Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for percussion-based avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse and 1950s rhythm and blues music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands; he later switched to electric guitar. He was a self-taught composer and performer, and his diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often impossible to categorize. His 1966 debut album with The Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. His later albums shared this eclectic and experimental approach, irrespective of whether the fundamental format was one of rock, jazz or classical. He wrote the lyrics to all his songs, which—often humorously—reflected his iconoclastic view of established social and political processes, structures and movements. He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech, self-education, political participation and the abolition of censorship. Zappa was a highly productive and prolific artist and gained widespread critical acclaim. Many of his albums are considered essential in rock and jazz history. He is regarded as one of the most original guitarists and composers of his time. He also remains a major influence on musicians and composers. He had some commercial success, particularly in Europe, and for most of his career was able to work as an independent artist. Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Zappa was married to Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman from 1960 to 1964. In 1967, he married Adelaide Gail Sloatman, with whom he remained until his death from prostate cancer in 1993. They had four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. Gail Zappa manages the businesses of her late husband under the name the Zappa Family Trust. Description above from the Wikipedia article Frank Zappa, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Echo in the Canyon
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)A look at the roots of the historic music scene in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon featuring the music of...
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Take Your Pills
as Self (archive footage)In a hypercompetitive world, drugs like Adderall offer students, athletes, coders and others a...
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The Velvet Underground
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)Experience the iconic rock band's legacy in the first major documentary to tell their story....
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Fuck
as Self (archive footage)A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be...
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Zappa
as Self (archive footage)With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive...
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The Wrecking Crew
as Self (archive footage)A celebration of the musical work of a group of session musicians known as "The Wrecking Crew."...
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Head
as The CriticIn this surrealistic and free-form follow-up to the Monkees' television show, the band frolic...
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Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words
as Self (archive footage)Utilizing potent TV interviews and many forgotten performances from his 30-year career, we are...
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200 Motels
as Member of Mothers of Invention (uncredited)"Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him...
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Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
as Self (archive footage)With one of the most memorably stunning voices that has ever hit the airwaves, Linda Ronstadt...
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Super Duper Alice Cooper
as Self (archive footage)Emerging from the Detroit music scene of the 1970s in a flurry of long hair and sequins, Alice...
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Uncle Howard
as Self (archive footage)When Howard Brookner lost his life to AIDS in 1989, the 35-year-old director had completed two...
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The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels
as SelfA one-hour documentary on the making of Frank Zappa's bizarre 1971 comic musical. Vintage...
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Cover Your Ears
as Self - Musician (archive footage)When does art become obscenity? Cover Your Ears takes a close look at this question through the...
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Manson: Music From an Unsound Mind
as Self (archive footage)The untold story of Charles Manson's obsession to become a rock star, his rise in the LA music...
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Led Zeppelin Played Here
as Self (archive footage)1969. Man lands on the moon. Half a million strong at Woodstock....and Led Zeppelin perform in...
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Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s
as Self (archive footage)A look at "rock and roll" and other pop music based film of the 1970s.
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Frank Zappa: The Dub Room Special!
as SelfProduced by Frank Zappa in 1982, The Dub Room Special combines footage from a performance at the...
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Frank Zappa - Summer '82: When Zappa Came to Sicily
as Himself (archive Footage)In the feature documentary, Summer 82 - When Zappa Came to Sicily, filmmaker and Zappa fan Salvo...
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Hart & Soul - The Hart Family Anthology
as Self (archive footage)Hart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology is a documentary produced and released by WWE Home Video...
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Feats First: The Life and Music of Lowell George
as Self (archive footage)This film, the first ever to chronicle Lowell George's life, music and career, uses archive...
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Steve Vai - His First 30 Years: The Documentary
as Self (archive footage)This is the first documentary covering Steve Vai's life from 1960 to 1990. (Co-written by Steve...
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Derailroaded
as Self (archive footage)A documentary on the life and music of manic-depressive, paranoid-schizophrenic cult music icon...
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Kalvøyafestivalen - 50 år siden første riff
as Self (archive footage)In 1971, the Kalvøya adventure started with shows, jazz and folk rock and the festival developed...
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The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers
as AttilaAn intelligent, fearless boy living in a superstitious Transylvanian village goes out into the...
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Frank Zappa: A Token Of His Extreme
as HimselfFrank Zappa: A Token of his Extreme is the 1974 television special recorded at Kcet in Hollywood...
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Classic Albums: Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out!
as SelfThis programme tells the story behind the conception, recording and release of this...
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Frank Zappa: The Torture Never Stops
as SelfHalloween, New York City, 1981 Live at The Palladium with Ray White, Steve Vai, Bobby Martin,...
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The Art of Dissent
as Self - Subject (archive footage)"The Art of Dissent" celebrates the resilience and power of artistic engagement in...
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Baby Snakes
as SelfRock artist Frank Zappa hosts a concert in New York City. This movie contains tons of on-stage...
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Uncle Meat
as Self / The Imaginary DirectorThis is a documentary about an unfinished movie. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention try to...
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You Are What You Eat
as uncreditedA montage of the weird, a freak-out film that appeared when the expression was in fashion and in...
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Frank Zappa: The Broadcast Archives
as SelfFrank Zappa - The Broadcast Archives is a collection of live performances from the master of...
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Roxy: The Movie
as HimselfA Frank Zappa show goes way beyond a mere concert – it is an experience…a flight of...
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The Revenge of the Dead Indians
as HimselfThis is a full-length documentary honoring the life and work of American composer and artist...
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Classic Albums: Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (') Over-Nite Sensation
as Self (archive footage)This episode focuses on Zappa's early 70s albums, Overnight Sensation (1973) and Apostrophy (')...
