tijdloze.rocks

Frank Vincent Zappa (Baltimore, 21 december 1940 – Los Angeles (Californië), 4 december 1993) was een Amerikaans componist en uitvoerend musicus. Hij was zowel solo-artiest als musicus in bands, waarvan The Mothers of Invention het bekendst was. Hij dirigeerde orkesten en produceerde ook bijna alle van de 62 albums die onder zijn eigen naam en die van The Mothers tijdens zijn leven zijn uitgebracht.

Zappa's werk kan beschouwd worden als een mix van rockmuziek, doowop, psychedelische rock, jazz, jazzrock, improvisatie, experimentele muziek en eigentijdse klassieke muziek gecombineerd met een grote dosis satire, zelfspot, humor en performance-art.

Zappa wordt beschouwd als een van de innovatiefste muzikanten van zijn generatie, werkend in een stilistisch grote diversiteit.

Zappa had een grote invloed op de rockmuziek, zowel door zijn composities, die gekenmerkt werden door stijlverwijzingen en ritmische diversiteit (maatwisselingen), als door zijn teksten. Deze teksten verwezen naar de popcultuur en actuele gebeurtenissen en waren vaak satirisch of zelfs dadaïstisch-absurd. Zijn hoofdinstrument was de elektrische gitaar, maar hij was ook vaak te horen als zanger en speelde drums, basgitaar en op keyboard. In zijn werk als onafhankelijk muziekproducent hield hij controle over alle stappen het productieproces. 

Zappa regisseerde ook speelfilms en muziekvideo's, die als voorbeeld kunnen worden gezien voor de visuele esthetiek van muziektelevisie, en hij ontwierp albumhoezen.

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, songwriter, electric guitarist, conductor, actor, satirist, filmmaker and activist. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works; he additionally produced nearly all the 60-plus albums he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. His work, which predominantly features electric guitar work, is characterized by nonconformity, improvisation sound experimentation, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.

As a mostly self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism, African-American rhythm and blues, and doo-wop music. He began writing classical music in high school, while simultaneously playing drums in rhythm-and-blues bands, later switching to electric guitar. His debut studio album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out! (1966), combined satirical but seemingly conventional rock-and-roll songs with extended sound collages. He continued this eclectic and experimental approach throughout his career.

Zappa's output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas and characters reappearing throughout his albums. His lyrics reflected his iconoclastic views of established social and political processes, structures and movements, often humorously so, and he has been described as the "godfather" of comedy rock. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech, self-education, political participation and the abolition of censorship. Unlike many other rock musicians of his generation, he disapproved of recreational drug use, but supported decriminalization and regulation.

Zappa was a highly productive and prolific musician with a controversial critical standing; supporters of his music admired its compositional complexity, while detractors found it lacking emotional depth. He had greater commercial success outside the U.S., particularly in Europe. Though he worked as an independent artist, Zappa mostly relied on distribution agreements he had negotiated with the major record labels. He remains a major influence on musicians. His many honors include his posthumous 1995 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.