How to Love Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa is very prolific and very bizarre musical artist who made music from the 60's to the 90's. Zappa was a brilliant composer, lyricist and fantastic musician who surrounded himself with talented people and produced some very, very strange music. If you want to get into Frank and don't know where to start, here is a very simple way.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. There is a famous line from a Kids in the Hall sketch that says "Best of Albums are for housewives and little girls!" However, this is the best way to start with Zappa. Go out and buy the album "Strictly Commercial," which is a great "best of" album.
2. Listen to the whole album in one sitting.
3. Take note of the songs that you enjoyed the most.
4. Look on the CD cover to see what album or project that song originally appeared on.
5. Purchase the album in question.
6. Also, purchase an album that came out near the same time or featured the same musicians. Most likely it will be a similar style, but different enough to stretch your Zappa knowledge a little bit more.
7. Continue with all the songs that you enjoy on "Strictly Commercial" until you have a nice collection of Zappa music you enjoy and have context for.
8. Challenge yourself and buy an album from a completely different period in Zappa's career then the last one you bought and enjoyed. For example, if you buy and enjoy "Joe's Garage" which came out in 1979, buy "Freak Out" which was released in 1966.
9. When you are really ready for a Zappa challenge, buy the Album "Hot Rats." If you have made it this far, you will love it.

Tips & Warnings

• Sometimes playing Frank Zappa for other people doesn't work out that well, unless they are Zappa fans as well.