Like most kids, Dweezil Zappa had to decide whether or not to follow in his father's footsteps. As Frank Zappa's 41-year-old son tells Spinner, growing up with a musical legend for a father was surreal, but not in an obvious way.
"To rebel in our house, I always said I'd have to become an accountant or a lawyer," says Zappa, who is currently playing his father's album "Apostrophe" in its entirety on tour. Frank, who died of prostate cancer in 1993, would have turned 70 this year.
"But ultimately it was far more conservative than anyone would imagine," Zappa says. "We grew up having a lot of respect with our parents and none of us ever got in trouble. I've never taken a drug in my life, I've never gotten drunk and I've never smoked. Frank never did drugs or got drunk either. People assumed he did because of his music, but Frank used the power of the mind."
The 1974 album "Apostrophe" may rank as the closest thing Frank Zappa had to a mainstream hit. It contains the song "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" and Dweezil finds it tough to recreate the music live. He studied his dad's brew of jazz, classical, avant-garde and prog rock for two years before daring to assemble a band.
To help Dweezil out, Frank is there, both in spirit and on video. "On this tour, you see Frank singing and playing guitar on video screens while we're supporting him," he says. "The fans see him back onstage leading the band and there are times when we interact with him. We play something and he plays something in response. Learning to play guitar using his idiosyncrasies and 'guitarisms,' it doesn't sound as if it's me. It sounds like it's him being channeled."
Love Zappa but to say Frank never used drugs is total BS. The dude chain smoked Cigarettes. Now you are going to say Nicotine is not an addictive drug...Good luck with that.
Love Zappa but to say Frank never used drugs is total BS. The dude chain smoked Cigarettes. Now you are going to say Nicotine is not an addictive drug...Good luck with that.
He's referring to illegal/hard drugs. I think we both know that.
Are you kidding...because you call it legal Nicotine is not a hard drug...get real. Take away his cigarettes and you will see a drug addict feigning. Bet he was oodles of fun to be around when he could not smoke. Ask anyone who smoked pot and cigarettes which was worse for them and harder to quit. Don't get me wrong I love his music and Dweezle's playing as well but since they brought it up I just called it like I see it.
Are you kidding...because you call it legal Nicotine is not a hard drug...get real. Take away his cigarettes and you will see a drug addict feigning. Bet he was oodles of fun to be around when he could not smoke. Ask anyone who smoked pot and cigarettes which was worse for them and harder to quit. Don't get me wrong I love his music and Dweezle's playing as well but since they brought it up I just called it like I see it.
I think you missed the point entirely, Frank never took any mind-altering substances and if you care to include nicotine then you're just complicating things for you're own defense.
Are you kidding...because you call it legal Nicotine is not a hard drug...get real. Take away his cigarettes and you will see a drug addict feigning. Bet he was oodles of fun to be around when he could not smoke. Ask anyone who smoked pot and cigarettes which was worse for them and harder to quit. Don't get me wrong I love his music and Dweezle's playing as well but since they brought it up I just called it like I see it.I think you missed the point entirely, Frank never took any mind-altering substances and if you care to include nicotine then you're just complicating things for you're own defense.
1.) @ Dr G, there are no words to express the envy.
2.) Nicotine is mind altering, so there is a defacto answer.
3.) Saying nicotine is a drug is over complication, it's simplification, and allows all drugs from Aspirin to Herion to be simply sorted by effect/harms.
At least he wasn't religious or a junkie, the two most off putting things in a musician as far as I'm concerned.
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I have no other valid comment than this.