Dangerous Kitchen

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There’s a fine line between insanity and pure genius. Frank Zappa is often seen as a deranged satirist, yet from 1966 until his death in 1993, he was one of the most influential and innovative musicians in contemporary music, despite limited radio airplay. Starting with the Mothers of Invention, Zappa forged a remarkable career in rock by blending various styles, including contemporary music, jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, and social and political parody. He was frequently mischaracterized as a drug addict and fetishist, even though he denounced drug use and led a normal married life. In this exploration of Zappa's world, Kevin Courrier debunks these myths and highlights the facts about this gifted composer. Courrier argues that Zappa's rise in the eclectic sixties was intentional, rooted in a rebellion against nineteenth-century Romanticism. The book connects Zappa's work to musical and cultural predecessors like Erik Satie, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, and his true hero, Edgard Varese, an innovator of electronic sounds and avant-garde composition. This examination presents Zappa as a composer, performer, political artist, and a uniquely American original.