The Gnarly Frank Zappa Essay (Part 1 of 3)

An Experiment in Rock Criticism

BACKGROUND:

For many years, I avoided writing about rock ‘n’ roll.

I certainly listened to a lot of it—how could you miss it in those days? But my ties to jazz back then were almost matrimonial in intensity, allowing no infidelities, no quickies in the sack with other genres, not even sultry flirting by the water cooler.

But the deeper truth was that I had…