Zappa and the Mothers in the 60s

[Robin Landseadel]

On Aug 29, 2009, at 7:35 AM, rich wrote:

> one critic notes that the LA freak
> scene was not as enamored of drugs as they were in the Bay Area in the
> mid-late 60s (sorta hard to believe that one)


I think from Big Sur on up, the general attitude towards LSD was more  
Aldous Huxley than Hunter S. Thompson. Lotsa those more northerly  
types saw LSD as a gateway to heaven—if done properly, mind you. L.A.  
gave us the decidedly Thompson-ian "Doors" [in spite their Huxley-ian  
name]. I'd exclude the original Pranksters from this Précis, but note  
that L.A. gave us the Seeds, Zappa & Co., Captain Beefheart, Love and  
the Beach Boys while San Francisco and environs gave us the Dead,  
Quicksilver, Santana and the Jefferson Airplane. There were drugs in  
both scenes, the the attitude towards them was different depending on  
where your were living at the time. The subject is touched on in  
Inherent Vice.

On Aug 29, 2009, at 7:35 AM, rich wrote:

> ‘Where the hell did that come from?’ was likely the response from many
> on hearing The Mothers of Invention’s debut album Freak Out upon its
> release in June 1966 – a time when music was changing, but to a degree
> that hadn’t yet hinted anything this bizarre was on the horizon.

I recall hearing KPPC in Pasadena play all of "Absolutely Free" in  
1967. It left a deep impression on me. It was probably the first time  
I heard twelve-tone music [not counting all that creepy shit they  
sneak into horror movies.] I love "America Drinks and Goes Home."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZCverm9Il8