50 Fun Facts About Frank Zappa

Which Deep Purple song recounts the casino fire during Frank Zappa's 1971 concert in Montreux?

Smoke on the Water got its title from the haze drifting over Lake Geneva as the band watched from their hotel. A flare fired by an audience member had set the casino alight and destroyed the Mothers' equipment.

Which Frank Zappa hit features his 14-year-old daughter Moon mimicking the slang of Los Angeles mall teenagers?

Valley Girl became Frank Zappa's only US Top 40 single, peaking at number 32. He meant it as a jab at San Fernando teen culture, but it spread the slang across the country instead.

Frank Zappa nicknamed which part of his wife Gail's body Dweezil, a name later given to their son?

A pinky toe of Gail's that Frank found funny-looking was the original Dweezil. A hospital nurse refused to register the name, so the boy's birth certificate first read Ian Donald Calvin Euclid.

Which everyday object did a young Frank Zappa play with drumsticks and a bow on Steve Allen's TV show?

A bicycle was Frank Zappa's instrument on national television in 1963, three years before his first album. He plucked, banged and bowed the spokes with a bow borrowed from the band's bass player.

Which famous feature of Frank Zappa's face gave the Cameroonian spider Pachygnatha zappa its scientific name?

Moustache markings on the underside of the female spider reminded two Belgian biologists of Frank Zappa, so they named it for him in 1994. A jellyfish and a genus of fish also carry his name.

Which soul star sang uncredited backing vocals on Frank Zappa's albums Over-Nite Sensation and Apostrophe (')?

Tina Turner and the Ikettes earned $25 an hour and spent days mastering the fiendish middle section of Montana. Her husband Ike heard the tape, was unimpressed and insisted they go uncredited.

Which band's 1967 album sleeve did Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention parody on We're Only in It for the Money?

The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper sleeve was the target, and Jimi Hendrix posed in the crowd for the Mothers' version. The record company chose to tuck the parody inside the gatefold.

Which TV show banned Frank Zappa after he hosted in 1978 and told viewers he was reading cue cards?

Saturday Night Live producers called it a disastrous job of hosting. During one number that night John Belushi, in his samurai costume, briefly joined Frank Zappa's band on stage.

Which shock-rock act did Frank Zappa sign to his Straight label after they auditioned at seven in the morning?

Alice Cooper arrived at dawn because Frank Zappa had said seven o'clock and meant the evening. Being woken by a band that keen impressed him enough to offer a three-album deal.

Which country-folk star joined Frank Zappa and Dee Snider in testifying against record warning labels before the Senate?

John Denver surprised a room that expected him to side with the campaigners. He called the labels censorship and said his own Rocky Mountain High had been misinterpreted by censors.

Which Frank Zappa song opens Apostrophe (') with a dream about an Eskimo named Nanook and his huskies?

Don't Eat the Yellow Snow, trimmed for radio, became Frank Zappa's first charting single at number 86. It starts a four-song suite that wanders from the Arctic to a church fund-raiser.

Which famous drummer starred as Larry the Dwarf in Frank Zappa's surreal 1971 touring film 200 Motels?

Ringo Starr took the lead while Keith Moon had a cameo as a nun. Shot in a week at Pinewood Studios, it was the first feature film photographed on videotape and transferred to 35 mm.

What happened to Frank Zappa at London's Rainbow Theatre in December 1971, a week after the Montreux fire?

A fan pushed him offstage into a concrete orchestra pit during the encore, jealous of his girlfriend's crush on Zappa. A crushed larynx lowered his voice, and he spent months in a wheelchair.

In Frank Zappa's song Montana, the narrator dreams of moving there to raise which unlikely crop?

Dental floss farming is the plan in one of Frank Zappa's most playful songs. It comes from the 1973 album Over-Nite Sensation and stayed a concert favourite for years.

Which East Coast city, Frank Zappa's 1940 birthplace, unveiled a bust of him at a library in 2010?

Baltimore dedicated the bust on the 25th anniversary of his Senate testimony, and its mayor had already declared an official Frank Zappa Day. His family left Maryland for California in 1952.

Which senator's wife co-founded the PMRC, the group Frank Zappa attacked in his 1985 Senate testimony?

Tipper Gore and other Washington wives wanted warning labels on records with explicit lyrics. Frank Zappa told the senators their plan was like treating dandruff by decapitation.

