Frank Zappa at 22 (3 of 4)

[illuminutti]

I never realized Steve Allen was so tall.

[laidmyburdendown]

"Try to refrain from musical tones" .-)

[Ozricosis]

Thanks for this upload. It's neat to see such progressive art at its inception.

[in2dionysus]

Free expression

[JoBot28]

he recorded the woman's voice off of the radio and 'just threw it in'. is this possibly the first sample? only frank. bless him..

[Zeanu]

HAHAHA, OH WOW, STEVE ALLEN YOU'RE SO FUNNY-- except, not really.

What a major tool, damn, every time I watch bits of his show I just feel like going back in time and punching him so hard in the schnoz.

[fenderstratguy]

Zappa's like 22 and taking over the show

[SlankTV]

I feel a bit bad for zappa, he's being so serious about this and everyone just laughed :(

[VaiRendy]

@SlankTV i feel too, but, although everybody there and Steve Allen were laughing,, i m sure that zappa was one of the most interesting guests for whole Steve Allen career in this show.. but i agree he was too seriously at this

[SoulCat59]

The two of these guys together is like a meeting of the minds

Steve Allen was an underappreciated talent and Zappa was certainly the same

This is just fantastic and ahead of it's time

[sandinator]

I loved Steve Allen, he was such a progressive thinker. I to see his show on Channel 5 once when I was a kid (lied about my age to get in)

[antronne]

Regarding the highest rated comment "Allen and the audience think it's just a put on," that may be true, but someone knew that this guy was ahead of his time. They dedicated alot of air time to him.

[canturgan]

Reminds me of The Rites Of Spring debut in Paris.

[MaxPaws]

"To the band, try to refrain from playing musical tones"

"Oh they won't have any trouble with that!"

LMAO!!

[ChronicMetamorphosis]

A woman's voice from the radio!? COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT!

[ulijon1]

Unreal - I've never heard this before, Thanks for posting!!!

[bobsci]

Frank Zappa 1950's Steve Allen Show Part 3 of 4 on youtube,, ifin yer interested,,

[bobsci]

Frank Zappa in the 1950's on the Steve Allen Show Playing Bicycles, VINTAGE!

There is 4 Parts on you tube ifin your interested,,,,,

[juanpolar]

one word

visionary

[schybba]

I'd just like to say .. I'm a big Frank Zappa fan, I've seen the Zappa plays Zappa tour three times in Oslo Norway, I've read the Real Frank Zappa book. I know a lot of stuff about Frank and I know he keeps this act really serious cause he knew what he was doing was going to make the audience and the show host laugh.. no matter what! And it gave me a huge laugh too! hahaha!

[njbrucetx]

No commercial potential. These clips were very interesting. I respect both of these men as great minds. Check out what both have done and this video in four parts is amazing proof that they even met. I had no idea even after reading countless Zappa books. I bet each other never had contact again but followed each other's activities.

[MitchWadeCole]

Musique Concrete. Tapes he stuck together. Go Zappa.

[dermagrafa]

The first mother of invention...Steve Allen

[DaVooz]

Lovely interaction between Zappa and the host.

[1BlaK99]

HOLY FUCK FRANK ZAPPA INVENTED SAMPLING!!! 2:30 he says something about taking a voice off of a radio and throwing it in there.

[367c]

@1BlaK99 not really

[ZandyYander]

@1BlaK99 John Cage Invented sampling

[curiosofsigns]

@ZandyYander I invented sampling, but then somebody sampled me.

[PsytranceMan777]

"All season long, Don!" XD

[timplebanda]

Great lesson of creativity for the american middle class.

Thanks Frank!

[pcbrown373]

@timplebanda Yes!! Thank You!

[nirvgardengod]

wow,,an early spark of imagination that was later used in rock frequently

[mortar12]

experimental music is where it's at

[lovesGenet]

this was a seriously trained composer doing what serious composers of his day were doing. there were many and schools of composition have developed since.

[fruhko]

don't feed the trolls

[Beatnikzombie]

@ioport What the hell is your problem?

