''Thing-Fish'' is an album by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of A ...

, originally released as a

triple album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording is ...

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

Barking Pumpkin Records Barking Pumpkin Records, is an American record label founded by Frank Zappa in 1981. Zappa named the label after his wife's smoker's cough when she tried to quit the habit. Barking Pumpkin was initially distributed by CBS Records. History Zappa ...

in 1984. It was billed as a

cast recording A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the sho ...

for a proposed musical of the same name, which was ultimately not produced by Zappa, but later performed partially in 2003, ten years after his death. The album's storyline is inspired by

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T ...

, AIDS,

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a neg ...

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

and

African American culture African-American culture refers to the contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential on Ame ...

. It involves an evil, racist prince/theater critic who creates a disease intended to eradicate African Americans and homosexuals. The disease is tested on prisoners who are turned into "Mammy Nuns" led by the story's narrator, Thing-Fish. The

story within a story A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes ...

is a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

of a

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant In the United States, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants or WASPs are an ethnoreligious group who are the white, upper-class, American Protestant historical elite, typically of British descent. WASPs dominated American society, culture, and politi ...

couple, Harry and Rhonda (actually played by Italian-Americans), who attend a play performed by the "Mammy Nuns", and find themselves confronted with their pasts: Harry presented as a homosexual boy, Rhonda presented as a

sex doll A sex doll (also love doll, fuck doll or blowup doll) is a type of anthropomorphic sex toy in the size and shape of a sexual partner. The sex doll may consist of an entire body, or just a head, pelvis, or other body part (vagina, anus, mouth, pe ...

brought to life. The story was constructed during the recording sessions, which included producing new

overdub Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

s for recordings which previously appeared on Zappa's albums ''

Zoot Allures ''Zoot Allures'' is the 22nd album by the American rock musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1976 and his only release on the Warner Bros. Records label. Due to a lawsuit with his former manager, Herb Cohen, Zappa's recording contract was ...

'', '' Tinseltown Rebellion'', ''

You Are What You Is ''You Are What You Is'' is a 1981 double album by American musician Frank Zappa. His 34th album, it consists of three musical suites which encompass pop, doo-wop, jazz, hard rock, reggae, soul, blues, new wave and country. The album's lyrics s ...

'' and ''

Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch ''Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch'' is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in May 1982 and digitally remastered in 1991. It features five tracks composed by Zappa, and one song, "Valley Girl", co-written with his da ...

''. The release of the album was delayed when

' previous distributor,

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gene ...

, refused to distribute the album. It was instead released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

in the United States, accompanied by a " Warning/Guarantee" written by Zappa himself. ''Thing-Fish'' was initially received poorly by critics, who criticized the use of previously recorded material, but has since been reappraised for its highly satirical content.

Background

Before leaving for London to record with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

was home during Christmas season in 1982, and kept busy by writing, producing treatments for three films and a Broadway musical called ''Thing-Fish''. Between 1981 and 1982,

had shifted from conservative musicals to experimental plays that were viewed as either being pretentious or vulgar. ''Thing-Fish'' satirized statements made by theater critics at the time, as well as arguing against the "

dumbing down Dumbing down is the deliberate oversimplification of intellectual content in education, literature, and cinema, news, video games, and culture. Originated in 1933, the term "dumbing down" was movie-business slang, used by screenplay writers ...

" of American culture. Previously, Zappa unsuccessfully attempted to stage two musicals on Broadway, ''Hunchentoot'', which formed the basis for the

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

reissue of ''

Sleep Dirt ''Sleep Dirt'' is an album by Frank Zappa released in January 1979, on his own DiscReet Records label. It reached #175 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart in the United States. Zappa's original title for the album was ''Hot Rats III''. As the ...

'', and a musical adaptation of

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

' '' The Naked Lunch''. ''Thing-Fish'' also drew conceptual themes from AIDS,

, gay chic, conspiracy theories and issues of class, greed and race. The script was developed by recording songs beforehand; much of the songs in the play were previously recorded for other albums, including ''

'', '' Tinseltown Rebellion'', ''

'' and ''

Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch ''Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch'' is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in May 1982 and digitally remastered in 1991. It features five tracks composed by Zappa, and one song, "Valley Girl", co-written with his da ...

