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Zappa: A Biography
Ten years after his death, Frank Zappa continues to influence popular culture. With almost one hundred recordings still in print, Frank Zappa remains a classic American icon. Scores of bands have been influenced by (and have shamelessly imitated) Zappa's music, and a talented roster of musicians passed through Zappa's bands, including Captain Beefheart, Jean-Luc Ponty, George Duke, Lowell George, and Steve Vai. Now comes the definitive biography of Zappa by author Barry Miles, who knew Zappa personally and was present at the recording of some of his most important albums.
Miles follows Zappa from his sickly Italian-American childhood in the 1940s (his father worked for the military and was used to test how effective new biological warfare agents were) to his youthful pursuit of what was a lifelong becoming a classical composer. Zappa brings the many different personalities of this music legend together for the first the self-taught musician and composer who gained fame with the "rock" band the Mothers of Invention; the political antagonist who mocked presidents while being invited by Vaclav Havel to represent Czechoslovakia's cultural interests in the United States, and Zappa the family man who was married to the same woman for over thirty years.
Miles follows Zappa from his sickly Italian-American childhood in the 1940s (his father worked for the military and was used to test how effective new biological warfare agents were) to his youthful pursuit of what was a lifelong becoming a classical composer. Zappa brings the many different personalities of this music legend together for the first the self-taught musician and composer who gained fame with the "rock" band the Mothers of Invention; the political antagonist who mocked presidents while being invited by Vaclav Havel to represent Czechoslovakia's cultural interests in the United States, and Zappa the family man who was married to the same woman for over thirty years.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
50 people are currently reading
992 people want to read
About the author
Barry Miles
75 books152 followersBarry Miles is an English author best known for his deep involvement in the 1960s counterculture and for chronicling the era through his prolific writing. He played a key role in shaping and documenting the London underground scene, becoming a central figure among the poets, musicians, and artists who defined the decade’s rebellious spirit. A close associate of figures such as Allen Ginsberg and Paul McCartney, Miles not only witnessed the cultural revolution firsthand but also actively participated in it through ventures like the Indica Gallery and the alternative newspaper International Times.
In the early 1960s, Miles began working at Better Books in London, a progressive bookshop that became a hub for the avant-garde. While there, he was instrumental in organizing the International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall in 1965, an event that marked the emergence of the British underground movement and featured prominent poets like Allen Ginsberg. The same year, Miles co-founded the Indica Bookshop and Gallery, which became a gathering place for creatives and countercultural icons. It was here that John Lennon first met Yoko Ono, at one of her art exhibitions.
Miles also played a role in launching International Times, one of the UK’s first underground newspapers, which Paul McCartney discreetly funded. Miles introduced McCartney to the people behind the project and facilitated many of his early connections with the underground scene. In 1967, he co-organized The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, a legendary multimedia event at Alexandra Palace featuring Pink Floyd, Yoko Ono, and John Lennon, among others.
Later in the decade, Miles took on the management of Zapple Records, an experimental subsidiary of Apple Records. During this time, he produced poetry albums, including one by Richard Brautigan. However, his personal relationship with Brautigan became strained after Miles became romantically involved with Brautigan’s partner, Valerie Estes. The fallout led to communication only through legal representatives. Although Zapple closed before releasing the Brautigan album, it was eventually issued by another label in 1970.
Miles also produced a recording of Allen Ginsberg’s musical interpretation of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, which was released in 1970. He briefly lived with Ginsberg in New York before returning to England following the breakdown of his first marriage. He later married travel writer Rosemary Bailey and continued to live and work in London.
In addition to his memoirs In the Sixties and In the Seventies, Miles has written definitive biographies of cultural icons such as Paul McCartney (Many Years From Now), Frank Zappa, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, and Allen Ginsberg. He is also the author of Hippie, a visual and narrative exploration of the 1960s counterculture. His writings often reflect a mix of personal experience and historical documentation, offering insight into the worlds of rock, literature, and art.
Miles is known not only for his historical accounts but also for his critical views, including pointed commentary on musicians like Rush and Frank Zappa, examining the political and commercial aspects of their work. With a career that spans over five decades, Barry Miles remains one of the most insightful chroniclers of the countercultural and musical revolutions of the 20th century.
In the early 1960s, Miles began working at Better Books in London, a progressive bookshop that became a hub for the avant-garde. While there, he was instrumental in organizing the International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall in 1965, an event that marked the emergence of the British underground movement and featured prominent poets like Allen Ginsberg. The same year, Miles co-founded the Indica Bookshop and Gallery, which became a gathering place for creatives and countercultural icons. It was here that John Lennon first met Yoko Ono, at one of her art exhibitions.
Miles also played a role in launching International Times, one of the UK’s first underground newspapers, which Paul McCartney discreetly funded. Miles introduced McCartney to the people behind the project and facilitated many of his early connections with the underground scene. In 1967, he co-organized The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, a legendary multimedia event at Alexandra Palace featuring Pink Floyd, Yoko Ono, and John Lennon, among others.