[Beatnikzombie]

@ioport I have no idea who you're talking about. Avant Garde isn't about shocking. It's about being innovative. I do it for a living and it takes balls.

[Beatnikzombie]

@ioport Avant Garde still takes balls.

[SENATORPAIN1]

what years this whats wit the short hair and no mustache

[hsdscsds]

"kindly refrain from musical tones" this is awesome!

[MrVaffel]

@ioport haha. "back in the days"

[rockgod111]

what did he say at 1:30?

[zakalwe101]

lol @ 1:00 "this may be a little bit new to you."

[dukeyflyswatter]

I don't the humor was lost on Frank

[asins]

Yea lighten up. They laugh. Its what the 50's? What would you expect, its diffrent and wacky but hell i like it and find it funny also.

[CallyFiasco]

Why are people angry at the laughter? I mean, what do you expect? Of course they're gonna laugh! I don't think it's disrespectful laughter though, they're clearly enjoying it

[AirSasquatch]

@CallyFiasco yea, it was Frank who said laughter belonged in music. He's just hamming it up here with his dry schtick

[hideandseekization]

The people laughing is really boring. But is amazing the fact of Zappa are exactly on his line... I believe that Zappa was extremly comfortable, whatever the people around him was so unprepared for that new way to play sounds and compose musics. What meaning that Zappa, a great genius, very probably have already known that his appearance on a tv show would cause the same reaction of the society as his kind of music and lyrics. We know he was a countercultural musician.

[MorbosDevilGrinder]

i hate the people laughs...

is the same in "water walk" of john cage...

no respect for sperimentation... i agree with the fact that "natural" sounds, not produced from instruments, could be music too...

[hoz49]

OMG, I used to watch Steve when I was a kid. I think I remember this episode.  Man I'm getting old.

[slapasuckasilly]

Woow!! I loved this. To see him so early in his life. I've always known he was a composer and even directed the Philharmonic in his life time, but to see him so young was a thrill thanks for posting

[rongravy]

shut up steve, and let frank take care of business.

[wangotangowhoo1234]

I think people dont take him seriously. thats the problem

[michyswah]

I hate when people laugh at him. He's lucky to have the patience at that age especially.

[thimsmot]

@michyswah -- Frank Zappa was an extremely intelligent person and also had an advanced sense of humor. Surely, he knew full well what he was getting himself into by going on the Steve Allen show. After all, Steve was among other things, a comedian...

[schmutzgreiffer]

Thank you so very much for this.

It must have amazed a lot of people.

Little did they know!

[danhoulding]

what is wrong with the audience ???

just like todays american audience.

plus, the interviewer has no technique.

see a pattern developing here ???

[npspec34]

Steve Allen was self taught on the piano and did NOT read music so when Frank refers to sheet music Allen quips, "I ignore it"

Still holgs up after almost 50 years.

[Theakker3]

He looks totally different but he sounds the same

[vinzer72frie]

amazing

[foxindetox]

the comedy back then was like a trade show and trying to tell a joke in line at the bank.

[gedi23]

hahaha, frank taking over the show

[UCSanPano]

Holy ravioli!

Frank is as skinny as that bike!

I didn't realize Americans could get that skinny. No wonder he became a musician!

And when Steve Allen and Frank Zappa are jamming together on musical bicycles, there is nothing in this world or the next that is as cool as that.

[tacomadc]

Frank doing what he made a career of - bringing modern, challenging music to the public via being side-splittingly funny!

Hats off!

[sdgakatbk]

This shows Varese's influence on Zappa.

[Neptuneman07]

...and John Cage too.

[DarkZekeX]

@sdgakatbk and John Cage

[snunn12]

I prefer you to play it that way

[iplaytheguitar73]

lol you can tell how far ahead frank was from everybody that was there

[bonzoforlife]

ahead of his time

[pryormusic]

frank expanding minds...

