I knew the name Zappa....but I didn’t know or fully realize the artist...probably because radio wouldn’t touch him....he was so ahead of his time doing things artists are doing now being independent.....giving the middle finger 🖕 too record labels...because I’m making my own record label....releasing my own material with creative control....he produced most of...if not all his records....he is a pioneer and probably the first independent artist.....Zappa is a fine wine that gets better with age and I’m finally popping the cork...and All tell you.... I like the taste....one of my soon too be....favorite artists
One of the things about Mike Douglas that made him such a good talk show host was that he embraced silence. He didn’t try to fill up every single second with dialogue, but instead would just let conversation happen naturally and actually take the time to listen to what the guest was saying. This is lacking in practically every single talk show host currently.
Great point, BluRay. In fairness, it was a lot easier to do that in a 3 channel universe with no remote controls. Viewers won't wait for things to play out naturally today.
No note cards either. Gives time for Zappa, who is an odd duck, the moments to expound and if he doesn’t follow up with questions every one would want to know. Good at his craft
Yes. I haven’t watched many of his interviews but they are interesting for the reasons you cite. The guests are so close they are almost touching one another, and Mike’s questions and responses are real and organic. This can seem slightly awkward for a moment but ultimately is much more real.
My beautiful, young 1966-67 Delray Beach junior high Art teacher explained some people can see sounds and hear colors. I liked her right away. One day she had 20 of us paint whatever we wanted on a stripped 16mm film section. She randomly assembled the now amazingly painted film strips, put it in the projector, turned off the lights, turned the switch on and played Frank Zappa's brand new Freak Out LP. Not many of us had heard of Frank at that point. All our teenage minds were blown and I've been a big fan of Frank ever since. She was the best teacher I've ever had. Thank You!
That's the kind of open minded progress that frightens the ignorant and arrogant that want to take us back to the dark ages... Change happens, call it progress or evolution. But it's scary for some and they revolt. Embrace it though and you can learn every day.
Kenny Rogers, Jimmy "JJ" Walker, and Frank Zappa (playing guitar through a little 5 watt portable Pignose amp) all on the same show. The 70's were a trip.
You'll never see TV like this again. Great interviewer, no moronic attempts at humour, genuine interest in what the guest has to say and lets him say it without interruption.
Great is a stretch. Mike is definitely respectful and allows a conversation. It's just that his questions are often rudimentary and don't do much to elicit much more than a simple answer. The onus is then on the interviewee to take it further. A good interviewer has researched their subject well enough to ask questions that will allow them to open up.
The great thing about Frank’s television appearances and performances was that he knew the show’s house musicians were good enough to play his provided charts and sheet music to back him up! 👍🎼
Mostly it's just an easy groove between i and iv in C#m. The backline would just stay in the groove with it. Then at 7:24 things shift into a major key and the challenge begins.
It’s proof of the short window of opportunity to live in this world. As a kid, I clearly remember the Mike Douglas show and today all these brilliant fellas are gone.
I grew up watching the Mike Douglas Show in the 60’s and 70’s and basically took it for granted. Now watching this clip in my mid-sixties, I realize what a sincere man and excellent interviewer he was; really a class act. Too bad television has degenerated to its current state. There isn’t a single talk show I watch with any regularity any more.
It’s true that Frank Zappa is an acquired taste but once you get into the music and the personality, you’re hooked for life. Thank God for Dweezil and Steve Vai that keep the music alive 🎶🎼🎸
I like how everybody has different backgrounds, dressed different, but have such an educated and respectful conversation. I could listen for hours to this. As I grew older I learned to appreciate the quality that previous generations were exposed to. Today many people don't even have the attention span for this.
Yes, it's quite an indication of how much we seem to have lost in our social structure and interaction. I would love us to return to such a cordial, respectful and un self-absorbed way of being.
I agree. "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace" Is my favorite. Amazing! Notice his tapping chops in this clip? Van Halen style. Being ahead of his time is an understatement. Eddy was probably 20 at this taping and wouldn't have their debut album for a couple of years. I never got to see Frank play. I met his son and watched him noodle around at Hollywood Guitar Center. I'll never forget getting a call one day that Eddy would be playing at this club in Malibu. "Come down before the word get's out!" So I did. We're standing outside having a drink, and I see Eddy with his guitar, walking across PCH over to us. I said: "Well That's something you don't see every day.." I really miss those days.
