1
It's inspirational.
And it's now on Hulu.
Zappa was someone you discovered along the way, and then you went back and purchased all the albums that came before and the ones that came thereafter until...you grew up and went separate ways.
I'm not saying I stopped buying Zappa's records, I'm not saying I wasn't paying attention to Frank, what I'm saying is Zappa was a jumping off point, and once you were trained enough, he expected you to spread your wings and fly, and definitely not where he'd already been.
Most people did not, fly that is.
But some of us did.
You had to grow up in the sixties. I was doing an interview with Joel Selvin about his new book "Hollywood Eden" and I asked him why everybody at University High wanted to make a record. Joel said that's where the action was. And sure, Capitol was in L.A. but the rest of the labels were on the east coast and on the west coast it was a fledgling business, run by independents, akin to the computer revolution back in the nineties. Sure, the computer revolution started in the seventies, the first time I ever saw someone using an Apple II was in the office of Frank's manager, but in the nineties and early two thousands...tech innovation was rampant. In retrospect, it was a very brief time, before the money and consolidation came along to quash independent dreams. Compete with Amazon and Facebook at your peril. They'll just imitate you and put you out of business, or make you sell to them.
But it wasn't always this way.
Back in the sixties no one expected to be rich and famous. That was for somebody else, people who broke the rules. You see prior to the mid-sixties, the life of baby boomers was all about conforming, jumping through hoops. Now some turned on, tuned in and dropped out, but most didn't have the chutzpah, and when Reagan came along in the eighties to legitimize greed they got right on board, and rode the rails through the Clinton presidency and now believed they were different from everybody else, and entitled. They were self-satisfied.
But Frank Zappa would say the joke was on them.
The greats don't conform. Which is why you can't learn to be a rock star in school. You were either born with it or you weren't. And if you weren't, you'll never make it, the road is too hard, and to truly make your mark you must be inspired. And if you are and you make it to the top expect to be denigrated, because others were unwilling to put in the hard work and are jealous of your success. Like Glenn Frey and the Eagles. Glenn had knocked around, Geffen wasn't interested in his work with J.D. Souther, and then he had an idea for a band, he kept Don Henley up all night telling him who and what the Eagles would be the night before their first gig with Linda Ronstadt in D.C. And then Glenn proceeded to execute. And sure, the Eagles made lots of money, Zappa had no problem with that, as long as you didn't sell out to make your money.
So the sixties were very short, the Mothers of Invention recorded for a very brief window, from '65 to '69, but in that short span of time they changed the landscape, and the people who listened to them.
Irreverence, questioning authority, speaking truth to power. None of those are elements of today's hit music. But these were the mantras of Frank Zappa. He didn't beat you over the head with them, he just lived his life by them and you were influenced by that.
Influence... Who are you influenced by?
I'm not sure who people are truly influenced by today. I hope it's not politicians, none of them are true believers like Frank. But in the sixties, our influences were those who were pushing the envelope, testing limits, and word would spread and...
That's how you'd discover Frank Zappa and so much more.
So what was it like in the sixties?
Well, unless you lived then, you'll never really know. As for the aphorism that if you remember the sixties you weren't there, that's completely wrong. Then again, everybody was too busy living their life to chronicle it, you didn't want to sit back, you wanted to participate. It was about self-realization. And that's a hard viewpoint to shake. I never have.
Yes, I'm a sixties casualty.
I've got this beach metaphor, hang in there with me. In the fifties there were beatniks, everybody was hip and cool, and then the wave went back to sea and the only one left on shore was Maynard G. Krebs. Same deal in the sixties, everybody was a hippie, growing their hair long, loving one another, and then the wave went out and I was left standing alone, on the beach, and when I express my viewpoints people laugh at me.
But at least I have viewpoints, I don't take the temperature, take a poll of the audience before I act. And neither did Steve Jobs and neither did Frank Zappa. They acted on their own innate tuning fork. As for Mr. Jobs...he was influenced and inspired by the Beatles and Bob Dylan, and if Steve were still alive today he'd place them on the totem pole above himself, you see art may last, technology is always superseded.