''. New vocals were combined with previously released tracks and new

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the early ...

music. In addition to the new songs, the previously recorded songs include new overdubs moving this storyline forward. As the recording process continued, Zappa brought in revised scripts and improved the work by editing or changing aspects with which he was dissatisfied. Zappa attempted to produce ''Thing-Fish'' as a Broadway production. In promotion of the planned musical, a photo sequence based upon the "Briefcase Boogie" scene was shot for the pornographic magazine '' Hustler'', accompanied by plot excerpts from the scene. The sequence was 28 pages long. While the album was released, Zappa was unable to raise the $5 million budget in order to produce the play, and shelved the project. Subsequently, ''Thing-Fish'' dialogue appeared on the album ''Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention'', during the piece "Porn Wars". The album was adapted for a limited stage production that took place in England in 2003. Many elaborate details were changed due to the small scale of the production.

Style and influences

Lyrics and story themes

The Thing-Fish characterization was performed by

Ike Willis Isaac Willis (born November 12, 1955) is an American vocalist and guitarist who was a regular member of Frank Zappa's studio and touring bands from 1978 until the last tour in 1988. He did not tour with Zappa in 1981 and 1982 because he wanted ...

, who helped shape the dialogue himself using

African American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE, ), also referred to as Black (Vernacular) English, Black English Vernacular, or occasionally Ebonics (a colloquial, controversial term), is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urba ...

According to Willis, "in my family, we sort of joke around with dialects, and what it sounded like to me was

he poet He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...

. ..I asked Frank if he had ever heard of this guy, and he said, 'No,' so I started giving him examples of Dunbar's work, and eventually, that ended up being a big influence on the Thing-Fish dialect."

Minstrel shows The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spec ...

served as a source of satire within the storyline. The Thing-Fish characterization is also seen as satirizing ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...

'', a successful radio series and controversial television series which drew protests from the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

, who perceived the dialect spoken by the main characters and supporting character Kingfish as being portrayed as being "too dumb to speak English." Additionally, Zappa satirized the

Mammy archetype A mammy is a U.S. historical stereotype depicting black women who work in a white family and nurse the family's children. The fictionalized mammy character is often visualized as a larger-sized, dark-skinned woman with a motherly personality ...

; the AIDS-like disease in the storyline turns prisoners into "Mammy Nuns" which are round and dress like

Aunt Jemima Pearl Milling Company (formerly known as Aunt Jemima from 1889 to 2021) is an American breakfast brand for pancake mix, syrup, and other breakfast food products. The original version of the pancake mix for the brand was developed in 1888–18 ...

. The Mammy archetype derives from the fictional character Mammy, as portrayed by

Hattie McDaniel Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. For her role as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'' (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, ...

in the film ''

Gone With The Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind may also refer to: Music * ''Gone with the Wind'' ...

''. ''Thing-Fish'' is delivered as a

, focusing on a spoiled

couple, Harry and Rhonda, who attend a play that initially begins as being about and starring the Mammy Nuns. The story ultimately ends up following these characters through a series of ideological fads. It is revealed that Harry had become a

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

as a result of the

women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

, which caused him to lose all sexual desire for women; the younger versions of the characters are portrayed in the characters "Harry-As-A-Boy" and "Artificial Rhonda", with the young Rhonda being portrayed as a rubber

, while her older counterpart becomes increasingly fascistic and feminist towards the end of the story.

Music and performance

The prologue is delivered as a spoken monologue over an instrumental piece with a heavy rock guitar riff. It is followed by the song "The Mammy Nuns", which originated as a hard rock instrumental, which appears in a live recording as "The Mammy Anthem" on ''

You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 ''You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1'' is a double disc live album by Frank Zappa. It was released in 1988 (see 1988 in music) under the label Rykodisc. It was the beginning of a six-volume, 12-CD set Zappa assembled of live performance ...

'', and opened performances in June and July 1982.The Mammy Nuns , AllMusic
/ref> "Galoot Up-Date" is an altered version of the recording "The Blue Light", which appeared on Zappa's album ''Tinseltown Rebellion''. As Harry and Rhonda express admiration for the "performance" of the Evil Prince, an early version of Zappa's Synclavier composition "Amnerika" is heard. "Clowns on Velvet" was performed live as a "spirited, playful instrumental".Clowns on Velvet , AllMusic
/ref> A recording of the instrumental version featuring guitarist

Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as a guitarist of the group Return to Forever in 1974. Between the 1970s and 1980s, albums such as ' ...

was planned for release on the album ''Tinseltown Rebellion'', but DiMeola refused its release.