I used to work for a guitar magazine. The art director told me a story about going to the Zappa house to photograph Dweezil, and was given strict instructions by the publicist not to take any pictures of Frank. This was when he was very sick. Anyways, he sets up his equipment and is waiting for Dweezil when Frank walks in, quietly sits down in a big armchair and starts reading. The way the art director describes it, there was a big beautiful window behind him, stacks of books off to the side, the light was streaming in just right and Frank was looking very relaxed and peaceful. "All I had to do was press the button but out of respect I didn't. I've photographed almost everyone you can think of but I lie awake in bed sometimes thinking about that shot I never took."
Well, Zappa is, of course, a genius, but Mike Douglas was class, too. He tried to be respectful of things and people he didn't really understand. That's a nice spirit.
Mike Douglas was probably one of the best interviewers out there, he was sincerely interested in his guests lives and would ask exactly the kinds of questions I would ask, like this one with Zap, I'm a huge fan and definitely would ask first how he got started. That always fascinates me about artists I admire, how the hell they got to where they are. I'm reading a book now on Jimi Hendrix and it's utterly fascinating how that guy got to where he was. ALL he did was play guitar, he depended 100% on his guitar playing to make a living, never got a job and he would literally end up sleeping in the streets at times. Can you imagine seeing Jimi Hendrix sleeping in some park? He would also play in the street, the greatest rock guitarist in history playing in the street, unreal. They said when he got out of the army, the army gave him $400 bucks which back in 1962 was about $3500 in todays money and he went to a bar and bought everyone drinks and by the end of the night he was totally broke, he spent it all in one night and when he called his dad asking if he could come home he told him no. His father was a real scumbag. When they contacted him about Jimis death the first thing out of his mouth was how much money he was getting.
I just saw an interview with Anton Szandor LaVey from the Satanic Church, from about this era. The interviewer spent the whole interview insulting and belittling Mr. LaVey, who took it all with grace and cheer.
Mike Douglas is probably one of the most underrated talk show hosts of his time. I think his show aired on weekday afternoons, an odd time even in its day. Mike was a good interviewer and booked interesting guests. I think he should be more famous.
I grew up in Philly and saw the Mike Douglas show live. Ashford and Simpson were the musical guests. Can't remember who else was on. Mike was a class act and a great interviewer. Always had great guests. Who else had Zappa and Hendrix and countless others.
I can imagine some grandma watching this and going "I really enjoyed this Zappa person, what a lovely jazz musician. Perhaps I'll go out and find one of his record albums." !!!
Dude, it's more like, this old grandma commenting under your comment right here, right now, was at a Frank Zappa concert the night John Lennon was shot.
There are no words to describe the level of brilliance that Zappa had..his musicianship, his intelligence, his brutal honesty, multi-talented..just listening to him speak and hearing his complex compositions just blows me away everytime.
I was always curious but never really interested. Curious because most musicians that played with him are idols of mine. I really love the way he talks and he was really handsome. Now I'm into Zappa.
When I was in radio in 1978 I interviewed Zappa after a concert. Amazing man. One of the other interviewers asked some silly question, and Zappa jumped all over him, saying: "Did you see all those people running around all over the stage? I have to pay their salaries. Did you see all the equipment, and the tractor trailers out back? I have to pay the notes on all those. I'm a business man first." In the Mike Douglas interview he was talking about how he didn't like drugs...during my interview he explained he wanted the musicians to be totally sober when they went on stage, that they couldn't play their best when high...had fired people in the middle of a tour for going out on stage high or drunk. Zappa proves you can't judge a book by the cover.
I didn't like his music much as a teen, but I appreciated him. Now as a 60-year-old I fully appreciate his music and his take on life. Zappa was a genius and by all accounts a very nice, down-to-Earth man. An older friend of mine, who's now passed, knew him well and really said Frank Zappa was one of the wonderful geniuses and great people of ours or any time. And I still adore Moon.
