Khomeini

Khomeini (1900-1989) was an Iranian politician and religious leader who served as ayatollah and dictator of Iran from 1979 to 1989. His regime was noted for his religious terror and support of terrorists. Khomeini started prohibiting everything that was forbidden by the Koran, which included a total censorship on music.

In 1979 he kept members of the American embassy in Teheran, Iran, imprisoned and only released them on the day of Ronald Reagan's inauguration in 1981.

In 1987-1988 the Reagan administration was found guilty of illegally selling weapons and arms to Iran in exchange for hostages. The money was then used to support the opposition against the socialist government in Nicaragua. This lead to the Irangate Affair. In 1989 Khomeini again made international headlines when he issued a fatwa against author Salman Rushdie and his book "The Satanic Verses", which Khomeini considered to be blasphemous.

Khomeini died in 1989. After his death Iran's fundamentalist regime loosened a little (music is again allowed in the country), but is still considered to be a dictatorship to this day.

References

Zappa mentions the complete censorship on music in Iran in the foreword to the liner notes of Joe's Garage (1979). The album came out a few months after Khomeini's revolt.

When Zappa performed Titties 'n Beer live during the 1980s The Devil now bragged that he had the soul of Khomeini instead of those of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew.