The Mothers of Invention (also known as the Mothers) was an American rock band from California.[3] Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows.
Originally an R&B band called the Soul Giants, the band's first lineup included Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada, and Jimmy Carl Black. Frank Zappa was asked to take over as the guitarist following a fight between Collins and Coronado, the band's original saxophonist/leader. Zappa insisted they perform his original material - and on Mother's Day in 1965 - changed their name to the Mothers. Record executives demanded the name be changed, and so "out of necessity", Zappa later said, "We became the Mothers of Invention".
After early struggles, the Mothers earned substantial popular commercial success. The band first became popular playing in California's underground music scene in the late 1960s. With Zappa at the helm, it was signed to jazz label Verve Records as part of the label's diversification plans.[4] Verve released the Mothers of Invention's début double album Freak Out! in 1966, featuring a lineup including Zappa, Collins, Black, Estrada and Elliot Ingber. Don Preston joined the band soon after. Under Zappa's leadership and a changing lineup, the band released a series of critically acclaimed albums, including Absolutely Free, We're Only in It for the Money, and Uncle Meat, before being disbanded by Zappa in 1969. In 1970, he formed a new version of the Mothers that included Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons, George Duke, Aynsley Dunbar and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (formerly of the Turtles, but who for contractual reasons were credited in this band as the Phlorescent Leech & Eddie). Later adding another ex-Turtle, bassist Jim Pons, this lineup endured through 1971, when Zappa was injured by an audience member during a concert appearance.
Zappa focused on big-band and orchestral music while recovering from his injuries, and in 1973 formed the Mothers' final lineup, which included drummer Ralph Humphrey, trumpeter Sal Marquez, keyboardist/vocalist George Duke, trombonist Bruce Fowler, bassist Tom Fowler, percussionist Ruth Underwood and keyboardist/saxophonist Ian Underwood. The final album using the Mothers as a backing band, Bongo Fury (1975), featured guitarist Denny Walley and drummer Terry Bozzio, who continued to play for Zappa on non-Mothers releases.
History
Early years (1964–1965)
The Soul Giants were formed in 1964. In early 1965, Frank Zappa was approached by Ray Collins who asked him to take over as the guitarist following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist.[5][pageneeded] Zappa accepted, and convinced the other members that they should play his music to increase the chances of getting a record contract.[6] Original leader David Coronado did not think that the band would be employable if they played original material, and left the band.[6] Zappa soon assumed leadership and the role as co-lead singer, even though he never considered himself a singer.[7]
The band was renamed the Mothers, coincidentally on Mother's Day.[8] The group increased their bookings after beginning an association with manager Herb Cohen, while they gradually gained attention on the burgeoning Los Angelesunderground music scene.[9] In early 1966, they were spotted by leading record producer, Tom Wilson, when playing Zappa's "Trouble Every Day", a song about the Watts Riots.[10][11] Wilson had earned acclaim as the producer for singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and the folk-rock act Simon & Garfunkel, and was notable as one of the few African Americans working as a major label pop music producer at this time.[12]
Wilson signed the Mothers to the Verve Records division of MGM Records, which had built up a strong reputation in the music industry for its releases of modern jazz recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, but was attempting to diversify into pop and rock audiences. Verve insisted that the band officially rename themselves because "Mother" in slang terminology was short for "motherfucker"—a term that apart from its profanity, in a jazz context connotes a very skilled musical instrumentalist.[13] The label suggested the name "The Mothers Auxiliary", which prompted Zappa to come up with the name "The Mothers of Invention".
With Wilson credited as producer, the Mothers of Invention, augmented by a studio orchestra, recorded the groundbreaking Freak Out! (1966) which, preceded by Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, was the second rock double album of new material ever released. It mixed R&B, doo-wop, musique concrète,[14] and experimental sound collages that captured the "freak" subculture of Los Angeles at that time.[15] Although he was dissatisfied with the final product—in a late 1960s radio interview (included in the posthumous MOFO Project/Object compilation) Zappa recounted that the side-long closing track "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" was intended to be the basic track for a much more complex work which Verve did not allow him to complete—Freak Out immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the "relentless consumer culture of America".[16] The sound was raw, but the arrangements were sophisticated. While recording in the studio, some of the additional session musicians were shocked that they were expected to read the notes on sheet music from charts with Zappa conducting them, since it was not standard when recording rock music.[17] The lyrics praised non-conformity, disparaged authorities, and had dadaist elements. Yet, there was a place for seemingly conventional love songs.[18] Most compositions are Zappa's, which set a precedent for the rest of his recording career. He had full control over the arrangements and musical decisions and did most overdubs. Wilson provided the industry clout and connections to get the group the financial resources needed.[19]
Wilson nominally produced the Mothers' second album Absolutely Free (1967), which was recorded in November 1966, and later mixed in New York, although by this time Zappa was in de facto control of most facets of the production. It featured extended playing by the Mothers of Invention and focused on songs that defined Zappa's compositional style of introducing abrupt, rhythmical changes into songs that were built from diverse elements.[20] Examples are "Plastic People" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", which contained lyrics critical of the hypocrisy and conformity of American society, but also of the counterculture of the 1960s.[21] As Zappa put it, "[W]e're satirists, and we are out to satirize everything."[22]
The Mothers of Invention played in New York in late 1966 and were offered a contract at the Garrick Theater during Easter 1967. This proved successful and Herb Cohen extended the booking, which eventually lasted half a year.[23] As a result, Zappa and his wife, along with the Mothers of Invention, moved to New York.[24] Their shows became a combination of improvised acts showcasing individual talents of the band as well as tight performances of Zappa's music. Everything was directed by Zappa's famous hand signals.[25] Guest performers and audience participation became a regular part of the Garrick Theater shows. One evening, Zappa managed to entice some U.S. Marines from the audience onto the stage, where they proceeded to dismember a big baby doll, having been told by Zappa to pretend that it was a "gook baby".[26]
Situated in New York, and only interrupted by the band's first European tour, the Mothers of Invention recorded the album widely regarded as the peak of the group's late 1960s work, We're Only in It for the Money (released 1968).[27] It was produced by Zappa, with Wilson credited as executive producer. From then on, Zappa produced all albums released by the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. We're Only in It for the Money featured some of the most creative audio editing and production yet heard in pop music, and the songs ruthlessly satirized the hippie and flower power phenomena.[28][29] The cover photo parodied that of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,[30] its art provided by Cal Schenkel whom Zappa had met in New York. This initiated a lifelong collaboration in which Schenkel designed covers for numerous Zappa and Mothers albums.[31]
Reflecting Zappa's eclectic approach to music, the next album, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968), was very different. It represented a collection of doo-wop songs; listeners and critics were not sure whether the album was a satire or a tribute.[32] Zappa has noted that the album was conceived in the way Stravinsky's compositions were in his neo-classical period: "If he could take the forms and clichés of the classical era and pervert them, why not do the same... to doo-wop in the fifties?"[33] A theme from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is heard during one song. The album and a single consisting of the songs "Deseri" and "Jelly Roll Gum Drop" were released under the alias Ruben and the Jets.[1][34]
Zappa and the Mothers of Invention returned to Los Angeles in the summer of 1968. Despite being a success with fans in Europe, the Mothers of Invention were not faring well financially.[35] Their first records were vocally oriented, but Zappa wrote more instrumental jazz and classical oriented music for the band's concerts, which confused audiences. Zappa felt that audiences failed to appreciate his "electrical chamber music".[36][37] Recorded from September 1967 to September 1968 and released in early 1969, Uncle Meat, the final release by the original Mothers, was a double album of varied music, intended as a soundtrack for a proposed film of the same name.
In November 1968, after Collins had left for the final time, Zappa recruited future Little Feat guitarist Lowell George to replace him.
In 1969, there were nine band members and Zappa was supporting the group himself from his publishing royalties, whether they played or not.[35] 1969 was also the year Zappa, fed up with the label's interference, left MGM Records for Warner Bros.' Reprise subsidiary, where Zappa/Mothers recordings would bear the Bizarre Records imprint.
In late 1969, Zappa broke up the band. He often cited the financial strain as the main reason,[38] but also commented on the band members' lack of sufficient effort.[39] Many band members were bitter about Zappa's decision, and some took it as a sign of Zappa's concern for perfection at the expense of human feeling.[37] Others were irritated by "his autocratic ways",[19] exemplified by Zappa's never staying at the same hotel as the band members.[40] Several members would, however, play for Zappa in years to come. He did, however, start recruiting new band members at this time, even asking Micky Dolenz from The Monkees to join. Zappa had appeared on the series and in the movie Head.[41][42] Remaining recordings with the band from this period were collected on Weasels Ripped My Flesh and Burnt Weeny Sandwich (both released in 1970).
Later in 1970, Zappa formed a new version of the Mothers (from then on, he mostly dropped the "of Invention"). It included British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, jazz keyboardist George Duke, Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons (bass, rhythm guitar), and three members of the Turtles: bass player Jim Pons, and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, who, due to persistent legal and contractual problems, adopted the stage name "The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie", or "Flo & Eddie".[43]
This version of the Mothers debuted on Zappa's next solo album Chunga's Revenge (1970),[44] which was followed by the double-album soundtrack to the movie 200 Motels (1971), featuring the Mothers, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, and Keith Moon. Co-directed by Zappa and Tony Palmer, it was filmed in a week at Pinewood Studios outside London.[45] Tensions between Zappa and several cast and crew members arose before and during shooting.[45] The film deals loosely with life on the road as a rock musician.[46] It was the first feature film photographed on videotape and transferred to 35mm film, a process which allowed for novel visual effects.[47] It was released to mixed reviews.[48] The score relied extensively on orchestral music, and Zappa's dissatisfaction with the classical music world intensified when a concert, scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall after filming, was canceled because a representative of the venue found some of the lyrics obscene. In 1975, he lost a lawsuit against the Royal Albert Hall for breach of contract.[49]
After 200 Motels, the band went on tour, which resulted in two live albums, Fillmore East – June 1971 and Just Another Band From L.A.; the latter included the 20-minute track "Billy the Mountain", Zappa's satire on rock opera set in Southern California. This track was representative of the band's theatrical performances in which songs were used to build up sketches based on 200 Motels scenes as well as new situations often portraying the band members' sexual encounters on the road.[50][51]
In December 1971, there were two serious setbacks. While performing at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, the Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by an audience member started a fire that burned down the casino.[52] Immortalized in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water", the event and immediate aftermath can be heard on the bootleg album Swiss Cheese/Fire, released legally as part of Zappa's Beat the Boots II compilation. After a week's break, the Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with rented gear. During the encore, an audience member pushed Zappa off the stage and into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. The band thought Zappa had been killed—he had suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing.[52] This accident resulted in him using a wheelchair for an extended period, forcing him off the road for over half a year. Upon his return to the stage in September 1972, he was still wearing a leg brace, had a noticeable limp and could not stand for very long while on stage. Zappa noted that one leg healed "shorter than the other" (a reference later found in the lyrics of songs "Zomby Woof" and "Dancin' Fool"), resulting in chronic back pain.[52] Meanwhile, the Mothers were left in limbo and eventually formed the core of Flo and Eddie's band as they set out on their own.
Zappa continued a high rate of production through the first half of the 1970s, including the solo album Apostrophe (') (1974), which reached a career-high No.10 on the Billboard pop album charts[54] helped by the chart single "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow".[55] Other albums from the period are Over-Nite Sensation (1973), which contained several future concert favorites, such as "Dinah-Moe Humm" and "Montana", and the albums Roxy & Elsewhere (1974) and One Size Fits All (1975) which feature ever-changing versions of a band still called the Mothers, and are notable for the tight renditions of highly difficult jazz fusion songs in such pieces as "Inca Roads", "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" and "Be-Bop Tango (Of the Old Jazzmen's Church)".[56] A live recording from 1974, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 (1988), captures "the full spirit and excellence of the 1973–75 band".[56]
Zappa released Bongo Fury in 1975, which featured live recordings from a tour that same year which had reunited him with Captain Beefheart for a brief period.[57] They later became estranged for a period of years, but were in contact at the end of Zappa's life.[58]Bongo Fury was the last new album to be credited to the Mothers.
In 1993, Zappa released Ahead of Their Time, an album of a 1968 live performance by the original Mothers of Invention lineup.
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works; he also produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. His work is characterized by nonconformity, improvisation sound experimentation, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.
We're Only in It for the Money is the third album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on March 4, 1968, by Verve Records. As with the band's first two efforts, it is a concept album, and satirizes left- and right-wing politics, particularly the hippie subculture, as well as the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, and Uncle Meat.
Absolutely Free is the second album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on May 26, 1967, by Verve Records. Much like their 1966 debut Freak Out!, the album is a display of complex musical composition with political and social satire.
Freak Out! is the debut studio album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on June 27, 1966, by Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, it is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture and the nascent freak scene of Los Angeles. It was also one of the earliest double albums in rock music, as well as the first two-record debut album. In the UK, the album was originally released as an edited single disc.
200 Motels is a 1971 surrealist musical film written and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, and featuring music by Zappa. An international co-production of United States and the United Kingdom, the film stars the Mothers of Invention, Theodore Bikel, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr.
Over-Nite Sensation is the twelfth album by The Mothers of Invention, and the seventeenth album overall by Frank Zappa, released in September 1973. It was Zappa's first album released on his DiscReet label.
Lumpy Gravy is a 1968 solo album by Frank Zappa, written by Zappa and performed by a group of session players he dubbed the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. Zappa conducted the orchestra but did not perform on the album. It is his fourth album overall: his previous releases had been under the name of his group, the Mothers of Invention.
Cruising with Ruben & the Jets is the fourth album by the Mothers of Invention, and fifth overall by Frank Zappa, released under the alias Ruben and the Jets. Released on December 2, 1968 on Bizarre and Verve Records with distribution by MGM Records, it is a concept album, influenced by 1950s doo-wop and rock and roll. The album's concept deals with a fictitious Chicano doo-wop band called Ruben & the Jets, represented by the cover illustration by Cal Schenkel, which depicts the Mothers of Invention as anthropomorphic dogs. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, We're Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat.
