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How did you discover Frank Zappa?

#21
Had not previously fully appreciated his music but had the pleasure of seeing him in concert in Boston, early 1980s I think.
Two distinct memories remain:
1) Was very surprised at just how talented a guitarist he was
2) He spent the ENTIRE show seated on a stool with his back toward the audience
 
#22
I heard "Valley Girl" on the radio when I was 14 and was blown away by Scott Thunes's outrageous bass part. I had just started playing and and became obsessed with this bass part that I couldn't come close to playing then. I had seen Zappa on SNL and knew of the "hits" ("Dancin' Fool", "Montana", Camarillo Brillo" etc) but really became a fan when "Them or Us" came out in 1984. Then I went backwards... To this day, I'm still an immense fan of Zappa, Thunes, Arthur Barrow, O'Hearn and of course, the many drummers...
 
#26
I used to order the WB loss leaders they advertised on their album inner sleeves and one of those had a couple of FZ and MOI tunes. I liked it so much I went to the local record store and asked if they could order me some albums and the owner refused, telling me "that filth" would never grace his shelves. That's all I needed to hear to know I had to have me some FZ and MOI. I found a record store in the next town over that was not such an upright keeper of the moral flame who was happy to order me some Frank. When 200 Motels came to the local drive-in it was the first time I'd actually seen Frank outside of the occasional photo, and of course the Phi Zappa Crappa poster that every head shop on the planet had on display.
 
#27
Bassist4Eris said:
They also had a column called "Bass Secrets" from a bassist named Randy Coven. To this day, I have never heard Mr. Coven's music, but I do remember that he had a whammy bar on his bass, so there's that.
Click to expand...

I bought, on impulse, a CD by Randy Coven called 'Funk Me Tender' when I was 14. I bought it because I had never seen a solo bass player on the front of a CD. That CD changed my life. I'm not sure that was in a good way. Music suddenly became a strange frightning thing and Randy's 80s perm and tie dye leggings left me gender confused and unsettled. The music of Frank Zappa provided a refuge for me to try and work through these complex feelings. Even now I will sometimes wake suddenly at night, shaking and crying with the horrible sound of a whammy barred, distorted Ibanez bass playing Yesterday by the Beatles ringing in my ears.
 
#30
September 1992, freshman year at college. My roommate was a 2nd year senior, which I thought odd at the time (not any more!). He popped in Over-Nite Sensation, and I was instantly intrigued. Saarbrucken 1978 was my first purchase, followed soon by (rutabaga) Absolutely Free.
 
#31
High school. Almost everyone I knew from 2 schools listened to Zappa. Saw the Joe's Garage tour with a bunch of friends my junior year and the next year too. Played a Zappa song a month ago at a gig. Fun stuff.
 
#32
Started out listening to "Joe's Garage Act I" at our drummer's house way back around 1980 or so... then "Ship Arriving Too Late..." bc "Valley Girl" was popular around then, "Sheik Yerbouti," "Tinseltown Rebellion" and on and on and on...

"I might be movin' to Montana soon, just to raise me up a crop of dental Floss"
 
#33
i'd never really heard of Frank Zappa , but i had a friend who was a dancer in the San Antonio Ballet Company ,
and he had been hired to dance for Mr.Zappa's gig at a local venue , the Municipal Auditorium .
this was back in 1970 , and i was only 15 at the time ...
:ninja:
opening act Flo & Eddie { my friend danced for them also ...} ,
and Frank proceded to mess up my little mind .
totally unexpected , and amazing .
have been a fan ever since , and my wife and kids loved him also ...
:D
 
#34
I can't believe no one's said it yet!

I first heard Zappa on the Dr. Demento show, sometime in the late eighties. I've been hooked ever since.
 
#35
I'm from his hometown. For me, and probably everyone else too, it wasn't a big deal. Everybody knew where he went to high school and some of the places that he played when he first started. Oddly enough, I didn't get into his music until I moved away and joined the Navy. Even now, I'm not exactly a casual fan, but I have to be "in the mood" to listen to his stuff, mainly when I'm alone with little distractions, like driving. I do the same with Rush.

I used to read the same guitar mags, and they would throw a story in about him, his music, some of his albums, or even his gear (the burnt Jimi Hendrix Strat that Guitar World gave away, I kinda wish I had that).

When he passed away, there was a group of people that wanted to rename his old high school after him. I was attending the local community college (AVC) and signed a petition, hoping it would happen, for no other reason than just because. It didn't happen though.
 
#37
First heard FZ in 1968. I was a junior in High School. A friend of mine played me Absolutely Free. I loved it because it punched established ideas and ugly American culture in the guts!

This album was one of the greatest influences in my life! Frank taught me to NOT CONFORM to social norms just because we are expected to!

After I heard this album, I was able to finish High School and go on in life with higher self-esteem and to just be content to be the person that I really am.

I am so thankful to Frank and his 2nd album, Absolutely Free!

He opened my eyes to the evils of our goverment, sports, jocks, stupid music, hypocrocy, corporate America and pretty much all the other evils and stupidity of modern American life. "TV dinner by the pool............" "Brown shoes don't make it........" "The world of secret hungers.............." "Status back baby............" "Call any vegetable.............." "She's only 13 and she knows how to nasty."

I always thought of Absolutely Free as an album with the content of 10 albums stuffed into one. It is just jammed packed with music and social comments! I listened to this album many times from 1968 to the early 70s and everytime, I'd hear something or understand something new for the very first time! Never, never, never get tired of hearing it!

Listen to, America Drinks and Goes Home. Required listening!!!!!!!! The lyrics hit oh so hard!

Even the album cover is jammed packed with visuals that merits hours of study!

One of the greatest albums ever!

Perhaps dated music and comments for todays world but still an excellent album!

From there, I got Freak Out! and liked Frank up through the the whole 70s and then I lost interest in Frank's work as he worked with musicians that were so fantastic but lacked feeling and soul. IMHO

Frank's satire, social comments, melodies and experimental music.........ARE THE GREATEST!

His experimental piece called, The Chrome Megaphone of Destiny on (We're Only In It for the Money)....................JUST BLOWS MY MIND! A nightmare set to sound!

I gotta shut up! I could just go on and on and on about Frank Zappa. I still cry from his death!

I'm thankful that I got to see FZ 2 times in 1970 which I think if I remember correctly was during the (Flo and Eddie) Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (The Turtles) era.
 
#40
My drummer made a mixed tape for me. He knew I liked music and comedy (separately), so he put a bunch of Zappa's humorous songs on it. Thinking back, he introduced me to: Don't Eat the Yellow Snow, Disco Boy, Valley Girl, Dancin' Fool, I'm So Cute, Bobby Brown, Baby Snakes, Jewish Princess, Crew S*ut, & Why Does It Hurt When I Pee. (Mostly stuff from Joe's Garage and Sheik Yerbouti.)
 

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