Music Bloodline

Frank Zappa

An anti-hippie prankster, Frank Zappa created some of the most radical rock of the '60s and then pursured even more adventurous avenues ranging from jazz-rock to classical composition.

Biography

Frank Zappa was one of the most accomplished and prolific composers of the rock era; his music combines an understanding of and appreciation for such contemporary classical figures as Stravinsky, Stockhausen, and Varèse with an affection for late-'50s doo wop rock & roll and a facility for the guitar-heavy rock that dominated pop in the '70s. But Zappa was also a satirist whose reserves of scorn seemed bottomless and whose wicked sense of humor and absurdity delighted his numerous fans, even when his lyrics crossed over the broadest bounds of taste. ~ William Ruhlmann