Have you ever seen the mother of invention…literally? I haven’t, but I wish did. Frank Zappa was one of the greatest american composers and musicians. He experimented with a variety of genres alongside many excellent musicians. He was so witty and artistic that in his musical career he released 57 author albums. His most famous work was with a band, he put together, called The Mothers of Invention.
This story follows the one about the song „Smoke on the water“ which I had already mentioned before. You know, when a casino caught on fire while The Mothers of Invention were playing, and Deep Purple made a song about it.
Only six days after that incident, the „Rainbow Teathre Incident“ took place. During the band’s encore , right when they were starting their cover of „I want to hold your hand“, a 24 year old fan, Mr. Howell, raced to the stage and pushed Zappa into the theatre’s concrete orchestra pit to the horror of anyone around.
„The band thought I was dead. My head was over my shoulder, and my neck was bent like it was broken“ said Zappa in his autobiography. Howell was caught when he was about to escape and later admitted that he was jealous because he saw Zappa “eyeing his girlfriend“. This left Zappa in a wheelchair for almost a year, and they had to cancel the rest of the tour. Even Frank’s voice was not spared, his neck injury made his tone range drop a third.
Napisao: Marko Duvnjak