I feel uncomfortable watching this. Mike is intelligent, well spoken, thoughtful, open minded, and totally empathetic. I'm so not used to intelligent TV personalities that treat people like people.... 🙄
Agreed. I love Zappa, but this is not the first tv interview I've seen where he falls completely flat. He wants to think that he's about to be setup, but Douglas really wants to hear what Zappa has to say. Zappa seemed looser after he played, but it was too late. I can imagine potential fans thinking "what a dick!"
What always impressed me about Frank Zappa is that even though he had a razor sharp, sardonic sense of humor, & didn't suffer fools gladly, if someone was being decent & respectful toward him, he'd be polite & engaging right back. Not only an excellent composer/musician, but a class act.
Tom Ripsin It's why I like Mike Douglas so much. he was also very respectful when other TV hoists of his generation were condescending and even mocking. And Mike did his homework. he knew about the relationship between Zappa and Alice Cooper.
Not just TV hosts of that generation, but up until today. There are still hosts that are disrespectful and mocking. I get that kind of thing can be funny to some people, but if you want a true interview out of someone that responds to truth and respect like Frank Zappa, it just won't work. And Mike Douglas worked.
Geez Mike Douglas knew how to give an interview. Look at the schmucks we have today who try harder to be the center of attention, and everything is pre-screened and micromanaged. Mike Douglas though - what a genuine guy.
If you think even a second of the "unscripted" video since the very first TV broadcast was in fact "unscripted" you're deluding yourself. Every millisecond has always been scripted, fake, and intending to elicit specific reactions.
Mike was always interested in being the television purveyor of things new, different and especially a step beyond the familiarity of many. The guy was in the position to put john and yoko in his seat for a week and bring an interesting bill of fare. Loved that guy! As for the completely scripted down to the most minute detail crap, here is just one of many examples. This one occured on the tonight show when Don Rickles broke a treasured cigarette box Johnny kept on his desk while guest hosting for him. Needless to say, that incident and every bit of what ensued was as unscripted as it gets including busting in on the set of CPO Sharkey and reading Rickles the riot act! Needless to say, after all was said and done, Rickles never was on that show again. Suffice it to say, Johnny was a big voice and had his say when he wanted it.
You can see his Pignose amp at 3:34 and 7:38. When I did work for the Zappa family (the greatest honor of my life), Dweezil and I found that amp in the back of the studio. I got it working, contacted the Pignose Company about it, and they subsequently did an interview with Dweezil. The only modifications to it were XLR (microphone) connectors to run a line out to a mixing console.
mortyok3 -interesting craft about the Pignose Company.. Terry Kath, the original lead guitar player in CTA > Chicago. Was an original investor and owner of the company. And he used the pignose live on stage miked up.
It really doesn't sound good, though. It's about the worst I've ever heard, actually. I like the very clean sounds of Neal Schon, SRV and so on. I mean, I'll give you Black Sabbath Sweet Leaf, because it's supposed to sound crunchy in a universal way...
I've watched a lot of people interview Mr. Zappa. Most of them ask about how he named his kids. Mike Douglas seemed to hit a chord with Zappa and Douglas' questions were wonderful.
There was so much more to him than the weird stuff. Much to many people's surprise he was actually pretty conservative. Must have been quite brave for what looked like a pretty mainstream show to have invite someone like Zappa to appear, and to play one of his compositions live.
Dude donahue was something deeper & better than the artless jackals who were coming anyway.. but yeah it’s nuts- Zappa has no pressure to sing, Joni Mitchell is called trite pop and no one objects.. if you’re digging this, dick Cavett has tons of amaze on RU-vid better more charismatic host, Lennon Lucille ball all types of shit.. Zappa’s half assed video is so batshit. He should be proclaiming from every rooftop that he WAS on drugs. Super-hyper-spastic-vibraphone bullshit crappy vids with symbology only important to Zappa. I love the 70s.
Now I see why he’s so well respected among other elite musicians. Frank may have been weird, but his head was screwed on straight, & he stayed true to himself, as well as others. I wish more human beings were like that!