Johnny "Guitar" Watson John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording caree ...

, appearing as the character Brown Moses, delivered running commentary in the song "He's So Gay", and sang the song "Brown Moses", which was influenced by

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

and gospel music. The play's first act is concluded with "Artificial Rhonda", a rewrite of the song "Ms. Pinky", which appeared on ''Zoot Allures''. The next track begins with early Synclavier music by Zappa, and the computerized voice of "The Crab-Grass Baby", followed by the Mammy Nuns singing "The White Boy Troubles". The Evil Prince, defeated at his own hands, delivers a soliloquy in the form of a Broadway piano ballad, "Wistful Wit a Fist-Full".

Release

The ''Thing-Fish'' album was identified as an "original cast recording".

prepared to release the album with distribution by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wi ...

. MCA produced a test pressing of the triple LP set, but withdrew their distribution after a woman in their quality control department became offended and upset by the album's content. A deal was quickly made with

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

, which would allow ''

Them Or Us ''Them or Us'' is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in October 1984 by Barking Pumpkin Records. Album content Its opening and closing songs were not written by Zappa: "The Closer You Are", was written by Earl Lewis and Morgan R ...

'' and ''Thing-Fish'' to be distributed by

in the United States. Zappa wrote a "

warning Warning may refer to: Signal * Precautionary statement * Warning sign * Warning system * Warning (traffic stop), issued by a police officer in lieu of a citation following a traffic stop Books * A Warning (book), ''A Warning'' (book), a 2019 ...

" which appeared on the inner sleeves of these albums, as well as ''

Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention ''Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention'' is a 1985 album by Frank Zappa. The album was originally released in two slightly different versions in the US and Europe. The album's title is a reference to the lobby group, the PMRC, who were c ...

'', which stated that the albums contained content "which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress", and a "guarantee" which stated that the lyrics would not "cause eternal torment in the place where the guy with the horns and pointed stick conducts his business." The original vinyl mix of ''Thing-Fish'' was only briefly available on CD via a 1987 EMI release in the United Kingdom. All other CD releases contain modifications, edits, re-equalization, and some minor remixing (the most significant difference—Johnny "Guitar" Watson's spoken vocals during "He's So Gay"—was not implemented immediately). This new version was initially released on CD by

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record la ...

, and along with most of Zappa's catalogue was reissued in 1995, also by Rykodisc. In 2012, after the Zappa Family Trust had regained the rights to Zappa's catalogue,

Zappa Records Zappa Records is an American record label based in Los Angeles which was founded by Frank Zappa in 1977. It was mostly inactive during the 1980s and 1990s, but was revived in 2006 by the Zappa Family Trust. History In May 1976, Zappa ended his re ...

, along with

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

reissued the album (still in revised form) on CD.

Reception

''Thing-Fish'' was poorly received by critics upon initial release; a common thread of criticism was that many of the songs on this album derived from previously released recordings, and some detractors considered it to be nothing more than a compilation album.

Barry Miles Barry Miles (born 21 February 1943) is an English author known for his participation in and writing on the subjects of the 1960s London underground and counterculture. He is the author of numerous books and his work has also regularly appeare ...

found it to be one of his "least substantive" works. More recently the album has been reappraised, described by Kevin Courrier in ''Dangerous kitchen: the subversive world of Zappa'' as "a compendium of Zappa's most explicit attacks on political and sexual hypocrisy in American culture collected together in one huge volley." In ''Frank Zappa and musical theatre: ugly ugly o'phan Annie and really deep, intense, thought-provoking Broadway symbolism'', ''Thing-Fish'' is described as "an extraordinary example of

bricolage In the arts, ''bricolage'' (French for " DIY" or "do-it-yourself projects") is the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work constructed using mixed media. The term ''bricolage'' ...

". Full article available by free login only. Retrieved on July 28, 2008. As reviewed by François Couture for the website

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

, Couture described ''Thing-Fish'' as Zappa's "most controversial, misunderstood, overlooked album", stating that it was not a masterpiece, but "more than rehashed material".

Track listing

Personnel

; Cast *

— Thing-Fish *

Terry Bozzio Terry John Bozzio (born December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missing Pers ...