What kind of object is 3834 Zappafrank, named in Frank Zappa's honor after a fan's lobbying campaign?

An asteroid found by a Czechoslovak astronomer in 1980 took his name in 1994. Its citation says many Czechoslovaks regarded Frank Zappa as a symbol of democracy and freedom before 1989.

In which Nickelodeon cartoon did Frank Zappa voice the Pope, recording his lines at home while ill?

Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi idolized Frank Zappa and cast him as the Pope in the episode Powdered Toast Man. It aired in August 1992.

Which political office did Frank Zappa, a self-described practical conservative, consider seeking as an independent?

US president was the job he weighed, and he set up voter registration booths at his 1988 concerts. He favored limited government and low taxes, yet spent the 1980s deriding Republican policies in song.

On which pop group's TV series did Frank Zappa appear disguised as band member Mike Nesmith?

The Monkees episode had Frank Zappa and Nesmith swap identities for a mock interview, after which Zappa wrecked a car with a sledgehammer. He also made a cameo in their film Head.

Which hazardous substance from his father's lab did the young Frank Zappa smash with a hammer on his bedroom floor?

Mercury came home in lab equipment from his father's defense job, and Frank Zappa sprayed droplets of it across his floor. The family also kept gas masks because mustard gas was stored nearby.

Which holiday's 1977 New York concerts by Frank Zappa were filmed for his movie Baby Snakes?

Halloween shows at the Palladium supply the concert footage, mixed with surreal clay animation. Baby Snakes premiered in New York on Frank Zappa's 39th birthday.

Which 1980s police drama cast Frank Zappa, a critic of drug use, in a guest role?

Miami Vice loved casting musicians: Miles Davis, Leonard Cohen and Phil Collins also turned up as guests. Frank Zappa acted in Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre too.

Which 1970s music craze does Frank Zappa mock in his Grammy-nominated single Dancin' Fool?

Disco culture was a favourite target, and he had already sent it up in the earlier song Disco Boy. Dancin' Fool reached number 45, the second-highest US single of Frank Zappa's career.

Which illness, diagnosed in 1990 after going unnoticed for years, led to Frank Zappa's death at 52?

Prostate cancer was found too late to operate, so Frank Zappa gave his last years to orchestral and electronic works. He died at home in December 1993 with his wife and children beside him.

Which Lancaster high school friend of Frank Zappa sang the only vocal track on the album Hot Rats?

Captain Beefheart, born Don Vliet, growled Willie the Pimp on an otherwise instrumental record. The same year Frank Zappa produced his friend's landmark double album Trout Mask Replica.

Which guitar virtuoso began working for Frank Zappa at eighteen, transcribing his music before joining the band?

Steve Vai won the job by mailing in his own transcription of a notoriously difficult drum piece. Frank Zappa called him his little Italian virtuoso and credited him with impossible guitar parts.

Which British bassist, famous from a 1960s supergroup, jams on the title track of Frank Zappa's Apostrophe (')?

Jack Bruce of Cream dropped in for a jam and laid down a heavily fuzzed bass part. Frank Zappa later grumbled that he found him too busy a player to work with.

Which Frank Zappa rock opera, narrated by the Central Scrutinizer, imagines a government that outlaws music?

Joe's Garage was partly inspired by Iran's 1979 revolution, which had made music illegal. It first came out in two instalments, a single LP followed by a double.

Which Frank Zappa double album, the best seller of his career, puns on a KC and the Sunshine Band hit?

Sheik Yerbouti shows Frank Zappa in Arab headdress on the cover, and its working title was Martian Love Secrets. It was the first release on his own Zappa Records label.

Which 1966 double album introduced Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention after Columbia had turned the band down?

Freak Out! quoted Columbia's verdict of no commercial potential on its own sleeve. The sleeve also thanked two of Frank Zappa's high school music teachers.

Which Frank Zappa song, kept off American radio for its explicit lyrics, reached number one in Norway and Sweden?

Bobby Brown baffled its own author, who suggested his label hire an anthropologist to work out why Europe loved it. It later appeared on European editions of his best-of, Strictly Commercial.

Which entirely instrumental Frank Zappa album was given an explicit lyrics warning by a US store chain?

