Guitar World

1980 September

On The Record - Frank Zappa
Interview by John Stix, 2 pp

F.Z. Let's look at it from the standpoint of logic. There is a way unless you're dead, and even they there is still a question, that you're not going to offend somebody. There's always someone that's going to get offended over something that somebody does.

That's human nature. Just sitting still you can offend people, so why worry about it? You can't win. I was never meant to be a man for all seasons. Am I here to entertain everybody? No, just the ones who like what I do. The ones who don't like it, like somebody else.

G.W. Using the theory of Musak, do you think we're being taught not to listen? (read more)

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1982 March

Frank Zappa: The Interview
By John Swenson, 11 pp

FZ: By the way, I really enjoyed the review that you did of the albums in Guitar World.

GW: Oh, thanks. I really loved the records.

FZ: I am glad I did them. I mean, I have been waiting to do it for a long time. And a lot of people thought I was crazy for spending the time to do it. But, right now that group of albums is selling better than You are What You Is and Tinsel Town Rebellion. We went into a profit position after two weeks on the market.

GW: You are selling more through mail order than you are in record store distribution?

FZ: That's right.

GW: Somewhere in there is a message ... (read more)

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1987 April

Zappa's Inferno
By Noë Goldwasser, 9 pp

FRANK ZAPPA'S FULLY-EQUIPPED HOME RECORDING STUDIO is where he'd most rather be. "I never go out," he says, though his Laurel Canyon home commands a panoramic view of Los Angeles. "I could be just as happy if all this" – gesturing toward the array of equipment that surrounds him in this devil's advocate's workshop – "were in Utah. Except for the fact that the hardware and technicians are available in the L.A. area, and the stuff can be serviced here." The fact is, all Frank really wants to do is work.

    Whether he acknowledges it or not, Zappa has been admired by guitarists for years because of the sheer free-flying gonzo-ness of his solos within the otherwise-precise organization of his compositions. He's always been a real Mother of a player. As a bandleader, his draconian insistence on perfection has brought out the best in his players, especially the guitarists he has introduced to the world through his succession of hands: Lowell George, Adrian Belew, Warren Cuccurullo and Steve Vai all cut their teeth in Zappa's marching society.

    We thought about this – your editor, Noe the G., and Associate Publisher Greg Di Benedetto – as we descended with Frank into the bowels of his private inferno – otherwise known as the United Muffin Research Kitchen (U.M.R.K.).

    Our purpose was to plan the Guitar World According To Frank Zappa tape – a 34-minute collection of rare Zappa solos on a special GW audio cassette which this magazine will make available in the spring – and to talk about guitar stuff. (read more @ Guitar World, April 1987 )

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2003 December

Dynamo Frank
In a special 10th anniversary tribute, Guitar World presents the one and only Grand Wazoo in his own words.
Interview by Alan di Perna, 10 pp

In-A-Gadda-Stravinsky
A selected discography of Frank Zappa's best work
By Alan di Perna, 1 p

GUITAR WORLD When you first started releasing albums comprised exclusively of guitar solos, with Shut Up 'n' Play Yer Guitar in '81, did the idea give you any trouble? Didn't it seem kind of like taking all the sex scenes out of a good novel or film and stringing them all together?

FRANK ZAPPA Well, in a way, yeah. But I think that's what the market really wanted. For a guy who really likes guitar solos and doesn't need an excuse to have a guitar solo, here it is – boom. And there have been enough customers for these albums over the years to prove that those listeners exist out there.

GW So it doesn't bother you that people are taking a sort of one-dimensional interest in your music? It's kind of a prurient interest at that, just focusing on the guitar solos and ignoring the rest of the composition.

ZAPPA I don't find that especially objectionable. In a way, it's niche marketing. I've constructed it for those people who want that. Also, the solos themselves are constructed in such a way that they're like little set pieces. They have melodies, development sections and recapitulations, just like compositions. See, the way I think of a guitar solo is as an instant composition. You have a certain amount of time in which you're going to be making up a piece of music, and you hope that the people who are working with you onstage are also interested in inventing music on the spot. When it works, which is not very often, that's one of the reasons why I'm glad I have a recording truck. You can snag it. Because it's gone after that. That's the only time it exists. (read more)