Later in the decade, Miles took on the management of Zapple Records, an experimental subsidiary of Apple Records. During this time, he produced poetry albums, including one by Richard Brautigan. However, his personal relationship with Brautigan became strained after Miles became romantically involved with Brautigan’s partner, Valerie Estes. The fallout led to communication only through legal representatives. Although Zapple closed before releasing the Brautigan album, it was eventually issued by another label in 1970.
Miles also produced a recording of Allen Ginsberg’s musical interpretation of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, which was released in 1970. He briefly lived with Ginsberg in New York before returning to England following the breakdown of his first marriage. He later married travel writer Rosemary Bailey and continued to live and work in London.
In addition to his memoirs In the Sixties and In the Seventies, Miles has written definitive biographies of cultural icons such as Paul McCartney (Many Years From Now), Frank Zappa, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, and Allen Ginsberg. He is also the author of Hippie, a visual and narrative exploration of the 1960s counterculture. His writings often reflect a mix of personal experience and historical documentation, offering insight into the worlds of rock, literature, and art.
Miles is known not only for his historical accounts but also for his critical views, including pointed commentary on musicians like Rush and Frank Zappa, examining the political and commercial aspects of their work. With a career that spans over five decades, Barry Miles remains one of the most insightful chroniclers of the countercultural and musical revolutions of the 20th century.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
December 3, 2014
UK writer Barry Miles has a made a career writing solid biographies and histories on counterculture topics, mainly key figures of the Beat movement. Frank Zappa, the subject of a 2003 biography, is a less likely candidate for the Miles treatment than he might appear: A wildly creative middle-class overachiever who shunned drugs and lacked self-destructive demons, his darkly satirical albums ridiculed hippie culture as well as the conservative “silent majority” of the 1960s. Zappa was a genius workaholic rather than an icon of rebellious cool.
Miles’ “Zappa” meets serviceable, baseline standards for a biography. Supercharged with documented, granular detail, it strolls from chronological point to point with minimal narrative verve. The topic itself generates inherent interest, even during the long march up to Zappa’s Mothers of Invention period, where Miles (or rather his drab surfeit of information) paints an evocative portrait of the west coast’s cottage recording industry of the early 60s.
Miles is less deft with analysis than documented facts and makes numerous strained attempts to squeeze psychological revelation from biographical scraps. He opens with a lengthy anecdote of a 1965 incident where Zappa is arrested in a near-comic pornography sting, after making a faked audio sex tape for an informant. He served 10 days in jail, which Miles trumpets as a personal Rubicon where Zappa’s trust of American values supposedly evaporated. This event looms large enough in Miles’ amateur psychodrama to appear later in its chronological place, re-told in almost identical language, restating its naive thesis with equal conviction.
Miles also quotes Frank Zappa’s autobiography so liberally that one questions the value of digesting mediated information. That work is “The Real Frank Zappa Book” (1990), less a pure autobiography than a curated memoir where Zappa selectively holds forth on a range of topics in his own brilliant, inimitable voice. There are no longeurs and no psychobabble. That book is the place to start.
Miles’ “Zappa” meets serviceable, baseline standards for a biography. Supercharged with documented, granular detail, it strolls from chronological point to point with minimal narrative verve. The topic itself generates inherent interest, even during the long march up to Zappa’s Mothers of Invention period, where Miles (or rather his drab surfeit of information) paints an evocative portrait of the west coast’s cottage recording industry of the early 60s.
Miles is less deft with analysis than documented facts and makes numerous strained attempts to squeeze psychological revelation from biographical scraps. He opens with a lengthy anecdote of a 1965 incident where Zappa is arrested in a near-comic pornography sting, after making a faked audio sex tape for an informant. He served 10 days in jail, which Miles trumpets as a personal Rubicon where Zappa’s trust of American values supposedly evaporated. This event looms large enough in Miles’ amateur psychodrama to appear later in its chronological place, re-told in almost identical language, restating its naive thesis with equal conviction.
Miles also quotes Frank Zappa’s autobiography so liberally that one questions the value of digesting mediated information. That work is “The Real Frank Zappa Book” (1990), less a pure autobiography than a curated memoir where Zappa selectively holds forth on a range of topics in his own brilliant, inimitable voice. There are no longeurs and no psychobabble. That book is the place to start.
March 10, 2009
There was a time when I had a complete reverence to anything Z put forth. Years later, I'm safely on the other side of my demystification process, and happier, healthier for it. There are still the dozen or so Essential Frank Zappa recordings, the ones I'll stand by till death, but really, the guy has finally hovered down among the more mortal types that co-occupy my conscious pantheon.
Miles does a pointed job at really nailing Z as a human subject, and I greatly appreciate this perspective, albeit one that was certainly only to be published posthumously. At times, he goes a little TOO far in his "humanizing", though, and some of the uneccessary and unflattering anecdotes seem to verge on classic British tabloid slander. At some points, this writing that seems to dig a little too far into the barrel betrays its own thesis, which could be a very valid and engaging one.
Zappa was indeed a complex character. His culture-conflicts it seems, while ostentatiously pointed outward, against the retarded, repressive world he seemed mired in, were more often, and at a deeper level, conflicts with himself.