Jazz from Hell had no words to object to, so the 1990 sticker was probably a reaction to its title and a track called G-Spot Tornado. The album also won Frank Zappa his first Grammy.

Which dissident turned head of state made Frank Zappa a special ambassador for trade, culture and tourism in 1990?

Václav Havel was a lifelong fan, and a Prague underground band had named itself after a Mothers song. Washington objected, so the title was downgraded to unofficial cultural attaché.

Which 1960s pop group's two lead singers joined Frank Zappa's Mothers in 1970 under the name Flo & Eddie?

The Turtles had broken up, and old contracts barred Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan from using the band's name or even their own. They became the Phlorescent Leech and Eddie instead.

Which band did Lowell George and Roy Estrada form after their time in Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention?

Little Feat got a push from their old boss, who helped the new band land a Warner Bros. contract. One story has Frank Zappa telling George he was too talented to stay a sideman.

Which avant-garde composer did the teenage Frank Zappa phone long-distance as a fifteenth birthday present?

Edgard Varèse was in Europe, so the boy reached his wife instead, but a letter from the composer followed. Frank Zappa framed it and kept it on display for the rest of his life.

Which early digital synthesizer became Frank Zappa's main composing and performing tool from 1983?

Synclavier precision delighted Frank Zappa, who said imaginary instruments could now play the hardest passages with one-millisecond accuracy. He even used it to set the 1985 Senate hearings to music.

Which chart feat did Frank Zappa's Apostrophe (') manage in 1974 that no other album of his ever matched?

A US top ten placing, at number 10, was the highest chart position of his career. It went gold two years later, helped along by an edited novelty single.

Which Hot Rats instrumental by Frank Zappa later won his son Dweezil's tribute band a Grammy?

Peaches en Regalia earned Zappa Plays Zappa the 2009 award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Frank Zappa himself often used the piece to open a show or as the encore.

Which guitarist, later the frontman of King Crimson, did Frank Zappa first see playing in a Nashville bar?

Adrian Belew was hired after a second audition in Frank Zappa's living room, having felt he fluffed the first. David Bowie came calling a year later, after a Zappa concert in Berlin.

Which drummer, handed The Black Page by Frank Zappa to learn, later co-founded the band Missing Persons?

Terry Bozzio worked on the fearsome piece for fifteen minutes a day over two weeks before he could play it through. Only then did Frank Zappa add a melody and chords for the whole band.

Which hard rock band reunited in 1976 so that Frank Zappa could produce their album Good Singin', Good Playin'?

Grand Funk Railroad had already broken up when he showed interest, and they split again on the first day of overdubs. Frank Zappa stayed until 4 a.m. trying to talk them out of it.

Which product's TV commercial inspired Frank Zappa's Apostrophe (') track St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast?

Margarine was the spark: Frank Zappa said an advert for the Imperial brand set the song off. The track features Ruth Underwood's marimba, a signature sound of his early 1970s bands.

In which California town did Frank Zappa run Studio Z until a vice squad sting led to his 1965 arrest?

Cucamonga police suspected the local movie king of making pornography, so an undercover officer ordered a suggestive tape. He served ten days, and most of his seized recordings never came back.

Which celebrated conductor commissioned and conducted the orchestral works on Frank Zappa's album The Perfect Stranger?

Pierre Boulez led his own Paris players on the 1984 record, and he had been listed as an influence on the Mothers' debut. Frank Zappa still judged the performances under-rehearsed.

Which star session drummer, then touring with Frank Zappa's band, plays on the title jam of Apostrophe (')?

Jim Gordon, once of Derek and the Dominos, sat in for the November 1972 session. His friendship with the guest bassist is what brought the jam about.

What name did Frank Zappa coin for combining recordings of different pieces into one new composition?

Xenochrony joins the Greek words for strange and time. He used the method to lay live guitar solos over unrelated studio backing tracks, whatever their tempo or meter.

Which chamber group performs Frank Zappa's works on The Yellow Shark, the last album released in his lifetime?

Ensemble Modern rehearsed with the ailing composer in Los Angeles before the 1992 concerts. He conducted only a few pieces on opening night and received a 20-minute ovation.

Frank Zappa's music for a 1967 TV commercial won a Clio Award for advertising which product?

Cough drops made by Luden's were the product, and the animator paid him $2,000 for the soundtrack. The advert took the Clio for Best Use of Sound.