Black Napkins -- Easily one of Frank's most colorful compositions. He's said in different interviews (And in different ways...) whenever he's playing these songs live that the periods of times he solos in are like creating an air sculpture to him. Almost all of his live solos are different than the album produced ones. He said during his solos from the time they begin, until the time they end that he has that amount of time to "create an air sculpture". He went on to describe what an air sculpture was, and that his solos are different live because he wanted to give the audience a unique experience seeing him live. He demonstrates that here where his solo portion of Black Napkins is different than the album produced one. I was born 1992, so I missed out on Frank being alive, but as a musician of 22 years I appreciate his work ethic so much musically. He was a genius, compositionally he was a mad man. It's mind blowing to realize that he didn't have anything but his will and determination to learn everything he knew about sheet music, and compositions. Looking at his last pieces of work, it was easy to see he was shifting to composing full scale orchestrated pieces. I'm glad he was able to get some of that onto paper, or composed under his supervision. I like watching his interviews because of the way his mind works, and the kind of responses he was able to get out of people while talking to them. I feel like a lot of people that interviewed him never really expected Frank to be as sharp and witty as he was when they would talk to him. He also played a big part in the court proceedings regarding the legalities of music with mature content, and the way those legalities were decided. Those proceedings is how the Parental Advisory label came into existence, and Frank's influence in those proceedings are largely part of the reason why music with mature content that is released can be publicly available. Those labels are still used today, and to think that Frank Zappa played a big role like that in the music industry also blows my mind. I wish more people could appreciate Zappa the way us Zap Heads do. There won't ever be another one like him, but I'm glad there was Zappa at all.
Thank you for elaborating on his take of ‘air sculptures’. Music really is finding creative ways to push molecules around. And if you happen to raise the vibration then that’s a true God-giving gift and if you’re good at it you should definitely share those gifts with as many people as possible.
The man carries his SG on stage ,then plugs directly into an awesome Pignose amp where he played with an orchestra who were obviously Zappa fans ,his performance was excellent without so much as a 15 minute sound check ,this here really goes to prove how under rated a guitarist Frank.was.
I've listened to alot of Frank and have heard the stories of how he pushed his musicians to their technical limits. The Mike Douglas Band is amazing on this. I'm assuming they had little to no rehearsal and read sheet music for this performance, but I'd love to know the story on that. Whatever the case they embellished Frank's vision in a most superior fashion.
Those weird crappy little Pignose amps are on a LOT of classic rock records. It was sort of a secret weapon at the time. Bands liked to show off the big Marshall stacks on stage, but sometimes that quirky, fizzy Pignose tone was exactly what they wanted in the studio.
It was extremely rare those days to see any rock act, especially a non-top 40, - I remember seeing David Bowie on Diana Shore - Frank sitting there with Jimmy Walker is just freaking bizarre... so glad for youtube as we never had recording devices back in the day, so if you missed it tough noogies
Absolutely. Well even though Frank wasn't in mainstream pop, he was charismatic and had made previous appearances on variety shows over the years. An intelligent guy like Mike Douglas probably appreciated his work and wanted to have him on. Nowadays, it's all about who pays the most to get a spot. Big business has completely taken over. Did you see the old video of Frank making sounds with a bicycle. Hilarious.
Zappa's guitar technique has been described by Dweezil as the spider and the chicken. The left hand is the spider, crawling all over the fretboard and the right hand is pecking away at the strings like a chicken. Very adept description.
Mike Douglas wasn’t the funniest or most exciting host, but his sincerity and thoughtfulness and down to earth style fit in very well in the 1970s. Very soothing medicine against the worlds ills. Speaking of soothing Frank’s voice was extremely relaxing. Definitely one of the unique and brave people of the latter 20th century. Shame cancer hit him at a relatively young age. RIP to both men.
Brilliant track with amazing guitar by his excellency! I just had to do a short drum-cover of this today where I follow his playing. Enjoy! 🤩 ru-vid.comAC7roCvFTIc?feature=share
I love how the other guests ( Kenny Rogers, Jimmy Walker) all stayed on the show the whole time even after when they were interviewed. It doesn’t happen Today in our digital fast paced world everyone is so busy- it’s rush rush gotta go somewhere.
