For nearly 30 years, Frank Zappa was one of the most influential, innovative, and controversial musicians in rock, despite minimal radio airplay. This biography goes beyond the myths that surround this musical satirist to explore the life, career, and influences of an outrageously gifted composer. Both with his early band, the Mothers of Invention, and in his subsequent solo work, Zappa poked fun at middle-class conformity, hippies, disco, and the Reagan era while breaking musical ground with his combination of jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, social and political parody, and rock and roll. This book traces Zappa's cultural and musical roots to Erik Satie, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, and Zappa's true hero, avant-garde composer Edgard Varese.
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Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
Kevin Courrier is an entertainment journalist who lives in Toronto. His previous books include the very successful Law and Order Companion.
About the Author
Kevin Courrier is an entertainment journalist and the author of Law and Order: The Unofficial Companion. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A different view,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa (Paperback)
While reading DANGEROUS KITCHEN on a plane, the person sitting next to me commented on the title of my book. "Who is Frank Zappa?" she asked. When I began to explain who Frank Zappa was, I was struck by the fact that numerous books have been written about or by Zappa. To digress a bit, Amazon offers more books by and about Zappa than Chester Arthur, our 21st President. As for me, I have read the following books by or about Frank Zappa. In addition, this list constitutes a ranking of my assessment of the quality of these books.1. THE REAL FRANK ZAPPA BOOK by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhioigrosso 2. DANGEROUS KITCHEN: THE SUBVERSIVE WORLD OF ZAPPA by Kevin Courrier 3. MOTHER! THE FRANK ZAPPA STORY by Michael Gray 4. FRANK ZAPPA: THE NEGATIVE DIALECTICS OF POODLE PLAY 5. ELECTRIC DON QUIXOTE: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF FRANK ZAPPA by Neil Slaven 6. NECESSITY IS... THE EARLY YEARS OF FRANK ZAPPA AND THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION by Billy James 7. COSMIK DEBRIS: THE COLLECTIVE HISTORY AND IMPROVISATIONS OF FRANK ZAPPA by Greg Russo 8. NO COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: THE SAGA OF FRANK ZAPPA by David Walley 9. MY BROTHER WAS A MOTHER by Patrice "Candy" Zappa 10. THEM OR US by Frank Zappa 11. UNDER THE SAME MOON by Suzannah Thana Harris 12. BEING FRANK: MY TIME WITH FRANK ZAPPA by Nigery Lennon The extraordinary feature about all of these books is that each presents a totally different aspect or dimension of Frank Zappa. In many ways, it seems like I am not reading a book about the same person. Each of these authors sees Zappa through their personalized lens. Courrier presentation is different from the others because he offers details of the environment surrounding virtually every composition. Since his book is one of the later publications on the list above, he often quotes and/or cites from the other works. Interesting, I didn't get the feeling of reading the same information as I have read in the other works. I liked DANGEROUS KITCHEN: THE SUBVERSIVE WORLD OF ZAPPA. Every Frank Zappa fan will enjoy it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Zappa book besides Frank's own,
By ABQChris (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa (Paperback)
Courrier's thorough knowledge of 20th-century music informs his argument that Frank was a brilliant composer and one of the very few "real guys." This volume proves meticulously detailed, well researched and a delight to read from beginning to end. What I was most satisfied with, once I'd started sinking my cerebellum into Mr. Courrier's pleasantly voiced prose, was his attention to the MUSIC (who needs another bio about Frank's life? Who needs another dissertation on the various weaklings who've been offended by Frank's lyrics?).This book follows up on Frank's own statement that anyone with a decent store of musical knowledge would realize that what he was hearing was more outrageous, in terms of how it was MUSICALLY flying in the face of custom and history, than any lyric or story idea could ever be. We need more books like Courrier's; it's time to focus on the music itself and make an educated case for that music's importance in revealing the so-called "high/low art barrier" as being purely mythical. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about, or already entranced by, the music of Frank Zappa.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome and Informative Book,
By
This review is from: Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa (Paperback)
Kevin Courrier delivers an informative crash course of the excerpts of an era that Zappa was so far ahead of.
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