dialog, free-form improvisation and rock and roll that wound up thanklessly unpromoted when Zappa's contractual status was being argued in court, leaving Sgt. Pepper's to corner all the kudos for "expanding" the perimeters of rock composition.
-Likewise, in 1969, while Miles Davis was busy "breaking down barriers" in jazz by incorporating rock into his repertoire, Zappa had already fine-tuned the idea years before, with live performances of lengthy jazz-rock excursions like "King Kong."
+Likewise, in 1969, while [[Miles Davis]] was busy "breaking down barriers" in jazz by incorporating rock into his repertoire, Zappa had already fine-tuned the idea years before, with live performances of lengthy jazz-rock excursions like "King Kong."
 No one took him seriously in the '60s when he talked of forming his own "record club" to make available his rapidly expanding library of concert and studio recordings. Yet 20 years later, Zappa is now doing just that with a thriving mail order business for his own (self-financed) [[Barking Pumpkin Records]].
@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 "We'll have some multiple versions of the same songs so you can hear the different styles from the different bands over the years. I'm looking to include three versions of '[[King Kong]]' and a few versions of '[[City Of Tiny Lites]].' There's also a weird 27-minute version of '[[Don't Eat The Yellow Snow]],' which was recorded in New York and Hammersmith that induces this guy from the audience who wanted to come onstage and recite poetry. I think you'll get a charge out of what happens with that.
-"I've also included something called the '[[Tiny Sick Tears|Cookie Jar Lecture]].' It's where I tell this short story about this kid who's trying to get some oral gratification involving some raisin cookies and a box of milk. And after he's got his gratification, he goes back upstairs – and here it kind of turns into that Jim Morrison song,'The End' – he goes back upstairs and finds his father beating off into a copy of Playboy magazine and he says,'Father, I want to kill you!' and the father can only say, 'Not now son, not now'.
+"I've also included something called the '[[Tiny Sick Tears|Cookie Jar Lecture]].' It's where I tell this short story about this kid who's trying to get some oral gratification involving some raisin cookies and a box of milk. And after he's got his gratification, he goes back upstairs – and here it kind of turns into that [[Jim Morrison]] song,'The End' – he goes back upstairs and finds his father beating off into a copy of [[Playboy]] magazine and he says,'Father, I want to kill you!' and the father can only say, 'Not now son, not now'.
 "We also used to have this little featurette in the show which was like a news flash of what happened the night before on the road and some of those are real sick. On one of them (vocalist) [[Napoleon Murphy Brock]] started making up the words, based on a true story, about a guy who tried to force his way into (percussionist) [[Ruth Underwood]]'s hotel room in Pittsburgh, Penn. She had ordered room service and she was wearing some kind of nightgown and she opened the door to push the tray out and this Xerox salesman-type guy tried to jump in the room and she kicked him in the nuts. Napoleon sang it all on stage the next night.