"Where's the Meat?' The music of Jim Steinman
In the fall of 1977, I was having a great time. I was in college, playing football and a late night DJ on campus radio- KJSC. The radio station had been brought back to life after a dormant period by a friend, Lyman Bowling. Lyman gave DJ slots to a bunch of we willing people. Got to say, it was one of the great fun experiences I have had. I have Lymsn to thank for that. He went on to a career in radio.
That fall, I was in a record store and saw an LP cover that struck me. A dramatic, demon looking motorcycle exploding into the air from an ominous cemetery! I was intrigued by the cover, and bought the LP. Only two other times had I purchased an LP based on the album art, and both had been winners. When I put the album on my dorm room turntable, I was met with a rock and roll that muddied the lines between hard rock, ballad and Wagnerian opera! The sing, a huge man named Meat Loaf, had the big voice that shook walls, rattled windows and soared to the sky. The songs he sang were epic, complex, and metaphoric vignettes of teenage angst, rebellion and unrequited love.
Meat Loaf, or Marvin Aday, was the voice I had never heard in rock music. A Texas school boy dubbed Meat Loaf because of his huge size, eventually moved to Los Angles and started his first band. H recorded an album for Motown before joining a production of “Hair” in New York. There he auditioned for a play called “More than You Deserve” written by Jim Steinman. This was the first meeting of a future ground breaking collaboration.
Meat went on to film the role of “Eddie” in “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” His big voice and girth earned the role. He also re cored the vocals for Ted Nugent’s “Free For All” album. Bit, most importantly, it was during this time that Jim Steinman and meat began the work on what would become the “Bat Out Of Hell” LP.
When the LP hit my turntable, I was breathless. I typically had a feature LP on each of my radio broadcasts that I would play selective cuts from, mixed with other rock tunes from a variety of artists. My friend Stick, Dave Brigden, had a show on after mine. We would post notices in the cafeteria / Student Union for our shows. Stick posted the ads for my show advertising “Bat Out Of Hell” mainly to shock students at our Presbyterian College. Stick, who is now a very devote, religious person, was good at that. After all, both his parents were ministers!
With that album, I fell in love with eh writing of Jim Steinman. The “Bat Out Of Hell” LP was a giant. Not only did it feature Steinman’s writing, which straddled rock concert and Broadway play, but it was produced by pop genius Todd Rundgren. Rundgren also played guitars, sang back ground vocals and was aided by other members of his band, Utopia and Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg of the Bruce Springsteen band. The album was loaded for success. Ellen Foley (also of “Night Court”) appeared as female vocals. Her role was taken by Karla Devito on tour due to Foley’s TV show contract.
The B”Bat…” Lp has been certified Platinum 25 times over by the American Recording Industry and spent nearly 500 weeks on the British Charts. The title cut ran nearly 10 minutes. It contained a mini opera “Paradise by the Dashboard lights, and a collection of dramatic ballad and pop music.
Jim Steinman has a way with words. His song titles are often plays on words and twisted meanings. His songs rang of leather clad motorcycle gangs form Marlon Brando’s “Wild Ones” to James dean cool rebellion in “Rebel Without a Cause.” He captured the feel of youth yearning to break free and the burning longings on hot summer nights.
Steinman cut his musical teeth on musical theater. He wrote an original musical called “Dream Machine” while attending Amherst College. It foreshadowed his future work with the story of a rebel named Baal who led a gang called the tribe. It was performed there in 1969.
He also contributed music to several New York theater productions. There was a short work in progress called “Neverland”, based on “Peter Pan” that was never completed. But, it was music from that production, that Steinman and Meat Loaf, who were touring with the National Lampoon Radio Road Show, decided would be the basis of a collaboration.
How many people have sung along with the lyrics of “Paradise BY The Dashboard Lights?” The after party of my niece’s wedding resulted in a loud, drunken, frenzied rendition which the males on one side of the dance floor and the women on the other, shouting the lyrics to each other!
After the success of “Bat Out of Hell,” Steinman had prepared a follow up for Meat to record. Meat Loaf, following the exhaustion of the demanding touring show of Steinman’s music, drugs and stress caused Meat to have a break down and lose his voice. Todd Rundgren encouraged Steinman to record the album himself, with Rundgren’s assistance and production. The result for an album called “Bad For Good” that contained most of the core performers from the “Bat…” LP. The LP spawned several videos for the new MTV, including “Dance in MY Pants,” and “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through.”