[sc0ner]

It's funny to see two eras in collision... the corny, yuk-yuk 50s-style humor of Steve Allen... the idiotic crowd, looking for a laugh at anything Allen says... and the demure, urbane Zappa... completely serious about the lunatic shit he's doing, when the Allen and the audience think it's just a put on. Little did they know that it was to be the revolutionary stuff that would blow open the gates of the future of rock and roll.

[JimiBLong]

You are absolutely right! I was trying to find the words to comment on this but you nailed it right to the wall. Well said! Allen was famous for his dead pan comic, somewhat demeaning, parodies of 50's Pop and R&R music but it seems like he saw something in Frank Zappa that night and they played very well off of each other. I wonder if Allen ever followed Franks music into the 70's and what he thought of it, or if he forgot about him after that night. "Little did they know" is exactly right

[DajaWaja]

@sc0ner this is like the best comment ever. I lol'd so hard at the ''completly serious about the lunatic shit he's doing'' !!!!

[pcbrown373]

@sc0ner : Just a thought here for consideration: Maybe it's the other way around. Yes Zappa is demure, urbane Zappa. Part of that was 'playing it straight': doing this lunatic shit as though he WAS totally serious. He was a satirist, holding up the mundanity & conformity of the times for a good inward laugh. Everything Allen says is a condescension. The idiotic crowd thinks it's in on some joke along with Allen, laughing at the geeky kid who's taking this stuff so seriously. The joke is on them.

[sc0ner]

@pcbrown373 You might be right. Zappa operated on many levels. Do you know "the volcano"? Zappa did this thing in his shows where he'd signal the band to all rise on their instruments until they were all the way at the highest notes. The crowd went wild. But the joke was on them. It was a stupid little gimmick... about as "retarded" as you can get. And yet... part of human nature. Multileveled. Zappa was farting in the audience's face and yet really understood them, deeply. Pretty cool, huh?

[schybba]

@sc0ner Yes, I know the volcano. Zappa knew what he was doing. At the end of his life an interviewer from 60 Minutes asked him if he wanted to be recognized as an important composer, a genius ahead of his time, etc. He simply answered "No, I don't care about that. I'm not important."

[schybba]

@schybba

Today show interview. Right at the end of that clip, being asked if he wanted to be remembered.

[pcbrown373]

@sc0ner: Just a thought here for consideration: Maybe it's the other way around. Yes Zappa is demure, urbane Zappa. Part of that was 'playing it straight': doing this lunatic shit as though he WAS totally serious. He was a satirist, holding up the mundanity & conformity of the times for a good inward laugh. Everything Allen says is a condescension. The idiotic crowd thinks it's in on some joke along with Allen, laughing at the geeky kid who's taking this stuff so seriously. The joke is on them.

[sc0ner]

@pcbrown373 I think the spot with Steve Allen was also multilayered. On one hand, it was silly. "Avant-garde." On another level, it truly WAS avant-garde. Zappa listened to Shostakovich, Stravinsky, etc. as a kid. By the time of this clip, he was already arranging weird stuff. A good quote on Wiki: "He was interested in sounds for their own sake" (especially percussion.) He liked "absolutely free" music. So I think he was just having fun, in all ways. And I think he was serious in all ways, too.

[sc0ner]

@sc0ner Last note: I THINK it was called "the volcano." That's just an off-the-top-of-my-head recollection. Could be wrong. BUT... regardless of the name... that is what the band did, and for the reasons I mentioned. Hilarious! The joke's on everyone!!!

[songbuff61]

I believe, having seen Steve Allen show in that era myself many times is that he was well aware of any schtick coming from any and all angles. He was nobody's fool. A major jazz lover and composer. He was probably a little eccentric himself to be sure. Steve Allen was often imitated initially by Dave Letterman and to Letterman's admission too. but Letterman is more barsh to people.