Miles does a pointed job at really nailing Z as a human subject, and I greatly appreciate this perspective, albeit one that was certainly only to be published posthumously. At times, he goes a little TOO far in his "humanizing", though, and some of the uneccessary and unflattering anecdotes seem to verge on classic British tabloid slander. At some points, this writing that seems to dig a little too far into the barrel betrays its own thesis, which could be a very valid and engaging one.
Zappa was indeed a complex character. His culture-conflicts it seems, while ostentatiously pointed outward, against the retarded, repressive world he seemed mired in, were more often, and at a deeper level, conflicts with himself.
July 19, 2012
Turned the pages with zircon-encrusted tweezers.
March 30, 2015
Frank Zappa is the musical idol of my youth. I listened to Zappa's album "Freak Out!" almost 50 years ago, in 1966 or 1967, fascinated by what I considered the avant-garde freshness of the music, political references, and great sense of humor. Obviously, being a teenager, I dearly loved the scatological and obscene references. Later, when I tried to grow up, came my fascination with Mr. Zappa's strong stance for freedom of speech and against consumerism. As far as music is concerned I was very much into Mr. Zappa's guitar playing, and "Hot Rats" and "Shut Up n' Play Yer Guitar" were some of my most revered albums. Zappa's death in 1993 came as a big loss in my life. Zappa had been my hero, someone to look up to politically and musically.
I read (or tried to read) several books about my hero. Zappa's autobiography - "The Real Frank Zappa Book" - made me adore my idol even more. I did not particularly like the unfocused "The Frank Zappa Companion", and could not very much get into "Frank Zappa: the Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play, full of technical details about the music, and sounding too much like a research paper on the conceptual continuity of Zappa's work for my taste. I have just now finished "Zappa" by Barry Miles. It is a great biography, a serious, extremely well researched book that - in my view - does a fantastic job of showing the real Frank Zappa - a musical giant, yet a real person, full of insecurities and obsessions. A genius yet also somewhat of a jerk.
The major strength of Mr. Miles' biography is that it transcends the biographical details, the enumeration of albums, songs, and performances, and the trite gossip. The author proposes several theses about forces that drove Frank Zappa in his art and in life and provides convincing arguments for these theses. Perhaps the most important of them is that the experience that shaped the artist the most was the ten days he had to spend in San Bernardino County Jail for making an ostensibly pornographic tape, whereas in reality he was entrapped by a zealous policeman. "By the time he got out, he no longer believed anything the authorities had ever told him. Everything he had been taught at school about the American Way of Life was a lie." Ever from then on he would try to make America "see itself as it really was: phoney, mendacious, shallow and ugly."
Zappa often claimed he did not want to become what he is known to most people as - a rock musician. He famously confessed "I never had any intention of writing rock music. I always wanted to compose more serious music and have it performed in concert halls." His becoming one of the most famous rock artists was a vehicle that allowed him achieve his ultimate goal - having various symphony orchestras play his "serious" compositions. The guise also allowed Zappa to achieve the other major goal of his life - becoming a pre-eminent social critic. Songs like Brown Shoes Don't Make It express "consummate indictment of government corruption and the vacuous sterility of American consumer society." In I'm the Slime Zappa "describes television content as vile and pernicious, brain-washing the American public until they are a country of zombies who do as they are told: eat the processed junk food that is advertized, and think what the government wants them to think, all dished up as mind-numbing sit-coms, soap operas and game shows." Well, it is hard not to totally agree with this assessment.
Mr. Miles' diagnosis is most acute when he emphasizes Zappa's "ambivalent relationship to the counter-culture". While living in the absolute center of this counter-culture, he despised most of what it stood for. Zappa usually had very little respect for his fans and often he even vilified his audiences. He treated many people whose money he took for performing for them like complete idiots (and rightly so). The famous "Gee, my hair's getting good in the back!" quote satirizes the audiences' preoccupation with looking like the band members they idolized. The adolescent boys screamed in delight when they listened to Zappa's famous Titties and Beer, which was, basically, a song about how stupid they were.
I am for complete freedom of speech in arts and do not mind if an artist wants to write songs with lyrics about defecation, urination, flatulence, feet odor, nasal excretions, and other such things. People who are disgusted by the subject matter should just refrain from listening to these songs. And yes, I am disgusted with some Zappa's lyrics - I think 'Jazz Discharge Party Hats' might be the grossest song ever - yet I still support his right to write such a song, while at the same time doubting whether he ever managed to grow up.
What Mr. Miles' book made quite clear to me is how tyrannical and callous Frank Zappa was with respect to the musicians who played for him. Despite the fact that they had to work extremely hard - no other bands in the history of rock had to practice that hard during insanely prolonged rehearsals - and that Mr. Zappa paid them little, he continuously berated them and fired at will. His patronizing remarks about the members of the London Symphony Orchestra, who played his compositions and applauded his skills as a composer, are a particularly acute example.
