Frank Zappa

When marrying Gail Zappa in a civil ceremony, he attached a pin that said "Congratulations from Mayor Lindsay" onto her in lieu of a ring. John V. Lindsay was mayor of New York City at the time.

Was school friends with Don Van Vliet (later to be known as Captain Beefheart).

Is known affectionately by his fans as FZ.

Has an enormous following in the former Communist countries of eastern Europe.

In July 1994, the International Astronomical Union named a Czech-discovered asteroid "Zappafrank".

Father of Diva Zappa , Moon Unit Zappa , Dweezil Zappa and Ahmet Zappa

As a child, his favorite television program was Robert Clampett s puppet show "Time for Beany" .

The small town of Bad Doberan, Germany, holds an annual Zappanale festival, celebrating his life and music (first held in 1990).

His father, Francis Vincent Zappa, was born in Partinico, Sicily, and his mother, Rose Marie (Colimore), was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Italian parents.

Following his death, he was interred in an unmarked grave next to Lew Ayres at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

In 1995, a group of Lithuanian artists erected the worlds first Zappa statue in Vilnius, the capital. Since then one has been erected in Bad Doberan, Germany (which Gail Zappa says does not look like him), and another (a copy of the bust in Vilnius) in Baltimore, Maryland.

In recent years, various reworkings of his songs have been recorded, including versions in Baroque instrumental and a cappella vocal stylings.

Inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Zappa is the first, and so far only, artist to be inducted into both the Jazz and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.

In March of 2003 his 1979 album "Joes Garage" came 20th in Classic Rock Magazines list of the 30 greatest concept albums of all time.

Gave up his drivers license voluntarily, because he hated standing in line at the DMV.

Wrote his own copyright notice, that appeared on his later records, and was the first to specifically mention sampling. Also released the first 3-inch CD single, with a remix of "Peaches En Regalia", in the late 1980s.

Used a wah-wah with his onstage guitar setup, which he had usually leave set in one position as a filter, rather than rock it to get the wah effect.

Bought a small recording studio with the proceeds of his score for Run Home, Slow ; first came to public attention when he was arrested in a scandal involving the studio (he was later cleared).

Started out playing drums in his teens, then adopted his brothers f-hole acoustic guitar, trying to copy horn and guitar solos on blues and jazz records. Later studied Music Theory in college.

Included a warning-cum-guarantee on his late-1980s albums, deriding the Religious Rights attack on rock and pop music, and censorship in general, and concluding "If there is a Hell, its fires wait for them, not us.".

He was voted the 21st Greatest Rock n Roll Artists of all time by Rolling Stone.

During his last days, he wanted to make a movie called "Dwell". "Dwell" would have been a musical about a giant spider, but from the spiders point of view. He was going to make it with the people from "Mystery Science Theater 3000" , and had several conversations with Kevin Murphy.

Gene Simmons visited with the Zappa family at their home, socializing, some time before Zappas death. During their visit, Zappa showed him something that proved how prolific Zappa was: hundreds of master tapes of unreleased music.

Zappa sponsored Hagstrom guitars early in his career. However, on his first three albums with The Mothers of Invention , he used a Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster. During the mid to late 1970s, he played a highly modified Gibson SG clone. He had one of Jimi Hendrix s guitars which was lit on fire by Jimi at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival.

"Cured" his kids of sibling rivalry by making a tape of them squabbling, then forcing them to listen to said tape while handcuffed together in the bathroom; this was to show them how dumb they sounded when bickering.

Despite his prostate cancer, Zappa continued to smoke. He told an interviewer he considered cigarettes to be "food", tobacco his favorite vegetable and did not believe cigarettes caused the reported health problems.

In an interview prior to his death, Zappa revealed he had had urination problems for years but that the prostate cancer wasnt caught until it was inoperable. He hinted this made him extremely bitter and advised others with urination problems to get multiple opinions.

Did not like being called "rock legend" and considered it a "pathetic" term. Also did not like being called a "test pilot pushing the edge" since he felt the term sounded too military. As far as being called an "eccentric genius", Zappa said in an interview prior to his death, "Eccentric, yes. Genius, maybe.".

Founded Barking Pumpkin Records in 1981. He also founded Zappa Records, Barfko-Swill [mail order distribution] and DiscReet (record company).

Subject of the song "Frank" by Wild Man Fischer.

Co-founded Bizarre Records in 1967.

Inducted into the International Mustache Hall of Fame in 2015 (inaugural class) in the category Music & Arts.

I never set out to be weird. It was always other people who called me,weird.

Bad facts make bad law, and people who write bad laws are in my opinion,more dangerous than songwriters who celebrate sexuality.

Some rock musicians make a bunch of money and stick it up their noses--I,stick mine in my ear.

[Asked to create an anti-drug abuse slogan] Speed will turn you into,your parents.

[Explaining why he felt communism was doomed to fail] People like to own,things.

[in the late 1980s] Religion has mostly proven to be a real-estate scam.

Censoring what you say is one of the ways in which people who are not,nice can take away your personal freedom.

It is probably more natural to perform sex with a sea urchin than to be,interviewed.

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the,basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say that there,is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block,of the universe.

Those who are crazy enough to take the chance on spending money to make,some unusual object or event take place are an endangered species.

I think Live Aid was the biggest cocaine money laundering scheme of all,time.

If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.

So many books, so little time.

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.

Well, in this world of basic stereotyping, give a guy a big nose and some weird hair and he is capable of anything.

My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or her as far away from a church as you can.

Take the Kama Sutra. How many people died from the Kama Sutra as opposed to the Bible? Who wins?,If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.

I think it is good that books still exist, but they do make me sleepy.

I never set out to be weird. It was always other people who called me weird.

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.

Republicans stand for raw, unbridled evil and greed and ignorance smothered in balloons and ribbons.

behind each breakaway movement is a breakaway demagogue who will set up his breakaway demagogue government.

Art is making something out of nothing, and selling it.

Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST.

Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.

All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.

A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.

The rock and roll business is pretty absurd, but the world of serious music is much worse.

For the record, folks; I never took a shit on stage and the closest I ever came to eating shit anywhere was at a Holiday Inn buffet in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1973.

A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.

The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced.

There is more stupidity around than hydrogen and it has longer shelf life.

Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something.

Music is always a commentary on society.

Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.

No change in musical style will survive unless it is accompanied by a change in clothing style. Rock is to dress up to. .