[AlexBkatzmann]

@sc0ner You must think your a fcking genius... If Zappa was actually serious about making music with a bicycle John Allen's show is the most stupidest show to go to promote, youre actually insulting Zappa's intelligence. Zappa likes to have fun with music and life and that's why people liked him. Zappa's purpose of doing this... making a joke you idiot! If you like to hear a stick hitting the rayon of a bicycle so much you think it's art.... well sorry it aint its all just for a laugh

[sc0ner]

@AlexBkatzmann @AlexBkatzmann I don't doubt that there was humor; Zappa was always taking the piss. What I meant is that he was also a musical genius... innovative... even when he was ribbing.

However, Zappa was also a musically-trained avant-garde classical composer. Have you ever heard The Yellow Shark? It was performed to a classical audience. He wrote various classical pieces, in fact.

FYI: A stick hitting the "rayon" of a bicycle was also done by Luciano Berio, by the way. ;-)

[sc0ner]

@AlexBkatzmann The Tonight Show was the PERFECT place for Zappa to do something like this! Zappa had a flair for making fun of people who didn't get the joke. Like the "volcano" (Zappa used to like to have the band go all the way up to the high notes like a volcano to get the idiots in the audience to cheer; it's a retarded motif, and he loved laughing at that.)

I'm sure that Zappa thoroughly enjoyed Allen's jackass mincing around. Zappa was the master of all angles. Serious, silly, etc.

[sc0ner]

@AlexBkatzmann Two last things:

1. If you don't think Zappa took his music seriously... if you think it was all a giant funny fart in the face... read his interviews and watch some YouTube clips. He loved to have fun with music and life, as you say, but he also took it seriously (in his way.)

2. You don't have to be insulting. And if you're going to call me a "fcking genius," at least spell "you're" correctly. ;-) Bah bah...

[aceofblack]

@sc0ner does humour belong in music?

[sc0ner]

@aceofblack YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!

NO.

YES.

Salvador Dali's wang belongs in music.

[openschoolethnograph]

@aceofblack

Are you serious? How could you seriously ask such a question? Music is an art form to create or accentuate emotions, feelings, experiences, attitudes, ideas. How in the world would humor be excluded as an attribute of music? Thats an aspect of Zappa's genius that is crucial -- the conmingling of humor, complex thick humor, irony, innuendo, metaphor not just satire based in verbal language with the languages of musical instruments and non-instruments.

[pitstopbarney]

3:09 alludes to "pedal-depressed panchromatic resonance". Cool find.

[pitstopbarney]

What I particularly loved here is at 3:09 Zappa tells the pianist to "put a weight on the strings", which is "panchromatic resonance", a sound he obviously ALWAYS enjoyed as described in his later song "Evelyn, a Modified Dog" off Apostrophe. (song now on YT too!)

[Mrcharliebobo]

He was the king of comedy!!! in a kind of Andy Kaufman way.

[Enjoras]

Steve Allen wasn't ready for this. I don't think he was able to deal with how experimental Frank Zappa was and so resorted to terrible one liners

[Imm0ralMin0rity]

He was a show host, he was supposed to make funny remarks you asshat.

[Enjoras]

Was he really? Fuck you're smart!

Cunt

[BigDaddy1968]

Wow! All the ZIPPO using (to fire up their blunt) ZAPPA lovers have their panties in a bunch.

Very defensive, girls. haha

Why? Cause a LATE NIGHT comic was PUNKing him out.

Zappa in this video - sorry not cool.

haha

Big Daddy

[jancivil]

an avant-garde composer manages to get on tv because he's smart enough to figure out how to do it, does some interesting things with the sound, manages to entertain the tv audience majorly while doing, and this is your take on it.

What did BigDiddy1868 do in the war I wonder. Prat.

[BigDaddy1968]

Big Daddy has starred in his own MOVIE before!

Whoooooooooooooo!!

Big Daddy

No cheezy 'bicycle tunes' either! haha

[LukeSniper]

I think that was due to concern for the audience not understanding what was going on and he was trying to make them a little more comfortable.

I get the distinct impression that Allen understood exactly what Zappa was doing and was genuinely impressed by him.

[tikitom9]

Steve Allen was just as experimental but just more commercial at the time. If you know him you know he was king of the one liners.