Mr. Miles puts forward several other interesting theses in his book, for instance, about the influence of Zappa's Sicilian patriarchal roots, the consequences of his father's constant job changes and consequent relocations of Zappa's family, his lack of friends, even his apparent inability to love, yet this review is already way overlong. To sum up (finally!): Frank Zappa is a great musician and a keen social observer. He is the author of perhaps my favorite epigram "Scientists claim that hydrogen is the basic building block of the universe because it is so plentiful. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe." Yet, there is also another side to the genius and while I still admire Frank Zappa, I would somehow feel embarrassed, having read this great biography, to call him my hero.
Four and three quarter stars.
I read (or tried to read) several books about my hero. Zappa's autobiography - "The Real Frank Zappa Book" - made me adore my idol even more. I did not particularly like the unfocused "The Frank Zappa Companion", and could not very much get into "Frank Zappa: the Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play, full of technical details about the music, and sounding too much like a research paper on the conceptual continuity of Zappa's work for my taste. I have just now finished "Zappa" by Barry Miles. It is a great biography, a serious, extremely well researched book that - in my view - does a fantastic job of showing the real Frank Zappa - a musical giant, yet a real person, full of insecurities and obsessions. A genius yet also somewhat of a jerk.
The major strength of Mr. Miles' biography is that it transcends the biographical details, the enumeration of albums, songs, and performances, and the trite gossip. The author proposes several theses about forces that drove Frank Zappa in his art and in life and provides convincing arguments for these theses. Perhaps the most important of them is that the experience that shaped the artist the most was the ten days he had to spend in San Bernardino County Jail for making an ostensibly pornographic tape, whereas in reality he was entrapped by a zealous policeman. "By the time he got out, he no longer believed anything the authorities had ever told him. Everything he had been taught at school about the American Way of Life was a lie." Ever from then on he would try to make America "see itself as it really was: phoney, mendacious, shallow and ugly."
Zappa often claimed he did not want to become what he is known to most people as - a rock musician. He famously confessed "I never had any intention of writing rock music. I always wanted to compose more serious music and have it performed in concert halls." His becoming one of the most famous rock artists was a vehicle that allowed him achieve his ultimate goal - having various symphony orchestras play his "serious" compositions. The guise also allowed Zappa to achieve the other major goal of his life - becoming a pre-eminent social critic. Songs like Brown Shoes Don't Make It express "consummate indictment of government corruption and the vacuous sterility of American consumer society." In I'm the Slime Zappa "describes television content as vile and pernicious, brain-washing the American public until they are a country of zombies who do as they are told: eat the processed junk food that is advertized, and think what the government wants them to think, all dished up as mind-numbing sit-coms, soap operas and game shows." Well, it is hard not to totally agree with this assessment.
Mr. Miles' diagnosis is most acute when he emphasizes Zappa's "ambivalent relationship to the counter-culture". While living in the absolute center of this counter-culture, he despised most of what it stood for. Zappa usually had very little respect for his fans and often he even vilified his audiences. He treated many people whose money he took for performing for them like complete idiots (and rightly so). The famous "Gee, my hair's getting good in the back!" quote satirizes the audiences' preoccupation with looking like the band members they idolized. The adolescent boys screamed in delight when they listened to Zappa's famous Titties and Beer, which was, basically, a song about how stupid they were.
I am for complete freedom of speech in arts and do not mind if an artist wants to write songs with lyrics about defecation, urination, flatulence, feet odor, nasal excretions, and other such things. People who are disgusted by the subject matter should just refrain from listening to these songs. And yes, I am disgusted with some Zappa's lyrics - I think 'Jazz Discharge Party Hats' might be the grossest song ever - yet I still support his right to write such a song, while at the same time doubting whether he ever managed to grow up.
What Mr. Miles' book made quite clear to me is how tyrannical and callous Frank Zappa was with respect to the musicians who played for him. Despite the fact that they had to work extremely hard - no other bands in the history of rock had to practice that hard during insanely prolonged rehearsals - and that Mr. Zappa paid them little, he continuously berated them and fired at will. His patronizing remarks about the members of the London Symphony Orchestra, who played his compositions and applauded his skills as a composer, are a particularly acute example.
Mr. Miles puts forward several other interesting theses in his book, for instance, about the influence of Zappa's Sicilian patriarchal roots, the consequences of his father's constant job changes and consequent relocations of Zappa's family, his lack of friends, even his apparent inability to love, yet this review is already way overlong. To sum up (finally!): Frank Zappa is a great musician and a keen social observer. He is the author of perhaps my favorite epigram "Scientists claim that hydrogen is the basic building block of the universe because it is so plentiful. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe." Yet, there is also another side to the genius and while I still admire Frank Zappa, I would somehow feel embarrassed, having read this great biography, to call him my hero.
Four and three quarter stars.
September 27, 2020
I am not a big Zappa fan, but I always try and listen to any rare radio play of his songs of which I have heard "Montana", "Black Napkin" and "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", but this book was on a return cart in the library and I decide to give it a read.
Frank led an interesting life pretty much fighting authority at an early age the oldest son of Italian immigrants. Never a drug user or imbiber of alcohol he preferred women, black coffee, and cigarettes.
Always with an opinion and very much the leader of any band or incarnation of his music he stayed true to all of his convictions, married and had 4 children.
