(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Wed 17 September 2025 21:30, UK
One of the most common criticisms that gets applied to the work of Frank Zappa is that his music is ‘too weird’, and while it understandably might not be for everyone, there are far more things it has in common with mainstream music than you might think.
While sitting on the more experimental side of the rock canon, Zappa’s work is still considered an inspiration for many other classic rock artists, with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton both singing his praises as being a phenomenal musician. Granted, that doesn’t necessarily make it an easy listen, and there have been many moments where Zappa has tested the patience of even his most ardent and unwavering fans, but if they keep attempting to understand his motives, they’ll end up being rewarded.
Jumping from jazz to psychedelic rock to blues all within an instant, it can sometimes be a chaotic listen, but lying deep beneath the surface of insanity are some genuinely beautiful compositions that highlight his musical dexterity and his knowledge of what makes a song work. You can’t make a record like We’re Only In It For the Money, which satirises all corners of the musical landscape, without a deep understanding of everything you’re putting into it and attempting to make a mockery of.
Besides, there were far stranger acts around on the circuit when he was coming through the ranks in the 1960s, some of whom, like Captain Beefheart and Wild Man Fischer, were collaborators of his who he assisted in spreading their madness to wider audiences. However, there was one band who blew Zappa’s mind when he first encountered them, so much so that he knew he had to work with them in one way or another.
Zappa had heard about the Alice Cooper Band and how many record labels had turned them away for being a touch too off-the-wall, and this prospect immediately excited him, prompting him to ask to see the band as soon as he possibly could. Inviting them to perform for him at his home, the group turned up at the crack of dawn to unleash their maniacal set upon the unsuspecting Zappa, and leaving him at a loss for words.
In an interview with Classic Rock Magazine, Cooper recalled the day when they first met Zappa, and how they managed to have him hooked despite the rude awakening. “We played five songs that were two minutes long and had, like, 25 changes in them, and he sat there and he listened,” Cooper explained.
“Then he looked at me and said: ‘I don’t get it. I don’t get what you just did.’ And then we played another one for him that did the same thing. And then another, and another. They were like if you took an ELP prog piece and condensed it to two minutes. And he just kept going: ‘I don’t get this!’ I said: ‘Is that bad?’ He said: ‘No. The fact I don’t get it is why I’m signing you.’”
Alice Cooper would eventually go on to become the glammed up shock-rock they’re known as today, and had huge amounts of success with their more conventional records. But it’s their first two albums, Pretties For You and Easy Action, which are both psychedelic and freakish records that make it totally understandable why Zappa would like them.
The Alice Cooper Band were musically out-there, but also demonstrated a ridiculous level of skill at the same time, and there was nothing about that that Zappa could find fault with.
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