Frank Zappa is the most misunderstood music star that I know of. Manny don't care much for his recordings because he totally did his own thing, so he never did what was expected of him and lot's of people didn't get it, I was one of those people. It wasn't until I saw Frank live in '74 that I really got what Frank was doing. Fantastic live shows, that's what. His recording were nothing like what he did on stage. His bands were always made up of the finest players around and when they played live, it was truly fantastic. Frank was smarter than most people but he could still play nice without the need to prove himself all the time. He knew he was great, and great in a lot of ways. His kids turned out great, a lot better than most stars kids and that tells you a lot about the man. The music world lost a lot when Frank died so young, and so did the non-music world.
Pay attention to how he gets around the fretboard. It's all melodic thought without a care about technique. Very few people can be that expressive in progressive music without some intense muscle memory workouts to keep up.
@@michaelgarcia2050 did it ever. I'm certainly glad that there's any old footage but its funny that in so much of it they pan to the bass player as the guitarist starts soloing.
What other talk show back then would give the time and respect to Frank Zappa like this? Behind Douglas' mellow singing voice was a guy not afraid to take risks on his show. The best part here, for me, is you can see how Mike is trying to educate his apprehensive audience about what Frank was really about.
it appears like you could be right on but on the other hand it looks like Mike might be a little miffed at having to play the movie because the network bosses told him to do it
Zappa is great, I listened to him a lot while in the Army in the early 70s, and we loved his originality and musical prowess. Mike Douglas is a credit to what used to be real TV and honest interviewing and this is good to see these days when we see so much dishonesty and crap on the tube.
on a pignose amp... this is so amazing! I can't see anyone going on live tv with such a small amp these days. Frank, you really were the best man... a lot of people miss you.
@@willrich3908 Most of your tone is literally in your hands. Nuno Bettencourt was quoted as saying he was really disappointed playing through Eddie Van Halen's rig (one of his idols) because he just sounded like himself. I can sound metal playing one of my acoustic guitars.
I miss him so much. Worked for him in 1984 on the crew and I played in a band with Ike Willis before that. A true awesome genius that I keep re-discovering
Wow!! That's awesome!! Frank truly was a genius, sadly the world couldn't handle someone that was smart and told the truth. Frank is the reason I play guitar
It's amazing that it's amazing though. No reason we shouldn't have this today. I mean, all it takes to communicate is a little sincerity, honesty and empathy. Oh... Never mind.
Frank Zappa was a musical genius. ‘’Titties and Beer” is on level with Bach‘s Brandenburg Concertos and “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” shows a level of genius comparable to Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Prove me wrong.
And that 'The Adventures of Greggary Peckarry' prefigures and influences the T-Bone Stankus masterpiece 'Existential Blues' [it's a huge link between Zappa and Mr Bungle who also 'cover' it mashed-up with _PencilNeckGeek_ live, must see] ....just knowing all of this makes me happy to be alive. In case it is my privilege to be the first to introduce anyone to this - note that the 'Another' version is the best one on YT, imho: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kM-GwZg19FQ.html
Mike Douglas show was very good and he was a sincere host and great interviewer. He always let his guests answer the questions and did not over talk them. He had great musical guests. My goodness the variety - one week Zappa the next Maynard Ferguson.
I remember my mom always used to watch "The Mike Douglas Show"...I think it would come on in the afternoons after I got home from school. One of the things I came to respect about MIke: my mom wouldn't have given someone like Frank Zappa the time of day...Until she saw something like this. "If Mike Douglas has him on his show, he can't be all bad!" She'd come away thinking something like: "What a nice young man! Very smart!" She'd still wish he would get a haircut, but even she'd admit that he was almost as good a guitar player as Roy Clark...
@A Day in the Life of Roy was a stud on the guitar...no doubt...saw him every Saturday evening...but Roy would've gladly jammed with Frank any day, any hour or any minute.
@A Day in the Life of Most of his stuff is like Frank. But there must be a reason every world-class player wanted to play with him. Tone does suck, tho. Sounds like a blown cone to me.
Frank was a favorite and still is. In my opinion it wasn’t his guitar playing that made him special, it was his abilities to write extremely entertaining music and his ability to pull a band together and demand 100 percent effort and commitment from each member and get it. May his music live on forever
For those that never saw Frank Zappa live, he very hard to explain. This video nails it! You left us all too soon. Happy Birthday Frank! Frank Vincent Zappa, born 12/21/1940. Would have been 73 today.
