The five bands that Frank Zappa hated
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The surreal moment Frank Zappa appeared on ‘The Monkees’
Frank Zappa was one of popular culture’s ultimate iconoclasts. A genius musician, hard taskmaster, and comedian all wrapped up in one tall, dark and angular form, what he achieved in his career is nothing short of astounding. Quite rightly, Zappa is hailed as one of the greatest avant-garde composers of the 20th century and one of the finest songwriters of his generation.
The definition of refusing to be pigeonholed, Zappa drew on a range of different musical and stylistic influences that helped him to create a kaleidoscopic back catalogue. His work has an invariably refreshing sound, with something for everyone to dig into, ranging from the incredibly refined ‘Cosmic Debris’ to his insane, reggae-inspired cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
Given that he was so hard to pin down artistically, it is only fitting that Zappa also came complete with many hot takes that never failed to stun fans. Whether it be his total aversion to drugs despite being a counterculture hero or disdain for label-mates The Velvet Underground, Zappa was as complex as they come, and his life remains as fascinating as any of his most prominent contemporaries.
One of the most surprising aspects of Zappa’s life was his love for the ultimate teenybopper act, The Monkees, a manufactured outfit that represented everything he was against – particularly when you note his position as an ardent advocate of high culture.
Take this notorious quote where he compared The Beatles and The Monkees, for instance, as quoted by Louder in 2012: “Everybody else thought The Beatles were God! I think that was not correct. They were just a good commercial group. I preferred The Monkees”.
Speaking to Jerry Hopkins of Rolling Stone in 1968, Zappa was asked if he was serious when he told Monkees frontman Davy Jones that he liked his music more than anything he had heard coming from the era’s most colourful creative hub and home of the counterculture, San Francisco.
Zappa responded: “I said most of what they recorded sounded better. People think San Francisco rock is supposed to be cosmic value and all that, but it is manufactured music and manufactured music is worthless. Monkees music is manufactured, too, of course, and I’d like to say at this point: they’re worth about the same, except the Monkees records sound better produced”.
However, his most surprising moment with The Monkees came when he appeared on their eponymous TV show on March 11th, 1968, in the episode ‘The Monkees Blow Their Minds’. He appeared in a wholly surreal sketch where he asks Michael Nesmith whether he can be “Mike Nesmith?” The Monkees guitarist agreed but on one condition, only if he could be Zappa.
What ensued is a costume swap where both jokingly dress up as each other, and when the interview resumes, both parody their respective music with some brilliantly sarcastic takes, as well as mentions of contemporaries such as The Byrds. Later, Zappa is shown “playing” a car by beating it into subordination in a montage, whilst The Mothers of Invention track ‘Mother People’ plays in the background.
Unbelievably, this wasn’t the only time Zappa worked with The Monkees; he also made a cameo in their strange film Head later that year.
