And during the day. This was no 9pm prime time performance. Frank never did The Midnight Special. He probably saw Don Kirshner as an affront to his intelligence.
Mike Douglas wasn't hesitant about having musical acts on that weren't the norm for daytime talk shows. I also remember seeing Tom Waits on his show, too. Have to mention that Zappa was also on the Steve Allen show, playing (believe or not) a bicycle!! Only Frank could make music from a bicycle! I give these talk show hosts tremendous credit.
@@williamhinshaw6838 Yeah, he really did seem sincerely interested. If you want to see a light morning talk show gone wrong, check out Zappa on the Dinah Shore Show. This was back in 1979 and there are clips here on RU-vid. Let's just say Frank was in rare form and Dinah and her guests were totally unprepared!
Gotta love Frank. His funny and rude songs get your attention when you're a teenager, then you get older and realize what a phenominal musician he is/was.
Embarrassed to say, I never really sat down and listened to anything by Frank Zappa. Had absolutely no idea he played anything remotely like this. I am stunned...🎉❤
oh man what a journey you have ahead of you! Start at the beginning (Freak Out!) and then prepare to be amazed! I spent YEARS listening to FZ and pretty much nothing else. He is an entire universe unto himself.
@@ensenadorjones4224 To be able to do what he did in a short 52 years is nothing short of miraculous. Then factor in 70+ albums released in his lifetime alone, ALL of which are entirely different and more diverse that would take a PhD thesis to get into the specifics of the intricacies of his music, etc etc etc...when you look at the big picture he was absolutely one of if not the single greatest and most musically diverse composer of the 20th century. Genius doesn't even begin to cover what FZ was truly about.
@fcamiola is it good because it's technically sophisticated, or is it accessible and fun to listen to? I'm not a Dr and don't want a thesis about any music. I want the music to make me feel something. Zappa is great. I love Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and other guitar virtuoso. I'm just discovering Zappa. Are his records available, or did his estate prevent them from being released?
Even now, in 2020 i still watch this video often. Sure the studio version is great but this is something different. Even now it brings a tear to my eye. Frank was so ahead and beyond of anything and everything in his time. I miss him. Beautiful song
This piece and Watermelon In Easter Hay always make me emotional... I'll have Watermelon In Easter Hay played at my funeral. His music and his thinking have inspired me all through my life. It saddens me that I was too young to see him live...
@David Franke No this is like 4 x better then the Studio version One of the very few beautiful Songs he wrote. Also a lot of hidden Gems on Joe s Garage
FZ was way ahead of his time. I saw him three times, and each time, I just could not believe how good he and his musicians were. He was a truly phenomenal musician and guitarist, very creative, and created complex music that captivated. A true original and genius. Love live Frank Zappa!
nice stuff . i was born to late to see frank, but i was able to see Dweezil play One size fits all for 2 and a half hours live non stop. Greatest experience of my life, brought me to tears.
What I really love about this performance is how nonchalant Frank is about the whole thing. To me that speaks to his level of mastery of his craft. It's like he could do it in his sleep and still make it beautiful. It just amazes me endlessly.
"as a guitar player" is missing the comparison. Zappa and Prince were complete artists, composers, visionaries, and totally original with their own style, wit, and intelligence. they're in a league that few have obtained. I would count Miles Davis in this group
@@petermaxwell2965 no doubt he was the rocket man that Elton spoke l eloquently of.... Frank zappa was on kerosene he was scirtchibgly hot and brutally talented
The small amplifier he's using is a Pignose 7-100. I have 3 of them. They've been used in the studio on recordings forever. In this case, Frank rocked it live on television.
@@emanueltzikas7800 As an individual I'd tend to agree - what sort of hippie-dippy wierdo scars his kids for life by giving them names like "Dweezil" and "Moon Unit"? But the man could certainly play guitar...
I use to know Frank back in the 70's when he produced Ruben and the Jets but I had never heard this before. He was truly a genius and could play different genres. Here's a bit of trivia that not many know because he wasn't mention in the credits but he asked if he could trade guitar licks our lead guitar player, the late Tony Duran at the end of one of the songs I sang, "Dedicated to the One I Love" on our first album "For Real" on Mercury records. It was an honor for him to back me up as this was the only song he played on despite producing the whole album.
was he a chain smoker when you knew him? i am a brit and he was my favorite growing up in the early 70's . I think he was a pretty straight arrow sort of guy despite his looks .Those must be amazing memories you have.
