The Mothers of Invention

The Mothers of Invention (also known as the Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band called the Soul Giants, the band's first lineup comprised Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada, and Jimmy Carl Black. Frank Zappa was asked to take over as the guitarist when a fight between Collins and Hunt led to the latter's being fired. Zappa insisted they perform his original material—a decision that resulted in Coronado's leaving because he did not agree to the change—and on Mother's Day in 1965 the band changed its name to the Mothers. Record executives demanded the name be changed again, and so, "out of necessity", Zappa later said, "We became the Mothers of Invention", referring to the proverb "Necessity is the mother of invention".

After early struggles, the Mothers enjoyed substantial popular commercial success. The band first became popular playing in California's underground music scene in the late 1960s. With Zappa at the helm, it was signed to jazz label Verve Records as part of the label's diversification plans. Verve released the Mothers of Invention's début double album Freak Out! in 1966, recorded by Zappa, Collins, Black, Estrada and Elliot Ingber. During its original run, the band's ever-changing lineup also included Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, Billy Mundi, Jim Fielder, Ian Underwood, Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood, Art Tripp, Buzz Gardner, and Lowell George. The Mothers released a series of critically acclaimed albums, including Absolutely Free, We're Only in It for the Money, and Uncle Meat, before being disbanded by Zappa in 1969. In 1970, he formed a new version of the Mothers that included Ian Underwood, Jeff Simmons, George Duke, Aynsley Dunbar and singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (formerly of the Turtles, but who for contractual reasons were credited in this band as the Phlorescent Leech & Eddie or Flo & Eddie for short). Later replacing Simmons with another ex-Turtle, bassist Jim Pons, this second incarnation of the Mothers endured through December 1971, when Zappa was seriously injured and almost killed by an audience member during a concert appearance in London.

Zappa focused on big-band and orchestral music while recovering from his injuries, and in 1973 formed the Mothers' final lineup, which included Ian Underwood, George Duke, Ralph Humphrey, Sal Marquez, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, and Ruth Underwood. Napoleon Murphy Brock and Chester Thompson also joined the band later that year. The final non-archival album using the Mothers (of Invention) name, Bongo Fury (1975), featured Captain Beefheart, as well as guitarist Denny Walley and drummer Terry Bozzio, both of whom continued to play for Zappa on subsequent non-Mothers releases.

The Soul Giants were formed in 1964. In early 1965, Frank Zappa was approached by Ray Collins who asked him to take over as the guitarist following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist.^{[page needed]} Zappa accepted, and convinced the other members that they should play his music to increase the chances of getting a record contract. Original leader David Coronado did not think that the band would be employable if they played original material, and left the band. Zappa soon assumed leadership and the role as co-lead singer, even though he never considered himself a singer.

The band was renamed the Mothers, coincidentally on Mother's Day. The group increased their bookings after beginning an association with manager Herb Cohen, while they gradually gained attention on the burgeoning Los Angeles underground music scene. In early 1966, they were spotted by leading record producer, Tom Wilson, when playing Zappa's "Trouble Every Day", a song about the Watts Riots. Wilson had earned acclaim as the producer for singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and the folk-rock act Simon & Garfunkel, and was notable as one of the few African Americans working as a major label pop music producer at this time.

Wilson signed the Mothers to the Verve Records division of MGM Records, which had built up a strong reputation in the music industry for its releases of modern jazz recordings in the 1940s and 1950s, but was attempting to diversify into pop and rock audiences. Verve insisted that the band officially rename themselves because "Mother" in slang terminology was short for "motherfucker"—a term that apart from its profanity, in a jazz context connotes a very skilled musical instrumentalist. The label suggested the name "The Mothers Auxiliary", which prompted Zappa to come up with the name "The Mothers of Invention".

With Wilson credited as producer, the Mothers of Invention, augmented by a studio orchestra, recorded the groundbreaking Freak Out! (1966) which, preceded by Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, was the second rock double album of new material ever released. It mixed R&B, doo-wop, musique concrète, and experimental sound collages that captured the "freak" subculture of Los Angeles at that time. Although he was dissatisfied with the final product—in a late 1960s radio interview (included in the posthumous MOFO Project/Object compilation) Zappa recounted that the side-long closing track "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" was intended to be the basic track for a much more complex work which Verve did not allow him to complete—Freak Out immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the "relentless consumer culture of America". The sound was raw, but the arrangements were sophisticated. While recording in the studio, some of the additional session musicians were shocked that they were expected to read the notes on sheet music from charts with Zappa conducting them, since it was not standard when recording rock music. The lyrics praised non-conformity, disparaged authorities, and had dadaist elements. Yet, there was a place for seemingly conventional love songs. Most compositions are Zappa's, which set a precedent for the rest of his recording career. He had full control over the arrangements and musical decisions and did most overdubs. Wilson provided the industry clout and connections to get the group the financial resources needed.

Wilson nominally produced the Mothers' second album Absolutely Free (1967), which was recorded in November 1966, and later mixed in New York, although by this time Zappa was in de facto control of most facets of the production. It featured extended playing by the Mothers of Invention and focused on songs that defined Zappa's compositional style of introducing abrupt, rhythmical changes into songs that were built from diverse elements. Examples are "Plastic People" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", which contained lyrics critical of the hypocrisy and conformity of American society, but also of the counterculture of the 1960s. As Zappa put it, "[W]e're satirists, and we are out to satirize everything."