''Thing-Fish'' is an album by American musician

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

, originally released as a triple album

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

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 theatre, 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 ...

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#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

and

African American culture African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. African-American/Bl ...

. 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 sometime ...

is a

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

of a

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant In the United States, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants or Wealthy Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) is a Sociology, sociological term which is often used to describe White Americans, white Protestantism in the United States, Protestant Americans of E ...

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 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 a ...

s for recordings which previously appeared on Zappa's albums '' Zoot Allures'', '' Tinseltown Rebellion'', '' You Are What You Is'' and '' Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch''. The release of the album was delayed when

' previous distributor, MCA, refused to distribute the album. It was instead released by

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

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, cinema, news, video games, and culture. Originating in 1933, the term "dumbing down" was movie-business slang, used by screenplay writers, meanin ...

" 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 media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

reissue of '' Sleep Dirt'', and a musical adaptation of William S. Burroughs' '' The Naked Lunch''. ''Thing-Fish'' also drew conceptual themes from

, 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 '' Zoot Allures'', '' Tinseltown Rebellion'', '' You Are What You Is'' and '' Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch''. 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 ea ...

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, who helped shape the dialogue himself using

African American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban communities, by most working- and middle-class African Americans and some Black Canadians. Having its own unique grammatical, voca ...

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

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

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' was an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago then 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 sho ...

'', 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 an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, 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; the AIDS-like disease in the storyline turns prisoners into "Mammy Nuns" which are round and dress like Aunt Jemima. The Mammy archetype derives from the fictional character Mammy, as portrayed by Hattie McDaniel in the film ''

Gone With The Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel 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 people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

as a result of the women's liberation movement, 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 sex doll, 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'', 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 work in jazz fusion and world music, his breakthrough came after joining Chick Corea's Return to Forever group in 1974. He launched, from 1976 afterwards, a s ...

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

Johnny "Guitar" Watson John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), often known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording career spanned 40 year ...

, 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 The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

. 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". A portion of the "Baby's" monologue is taken directly from monologue Zappa recorded of Motorhead Sherwood's that was previously featured on Zappa's '' Lumpy Gravy'' LP. The next song features 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. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

. 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 British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

, which would allow '' Them Or Us'' and ''Thing-Fish'' to be distributed by

in the United States. Zappa wrote a " warning" which appeared on the inner sleeves of these albums, as well as '' Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention'', 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 commentary 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 distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

, 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 r ...

, along with

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

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

Critical 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 A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

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 language, 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 t ...

". 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 database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, 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

*The 1995 CD release has sides one to three and side four tracks 1 & 2 on CD 1, and side four tracks 3 & 4 and sides five and six on CD 2.

Personnel

; Cast * Ike Willis – Thing-Fish *

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

– Harry * Dale Bozzio – Rhonda *

Napoleon Murphy Brock Napoleon Murphy Brock (born April 23, 1943) 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 – 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 stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, 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 Transcription (music), transc ...

– guitar * Ray White – 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 –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Scott Thunes – bass * Jay Anderson –

string bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

* Ed Mann –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* Chad Wackerman –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* 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 –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

on "Mudd Club" * Denny Walley – 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. He is best known for being the original bassist of both the Mothers of Invention and Little Fea ...

– backing vocals on "Artificial Rhonda", "No Not Now" and "Won Ton On" * Captain Beefheart – harmonica on "Artificial Rhonda" * Ruth Underwood – synthesizer on "Artificial Rhonda"

References

{{Authority control 1984 albums Albums produced by Frank Zappa Barking Pumpkin Records albums 1980s concept albums Frank Zappa albums HIV/AIDS in the United States 2003 musicals Rock operas Works about conspiracy theories American political satire