Was there an outro of this on one of the Ruben and the Jets songs? Stuff up the Cracks or something? I think this is where I heard this song first and last until last night when someone posted the link to this show.
At 0:07 you can just see him turn on a Pignose 7-100, though he could also have been using that as a pre-amp. The SG he is using also has some custom modulation/phase circuitry which adds a little bit of bite to the top-end
I’ve seen videos of tapping even earlier…there is one on RU-vid of an Italian guitar player on Italian TV…sorry I can’t remember the name but he was tapping….and I believe Stanley Jordan the jazz guitar player tapped in early seventies
i've learned on YT about Eddie coming over to Frank's house and teaching Dweezl some good stuff...I think Frank picked up on it. Haven't seen him do it elsewhere. Guitarists who were drummers first have a inherent advantage in finger tapping.
Mike Douglas! Thank you for welcoming Frank. I could listen to Frank play guitar for hours on end. This song is near 50 years old. I honestly remember when Zoot Allures came out! Love this! Franks utter genius shines!
This man has the soundtrack to my life 60 y/o and still right there everyday if poss Got me through the best and worst I owe a debt to this man a nd his music Thank you frank R i p
I still listen to Frank just about every day. Just imagine - if you even can - the kind of music he'd be composing today. Amazing and totally unique musician.
A Zappa follower since 1966 when I was 12. Over the years as this song emerged, dont know why, it brings tears to my eyes, damn near every version. Some more than others.
Also wonderful. One could draw parallels between these pieces stylistically, but at its core it’s raw visceral electric guitar improvisation at its most intense. Zappa was very compositionally minded when he improvised in situations like these, making grand and complicated musical statements at every turn. Eddie in maggot brain captures the essence of intensity with his playing. The nature of emotion itself is put on display! Love them both very very much.
Although He grew up composing mostly in the 70's, He was not experimenting with drugs, (He didn't even like playing with players that were high). Frank, was just a crazy loveable, super creative, and, an experimental Genius....as a true Genius tends too 🐝, there is soo much you left, for our enjoyment - Thank you F.Z. & Dweezil for spreading the Gospel
I've watched this so many times. It gets better every single time. It ages like an extremely fine wine. This actually may be one of the greatest things ever created, musically or otherwise.
Not really. Plenty of people respect him as a player and a composer. But he was a douche of the highest order like miles Davis, strong-arming musicians for composition credit they deserve, and being a bit pretentious overall.
@@stevenmilliman412 Are you referring to the improvisational solo sections that the individual band members did during live shows that Zappa put on record and called his? I look at it like this; Zappa hired them all to play his music and be instruments for him. He organized and led the band and taught them all how he wanted them to play to fit his style. He rehearsed them, booked the tours, picked the set lists and the chords to improv to..Then he recorded it all, sometimes with his own equipment and edited, and mixed it.. He pulled all the strings to get the performances made and released. Without him, those pieces of improv would have never been created or seen the light of day. Just like a guitar, bass and drums are instruments, Zappa used his members like individual instruments and those instruments had his particular flavor to them.
@@pechondelgado well put. The man was a composer and used the best of the best to get his works produced. Anyone joining his band did it knowing they had to live up to his certain standard and perform a certain way but still chose to do it because of their love for music and especially Frank’s music. They knew he saw the best in all of them and would let them shine where they truly needed to
I agree, though the word genius is bandied about in music; Zappa is one, if not the only one. Brian Wilson in the mainstream? But Zappa was a composer on the level of Brian Wilson and also a virtuoso musician. Some say Robert Fripp. I do not know. I do know that Kanye is not a musical genius, though some in that genre may be. I cannot imagine a life without Hendrix, Dylan or Lennon but, again they are mainstream and all modern music has passed through them. But electricity comes to us via Edison who was not a genius instead of Tesla who was.
The older I get the more I understand Frank’s playing. When I was 11 what I liked about him was that he was very funny, but I didn’t get his guitar work at all. After a lifetime of tragedies and struggles, most of the pop music I used to listen to is intolerable now, but when I hear Frank play guitar I feel right at home.