Steinman went on to pen all the tunes for the follow up Meat Loaf LP, after his recovery, called “Dead Ringer.” That same year, Steinman was producer on Bonnie Tyler's album Faster Than the Speed of Night.” He composed two of the songs on the album: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Faster Than the Speed of Night". In 1983, two songs written by Steinman held the top two positions on the Billboard singles chart- "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at number one, and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", by Air Supply, at number two. “Total Eclipse.” aired on MTV months before it became available as a single in stores.
In 1984, a “Rock and Roll fable” directed by Walter Hill was released featuring two Steinman compositions. Diane Lane lip synched two songs performed by a collection of musicians assembled by Steinman. Several of these performers, including vocalist Rory Dodd, Laurie Sargent and Holly Sherwood, who were on many of Steinman’s projects. They are credited as “Fire Incorporated” on the “Streets of Fire” movie. The songs “Nowhere Fast” and “Tonight is What It Means to be Young” follow Steinman’s theme of disaffected youth.
Steinman wrote other hits for Bonnie Tyler, including “Holding Out For a Hero” and the duet with Todd Rundgren “Loving You Is A Dirty Job.”
IN ’89, Steinman assembled a band called “Pandora’s Box” that featured the vocals of Ellen Foley, the female vocalist on the “Bat Out OF Hell” LP. They recorded “Good Girls Go To Heaven,” and the album title cut “Original Sin.” Meat Loaf would re-record a few of these tunes on his next collaboration with Steinman “Bat Out OF Hell II.” That Meat LP also featured the hit “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),”
Steinman’s songs were recorded by artists as diverse as Celine Dion, Barry Manilow, Sisters of Mercy, and he collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Weber on a musical version of the book “Whistle Down the Wind.” Several of Steinman’s songs were featured in Roman Polanski’s play “Dance of the Vampires” based on his 1967 movie “The Fearless Vampire Killers.” It was performed in German in Vienna.
Prolific. Dramatic. Operatic. Whatever terms you use to describe the music written by Jim Steinman, it is quickly recognizable. I remember sitting at home with the radio on the first time I heard “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All” play and said “That sure sounds like Jim Steinman.”
Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman have a new release scheduled for mid-September of 2016. “Braver Than We Are.” In it, Meat sings a collection of 10 songs penned by Steinman. Ellen Foley and karla Devito reprise a role there, and Kelli Clarkson adds vocals to one song. The original musicians behind “Bat Out Of Hell” aren’t there… but there’s still that bigger than life voce from that Texas high school tackle and the word play and teen angst themes of Jim Steinman.
In 2012, Jim Steinman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Thursday, June 30, 2016
A tribute to the Avante Garde… Posthumously
As a lifelong fan of rock music, I have collected a wide variety of genres of Rock and pop music. My first musical true love was, and still is, the music of the Beatles. But, over the years, as the Beatles, together and separately, exposed me to more esoteric styles as they grew and changed, I began to stretch my listening wings into music that many considered weird, out of the norm or even shunned.
My holy trinity of Avante Garde musicians included Lou Reed, Frank Zappa and David Bowie. Each of these artists is now deceased. Zappa passed away in ‘92. Reed expired in 2013 and Bowie passed as recently as January of 2016.
I remember first hearing of Lou Red when the song “Walk on The Wild side” played on pop AM stations in 1972. Hard to imagine that a song about transvestites could pay on pop radio at that time, but that subject had already been introduced on radio by the Kinks in their 1970 in their radio hit “Lola.” The fact that many saw “Walk on the Wild Side” as a novelty song like “Lola” probably got it air time. “Lola” approached the subject in a comic way. Novelty, ”Walk on the Wild Side” was not, but instead another chronicling of Reed’s bohemian lifestyle in New York City.
At that time, I didn’t realize Reed had released several albums with the group “Velvet Underground.” Their music, including songs like “Heroin,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and “Sweet Jane” were not the stuff of AM pop radio in the pre FM album oriented rock days.
Reed was born in Brooklyn in 1942, and raised by a pair of fairly conservative, Jewish parents. Redd admitted to his religious background, but liter quipped "My God is rock'n'roll.”
