Five artists of Frank Zappa’s most surprising collaborations
Frank Zappa is the closest thing rock ‘n’ roll has to a trickster God. His influence is so far-reaching and everlasting that most people with a passing interest in rock music have at least heard his name before. Yet his music is so esoteric and progressive, and his persona so stubborn and truculent, that most who know his name couldn’t name a song of his, let alone hum it.
This is no accident either. Zappa seemed to appreciate the fact that he was more notorious than famous. This isn’t to say he was satisfied with his lot in life, there were few things he wouldn’t complain about. However, he seemed most content when people genuinely understood his art and his music. It wasn’t often, to be clear, but they did exist.
They were often also fellow musicians. This is where Frank Zappa’s reputation as “your favourite musician’s favourite musician” comes from. Given that Zappa’s musical tastes were as broad as his output, he would often find himself performing with these disciples.
This led to a few collaborations nobody could have expected. So, let’s have a look at five artists that you’d never have guessed collaborated with Frank Zappa!
Five surprising Frank Zappa collaborations:
Sting
Let’s kick things off with the man some would call the complete antithesis to everything Frank Zappa represented. A man who made his name in one of the biggest rock bands of the 1980s. Who would then go on to make radio-friendly muzak like ‘Fields of Gold’ and perform easy listening versions of his hits with an orchestra. Yet under the pop star exterior, Sting is an old jazzman at heart. There’s probably no better example of this side of him than how easily he slots into a full-blown Zappa concert.
It helps that they’re playing one of his own songs, but Zappa’s band turns the previously stripped-down Police number into a full-blown jazz strut. Sting has rarely sounded as alive as he does here, and not only because he begins his appearance with a truly charming takedown of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. There’s nothing to fear from a possibly hostile Zappa crowd either, as they absolutely flip their biscuits for him too. An ever-needed reminder that Sting is at his best when he cuts loose. Shame he doesn’t do it more often.
Tina Turner
All joking aside, this is just horribly depressing. In 1970, Tina Turner and her then-husband Ike opened their own recording studio, Bolic Sound studios in Inglewood, California. In 1972, Frank Zappa used the studio to record Over-Nite Sensation. While searching for backing singers, Zappa was told that Ike and Tina’s backing singers (the in hindsight disgustingly named ‘Ikettes’) were available, and could just use them. Zappa jumped at the chance and was astonished when Tina herself turned up at the studio alongside them.
Zappa got the group to work, and their backing vocals end up all over the album. Not that you’d know to look at the album credits, as Ike insisted they go uncredited and paid a pittance for their time and effort. They’re especially apparent on album closer ‘Montana’, which Tina and the girls spent several days rehearsing and performed spectacularly. Tina, proud of her work, brought Ike into the studio to hear it and all he could say was reportedly “what is this shit?” before storming out. At least Zappa was there to give her the credit she deserved, but it’s a small silver lining.
Gene Simmons
Of everyone on this list, the gap between Kiss’s demonic bass player with a tongue longer than most femurs and Frank Zappa might be the longest of all of them. After all, one can’t imagine the moody, avant-garde art-rock genius having much time for… y’know, ‘Beth’. According to Gene Simmons, though, Zappa was an admirer. One who showed Simmons a trove of unfinished work and said some very kind words about him, just before he passed away and was therefore unable to corroborate the story. Sure, Gene. Sure.
Thus, after Simmons began working on his second album, he contacted the Zappa estate and asked if they would donate any of his unfinished work to the project. As Simmons said in an interview, “I was immediately struck by this piece, it’s a sample of Frank talking (‘Alright kids, here’s a real rock and roll song’) and then the descending riff is the basis of the song, which was ironically called ‘Black Tongue’.” There was a good reason why this riff never saw the light of day when Zappa was alive, but it’s just about good enough for a Gene Simmons solo album. Go figure.
Simon and Garfunkel
Frank Zappa’s music was wild, disparate, and ever-evolving. There seemed to be only one thing that connected the vast majority of his work, which is the sheer volume of it all. Zappa was a rock ‘n’ roll fan at heart, and no matter how esoteric his sound got, it always came back to the sound of a rock band cranked as loud as it would go. It stands to reason his opening acts would do the same, but in 1969, there was one major exception.
Zappa said it began when he went to dinner at Paul Simon’s house, where Art Garfunkel joined them. The dinner soon descended into Simon and Garfunkel gleefully reminiscing about their early days touring under the name Tom & Jerry, long before they became two of the biggest names in music. Frank Zappa had a concert the day after in nearby Buffalo, and so he had an idea. An idea that came to fruition when Simon & Garfunkel played a surprise support slot at that concert to a group of astonished Zappa fans.
The Chieftains
On the surface, this seems the biggest stretch of them all. After all, what could the American, progressive, arty and electric Zappa possibly have to do with one of the longest-running, most successful Irish folk bands possibly ever? More than you’d think. After all, for all his avant-garde leanings, Zappa always appreciated masters of their crafts and above all else, The Chieftains were absolutely that and then some.
In his own words, Zappa said, “Each member of the group is an expert on his instrument, not just in terms of technique, but in terms of the concept they have of what the final ensemble product is supposed to sound like.” Because of this, Zappa made a point of jamming with them whenever he could and even hosted them at his home recording studio when they made their 1995 album The Long Black Veil.
Despite all that professional respect, it was also clear that Frank Zappa, a lifelong fan of great music, loved the music they made, too. In fact, their song ‘The Green Fields of America’ was reportedly the very last song Zappa listened to in his life.