— Harry * Dale Bozzio — Rhonda *

Napoleon Murphy Brock Napoleon Murphy Brock (born June 7, 1945) is an American singer, saxophonist and flute player who is best known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 1970s, including the albums '' Apostrophe (')'', '' Roxy & Elsewhere'', '' One Size Fits All'', ...

— The Evil Prince * Bob Harris — Harry-As-A-Boy *

— Brown Moses *

Ray White Ray White (full name Ray Shirley White Sr) is an American soul vocalist and rock and blues guitarist, best known as a member of Frank Zappa's touring ensembles. He was drafted into Zappa's band in late 1976, being featured on rhythm guit ...

— Owl-Gonkwin-Jane Cowhoon ; Credits * Frank Zappa - Book & lyrics, music, arrangements, direction of characterizations and album production * Mark Pinske & Bob Stone - Recording engineers * Mark Pinske - Engineering mixer * Ladi Von Jansky - Cover Photo * Jene Omens - Prosthetics of "THING-FISH" & "SISTER OB'DEWLLA 'X" * Robert Fletcher - Costumes ; The Musicians *

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the early ...

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist f ...

- guitar *

Tommy Mars Tommy Mars (born Thomas Mariano on October 26, 1951) is an American keyboard player known for his work with Frank Zappa. Mars began piano lessons at age eight, and later his instrument range expanded to various keyboards and synthesizers. Mars ...

- keyboards * Chuck Wild - broadway piano *

Arthur Barrow Arthur Barrow (born February 28, 1952) is a multi-instrumental musician, best known for his stint as a bass guitar player for Frank Zappa in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Early life Barrow was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1952 and grew up in ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

Scott Thunes Scott Thunes (pronounced "TOO-nis") (born January 20, 1960) is a bass player, formerly with Frank Zappa, Wayne Kramer, Steve Vai, Andy Prieboy, Mike Keneally, Fear, The Waterboys, Big Bang Beat, and others. Thunes was raised in San Anselmo, C ...

- bass *

Jay Anderson Jay Anderson (born October 24, 1955) is an American jazz double-bassist and studio musician. Career Anderson received a bachelor's degree from California State University, Long Beach in 1978, then worked with Woody Herman (1978-1979), Carmen McR ...

string bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

Ed Mann Ed Mann is a musician who has been "a drummer and piano dabbler since childhood." He is best known for his mallet percussion performances onstage with Frank Zappa's ensemble from 1977 to 1988, and his appearances on over 30 of Zappa's albums, ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Chad Wackerman Chad Wackerman (born March 25, 1960) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and rock drummer, who has played with Frank Zappa and Allan Holdsworth. He has worked as a band member, session musician, sideman, and leader of his own ensembles. He is th ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

* Steve De Furia - synclavier programming * David Ocker - synclavier programming ; Uncredited Musicians * Bob Harris - keyboards & trumpet on "Galoot Up-Date", backing vocals on "No Not Now" and "Won Ton On" * Motorhead Sherwood - trumpet on "Mudd Club" *

Denny Walley Denny Walley is an American guitarist who was born in Pennsylvania 4 February 1943. He is known for working with Frank Zappa in the 1970s and '80s. Career Denny Walley spent much of his childhood in New York City before his family moved to La ...

- slide guitar on "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing" * Bobby Martin - saxophone & keyboards on "Clowns on Velvet" *

Roy Estrada Roy Estrada (also known as "Roy Ralph Moleman Guacamole Guadalupe Hidalgo Estrada" and "Orejón"; born April 17, 1943) is an American former musician and convicted sex offender. He is best known for his bass guitar work with Frank Zappa and the M ...

- backing vocals on "Artificial Rhonda", "No Not Now" and "Won Ton On" * Don Van Vliet - harmonica on "Artificial Rhonda" *

Ruth Underwood Ruth Underwood (born Ruth Komanoff; May 23, 1946) is an American musician best known for playing xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, and other percussion instruments in Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. She collaborated with the Mothers of I ...

- synthesizer on "Artificial Rhonda"

References

{{Authority control 1984 albums Albums produced by Frank Zappa Barking Pumpkin Records albums Concept albums Frank Zappa albums HIV/AIDS in the United States 2003 musicals Rock operas Works about conspiracy theories