A socially awkward boy, prone to panic attacks, he learned to play guitar listening to radio. He played in a number of high school bands, playing early rock and roll, Do Wop and R and B. Lou left home to attend Syracuse University. His drug use there and wild behavior so scared his parents that they subjected him to electro shock treatments suggested by a psychiatrist to cure these “homosexual tendencies.” Reed blamed his father for this for years, and spoke of it in later music.
The Velvet Underground, composed of Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale and Maureen Tucker sold few LP’s, but attracted edgy artist Andy Warhol’s attention. He managed them briefly. One LP cover contains Warhol’s art. They went through several personnel changes in their short career before Reed left for a solo career.
His first solo LP was little noticed despite having progressive Rock members of Yes, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, as studio musicians. The second, “Transformer, produced by David Bowie made Reed’s name and contained “Walk on the Wild Side,” his first song to receive a lot of radio air time.
Over the years, Reed released a number of successful LP’s, including influential tunes like “Small Town,” “I Love you, Suzanne” and one of my personal favs, “Little Sister.” He recorded “Perfect day” and “Satellite of Love.” “Satellite of Love” influenced the creators of Mystery Science Theater, Reed fans themselves, to name their TV space ship the same as the song tittle.
Ever the multi-talented artist, Reed released a book of photography, wrote an opera, released an album based on “The Raven,” recorded with the Killers, and made an LP with Metallica. In the 90’s, Reed was matched romantically to multi-media performance artist Laurie Anderson. Anderson was beside Reed when he passed away in 2013 of liver failure.
The Velvet Underground was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Reed’s near spoken singing style and the subject matter of his songs still evokes a New York City Bohemian lifestyle. In Fact, I’m listening to “Sweet Jane” as I type.
Then, there’s David Bowie, born David Jones, who released his first LP in 1967. The LP sounds nothing like the Bowie most people know. Even Bowie, who wrote all of the tunes, said it was “all over the place.” He had changed his name from Jones to Bowie due to the fame of the Monkees singer Davey Jones and their late 60’s TV popularity.
In 1969, he gained radio time with the release of “Space Oddity.” This sci-fi rock song also started his conversion to the more Glam look and sound. His next album, “Hunky Dory”, contained “The Man Who Sold the Moon,” a song revitalized in the 90’s by Nirvana on their live album.
Bowie’s release of “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)” captured the public with his androgynous appearance and Hard Rocking Glam music. “Pin Ups” and “Diamond Dogs” featuring “Rebel Rebel” made Bowie a rock radio mainstay despite his less than traditional appearance.
The era of Glam rock was made for Bowie. Many critics give him credit for its creation. It gave birth to T Rex, Queen, Kiss, Gary Glitter, the Sweet and the Tubes. Spandex, androgyny, outrageous stage shows and showmanship became as important as the music itself. Bowie’s music lost nothing in quality. It had that hard rocking edge of :Suffragette City,” and :”jean Genie.”
Then Bowie, ever the rebel, became the Thin, White Duke. His appearance shifted along with a more R&B music style. His career featured many transition and morphing images. When MTV premiered, when they actually played music videos, Bowie was exactly what they had in mind.
I remember clearly, as a college freshman, overwhelmed and beaten with class and football practice, sitting with my friends in the a small pizza place in Lyons, Kansas and Listening to Bowie’s “Changes” as it played on a scratchy juke box. It was a tune I saw as a theme song at the time.
Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” seemed a return to Ziggy Stardust and Major Tom. He even appeared on Saturday Night Live in a solid skirt and make up, and had to be carried to the microphone. Performance art and music blended. He wrote and sang the theme song to the remake of a 50’s sci fi film, “Cat People.” His “Putting Out The Fire (With Gasoline)” was eerie and sensuous at the same time.
He made the first extra length videos for MTV (Blue Jean) and md music with a collection of other artists including Brian Eno and Trent Reznor of 9 Inch Nils. Bowie’s collaboration with Reznor resulted in one of my fav Bowie cuts, “I’m Afraid of Americans.” In 1981, Bowie collaborated with Freddie Mercury and Queen to produce the number one hit “Under Pressure.”
Bowie and his distinctive look/voice made many movie appearances ranging from “Last Temptation of Christ,” “Labyrinth,” The Hunger.” “The Man Who Fell to earth,” and even an episode of sponge Bob Squarepnts.
Bowie created a huge catalog of recognizable music, solo, in collaboration and as part of a short lived band “Tin Machine” with the two sons of comedian Soupy Sales.
