Freak Out! is the first album by The Mothers of Invention, led by one of rock’s true individual thinkers and originals, Frank Zappa. Growing up, Frank Zappa’s music was not in my circle very much. I was very aware of him, but that was mainly from stories in the press about him, other artists discussing him, or interviews he gave that I saw on TV. I saw him on Late Night with David Letterman with his daughter Moon by his side. This was around the time she was hitting the charts with the novelty song “Valley Girl”.
I remember the interview being very interesting. Zappa was clearly a thoughtful person with things to say that were the opposite of boring and trite. He made several appearances on the Letterman show over the years as well as many other shows and I always found Zappa very interesting. I became a great admirer of his after his tour de force testimony before Congress during the infamous PMRC hearings.
I can’t say I ever warmed up to Zappa’s music. His brilliant musicianship and songwriting talent is unassailable. But for me it just didn’t work very well. So, I never became a fan. And listening to Freak Out! in full for the first time, I’m still not a fan. But I do have a great appreciation for the artistic intention behind this album; considered one of the first concept albums. I certainly appreciate the talents of the band and the man. Here is an example of Zappa’s excellent guitar playing (about 3:20 mark of the video):
Even though I don’t much care for the majority of the record and because I do appreciate it, I’m giving this a high rating:
In an interview, Zappa was asked, “As a man with a sense of history, though, do you have any idea of how you'd like to be remembered?” He responded:
I don't care whether I'm remembered. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of people who would like to forget about me as soon as possible, and I'm on their side! You know? Just . . . hurry up and get it over with. I do what I do because I like doing it, I do it for my amusement first, if it amuses you . . . that's fine. I'm happy that you'll participate in it. But, uh, after I am dead and gone, there is no need to deal with any of this stuff, because it is not written for future generations, it is not performed for future generations. It is performed for now. Get it while it's hot, you know? That's it.1
I’m glad he said that because as I listened to Freak Out! it struck me as music very much of its time and that it doesn’t speak much to what’s going on now except in the most general and generic way. I’m glad there was a Frank Zappa and I’m glad his fans found something meaningful in his music.
Zappa was definitely influential on other artists including Fee Waybill,2 Yes,3 and Devo,4 Black Sabbath,5 Living Colour6 and many others.
AllMusic review by Steve Huey:
One of the most ambitious debuts in rock history, Freak Out! was a seminal concept album that somehow foreshadowed both art rock and punk at the same time…It's the first salvo in his career-long project of synthesizing popular and art music, high and low culture; while these pieces can meander, they virtually explode the limits of what can appear on a rock album, and effectively illustrate Freak Out!'s underlying principles: acceptance of differences and free individual expression. Zappa would spend much of his career developing and exploring ideas -- both musical and conceptual -- first put forth here; while his myriad directions often produced more sophisticated work, Freak Out! contains at least the rudiments of almost everything that followed, and few of Zappa's records can match its excitement over its own sense of possibility.7
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Mark Blaylock wrote:
Coming from the heart of the burgeoning freak culture on the West Coast, and having been signed by producer Tom Wilson, Zappa and his band set out to blow minds with this debut release. What’s more, this record was about something. “Each tune had a function within an overall satirical concept,” said Zappa.
Freak Out! signaled the emergence of a uniquely exciting and challenging composer who made a career out of breaking down boundaries.8
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 161. Freak Out! by The Mothers Of Invention
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #1309
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: n/a
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on June 27, 1966. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Paperback Writer” by The Beatles10
• Number one album: What Now My Love by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass11
• Number one movie: The Sound of Music by Robert Wise12
• Most watched TV programs: Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., The Lucy Show, The Red Skelton Show, Batman, The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, Hogan’s Heroes, Green Acres, Get Smart, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., My Three Sons, The Dick Van Dyke Show13
• NYT bestseller, fiction: Valley of the Dolls by Jaqueline Susann14
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: The Last Battle by Cornelius Ryan15
Other albums released that month
• Paradise, Hawaiian Style by Elvis Presley
• Soul Sister by Aretha Franklin
• Gettin' Ready by The Temptations
• Yesterday and Today by The Beatles
• Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan
• Animalisms by The Animals
• The Impossible Dream by Jack Jones
• In a Broadway Bag (Mame) by Bobby Darin
• The Incredible String Band by The Incredible String Band16
Sport
• Jun 20 US Open Men's Golf, Olympic CC: Billy Casper erases a 7-stroke deficit on the final 9 holes to tie Arnold Palmer; wins Monday 18-hole playoff by 4 strokes.
• Jun 28 Ernie Terrell beats Doug Jones by unanimous points decision over 15 rounds in Houston to retain his WBA heavyweight boxing title.17
Notable Births
• Jun 21 Gretchen Carlson, American television commentator (Fox News) and 1989 Miss America, born in Anoka, Minnesota.
• Jun 21 Mancow Muller, American radio personality, born in Kansas City, Missouri.
• Jun 23 (Jonathan) "Chico" DeBarge, American singer and keyboard player (DeBarge), born in Detroit, Michigan.
• Jun 25 Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese-American NBA center (Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets), born in Leopoldville, Congo.
• Jun 27 J. J. Abrams, American writer, producer and director (Lost, Star Wars: the Force Awakens), born in New York City.
• Jun 28 John Cusack, American actor (Stand By Me, Sure Thing, Better Off Dead), born in Chicago, Illinois.
• Jun 28 Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress (Some Kind of Wonderful), born in Houston, Texas.
• Jun 30 Mike Tyson, American boxer (youngest ever heavyweight champion 1986-90, 20 years, 4 months, 22 days), born in Brooklyn, New York.18
Historical Events
• Jun 20 British pilot Sheila Scott completes 1st round-the-world solo flight by a woman, returning to London's Heathrow airport in her Piper Comanche after a 34-day journey.
• Jun 24 Period of relative peace following WW II exceeds that following WW I.
• Jun 29 US planes bomb the North Vietnamese capital Hanoi and the port city of Haiphong for the first time in the Vietnam War.
• Jun 30 Leopoldville, Congo, is renamed Kinshasa.
• Jun 30 Some attendees at the National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women in Washington D.C. lay groundwork to establish a group to speak for women's rights - the National Organization of Women (NOW).19
Notable Deaths
• Jun 8 Joseph A. Walker (1921-1966), American experimental physicist, World War II and NASA test pilot (1st spaceplane flights to edge of outer space), dies in an aircraft collision at 45.
• Jun 11 Ethel Clayton, American actress (Warning Shadows), dies at 82.
• Jun 19 Ed Wynn [Isaiah Edwin Leopold], American comedian (Ed Wynn Show), dies at 79.
• Jun 29 Isabel Dawn, American screenwriter, dies at 68.20
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 92.
Ibid.