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How did you discover Frank Zappa?

#42
A friend of mine gave me a copy of Freak Out in 1971. Try it, he said. The first one's free, he said. Too late, I was an addict! I saw him in 1973, 74, 76 and 79 and am fortunate to count Patrick O'hearn and Chester Thompson among my friends.
 
#43
chaosMK said:
I am still trying to discover him. I don't like anything by him.
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You can probably youtube it-
Check out A Token Of His Extreme...the concert DVD with his '74 band:
George Duke
Ruth Underwood
Tom Fowler
Napoleon Murphy Brock
Chester Thompson

...totally accessible. One of the better (live) versions of "Montana", IMO, out there.
If the above is interesting-
Check out Zappa's albums from that time frame & go back (or forward) from there.
 
#44
I first heard Sheik when I was kid and I fell in love with Broken Hearts, Bobby Brown and J.A.P. Later, I joined an improv jam group, and the BL is a huge Zappa fan. He introduced me to all the other stuff, especially Broadway the Hard Way. Had an incredible LSD experience a couple years back on 4th of July in Santa Cruz, with Broadway cranking in my ear buds the whole time. Best trip ever!
 
#46
It was 1991 for me also, and I was working at an outpost of Chevron, filing or some crap, and one of the guys in the office was a big music guy and told me I needed to get Joe's Garage.

Holy crap that was some good stuff. Back then one still occasionally traded cassette tapes, so that was how I got it.

The only reason I don't have more is when I went to pick up the rest of that stuff on CD the prices were astronomical, and I just didn't have the cash. I've always meant to when I get out of my latest crisis, take the time and search out all the good stuff.Now, I can .
 
#47
Revolver and Freak Out! showed up in the rack of new LPs in Cutler's Records in New Haven in the same week. Those two covers---a weird, we-don't-care-whether-you-buy-this-record-or-not black-and-white Beatles collage and the freaked-out Freak Out!---told anyone who was looking that things were about to get strange.

I was 16 and couldn't afford both, so, after agonizing over the choice, I bought Freak Out!
 
#51
1973. My best friend was a huge fan. We knew Playboy magazine always picked Frank as the arranger for its All Star Band. We ended up with about 10 of his albums between the two of us in our high school years (class of '75). When we became friends he already had Freak Out, We're Only In It For The Money, and Lumpy Gravy. I think I only ended up with 3 myself: Absolutely Free, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, and Live at the Fillmore East. Got Joe's Garage later.

There's just SO freakin' many!


Uber Geek Warning: We used to play "killer" charades with some of our ex-high school teachers shortly after we got out of school. We had a 10 word limit on all titles. Best song title ever: Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Sexually Aroused Gas Mask.
 
#52
lowendrv said:
The Fowler brothers and later on Albert Wing
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That's just cool. Tom Fowler is the bass player that proved Frank's music could be FUNKY! And Bruce Fowler is one of the great trombonists ever. Albert Wing played at least one fantastic solo on "Make a Jazz Noise Here". I want to say it was on Black Napkins, but I could be wrong. There's so many great solos on that album.
 
#53
davidjackson said:
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.
Click to expand...

Can one win this thread? Because if so, you just won. :D

Although "Punky's Whips" may have gotten you confused all over again. ;)
 
#54
I remember Valley Girl and Cocaine Decisions making some sort of dint on Rage in the early 80's, but didn't know much about Frank. At roughly the same time, I was introduced to We're Only In It For The Money by a schizophrenic friend who was going through a manic phase induced by refusing to take his lithium for a week; while I was impressed by the album his ranting about All Things Zappa put me off a little! Fast forward to the early 90's (yes! a decade!) and another friend was SHOCKED I hadn't experienced Sheik Yerbouti and it was all downhill from there to The Man From Utopia etc etc. Nowdays I'm preferring the older jazz fusion/progressive Frank compared to what I'd call the cartoon/music buffet Frank of later years, but Rat Tomago is still the greatest thing ever, even if it is out of context. Pure uncut Frank.
 
#59
Used to work with a couple guys cleaning restaurant carpets at night. Best part of this job was it was at night, with zero supervision so we were always high and always playing whatever music we wanted to listen to as loud as we wanted. One of the guys brought a tape of Zappa(Overnight Sensation, maybe) along and although I never became a big fan, I still dig that album as well as the album Apostrophe with Jack Bruce killin it on the title song.
 

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