Thats exactly my view. 20 years ago loved die Flo & Eddie things that I cant´s hear now any more. Every time the same tasteless jokes about penises, puking etc.. Boring. But since a number of years I mostly hear the oldest Zappa recordings, the incredible guitar solos in every phase of his live performances, the numberless great musical variations about his standards like Pound For A Brown, Uncle Meat ... all the things around the London visits in Royal Festival Hall, BBC studio ... You are right. It´s like beeing home where everyou find yourself ... on airports during business trips, on boring and endless rides on motorways, ....
The same happened to me, Bikewithlove, except for the fact that I never used to listen to pop music that much. I feel that I'm not fully appreciating his solos yet, though. That must be due to no being a guitar player myself. Nonetheless, I consider him to be the greatest genius composer of the 20th century. Hands down.
@@3three3three3three thanks man! I do play reasonably well, but Frank was just something else! I'm in the process of learning to read sheet music so that I will be able to better understand his work...it's almost impossible to get any tab for it!
Zappa was a legendary guitarist, composer, band leader, social commentator, and satirist. I think it's great that apparent "legit" musicians were on to his uncompromising approach to music. And how cool was it that he was on the "Mike Douglas Show"? You know for a guy from an earlier generation he had a lot of cool acts on and he treated them with respect. Kudos to Frank and Mike. Man I miss Frank.
This was in Cleveland on a local new show my mom supported me being a musician since I was four years old and she came home from work yesterday and I said Pay mom Frank Zappa's on TV and I just love the fact that it's has stood up the test of time on the internet he had Mike Douglas's Orchestra he must have just handed him a chart and they played it back in the days when musicians were everywhere and could read what a great moment that was thanks mom thanks frank Mom thanks Frank
agreed! , what a beautiful recording.....and you're so right.....that tone man. the pick hand work is outstanding, Zappa was a freaking monster on guitar!
I saw him at the Barbican in '83...my late husband's go to musician ...I have loved this musician/composer/singer/genius since I was 17 ....we were blessed with him......
you are a brit and i am too he was my favorite in the 60;s-70;s despite me being a hippy and everything Zappa hated. He of course got thrown off a stage here in the UK in London and got badly injured. He probably hated us limeys after that.
Frank Zappa was such an awesome musician... and that still doesn't him him fully. He was unique. He was a visionary. As far as Mike Douglass, he was a visionary in daytime television. I spent many afternoons after school watching The Mike Douglass Show.
Zappa's appearances on establishment TV programmes like this revealed that a lot of the personalities and producers back then were a lot hipper than we give them credit for. Frank had fans in many places, and they opened doors for him when they could.
OrchestrationOnline Zappa was actually TALENTED, and during those years you had to hold your own without technology. That opens doors today, and it may not bring fame and fortune, but you can get gigs.
+OrchestrationOnline People tend to forgot how BIG Frank Zappa was between 1968 to 1976 he was almost as Big and famous as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones
Was a Zappa fan from about 1971 and heard this number on the day I finished my last high school exam. It was memorable along with the 'rooms. '76 was a good year...
And everyone thinks Eddie Van Halen invented tapping. Nope. And Frank on the Mike Douglas show?! I guess Mike was a bit hipper than we all realized. Nice vid.👍
Frank Zappa was square in some ways. He wrote the music down and thought punk was nonsense. Intelligent people never stick to simple stereotype. Also would not say he was ahead of his time just that not many were as of his time as he was.
One of the most underrated guitarists ever. And then the fact that he just walks in and hands a studio band sheet music he transcribed and they nail it (probably with no practice). Awesome!
Just read on Reddit someone who pointed out how onomatopeoic his music could be. According to that guy, the guitar playing is literally Frank playing a musical interpretation of drinking shots at the bar, slamming the shot glass down with each shot (1:13-1:21 for one) and then getting slightly more inebriated as it goes on, then stumbling out of the bar with the door closing behind him (3:52-4:10; then 4:11). Whether that was intended by Frank or not, it's certainly an interesting interpretation. Point is, I think we all get something different out of Frank's music and it's well known that Frank was composing and performing for careful, thoughtful listeners. He worked tirelessly to make the kind of music he wanted to make. If I had to sum up FZ's body of work (been a great fan for 30 plus years) in one word, I'd use the word "integrity". That's what separates the true geniuses from the rest of us in any walk of life. Driven to do what they must do, it goes the way it goes simply because it cannot go any other way.