My wife bought the album "Sheik Yerbouti" for me which is among one of his better efforts from what I have read.
But a good bio on his life and music and includes a discography of his rather prolific career which to me seems up there with Dylan and the Grateful Dead.
Frank led an interesting life pretty much fighting authority at an early age the oldest son of Italian immigrants. Never a drug user or imbiber of alcohol he preferred women, black coffee, and cigarettes.
Always with an opinion and very much the leader of any band or incarnation of his music he stayed true to all of his convictions, married and had 4 children.
My wife bought the album "Sheik Yerbouti" for me which is among one of his better efforts from what I have read.
But a good bio on his life and music and includes a discography of his rather prolific career which to me seems up there with Dylan and the Grateful Dead.
May 20, 2010
A fairly well written book; I was put off by Zappa's tendency toward douchy behavior, as well as his phony "artist's sensibility." He was a cutthroat businessman who operated under the self-delusion of doing what he did in the name of his art. There is nothing more insufferable than a performer, with an exaggerated sense of importance, no one has the heart to say "No" to. Reading Zappa's direct quotes is tiring; even Barry Miles, the author, makes a practice of correcting Zappa's various exaggerated claims and false assertions. A bad husband and father, more ego driven than his talent should have allowed, he made the lives of everyone around him miserable. I respect Zappa less for having read this book, which is a shame, because I've always generally enjoyed his work. In a way, I wish I hadn't read it, because now that I know more about him, I wish I didn't.
March 15, 2022
Re-reading this book...
It’s a good informative book, but to partial. Barry Miles keeps pointing fingers on what he dislikes about Frank. It bothers because I couldn’t care less about Barry Miles opinion.
I know... When I read a biography we are reading someone talking about a person I like or I’m interested in.
But... as the author feels free to give his opinions that I don’t care about, I feel free to dislike the book and say that this is the worst Zappa bio I read... and I read a few.
It’s only better that Fabio Massari awful book released in Brazil.
If I want your opinion I’ll ask you!
It’s a good informative book, but to partial. Barry Miles keeps pointing fingers on what he dislikes about Frank. It bothers because I couldn’t care less about Barry Miles opinion.
I know... When I read a biography we are reading someone talking about a person I like or I’m interested in.
But... as the author feels free to give his opinions that I don’t care about, I feel free to dislike the book and say that this is the worst Zappa bio I read... and I read a few.
It’s only better that Fabio Massari awful book released in Brazil.
If I want your opinion I’ll ask you!
February 13, 2013
I first heard Brown Shoes Don't Make It on the Dr. Demento Show in the 70s; I was thirteen and impressionable, so I latched onto the line "only thirteen and she knows how to nasty." It remains my favorite song in the world to this day. Frank may not have received a lot of airplay—on his first album, Freak Out!, one song is called Nullis Pretii (No Commercial Potential)—but in the 70s I was able to hear some choice songs of his, including
The Muffin Man
and
Joe's Garage
.
This bio written by Barry Miles—a self-proclaimed friend of Frank Zappa's—couldn't have been written in Frank's lifetime; he only ever approved The Real Frank Zappa Book, which consisted of transcripts from interview sessions with him by the author of that book. This book does contain a great deal of anecdotes, as well as quotes from those close to Frank—particularly his wife Gail, and his daughter Moon Unit.
I really would recommend this book to anyone with the least interest in Frank Zappa; even the ending, in which the author describes Frank's final days with cancer, is important, in that at the time I felt cheated that I hadn't known how gravely ill he was. When I heard Frank had died, I was inconsolably depressed for more than a week; I had even called 818-PUMPKIN, the official Zappa hotline not long before and was told, "Oh, he's fine."
I'm really happy I read this book and will probably read it again; Frank may not have been "popular" or easily categorized, but he left his mark on the world just by doing what he had to do. There's even an asteroid named "Zappafrank" out there.
This bio written by Barry Miles—a self-proclaimed friend of Frank Zappa's—couldn't have been written in Frank's lifetime; he only ever approved The Real Frank Zappa Book, which consisted of transcripts from interview sessions with him by the author of that book. This book does contain a great deal of anecdotes, as well as quotes from those close to Frank—particularly his wife Gail, and his daughter Moon Unit.
I really would recommend this book to anyone with the least interest in Frank Zappa; even the ending, in which the author describes Frank's final days with cancer, is important, in that at the time I felt cheated that I hadn't known how gravely ill he was. When I heard Frank had died, I was inconsolably depressed for more than a week; I had even called 818-PUMPKIN, the official Zappa hotline not long before and was told, "Oh, he's fine."
I'm really happy I read this book and will probably read it again; Frank may not have been "popular" or easily categorized, but he left his mark on the world just by doing what he had to do. There's even an asteroid named "Zappafrank" out there.
May 16, 2020
The book starts with an anecdote where Frank Zappa, as a teenager, ends up being entrapped by a crooked cop into making a fake sex audio tape and being arrested and tried over it, and it allegedly told Frank that America and authority in general was all a lie. Yet soon after, a description of Frank's childhood suggests he was rebellious and stubborn all along, and lived in some rough areas growing up-which would belie the claim he was naïve even as a toddler. Further reading about Zappa's childhood implies he made false claims about it. I didn't even wait until Frank reached adulthood before I got suspicious about the author's accuracy and honesty.