Bowie passed away due to liver cancer just 2 days after his 69th birthday and the release of his newest LP. He had known for 18 months of his condition, but according to his longtime producer, Tony Visconti, he worked tirelessly to finish his last musical contribution. Despite a heart problem a decade before which caused him to withdraw from the public, he never released publically his condition of liver cancer until his death.
It’s hard to describe Frank Zappa. Zappa is often under rated because of his musical subject matter ranging from the comedic to the raunchy and offensive. Those who pushed him aside because of the unique style of his music missed his dazzling guitar playing and complex compositions. Zappa composed rock n' roll, jazz, jazz fusion, and orchestral works, He recorded more than sixty albums with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. He directed feature-length films and music videos.
He was born in Baltimore as the oldest of four kids. He was often sickly as a child, a condition that he later attributed to the fact his father worked at a chemical warfare plant and he had once been treated for sinusitis by insertion of radioactive granules into his sinuses. Zappa recalled his parents being "pretty religious" and trying to make him go to Catholic school despite his resentment. Zappa first played drums in high school and later switched to guitar. He had classical, R&B and Jazz influences in his early days of self-taught composition.
Frank eventually finished high school (he attended 6 different ones) near Edwards Air Force Base close to Los Angles. At the high school, he composed several Avante-Garde performance pieces for the high school orchestra. He graduated in 1958 and after 1 semester of college, he moved into an apartment in Echo park in 1959. He studied composition with a private instructor and married in 1960. That Marriage lasted only 4 ears, but he remarried in ’67 and they remained married until his death in ’92.
In the early 60’s Zappa worked at a recording studio making money composing and playing. His first recording under the names “Soot” was a failure. In 1965 he joined a band as guitarist. They called themselves the Mothers. In ’66, they were signed to a label by a produced who insisted they change their name to “The Mothers of Invention.”
Their 1st Lp, “Freak Out” was released the same year. It was only the 2nd rock double Lp released after Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde.” It contained experimental music, sound collages and an 11 minute track called "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet."
They recorded and released a second LP, with Zappa in absolute creative control. He also recorded an orchestral LP the same year called “Lumpy Gravy.: It was supposed to be a "monument to John Cage," post WWII avante-garde composer.
The Mothers released several late 60’s LPs before disbanding. Zappa started two record labels that were distributed by warner Brothers, and included artists like Captain Beefheart and Alice Cooper. He also appeared, oddly enough, in a segment of “The Monkees” TV show and made a cameo in their movie “Head.”
Zappa released his first solo LP, “Hot Rats”, that featured for the first time his guitar solos and Jazz Rock Fusion. He wrote and directed the feature film “200 Motels.” It had several cameos from Ringo Starr and Keith Moon. It also introduced a band that included vocals from Howard Kaylan and Mark Vorman, the onetime pop singers known as “The Turtles.”
In 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono jammed with Zappa onstage at the Fillmore east in New York City. That recording was captured and released as part of Lennon’s “Sometime in New York” LP.
In 1971, While performing at Montreux in Switzerland, the Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by a fan started a fire that burned down the casino. The event was immortalized in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water,” The same year, Zappa suffered severe head trauma and broken legs when a fan pushed him off the stage into the orchestra pit at the Rainbow Theater in London. He was inactive for quite a while, but his reappearance produced 3 solo LPs and his first top ten LP, “Apostrophe.”
“Apostrophe” was the first Zappa LP at our house, My brother Tim bought it and it included the instrumental “Apostrophe,” along with the FM hit “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow.” His Bizarre and Straight labels were retired and replaced with Discreet. He followed Apostrophe with Overnight Sensation and Zoot Allures. Kit was an era of a lot of radio play for Zappa, including one of my favorite Zappa cuts, “Montana.”
Zappa ended the 70’s with the bestselling LP of his career, “Shiek Yurbouti.” It contained the Grammy nominated “Dancing Fool,” a parody of disco culture. In 1980, Zappa released “I Don’t wanna get Drafted.” He toured with Steve Vi as part of his band. He also released several songs critical of Rev. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. He was more and more politically involved.
