Zappa: A Biography - Hardcover

Miles, Barry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080211783X ISBN 13: 9780802117830

Publisher: Grove Press, 2004

Synopsis

The best-selling biographer of Paul McCartney follows the ground-breaking musician Frank Zappa from his Italian-American childhood roots to his ultimate success as a composer and rock star. 35,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Barry Miles is author of many seminal books on popular culture, including the authorised biography of Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now; Ginsberg: A Biography; William Burroughs: El Hombre Invisible; Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats and The Beat Hotel: Ginsberg, Burroughs and Corso in Paris, 1957-1963.

From Publishers Weekly:

Pop culture biographer Miles (Paul McCartney; Ginsberg; etc.) paints an engrossing portrait of the troubled musical genius who died of prostate cancer in 1993 at age 52. Zappa endured a peripatetic youth and an early brush with the law that fueled his trademark anti-authoritarian strain; his musical brilliance eventually transformed him from class clown into one of rock's major icons, with such landmark records as We're Only in It for the Money and Joe's Garage. Miles skillfully weaves together the major beats and minor notes of Zappa's remarkable life, no small feat given the musician's many contradictions: he was a hard-rocking star, but also a meticulous, studious composer influenced by Varèse and Stravinsky; he despised drug use and the trappings of stardom, but he loved groupies (he partook of their favors freely, eventually marrying one and fathering...children). A virtuoso, a perfectionist and a shrewd businessman, Zappa alienated, sued or otherwise offended nearly everyone in his life at some point; he especially loved tormenting his audience. Miles hits the ups and downs of Zappa's life like a skilled composer in his own right, and he captures the contentious eras (from the late 1950s on) in which Zappa's genius emerged. The result is a penetrating look both at Zappa and at the social and political milieu in which popular rock music stepped to the fore.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 080211783X
• ISBN 13: 9780802117830
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 480