Zappa.com

Same here! My friend had a promo mono copy of "Absolutrly Free," he played for me. I was blown away by the "Invocation..." and Brown Shoes Don't Make it. He thought of it as just as comedy album to freak out girls at parties. ( which it did) I loved Zappa's music the first time I heard it.

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"The largest land mammal is the absent mind" (Don Van Vliet - 1971)

1975 (or 1976?): I saw a strange LP in the local record shop, with a fat floating sofa on the front and a delirious star map on the back. My 10 year old comic book imagination was totally captured by that strange universe, but of course I couldn't buy the record, because I didn't have the money, and we didn't even have a record player at the time.

1978: I taped Honey Don't You Want A Man Like Me from the radio and played it to death. I even played it for my mother, who found it more interesting than Bob Dylan (English isn't our mother tongue, you know).

1979: I finally bought my first Frank Zappa cassette, Sheik Yerbouti, and was totally hooked. It's probably my most played album of all time, although years go by without listening to it these days. I guess I should whip out the vinyl again soon, though.

One final memory: On a school trip to Oslo in 1979 or 1980, I asked the bus driver to play my Zoot Allures cassette. Jaws dropped all around through The Torture Never Stops, as the class mates suffered the moaning and groaning from the leisure activities there...

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We make a special art in an environment hostile to dreamers. Frank Zappa, 1971

I always have considered it wonderful that most stories I have read or heard of real FZ fans indicate that it was 'love at first listen.'

Whatever our differences as people, we seem to have one thing in common, that FZ 'spoke' to us musically from the first time we heard him. I didn't always agree with all his opinions (and Lord knows Frank had an opinion on everything), but his unwillingness to bend to the current fashion and to say things others weren't willing to say fit like a glove with his willingness to take musical forms to where they hadn't gone before.

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If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

It was "Were Only In It For The Money" its simply an amazing album its still in my top 5 favorite zappa albums

YCDTOSA 6 (Even after 18 years of collecting Zappa albums, still probably my fave)

followed the next day by Apostrophe/Overnight Sensation. Back when they were being sold as a single CD.

Uncle Meat. Vinyl. Year of it's release.

Hot Rats

Interesting... It's one of the few I still don't have... Guess I have something to look forward to, then

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We make a special art in an environment hostile to dreamers. Frank Zappa, 1971

In 1972, I borrowed several and got them on reel-to-reel. My favorite was We're Only In It For The Money. Was well-versed in FZ when I went to 1973 concert in Houston. Enjoyed hearing Inca Roads and Echidna's Arf (Of You) for the first time that night.

Finally, started to buy albums. Zappa In New York, Bongo Fury, and Zoot Allures when they were new.

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Now AIR can get through.

Uncle Meat, and The ***of the Mothers (given to me as payment when I forged a term paper for a buddy in '69).

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If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

My Dad is a HUGE Zappa fanatic, and as such exposed me to Zappa at a very young age. The result is the monster Zappa fan that I am today. The first item that I ever expressly owned was the "Did I Offend Someone" compilation. However, I had taped all of my Dad's vinyl (around 25 releases) at around age 10.

Once I began collecting Zappa vinyl, the first piece I bought was the Joe's Garage boxed set.

My friend had me listen to Roxy and Elsewhere and We're Only in it for the Money when I started expressing interest in Zappa's music. Both albums just kind of confused me at the time, but I was intrigued enough to keep listening!

Hot Rats was the first one I got for myself. I remember going on amazon and listening to the previews...the preview of "Peaches en Regalia" was enough to convince me to go to the local music store as fast as possible.

After Hot Rats, I got Grand Wazoo, and once I got to college I started really delving in to the rest of his stuff.

I think confusion and intrigue are common feelings the first time one listens to Zappa.

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"I was born to have adventure, so I just followed up the steps..."
[url]mirroruniversetapes.blogspot.com[/url]

Also addiction.

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If we're dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

Roxy and Elsewhere was confusing enough to me, let alone the weird chipmunk voices on We're Only in it for the Money, which completely freaked out my young, naive musical mind! There were definitely some moments that blew me away right from the start though (I was in heaven when the guitar solo in Penguin in Bondage started, and I while a lot of We're Only in it for the Money was completely baffling to me, I loved mother people)

Yellow Snow/Cosmik Debris single was the first taste of FZ for me.

In New York was the first album.

Ship Arriving Too Late LP on vinyl in 1982

Joe's Acts II & III

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my first album was "Roxy & Elsewhere " in 1978

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Alte Säcke Basel

Freak Out and We´re only in it for the money\Lumpy Gravy (the remix)

Joe's Garage part 1 (vinyl!) Bought it through the old Columbia House mailorder!!!!

I had heard the name Frank Zappa, but did not know any of his music. One day I heard Montana on the radio and thought it was fantastic. I did not know what album it was on, but I went to a record store looking for it. They had a lot of his albums but I did not see Montana listed on any of them. As I looked through all the albums and read the song titles I remember thinking "this guy must be REALLY interesting". They had a big cardboard cutout of FZ and a poster advertising his latest release, Apostrophe, so I bought a copy. What a great introduction to a true musical genius.

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Hey, pass me the dog food.

Hot Rats somewhere in 75, 76 I guess.

Worth Repeating...