Reading the other reviews confirmed my suspicions. Nothing in the book not already in other biographies about Zappa, no primary research, no sign the author even talked to people in Frank's life. The book jacket claims the author knew Zappa personally and attended his recording sessions, but the book's gossipy tone effectively destroyed my trust in this author's credibility. Good thing it was from the library.
Moral of the story: whenever possible, if you want to learn about a person, find their autobiography. Autobiographies may not always be fully accurate, and may be self-serving, but people are basically accurate when talking about themselves. "Biographies" like this are phonier than professional wrestling matches.
Reading the other reviews confirmed my suspicions. Nothing in the book not already in other biographies about Zappa, no primary research, no sign the author even talked to people in Frank's life. The book jacket claims the author knew Zappa personally and attended his recording sessions, but the book's gossipy tone effectively destroyed my trust in this author's credibility. Good thing it was from the library.
Moral of the story: whenever possible, if you want to learn about a person, find their autobiography. Autobiographies may not always be fully accurate, and may be self-serving, but people are basically accurate when talking about themselves. "Biographies" like this are phonier than professional wrestling matches.
August 9, 2012
I did find this bio of Frank Zappa fascinating, even though I was put off by the multitude of typos and errors (names of musicians, songs, etc. were often wrong). I had read The Real Frank Zappa Book several times, and it was interesting to get more of an objective viewpoint. Sadly, it does seem that Zappa was not as cool as I always thought he was. I was disappointed to read about his dalliances with so many groupies throughout his married life. I have no reason to believe that Miles was mistaken about Frank's infidelities, as Gail Zappa has referred in interviews to Frank's extra-marital activities. Still, Zappa's career had an amazing trajectory, and I think Miles manages to describe this remarkable life with a considerable degree of balance between admiration and approbation.
March 13, 2013
Barry Miles gets trashed by other reviewers and some of the critiques are justified especially when you don't get Zappa's date of death correct. Nonetheless, Miles attempts to write a well-rounded biography that discusses warts and all. Some of it is disillusioning hearing the negatives about Frank, but it was always the things that you already suspected; such as Zappa being an absent father, a control freak or not wanting to pay his musicians. This book was better than Frank's own "The Real Frank Zappa Book" because it was trying to paint the whole picture. As far as how it ranks to other biographies of Frank Zappa, I couldn't comment since I haven't read any. The biography includes a discography section, which is also nice. It is nearly 400 pages, so it takes a bit of a time commitment.
April 12, 2008
Extreme amounts of detail are included in this uber-comprehensive biography. An awesome read for anyone familiar with the span of Zappa's career as it provides a great deal of context to each of his releases. It's fun to listen to the music that corresponds to each era as you read about it.
The author doesn't hesitate to inject his opinion into the biography, which surprisingly isn't the least bit annoying or distracting.
After reading this, it's impossible not to have a huge respect for Zappa's many accomplishments, musical and otherwise. It's sort of incredible that a movie hasn't been made about his life yet.
The author doesn't hesitate to inject his opinion into the biography, which surprisingly isn't the least bit annoying or distracting.
After reading this, it's impossible not to have a huge respect for Zappa's many accomplishments, musical and otherwise. It's sort of incredible that a movie hasn't been made about his life yet.
August 19, 2013
A thorough biography of a brilliant musician who was an even better self-marketer. Although steeped in r n b Zappa looked hard for his niche "Let me be weird and funny live and in-studio," he said, "even though I'm deadly serious about almost everything. Let me cultivate the audience that I'm ultimately laughing at, and let me bring in brilliant (and hungry) musicians only to work them to death and ultimately dispose of them." Frank was different all right. Different like a fox! And you always had the feeling that he never did quite got over Daddy's disapproval. If the bio has some semblance of truth then Frank Zappa - by default-- was probably his own best friend.
January 4, 2023
Enjoyed this one a lot. Paints quite a picture of Zappa as a self-assured control freak, domineering workaholic, as well as a generational talent as a composer and a skilled guitarist and bandleader. He seemed both resentful, and strangely *not* at the same time, that he never achieved real mainstream success, but he did what he loved and became very wealthy and respected by his peers by doing it just his way, and only his way. A life cut short too soon, but a very full one nonetheless.
If you are a fan, this has got to be the definitive biography.
Started this book 2 and a half years ago. Put it down until last week. Flew through the rest. The last 75p are just references and an index.
If you are a fan, this has got to be the definitive biography.
Started this book 2 and a half years ago. Put it down until last week. Flew through the rest. The last 75p are just references and an index.
September 11, 2012
I have read a couple other biographies by Miles , like WIlliam Burroughs and The Beat Hotel and have enjoyed them both. He begins this biography with a story of, that most Zappa fans know, that Frank got busted for making a porn-movie. While it is usually scoffed off as a minor incident Miles makes it a pivitol experience for Zappa as an artist. He describes in detail Zappa's upbringing, and his long trip through music-making. I read it a while ago but still pick it up and read sections; it also has a great discography in the back.