There's so much that's skipped over in this movie, like how did Frank learn to read and write music. But that's what's great about it, it's not comprehensive, it does its best to create a mood, a feeling, and you certainly get it. And Frank was not lovable and when the movie is over you don't love him either, you respect him, you're wowed by him, you're inspired by him, and that will hit you right between the eyes whether you like Zappa's music or not.
Not that there's endless music in this film, that's not what it's about. It's the story of Frank. Well, part of the story. There could be three or four more documentaries and they'd be almost totally new, Frank created that much, he did that much.
But what if you grow up nowhere as an outcast, how does that affect you?
And if you're looking to do something, are you trying to get a grant, from a foundation or the government? Zappa didn't play that game, he paid, he didn't want anybody telling him what to do, he wanted control. And the truth is all true artists are control freaks, because they have a vision, and they know unless it's portrayed accurately, it won't resonate, it'll miss.
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"Hey punk where you goin' with that flower in your hand
Well I'm goin' up to Frisco to join a psychedelic band
Hey punk where you goin' with that button on your shirt
I'm goin' to the love-in to sit and play my bongos in the dirt"
"Flower Punk" was the song that made me a Frank Zappa fan. It was only 1968, but the Mothers were making fun of the hippies, all the non-thinking followers. Today nobody thinks for themselves, you join your tribe and never question it, it's a nation of followers. But back in the sixties, more important than your bank account was your ability to think.
"I'm losing status at the high school
I used to think that it was my school"
High school is all about popularity, fitting in. But what if you weren't, popular that is, what if you didn't fit in?
"The other night we painted posters
We played some records by the Coasters
Wah wah wah wah
A bunch of pom-pom girls
Looked down their nose at me
They had painted tons of posters I had painted three
I hear the secret whispers everywhere I go
My school spirit is at an all time low"
"Status Back Baby" is on the second side of "Absolutely Free," released in 1967, before "We're Only in It for the Money," which contains "Flower Punk." I had to buy the album after I purchased "We're Only in It for the Money" and that's when I discovered the track. And most people didn't know it, but if you did, you were a member of a secret club, you were aligned with Frank Zappa, you could not only see, but knew, the system was a joke.
It's all there with Zappa. He was always true to himself. He never wavered. He never sold out. He risked, he evolved, but he never strived for a hit, and as a result everybody knew who he was, and those truly in the know looked up to him. Today they only look up to you if you make money, if you're rich, and if you're rich your work cannot be challenged.
Alex Winter, aka Bill in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" has not made the typical rock doc. You know, hagiography, jumping through the hoops, he or she did this or that, got their head screwed on straight and now they're on a victory lap, don't you love them? "Zappa" is almost an impressionistic view of Zappa and his career. You jump from bite to bite, Frank's history and ethos come into view, but not everything is crammed in, just enough for you to get the sense, the feel for who he is.
And the truth is the film got excellent reviews, but nobody was gonna pay to see it on VOD during Covid, when it was released last fall. This is a film for a streaming service. This is a time bomb, something that will sit in the library, waiting to be discovered by generations hence. Every artist, everybody who thinks they want to be an artist, needs to see this film, it's the gut check of all gut checks. You see Frank's choices, would you make them?
In other words, Frank Zappa and this film might be what W.C. Fields was to us in the sixties. Gone for decades, we were fanatics for him, went to see his pictures, like "The Bank Dick" and "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break." It was W.C.'s sensibility, he was irascible, he didn't have time for children and fools, he was himself all the time, meaning you could be an irreverent curmudgeon too, you didn't have to act nice like everybody told you to, worrying about making the right impression.
W.C. Fields has yet to come back again, he may never do so, but Frank Zappa... The younger generations aren't aware of Frank and his work, or think he's all about "Valley Girl" if he's about anything. But at some point, could be tomorrow, could be ten years from now, they'll see this documentary and be inspired, need to go down the rabbit hole, listen to the music and become aware of all the possibilities.
Yes, that's what art is about, possibilities, in your expression. Going where you want to, not worrying if anybody else wants to come along. It's a hard road and you may never be recognized. But watching this movie you've got to ask yourself, do you deserve to be recognized?
You cannot watch this flick without being moved, no way.
And you cannot turn it off.
The first half could be the best rock documentary ever made. The second half is more conventional, which is not a criticism so much as I'm saying the first half is godhead.
You need to see it.
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