Frank Zappa’s 10 favourite songs: “One of the most beautiful melodies ever written”
The term genre-defying is perhaps overused, in part because some people get so pernickety about categorisation that avoiding it offers a safe way to navigate the tricky terrain of classification, yet there are scarcely any artists out there more befitting of the term than Frank Zappa. His music prides itself on non-conformity, as did his character. For instance, contrary to how he may appear, Zappa was actually an ardent anti-drug advocate.
Similarly, his music, contrary to the instrumentation, has more in common with classical than atypical rock ‘n’ roll. In fact, he was barely even a fan of most rock ‘n’ roll in the most rudimentary sense. No, as the world zigged, Zappa zagged—that was always part of his appeal.
He started off as a high-school drummer, with his early influences being percussion-heavy modern-classical, before picking up the guitar and dipping into doo-wop. This mix of extravagant orchestration and simple blues pop created a wholly weird blend that Zappa called his own. Zappa was nothing if not weird, once quipping, “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible”.
But as if that strange assortment wasn’t enough, the eclecticism only tells half the story or, as the moustachioed maestro put it, “exactly 50%”. After a brief time working in advertising, Zappa understood that modern music was half about the image, and with that revelation, the full artistic gestalt that became his act was formed. Throw in the lashings of satire that often became the basis of his songwriting lyrically, and you’ve got yourself one of the most original stars in music history, and it’s never dated a day.
The evidence of singularity also exists in the songs he loved. There aren’t many other ‘rock stars’ who would ever pick Edgard Varèse, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, Igor Stravinsky and The Velours among their favourite songs. However, these are the records the lanky musician opted for when he appeared on Castaway’s Choice, the American radio rip-off of the long-running BBC incarnation Desert Island Discs, in 1989.
When Zappa was asked to narrow his choices down to one golden disc, he opted for ‘The first movement from Third Piano Concerto’ by Béla Bartók. As he explained, “I think it is one of the most beautiful melodies ever written” when celebrating the brilliance of the Hungarian anthem that Bartók composed after fleeing his homeland in the Second World War.
The Hungarian pianist, who lived from 1881 to 1945, was renowned for blending traditional folk with his own elevated musicology, determined to keep his country’s cultural history alive. In a weird way, Zappa sought to do this, too. In fact, he loved the earnest bite of ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and its societal sagacity so dearly that he figured if the song’s message had been fully reconciled at the time, he would have retired from music before he had even begun. Yet, in typical Zappa fashion, it still didn’t quite have the chops to feature among his favourites.
Interestingly, the list also doesn’t include any contemporary virtuosos of rock, even though he did have a plan similar to Bartók’s to combine his pal Jimi Hendrix’s music with the classical form, hoping to write the thoughts of guitar God for an orchestra. Alas, that never came to fruition, but it offers a similar insight into his psyche as the songs below, which we’ve also wrapped up into a playlist.
Frank Zappa’s 10 favourite songs:
- ‘Octandre’ by Edgard Varèse
- ‘The Royal March From L’Histoire Du Soldat’ by Igor Stravinsky
- ‘The Rite Of Spring’ by Igor Stravinsky
- ‘The first movement from Third Piano Concerto’ by Béla Bartók
- ‘Stolen Moments’ by Oliver Nelson
- ‘Three Hours Past Midnight’ by Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson
- ‘Can I Come Over Tonight?’ by The Velours
- ‘Bagatelles for String Quartet’ by Anton Webern
- ‘Symphony, Opus 21’ by Anton Webern
- ‘Piano Concerto in G’ by Maurice Ravel