January 27, 2016
Any decent biography by any decent biographer has to walk that thin line that steers masterfully between sycophancy and acid disclosure. Barry Miles fulfils this role with a natural flair. He obviously admired Zappa even if at times found him exacerbating, sometimes downright unpleasant. The depth of his research is exhaustive and all though I knew most of what is written here he still manages to uncover things I had not learnt before. Zappa was everything I thought he was and one or two things more. All in all a good biography of one of the 21st centuries great composers.
February 14, 2019
Big Zappa fan, here. But this book is a classic example of great story, awful book.
It is so filled with errors, that it becomes hard to believe.
Plus it is rancid with the writer's insipid opinions about American culture and politics.
Stick to the facts jerkoff!
Five stars to Frank, 0 stars to the writer.
Whenever I hear the Zappa song “Dickie’s Such an Asshole” I will substitute the name of this writer.
It is so filled with errors, that it becomes hard to believe.
Plus it is rancid with the writer's insipid opinions about American culture and politics.
Stick to the facts jerkoff!
Five stars to Frank, 0 stars to the writer.
Whenever I hear the Zappa song “Dickie’s Such an Asshole” I will substitute the name of this writer.
January 12, 2022
Miles gathered up existing research and didn't talk to anyone, although he did interact with Zappa at various points in his life. Still, this is a decent effort at explaining Zappa, placing him in context and detailing his cultural impact. Miles is unsparing on Zappa's misanthropy, need for control and inability to self examine. Certainly puts the "critical" in "critical biography," and the book is the better for it. I'm not a fan, btw, but was curious about his life.
Read
August 15, 2019What I liked about this book is that the author clearly had tremendous respect for Zappa but also didn't like him in a lot of ways. It makes for a complex, frustrating, but tremendously interesting story. Zappa needed a good leftist critique and he got one here in this bio. it's weird that this book made me like Zappa's music a lot more and also made me like him as a person a lot less.
July 29, 2009
Great stories, excellent for a true fanatic, just for the timeline and backstories.
Commentary revealed the writer to be what so many critics are: assholes who can't create themselves, yet still feel justified to a half-informed opinion. What a clown Barry Miles is.
Commentary revealed the writer to be what so many critics are: assholes who can't create themselves, yet still feel justified to a half-informed opinion. What a clown Barry Miles is.
May 18, 2024
The life and career of Frank Zappa as told by a British journalist.
The Good: Frank Zappa was many things, maverick, iconoclast, rebel; he was also the writer/performer of such songs as "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow'" "Titties and Beer," "Rubber Biscuit," "Cosmik Debris" and "Valley Girl." He was a musical genius who loved Stravinky and Varese as much as he loved Doo Wop. His albums turned into melodramatic rock operas and his album "Freak Out!" Is considered a classic in rock double album standards. He was also a staunch first amendment advocate, being one of the key speakers against music censorship along with Dee Snider and John Denver against Tipper Gore's PMRC. He also had a voter registration booth at every concert and was responsible for over 11,000 registered voters over the years. He was also a huge fan of beat poets like Kerouac and Ginsberg and counted Lenny Bruce as an idol. He also discovered Alice Cooper.
The Bad: He was a self-described genius, who didn't talk to people much because, according to him, he had no intellectual equals. He was a perfectionist and a ruthless taskmaster who outlawed drug use in his band, The Mothers of Invention, which made it hard to keep musicians during the free love, hippie 60's and 70's. He was also arrested for indecency and sexual perversion in his music, which would describe kinky and unusual fetishes which he put under the guise of satire and first amendment ammo. He was banned from Texas for having the sign: "Lick Bush in '88" at his concerts. He was extremely, to his undoing, completely counter culture and used his hatred of people as a whole as his argument for his self-described genius behavior.
Frank Zappa was just a weird dude, certainly not a good dude, but weird. There is no way his musical style and opinions on women, sex and race would allow him to succeed in today's society. If you can separate the music from the person, his stuff can be very good, if you can't, you won't get into him.
B-
The Good: Frank Zappa was many things, maverick, iconoclast, rebel; he was also the writer/performer of such songs as "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow'" "Titties and Beer," "Rubber Biscuit," "Cosmik Debris" and "Valley Girl." He was a musical genius who loved Stravinky and Varese as much as he loved Doo Wop. His albums turned into melodramatic rock operas and his album "Freak Out!" Is considered a classic in rock double album standards. He was also a staunch first amendment advocate, being one of the key speakers against music censorship along with Dee Snider and John Denver against Tipper Gore's PMRC. He also had a voter registration booth at every concert and was responsible for over 11,000 registered voters over the years. He was also a huge fan of beat poets like Kerouac and Ginsberg and counted Lenny Bruce as an idol. He also discovered Alice Cooper.