In 1985, Zappa testified before the United States Senate as one of many musicians in opposition the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, an organization co-founded by Tipper Gore, wife of senator Al Gore. The PMRC was founded to address the issue of song lyrics with sexual or satanic content. It followed on the heels of ridiculous evangelical changes of satanic back masking in popular music that had set off a storm of anti-rock sermons. Zappa saw their “labelling” as simple censorship.
In 1990, Frank Zappa was diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer. He devoted his remaining time to classical composition and experimentation with the digital Synclevier.
In 1991, Zappa was chosen to be one of four featured composers at the Frankfurt Festival of ’92. One of the other featured composers was John Cage. They chose to perform some of his new works, and even though his illness had progressed to the point of great pain, he made two appearances and received a 20-minute ovation.
Frank Zappa died December 4th of 1993, surrounded by his wife and children. Two days later, his family announced "Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6:00 pm on Saturday"
Zappa’s fans are a dedicated group. There were several posthumous albums released of his stockpile of recordings. Creative and prolific, his music still lives on as his son Dweezil tours as “Zappa Plays Zappa,”
“Cosmik Debris,” “Valley Girl.” “The Slime.” “Stink Foot” “You Are What You Is,” and a collection of other songs mostly heard on edgier FM stations, but familiar to fans. They contain the humor and irreverence of the genius of Frank Zappa.
Zappa was inducted into the 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 71 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and in 2011 at number 22 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Lou Reed, David Bowie and Frank Zappa paved a road for a whole generation of artists who didn’t play in the boundaries of standard pop music.
As a lifelong fan of rock music, I have collected a wide variety of genres of Rock and pop music. My first musical true love was, and still is, the music of the Beatles. But, over the years, as the Beatles, together and separately, exposed me to more esoteric styles as they grew and changed, I began to stretch my listening wings into music that many considered weird, out of the norm or even shunned.
My holy trinity of Avante Garde musicians included Lou Reed, Frank Zappa and David Bowie. Each of these artists is now deceased. Zappa passed away in ‘92. Reed expired in 2013 and Bowie passed as recently as January of 2016.
I remember first hearing of Lou Red when the song “Walk on The Wild side” played on pop AM stations in 1972. Hard to imagine that a song about transvestites could pay on pop radio at that time, but that subject had already been introduced on radio by the Kinks in their 1970 in their radio hit “Lola.” The fact that many saw “Walk on the Wild Side” as a novelty song like “Lola” probably got it air time. “Lola” approached the subject in a comic way. Novelty, ”Walk on the Wild Side” was not, but instead another chronicling of Reed’s bohemian lifestyle in New York City.
At that time, I didn’t realize Reed had released several albums with the group “Velvet Underground.” Their music, including songs like “Heroin,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and “Sweet Jane” were not the stuff of AM pop radio in the pre FM album oriented rock days.
Reed was born in Brooklyn in 1942, and raised by a pair of fairly conservative, Jewish parents. Redd admitted to his religious background, but liter quipped "My God is rock'n'roll.”
A socially awkward boy, prone to panic attacks, he learned to play guitar listening to radio. He played in a number of high school bands, playing early rock and roll, Do Wop and R and B. Lou left home to attend Syracuse University. His drug use there and wild behavior so scared his parents that they subjected him to electro shock treatments suggested by a psychiatrist to cure these “homosexual tendencies.” Reed blamed his father for this for years, and spoke of it in later music.
The Velvet Underground, composed of Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale and Maureen Tucker sold few LP’s, but attracted edgy artist Andy Warhol’s attention. He managed them briefly. One LP cover contains Warhol’s art. They went through several personnel changes in their short career before Reed left for a solo career.
His first solo LP was little noticed despite having progressive Rock members of Yes, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, as studio musicians. The second, “Transformer, produced by David Bowie made Reed’s name and contained “Walk on the Wild Side,” his first song to receive a lot of radio air time.
Over the years, Reed released a number of successful LP’s, including influential tunes like “Small Town,” “I Love you, Suzanne” and one of my personal favs, “Little Sister.” He recorded “Perfect day” and “Satellite of Love.” “Satellite of Love” influenced the creators of Mystery Science Theater, Reed fans themselves, to name their TV space ship the same as the song tittle.
Ever the multi-talented artist, Reed released a book of photography, wrote an opera, released an album based on “The Raven,” recorded with the Killers, and made an LP with Metallica. In the 90’s, Reed was matched romantically to multi-media performance artist Laurie Anderson. Anderson was beside Reed when he passed away in 2013 of liver failure.