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From Straight to Bizarre
as SelfDocumentary about the rise and fall of Frank Zappa's record labels, Bizarre and Straight which...
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Decade
as SelfInterviews with personalities including John Mellencamp, Spike Lee, Lou Reed, Roseanne Barr,...
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Frank Zappa: The Freak Out List
as HimselfOn the liner notes to Freak Out!, the 1967 debut album by Zappa's original band the Mothers of...
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Frank Zappa: A Pioneer of the Future of Music
as uncreditedFrank Scheffer's (collage like) documentary on the American composer and rock guitarist Frank...
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Hey, Hey We're The Monkees
as Mike Nesmith (archive footage)Documentary focusing The Monkees, the 1960s pop group originally created for a TV sitcom....
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Frank Zappa: Live in Barcelona
as uncreditedFrank Zappa's May 17, 1988 concert performance was captured and broadcast by Televisión...
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Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - The Lost Broadcast: The Beat Club '68
as SelfThis DVD contains a filmed rehearsal of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the...
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Made in Japan: The Rise of Deep Purple Mk II
as Himself (archive footage)Deep Purple is one of the most influential and important guitar bands in history, one of the...
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The Amazing Mr. Bickford
as SelfSeveral pieces of Frank Zappa's music are set against clay animation by Bruce Bickford.
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All My Loving
as SelfOriginally a BBC documentary, this film by Tony Palmer about the 1960's music scene was later...
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Frank Zappa: A Token of His Extreme
as HimselfFrom "The Dub Room Special": 1.Approximate (3:56) 2.Cosmik Debris (5:14) 3.Room Service...
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Mondo Hollywood
as uncreditedLong considered a cult classic, "Mondo Hollywood" captures the underside of Hollywood by...
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Video From Hell
as SelfIn a little over an hour, 'VIDEO FROM HELL' provides a preview of current and projected Honker...
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Frank Zappa: Peefeeyatko
as SelfFor the past ten years Zappa in composing has turned away from Rock and Roll music - for which...
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Frank Zappa: We Don't Mess Around
as SelfTracklisting: 1. Pound for a Brown 2. Baby Snakes 3. Deathless Horsie 4. Dancin' Fool 5....
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Rock this Town
as Self (archive footage)An insider’s look into the gritty reality of building the local live music scene, Rock This...
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Frank Zappa - Live in Paris 1980
as SelfRecorded Live in Paris in 1980, this is a rare recording of Frank Zappa performing at the peak...
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Deep Purple: Made In Japan
as Self (archive footage)Made in Japan was recorded live over three nights during 15–17 August 1972 at Festival Hall,...
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Cheepnis
as HimselfFeaturing the only footage Zappa cut together from his legendary 1973 Roxy concerts, "Cheepnis"...
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Larry Flynt for President
as Self (archive footage)Assembled from never before seen footage shot in 1983, this film documents controversial Hustler...
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The Yellow Shark
as SelfThis live recording was culled from seven September 1992 concerts given in Vienna, Berlin, and...
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The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart
as Himself (archive footage)Elaine Shepherd’s classic BBC documentary, introduced and narrated by John Peel. Completely...
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Live at Whisky a Go Go 1968
as uncreditedShot on July 23, 1968, this historical 16mm footage of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention...
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Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution
as SelfDocumentary about young pop and rock musicians producing music as "a symptom and generator" of...
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Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention: In the 1960's
as HimselfHere's the most detailed, informative, fascinating Zappa & the Mothers doc yet! Their restless...
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Cocaine Blues
as HimselfA look at the problems associated with cocaine use, including the toll it takes, not only on the...
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Pražákům, těm je hej
as SelfThe story begins in 1984 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, few years before the end of Communist era....
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Frank Zappa: Does Humor Belong in Music?
as SelfFrank Zappa and his band in a digitally recorded live performance at "The Pier" in New York, NY...
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The Big T.N.T. Show
as Self (uncredited)Live performances by some of the top rock-and-roll acts of the mid 60s. Includes Ray Charles,...
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Frank Zappa: Music In Review
as Self (archive footage)Idiosyncratic composer, unique musician and ground-breaking film director ..Frank Zappa packed...
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Amougies (Music Power - European Music Revolution)
as SelfA film by Jerome Laperrousaz, showing the festival at Amougies, October 1969.
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Marian Briozzo
as Himself (archive footage)Influential animator, Hungarian immigrant and lifelong Frank Zappa enthusiast Gábor Csupó...
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Frank Zappa
as SelfThe Documentary centers around Zappa at home, and on Tour. The amazing thing is that Zappa...
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The Monkees
as uncreditedMicky, Mike, Peter, and Davy are four young men in mid-1960s LA, members of a struggling...
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Miami Vice
as uncreditedThe story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking...
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Faerie Tale Theatre
as AttillaA live-action children's television anthology series retelling popular fairy tales.
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Saturday Night Live
as Self - Musical GuestA late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The...
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Saturday Night Live
as Self - Host & Musical GuestA late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The...
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The Ren & Stimpy Show
as The Pope (voice)Ren and Stimpy are a mismatch made in animation heaven with nothing in common but a life-long...
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Classic Albums
as Self (archive footage)A documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive...
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Omnibus
as SelfOmnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the...
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Beat-Club
as SelfBeat-Club was a German music program that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It is...
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Laurel Canyon
as Self (archive footage)Featuring all-new, original interviews with Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Michelle Phillips,...
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Girls and Boys - Sex and British Pop
as Self (archive footage)Four-part documentary series that tells the story of British pop music and our changing...
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Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution
as SelfIn this CBS News report, Leonard Bernstein examines creativity in pop music of the mid 1960s....
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