Some music seems so powerful and perfectly balanced or something, so abstract, I dont know how to say it, it's like my brain is trying to force it to have some kind of image that I can wrap my mind around, like on some level I just can't simply let go and experience it for what it is
The beauty of Frank’s television show appearances is that he could give his charts and sheet music to the any of the show bands to play and back him up!! Genius!!
And Zappa wasn't even the first to do it. Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) apparently did in during the Tres Hombres album (roughly 1973). But there is another video of some Italian guy tapping on a classical guitar. It's pretty impressive how they are all apparently overlooked and Eddie gets all the attention haha
Yeah, I know right. I mean, Steve Hackett did it on the Genesis album Nursery Cryme (1971). Who knows who "invented it" on the electric guitar, but it sure as hell wasn't Eddie Van Halen.
I suppose it's a pretty self-intuitive technique to figure out. It doesn't take much of a leap of the imagination to decide to hit a fret with your right hand, it's like extending legato with the fingers on your right hand. Eddie Van Halen just upped the anti and marketed it as his signature technique
Billy did a single tap on "Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers." It's an epic solo but the tap is not as impressive as the incredible pinch harmonic he hits the second time around. Plus he's the coolest guy still around, since Frank, Jimi and Stevie Ray are no longer with us.
Zappa was a true genius who actually had most all of his music charted, not just improvised! Yes, all that wild-assed stuff was on sheet music. You really had to be a competent technical artist to hang with Frank, and he demanded perfection. In a head space of his own, with a keen social and hilarious outlook on life, especially in the surrealistic 1960s L.A. environment, Frank blazed a trail few but the intellectually twisted could appreciate. Only Hendrix could riff as fast and good as FZ.
@Kurt But that guy just plays white-dude blues, which is okay if you like that kind of stuff. Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix were doing major experiments in studio technology and processing as well as writing great songs and playing guitar extremely well. And Zappa was also composing classical music at the same time as all that.
Even tho what you're saying is true, most of his music is charted, but this particular song has a lot of improvisation, the main riff is the theme and there's de B section played on C myxolidian. Most of this song is his improvisation. You are spot on with the rest of your opinion
Just amazing to watch this master! He’s playing through a pignose amp! ‘Nuff Said!!!! The sound and tonal clarity, diversity of harmonics is awesome to say the least! Such clear definition with a hint of grit there too! Man oh man this video of Frank Zappa is rare gold! 🤘🏾🎸🔥🔥🔥🔥
Zappa was of course, one of the real luminaries of his time. And you know, Damn that old Mike Douglas!!!! He looked and acted so straight, one easily forgot what a true showbiz man he was. I used to watch his daytime variety show, when I was home sick from school. I clearly remember seeing Wes Montgomery, as a guest. I honestly don't think you could do that show today. Zappa on Mike Douglas! What a trip.
Saw him 3 times in the 80s; at the Palladium NYC on halloween, Stonybrook U., and Nassau Coliseum. Been listening for 47 years, love that my brother, now gone, introduced me to One Size Fits All in '77.
You have to give props to the horns at 3:10 for perfectly nailing those notes. I imagine he's soloing over a pre-recorded track but those dudes had the perfect intonation in the recording
The man playing was 100000000 years ahead of his time.i belive this man lived in the future but was in the wrong time zone.after 45 years or so guitar players are still finding out how to get a good tone out of a guitar or an amp.greatly missed genius.
If you look back into the archives, fewer daytime talk hosts EVER featured a cooler list of acts appearing for them than Mike Freaking Douglas! God bless, ol' Mike. He didn't hesitate to let the freaks take over for a few minutes!
+Sublime Music Channel I honestly can only think of one other show that came close. And it that wasn't even during the daytime (Sanborn's "Night Music").
The only other talk show that came close to Mike Douglas was Tom Snyder. The difference being Tom was on late at night. Great bands and most guests were so high. But Mike was the king of the afternoons. Ah the 70's. what great days.
Got to see this live...Frank was coming by every year for a while back then and I would go every time, took my little brother to his first concert at a Zappa concert.
First time I'm seeing this and of course it was mesmerizing. I didn't take the time to scroll through all of the comments since there are so many, but one thing that stood out at one point was his tapping, 2 years before EVH introduced it to us in a much more dramatic form in Eruption. I wish I had seen him back in the '70's when I first started listening to him. What a genius.
