Musician Frank Zappa's Obituary

Musician Frank Zappa’s obituary in 1993 reminds me that those who have great talent and fame aren’t always nice people. There are lots of historical examples of this: The artist Caravaggio, who painted some of the most beautiful and moving religious art, was a murderer. The actor Errol Flynn was an alcoholic estranged from his children and had sex with underage girls. And America’s most beloved author, Mark Twain, was a spendthrift and held grudges. Zappa’s New York Times obituary by Jon Pareles tries hard not to skate over Zappa’s difficult personality, instead giving him credit for his influence on rock and roll, his mastery of a variety of musical styles, and calling him “iconoclastic” and “Dada-esque” and occasionally “juvenile” or “scatological.” Pareles refrains from mentioning that, according to his own wife, Zappa “didn’t do love,” pulled his kids out of school at 15 because he thought education was a waste of time, and wrote some of the most offensive lyrics in rock and roll history (Paglia, 2004)

He didn’t care about peace, love, or rock-and-roll. He took no stand on the war in Vietnam (Wolf, 2004). He wasn’t interested in social problems. He tried pot a few times, but thought hard drugs were stupid, and preferred to drink high-octane espresso between stage sets. In fact, his children buried him with his espresso machine (Paglia, 2004). He called himself a conservative (Frank Zappa on Crossfire, 2006) who didn’t approve of social programs, high taxes, or government interference—most of the things Boomers did approve of. In fact, he pretty much hated us Baby Boomers, and the fact that we didn’t pick up on this is testimony to our own cluelessness because it was right there in songs like “Who Needs the Peace