The Velvet Underground was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Reed’s near spoken singing style and the subject matter of his songs still evokes a New York City Bohemian lifestyle. In Fact, I’m listening to “Sweet Jane” as I type.
Then, there’s David Bowie, born David Jones, who released his first LP in 1967. The LP sounds nothing like the Bowie most people know. Even Bowie, who wrote all of the tunes, said it was “all over the place.” He had changed his name from Jones to Bowie due to the fame of the Monkees singer Davey Jones and their late 60’s TV popularity.
In 1969, he gained radio time with the release of “Space Oddity.” This sci-fi rock song also started his conversion to the more Glam look and sound. His next album, “Hunky Dory”, contained “The Man Who Sold the Moon,” a song revitalized in the 90’s by Nirvana on their live album.
Bowie’s release of “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)” captured the public with his androgynous appearance and Hard Rocking Glam music. “Pin Ups” and “Diamond Dogs” featuring “Rebel Rebel” made Bowie a rock radio mainstay despite his less than traditional appearance.
The era of Glam rock was made for Bowie. Many critics give him credit for its creation. It gave birth to T Rex, Queen, Kiss, Gary Glitter, the Sweet and the Tubes. Spandex, androgyny, outrageous stage shows and showmanship became as important as the music itself. Bowie’s music lost nothing in quality. It had that hard rocking edge of :Suffragette City,” and :”jean Genie.”
Then Bowie, ever the rebel, became the Thin, White Duke. His appearance shifted along with a more R&B music style. His career featured many transition and morphing images. When MTV premiered, when they actually played music videos, Bowie was exactly what they had in mind.
I remember clearly, as a college freshman, overwhelmed and beaten with class and football practice, sitting with my friends in the a small pizza place in Lyons, Kansas and Listening to Bowie’s “Changes” as it played on a scratchy juke box. It was a tune I saw as a theme song at the time.
Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” seemed a return to Ziggy Stardust and Major Tom. He even appeared on Saturday Night Live in a solid skirt and make up, and had to be carried to the microphone. Performance art and music blended. He wrote and sang the theme song to the remake of a 50’s sci fi film, “Cat People.” His “Putting Out The Fire (With Gasoline)” was eerie and sensuous at the same time.
He made the first extra length videos for MTV (Blue Jean) and md music with a collection of other artists including Brian Eno and Trent Reznor of 9 Inch Nils. Bowie’s collaboration with Reznor resulted in one of my fav Bowie cuts, “I’m Afraid of Americans.” In 1981, Bowie collaborated with Freddie Mercury and Queen to produce the number one hit “Under Pressure.”
Bowie and his distinctive look/voice made many movie appearances ranging from “Last Temptation of Christ,” “Labyrinth,” The Hunger.” “The Man Who Fell to earth,” and even an episode of sponge Bob Squarepnts.
Bowie created a huge catalog of recognizable music, solo, in collaboration and as part of a short lived band “Tin Machine” with the two sons of comedian Soupy Sales.
Bowie passed away due to liver cancer just 2 days after his 69th birthday and the release of his newest LP. He had known for 18 months of his condition, but according to his longtime producer, Tony Visconti, he worked tirelessly to finish his last musical contribution. Despite a heart problem a decade before which caused him to withdraw from the public, he never released publically his condition of liver cancer until his death.
It’s hard to describe Frank Zappa. Zappa is often under rated because of his musical subject matter ranging from the comedic to the raunchy and offensive. Those who pushed him aside because of the unique style of his music missed his dazzling guitar playing and complex compositions. Zappa composed rock n' roll, jazz, jazz fusion, and orchestral works, He recorded more than sixty albums with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. He directed feature-length films and music videos.
He was born in Baltimore as the oldest of four kids. He was often sickly as a child, a condition that he later attributed to the fact his father worked at a chemical warfare plant and he had once been treated for sinusitis by insertion of radioactive granules into his sinuses. Zappa recalled his parents being "pretty religious" and trying to make him go to Catholic school despite his resentment. Zappa first played drums in high school and later switched to guitar. He had classical, R&B and Jazz influences in his early days of self-taught composition.