Burnt Weeny Sandwich is the seventh album by the American rock band the Mothers of Invention, and the ninth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It consists of both studio recordings and live elements. In contrast to the next album Weasels Ripped My Flesh, which is predominantly live and song-oriented, most of Burnt Weeny Sandwich focuses on studio recordings and tightly arranged compositions.
Mothermania (1969), subtitled The Best of the Mothers, is a compilation album by the Mothers of Invention. While the songs were previously released on Freak Out!, Absolutely Free and We're Only in It for the Money, it contains unique mixes or edits made specifically for this compilation.
Läther is the sixty-fifth official album by Frank Zappa. It was released posthumously as a three-CD set on Rykodisc in 1996. The album's title is derived from bits of comic dialog that link the songs. Zappa also explained that the name is a joke, based on "common bastardized pronunciation of Germanic syllables by the Swiss."
Barking Pumpkin Records is an American record label founded by Frank Zappa in 1981. Zappa named the label after his wife's smoker's cough when she tried to quit the habit. Barking Pumpkin was initially distributed by CBS Records.
For Real! is an album by Ruben and the Jets, and the debut of musician Rubén Guevara Jr.'s new lineup, after the group name had previously been used as an alias of The Mothers of Invention in 1968. Released in 1973, For Real! was produced by Frank Zappa, who wrote the first track and played guitar on the second track. The album consists of blues, rhythm and blues and rock and roll music.
Ruben and the Jets was an American rock and roll band from Los Angeles, California. The band originated as an alias for The Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa's band, to release Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968). Later, musician Rubén Guevara Jr. continued the band with his own lineup. Guevara's "Jets" recorded two albums, For Real! (1973) and Con Safos (1974).
"Who Are the Brain Police?" is a Frank Zappa song, performed by The Mothers of Invention, released on the Mothers' debut album, Freak Out!. It was released by Verve Records as a single in 1966. Zappa said the song had a religious theme, according to one source.
"The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" is a Frank Zappa composition, performed by the Mothers of Invention, released on the Mothers' debut album, Freak Out!. It is the longest song on the album, at 12:17, consisting of 2 parts: "Ritual Dance Of The Child-Killer", and "Nullis Pretii ". The composition includes a musical quote from "Louie Louie".
"Trouble Every Day" is a song by the Mothers of Invention, released on their 1966 debut album Freak Out!
Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood was an American rock musician notable for playing soprano, tenor and baritone saxophone, tambourine, vocals and vocal sound effects in Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. He appeared on all the albums of the original Mothers line-up and the 'posthumous' releases Burnt Weeny Sandwich and Weasels Ripped My Flesh, as well as certain subsequent Zappa albums. He also appeared in the films 200 Motels, Video from Hell and Uncle Meat.
The **** of the Mothers is an out-of-print compilation album of early works by The Mothers of Invention, an American rock band. The album features a gatefold featuring some of the contemporary band members such as Ian Underwood, Art Tripp, and Motorhead Sherwood. This was the first of numerous repackaged "Best Of" LPs put out by MGM that were not authorized by Frank Zappa; Mothermania is the only one that Zappa worked on and approved.
"Help, I'm a Rock" is a song written by American musician Frank Zappa. It was recorded by Zappa along with the rock band the Mothers of Invention on the group's debut album Freak Out!, which was released on Verve Records on June 27, 1966.
↑ Semley, John (November 26, 2020). "How Weird Was Frank Zappa?". The New Republic. Retrieved June 26, 2023. It was also the year Zappa and his band, a blues-rock outfit called the Mothers of Invention
↑ As the legal aspects of using the Sgt Pepper concept were unsettled, the album was released with the cover and back on the inside of the gatefold, while the actual cover and back were a picture of the group in a pose parodying the inside of the Beatles album. Miles 2004, p.151
↑ During the June 1971 Fillmore concerts Zappa was joined on stage by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This performance was recorded, and Lennon released excerpts on his album Some Time In New York City in 1972. Zappa later released his version of excerpts from the concert on Playground Psychotics in 1992, including the jam track "Scumbag" and an extended avant-garde vocal piece by Ono (originally called "Au"), which Zappa renamed "A Small Eternity with Yoko Ono".
Starks, Michael (1982). Cocaine Fiends and Reefer Madness: An Illustrated History of Drugs in the Movies. New York: Cornwall Books. ISBN9780845345047. OCLC7247337.
Walley, David (1980). No commercial potential: the saga of Frank Zappa, then and now. New York: E.P. Dutton. ISBN9780525931539. OCLC7067436.
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