The Bad: He was a self-described genius, who didn't talk to people much because, according to him, he had no intellectual equals. He was a perfectionist and a ruthless taskmaster who outlawed drug use in his band, The Mothers of Invention, which made it hard to keep musicians during the free love, hippie 60's and 70's. He was also arrested for indecency and sexual perversion in his music, which would describe kinky and unusual fetishes which he put under the guise of satire and first amendment ammo. He was banned from Texas for having the sign: "Lick Bush in '88" at his concerts. He was extremely, to his undoing, completely counter culture and used his hatred of people as a whole as his argument for his self-described genius behavior.
Frank Zappa was just a weird dude, certainly not a good dude, but weird. There is no way his musical style and opinions on women, sex and race would allow him to succeed in today's society. If you can separate the music from the person, his stuff can be very good, if you can't, you won't get into him.
B-
October 1, 2025
This is a serviceable, but overall disappointing, biography of Frank Zappa. The author does not seem to like his subject all that much, with lots of critical asides throughout the book. Some of the criticism is valid, but the amount of it does raise the question of why the author chose to write this biography in the first place. It's clear that Mr. Miles admires much of Zappa's music, but he critiques a lot of it too.
There's not really any new or surprising information in this biography, and I think the book works best in the first half, covering Zappa's childhood and early years as a musician. The second half of the book feels very rushed, with little time spent on individual albums or the musicians in Zappa's band. I was hoping for more deprh in exploring Zappa's recorded output and live performances. Perhaps the lack of detail is due to the author's seeming lack of regard for his subject.
This might be the best Zappa book currently available, but let's hope the definitive biography emerges someday.
There's not really any new or surprising information in this biography, and I think the book works best in the first half, covering Zappa's childhood and early years as a musician. The second half of the book feels very rushed, with little time spent on individual albums or the musicians in Zappa's band. I was hoping for more deprh in exploring Zappa's recorded output and live performances. Perhaps the lack of detail is due to the author's seeming lack of regard for his subject.
This might be the best Zappa book currently available, but let's hope the definitive biography emerges someday.
January 5, 2025
Well researched, chronologically organized, and probably a book that is more enjoyable to someone who “lived through the times” or were familiar with the contemporaries name dropped within. Stylistically it swung between an analysis of Frank and his work, and a chronological list of happenings. I read this as part of a book group, and none of us was sure we liked Frank Zappa as a person in the end. Content of Frank’s work aside, there was much left to wonder about who Frank truly was (or thought he was) as a human being. If I had any certainty about Frank after reading the book, it was that he was not the present or nurturing father figure a child deserved.
April 6, 2020
This was a really good overview of Zappa's life and career, which is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. The first book I read about him was focused more on music theory and his composition, which was nice, but I wanted a bigger picture look at it. I'm still not sure I walk away from this as a fan of his music (though I do like large swaths of his early decade or so), and I'm much less of a fan of his as a person. Miles certainly doesn't shy away from showing exactly what kind of an a-hole he was.
August 5, 2025
Zappa era Zappa. Non resta molto altro da dire. Un faro, una piramide, un colosso, un mito. Era Zappa, con tutte le sue contraddizioni, la sua misoginia, ma era pur sempre un ragazzo degli anni '50 cresciuto nell'America puritana e timorata di dio, che per sbarcare il lunario ha cominciato a suonare la chitarra imitando i suoi primi e mai dimenticati eroi del doo-wop e del R&B, finendo poi nel fiume in piena degli anni '60 in cui chiunque sapesse strimpellare due note sembrava avere un futuro davanti a sé.
September 18, 2024
How the hell did Miles manage to mix up the identities of Flo (Mark Volman) and Eddie (Howard Kaylan), former members of The Turtles and later members of Zappa’s band?!
At times it felt like Miles had an ax to grind with Zappa, plus some of the analyses of his song lyrics were a little too oversensitive for my liking.
My kindle edition (downloaded September 2024) had no illustrations despite the file listing several.
Still enjoyed most of the book though.
At times it felt like Miles had an ax to grind with Zappa, plus some of the analyses of his song lyrics were a little too oversensitive for my liking.
My kindle edition (downloaded September 2024) had no illustrations despite the file listing several.
Still enjoyed most of the book though.
June 21, 2019
I do like biographies and this is a decent biography from what little I knew about Frank Zappa. It held my interest and read fairly smoothly. It only got a rating of 3 from me because it oddly enough mentions 4 children and yet contains a picture of only 3 of his children and himself and doesn’t even mention Diva’s name once.
July 2, 2024
Written in 2004, Zappa would have been cancelled many times over by today's critics. His music was satirical but serious, and Miles' biography lets us into his family life, his peripatetic childhood and teenage rebellion. A harsh bandleader, some of his music is forward-thinking and without peer. Worth reading alongside his albums, which were often razorbladed together in his home studio. Quirky.
July 5, 2017
An elongated wikipedia article full of typos that serves better as a Cliffnotes introduction to Frank Zappa than it does an appropriate and detailed look at his career. Regardless I learned some interesting things and somewhat enjoyed the read if for nothing else than the star.
June 27, 2018
Schietta biografia che esplora la vita, il background culturale e l’universo musicale di uno dei più grandi compositori del secolo scorso. Direi uno strumento fondamentale per orientarsi in una sterminata, variegata e appassionante produzione artistica.
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