Frank Zappa ñ Selected Bibliography

Chevalier, Dominique.  Viva! Zappa.  New York: St. 
Martin's Press, 1987.
A thin paperback, this book is designed with 
eclecticism in mind, mimicing that of Zappa.  Chevalier 
is a Zappa-tista who chronicles his life from many 
different perspectives, including a short biography and 
a reviews of his albums.  This book includes many 
pictures of Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, as well 
as album covers and other interesting visualizations.

James, Billy. Necessity Ist: The Early Years of Frank 
Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. London: SAF 
Publishing Ltd., 2003.
In this book, Billy James takes an inside look into the 
Mothers of Invention, and each member who performed with 
the group.  Zappa is a focus, but only broadly.  Specific 
events are approached from the point of view of each 
person involved in them, which gives the broadest 
possible understanding of reality.  This book also 
includes a discography of the Mothers of Invention, but 
goes beyond that to include discographies of every person 
who was ever a member of the MOI.

Kostelanetz, Richard, ed. The Frank Zappa Companion: Four 
Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997.
Zappa was one of the major forces at work in the pop music 
world in the mid 1900s, but he himself was affected by 
other cultural and social shifts that were occurring 
around him.  This book explores pop culture and 
technological advancements that allowed Zappa to express 
his music in the way that he did.  It includes many quotes 
by other authors, a chronological account of Zappa's life, 
descriptions of each album that was released and a 
discography.

Lennon, Nigey. Being Frank: My Time with Frank Zappa. Los 
Angeles: California Classics Books, 1995.
Much of Nigey's book quotes Zappa firsthand and reveals 
much about the performer's personality and private life.  
The author spent a good deal of time with Zappa in the 
late 1960's and reveals personal information about him 
that she learned from her interaction.

Watson, Ben. Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of 
Poodle Play. New York: St. Martinís Press, 1993.
Frank Zappa's life is recounted in great detail in this 
book, but not in a normal biographical fashion.  Many of 
his motivations are deconstructed by Watson from a 
philosophical standpoint.  The book is organized 
chronologically by album, exploring the hidden meanings 
and philosophical values embedded in each song.  It is a 
complete study of Zappa's creative genius.

Zappa, Frank. The Real Frank Zappa Book. New York: 
Touchstone, 1989.
This book, dictated by Frank Zappa and edited by Peter 
Occhigrosso, gives an inside look at Zappa's life from the 
man himself.  He speaks about detailed issues in his life 
from his point of view, including all of the most 
controversial situations.  This being said, it is not 
always objective and there are some discrepencies between 
facts in this book and others.  It is an interesting and 
fun read.

Scott R. Toth
4-30-2003