I've had the privilege of watching him rehearse his band, close up, in person, several times. Wow. I'm a musician and engineer, and I can assure you it was an EYE-OPENER. It's amazing how much you can learn by watching a master at his craft. (This was around 1975.) I wasn't much of a fan of Zappa until this happened. Then I had to go out and buy all his albums and study them. As a musician, I recommend studying his work closely, even if you don't like what he does. It's time well invested.
Mike is a great interviewer. Asks some really good, in depth questions. He really wants to know. A good, insightful and informative spirit that is lacking in media today.
Creative genius. America does produce some. My Idol. Incredible composer. I wish he could come back and record his thoughts on Trump. That would be great.
@rev4thellofit... 9/11 was the crime of the century, 1,000,000 Iraqis had to die being served 'democracy'. You can't get that back. Frank Zappa was 'blown away' because he opposed the 'whoever they are'.
Could guitarists please appreciate this is nearly a year and a half before Van Halen's first album, and Frank brought out some tapping in his solo. Not comparing the two, cuz tapping existed before both of them, but here was Frank on national TV doing it in 1976. He was a legend, and though he didn't care about his legacy, he firmly established it with his incredible musicianship.
First time I've seen this appearance by Zappa and yes, I couldn't help but notice around 6:05 or so he was indeed doing some tapping! Blew my mind--I saw him live once and didn't notice him doing any then, it was the Sheik Yerbouti tour right around that time. It's the first time I've seen Frank play them--crazy! Of course EVH and Zappa weren't the first guitarists to use tapping, IIRC there was a jazz guitarist in the 50's or 60's who's name escapes me and others. Harvey Mandel also played them.
@ I don't think so, everyone has his destiny, i am 59 years old and i smoke since 1978, also i drink wine and beer but i'm feel good, maybe tomorrow i have an heart attack, who knows? I hope not. (Sorry for my poor english.)
He really consumed massive amounts of coffee the stuff is not good for a personal at all the day after I conceived my body completely rejected it. I'd worry more about that he most likely smoked far less cigarettes than you think he makes no gestures relaying that
One of the few musical magicians who can play in a way that resonates in my soul. I can't describe it... Zappa can bring me to tears in ways I still don't understand. I don't know how his music breaks my heart and elevates me simultaneously.
Mike Douglas was so welcoming to so many of these rock/avant garde folks, that yes he Douglas was an amazing host and interviewer and deserves a lot of credit. Bravo, Mike.
Indeed. EVERY SINGLE DAY, after school. Think I enjoyed his show more than most cartoons. In NJ, right after Mike D, was Batman and then The Munsters. Then, it was dinner time, LOL.
Amen, bret! Fuck cable TV. Five channels, syndicated programming, broadcast major league sports, and Frank Zappa playing "Black Napkins" at 4PM while Mom was mixing the Hamburger Helper - those were the days!
I loved that guy Mike Douglas . He was a straight mainstream singer , entertainer , host yet he was open to having all sorts of people, musicians, artists and entertainers on his show . John and Yoko Ono were on the show for a whole week . I have the same affection for the late great , late night talk show host Tom Snyder .
@@chrisoakley5830 so much of popular music now is just completely prefabricated. Almost entirely perfectly pretty people lip-syncing and dancing to some formulaic crap a boring old producer wrote for them. So much of it all sounds the same, unlike the old days when you could hear everything from disco to country-rock to heavy metal in a half hour on the same radio station. And all the biggest bands of various genres had their OWN distinctive sound. You know something's wrong when you no longer see ugly people on stage. Not that good-looking people can't be talented, but it does indicate that some priorities have changed. To quote the old Dead Kennedys lyric, "if the Doors or John Lennon were getting started now, the industry wouldn't sign 'em in a million years." And that lyric was written in the 80s... it's far worse now.
Bruce Bickford, whose animation appears at the last part of this interview, is a legend in his own kind imho. And yes, happy to have seen Frank & band live in Rotterdam. Talked with Ray White that day, before the gig.
But his compositions visited another realm entirely. Maybe one day humanity as a whole will catch up with his art and he will be considered one of the great composers.
Watching the Mike Douglas show after school was always a treat. You never knew who was going to be on the show. Mike would not shy away from having anyone and everyone on.
