ZAPPA, Frank

Familiar from his youth with avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varese, and thus musically more sophisticated than others involved with 1960s rock, Zappa tried at various times and in various ways to introduce avant-garde elements into the formally expansive popular music of the late 1960s. Because successful pop musicians were allowed to transcend the short time limits of the 45 rpm disc to create long-playing 33 rpm records, Zappa’s group, the Mothers of Invention, produced music in...