Frank eventually finished high school (he attended 6 different ones) near Edwards Air Force Base close to Los Angles. At the high school, he composed several Avante-Garde performance pieces for the high school orchestra. He graduated in 1958 and after 1 semester of college, he moved into an apartment in Echo park in 1959. He studied composition with a private instructor and married in 1960. That Marriage lasted only 4 ears, but he remarried in ’67 and they remained married until his death in ’92.
In the early 60’s Zappa worked at a recording studio making money composing and playing. His first recording under the names “Soot” was a failure. In 1965 he joined a band as guitarist. They called themselves the Mothers. In ’66, they were signed to a label by a produced who insisted they change their name to “The Mothers of Invention.”
Their 1st Lp, “Freak Out” was released the same year. It was only the 2nd rock double Lp released after Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde.” It contained experimental music, sound collages and an 11 minute track called "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet."
They recorded and released a second LP, with Zappa in absolute creative control. He also recorded an orchestral LP the same year called “Lumpy Gravy.: It was supposed to be a "monument to John Cage," post WWII avante-garde composer.
The Mothers released several late 60’s LPs before disbanding. Zappa started two record labels that were distributed by warner Brothers, and included artists like Captain Beefheart and Alice Cooper. He also appeared, oddly enough, in a segment of “The Monkees” TV show and made a cameo in their movie “Head.”
Zappa released his first solo LP, “Hot Rats”, that featured for the first time his guitar solos and Jazz Rock Fusion. He wrote and directed the feature film “200 Motels.” It had several cameos from Ringo Starr and Keith Moon. It also introduced a band that included vocals from Howard Kaylan and Mark Vorman, the onetime pop singers known as “The Turtles.”
In 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono jammed with Zappa onstage at the Fillmore east in New York City. That recording was captured and released as part of Lennon’s “Sometime in New York” LP.
In 1971, While performing at Montreux in Switzerland, the Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by a fan started a fire that burned down the casino. The event was immortalized in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water,” The same year, Zappa suffered severe head trauma and broken legs when a fan pushed him off the stage into the orchestra pit at the Rainbow Theater in London. He was inactive for quite a while, but his reappearance produced 3 solo LPs and his first top ten LP, “Apostrophe.”
“Apostrophe” was the first Zappa LP at our house, My brother Tim bought it and it included the instrumental “Apostrophe,” along with the FM hit “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow.” His Bizarre and Straight labels were retired and replaced with Discreet. He followed Apostrophe with Overnight Sensation and Zoot Allures. Kit was an era of a lot of radio play for Zappa, including one of my favorite Zappa cuts, “Montana.”
Zappa ended the 70’s with the bestselling LP of his career, “Shiek Yurbouti.” It contained the Grammy nominated “Dancing Fool,” a parody of disco culture. In 1980, Zappa released “I Don’t wanna get Drafted.” He toured with Steve Vi as part of his band. He also released several songs critical of Rev. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. He was more and more politically involved.
In 1985, Zappa testified before the United States Senate as one of many musicians in opposition the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, an organization co-founded by Tipper Gore, wife of senator Al Gore. The PMRC was founded to address the issue of song lyrics with sexual or satanic content. It followed on the heels of ridiculous evangelical changes of satanic back masking in popular music that had set off a storm of anti-rock sermons. Zappa saw their “labelling” as simple censorship.
In 1990, Frank Zappa was diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer. He devoted his remaining time to classical composition and experimentation with the digital Synclevier.
In 1991, Zappa was chosen to be one of four featured composers at the Frankfurt Festival of ’92. One of the other featured composers was John Cage. They chose to perform some of his new works, and even though his illness had progressed to the point of great pain, he made two appearances and received a 20-minute ovation.
Frank Zappa died December 4th of 1993, surrounded by his wife and children. Two days later, his family announced "Composer Frank Zappa left for his final tour just before 6:00 pm on Saturday"
Zappa’s fans are a dedicated group. There were several posthumous albums released of his stockpile of recordings. Creative and prolific, his music still lives on as his son Dweezil tours as “Zappa Plays Zappa,”
“Cosmik Debris,” “Valley Girl.” “The Slime.” “Stink Foot” “You Are What You Is,” and a collection of other songs mostly heard on edgier FM stations, but familiar to fans. They contain the humor and irreverence of the genius of Frank Zappa.
Zappa was inducted into the 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 71 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", and in 2011 at number 22 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Lou Reed, David Bowie and Frank Zappa paved a road for a whole generation of artists who didn’t play in the boundaries of standard pop music.
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