Freak Out, U.S.A

"....This is a Copyrighted term, those of you out there who might be planning to use the word "Freak Out" in conjunction with some business- naughty, naughty. We'll sue you to death. A magazine was about to go onto the market called Freak Out, U.S.A. and they have received a telegram saying 'cease and desist you fools because it will cost you a great quantity of money'..." -Frank Zappa interview, 1967

Frank is referring to the Mothers of Invention's 1966 album titled "Freak Out" and the sudden interest and overuse of the phrase in popular culture. Frank claims to have coined the phrase, which we now use in our everyday vernacular.

So here is Freak Out, U.S.A.- which oddly enough features an interview with Zappa. The publication was very short lived ( I think only two issues), but is a really cool, if cheesy, document of the music scene at the time. I, being a huge Zappa fan (although he can be an a-hole at times) couldn't pass this up.

Like I said, I'm a huge Zappa fan, more specifically the stuff featuring the original Mothers of Invention line-up. They were the freakiest, ugliest, greasiest, weirdest group of the time and that's my bag folks. This collage mimics the style used by Zappa and frequent collaborator Cal Schenkel on the early Mothers LP sleeves.

And the interview itself is quite telling as Zappa explains his anti-drug philosophy and the true meaning of "freaking out"

These are the Fugs who, like the Mothers, were also very greasy, grimy and weird.  I love this dude's custom army coat! I'm working on spiffing one up my self...

Super cool posters! Notice the Jefferson Airplane poster...it's the same one I spotted (see last post) at the Antique Mall the other day!