[zyphoid666]

That was Henny Youngman's title actually but Steve Allen was cool shit too (better than the Tonight Show hosts that followed).

[ajarvinen]

"This may be a little bit new to you" hee hee hee

[Marklar3]

I think its out of tune

[riot8ap]

"I am kidding, not to successfully."

lol

[Hodongji]

The 50's, the 60's, the 70's, the 80's, the 90's.. If we watch it, it's entertaining us in some way, whether it be good or bad. Ignore it if you don't like it.

[rendervixen]

They're both making fun. That's what's so wonderful about this silly tv spot.

[urwclwg]

Thank you so much.

[thatsthehellitself]

Zappa is a genious

[CASurfCat]

All four of the Frank Zappa/Steve Allen videos are really interesting and creative! Loved them!

[IYAMNI]

Roll over Varèse!

It's funny how much Allen looks like George Reeves from certain angles.Especially with those glasses. haha.

[Alxscode]

Perfection with a joint.

[frogknight]

He seems like he belongs to another time.

[drwinkle101]

Fascinating: the soon to be avant-garde rock musician's prepared bikes cross the path of trad' entertainer Steve Allen, who makes a lot of lames jokes and Zappa is already Mr Cool. Bikes will be discarded as Zappa moves on to invent genre-crossing Rock with fixated pre-adolescent lyrics.

[shuckslbj]

I know Steve is just doing his job as a "funny" host. I wish, though, that those stupid, excitable audience members would have just shut up. I know it's sooooo funny to a homogenous early '60s crowd when he says, "Try to refrain from musical tones", but little did they know how serious he was and how relevant and revolutionary his ideas were.

And I don't even like Zappa's music that much. I do recognize his genius, though.

[Vawklin]

omg that host is such a wise ass, gotta love FZ...very humble person here

[DominusOminous]

"Bow it and pluck it." "That's what she said." :D

Seriously, this is AWESOME television. Two music geniuses, both recognized as multi-dimensioned talents and philosophical stalwarts at what was probably their first meeting.

Mega-thanks for this great series of clips. YouTube at its finest!

[spartaeus]

Frank Zappa was so far ahead of his time.

[realmadridvideos]

hahaha "this may be a little bit new to you"

[whizbang47]

Try and refrain from musical tones(!) Steve Allen had been bombing for the sycophants for ten years by that point. He was a TV contradiction. He was not cool. His music was banal. But he knew how to get real talents to perform on a variety show, and he was better at it than Ed Sullivan too. Frank here as the young master (already.)

[hexcake]

You can really see his John Cage influence in this, id never heard of this performance, its fascinating. Thanks for uploading!

[todomusika]

genius

[nbarrasse]

he reminds me a bit of david bryne at this young age

[wdkaye]

This is an amazing video... Frank was brilliant at 22, and actually wasn't an asshole yet! (LOL - nothing but respect for that guy)

[Gangularis]

i totally agree with you. it's really interesting to see him in this slightly more modest role. he's a little less overt here, but you can still make out the beginnings of his strong personality.

[LunaSeaSane]

The most intersting Zappa I've ever seen.

[danielharris627]

Bless him...rip

[davidpena]

i love it

[skaquabat]

yeah steve allen just cracks jokes and has him on as a novelty joke thing. i thought the same when i saw tiny tim on some dudes show. they dont take them seriously in the least bit

[TiniNormi]

Dude exactly. Tiny Tim = brilliant, but the world viewed his life as a huge joke. Same with Frank but to a smaller extent.

[giacomocj]

"Make any noise... refrain from any musical tones"... That's exactly what The Beatles had their symphony do at the end of "A Day in the Life"...

[TheRealDerfMan]

"I'd prefer you to play it that way..." lol!

[Dukabor]

genius...even then at 22 years old...Steve Allen put him on because he thought Frank was a weirdo...

[dharmamark]

Frank is ahead of his time here.

[cherryorchards]

well, not exactly...at that time he was just really excited with the Edgard Varèse, Stockhausen avant garde thing....i don't think he really found his music yet at this point