Date Available
5-20-2020
Year of Publication
2020
Degree Name
Master of Music (MM)
Document Type
Master's Thesis
College
Fine Arts
Department/School/Program
Music
First Advisor
Dr. Ben Arnold
Abstract
One of Zappa’s many cherished styles of music was the doo-wop of the mid-1950s through the early 1960s. His love for the style culminated in 1968 with a poor-selling and often forgotten doo-wop record, Cruising with Ruben & The Jets. While the record earned little praise from critics and fans, Zappa considered it as a landmark of his early career, as evidenced in his autobiography. This thesis investigates Zappa’s relationship to doo-wop and “perversion” of the style as it culminated in Cruising.
As revealed through autobiographical entries and interviews with Zappa, Ray Collins, and other collaborators, Zappa devised his unique doo-wop style from the early onset of his career until Cruising’s release in 1968. Moreover, he utilized his collagist composition techniques similar to those of postmodern American art music composers of the 1960s such as George Rochberg and David Del Tredici. Although outside of the realm of art music, Cruising is a highlight of Zappa’s early style and one of his finest representations of postmodernity.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.384
Recommended Citation
Adamo, Benjamin, "Zappa’s Remembrance of a Forgotten Style: The Relationship Between Frank Zappa and Doo-Wop as Illustrated in Cruising with Ruben & The Jets" (2020). Theses and Dissertations--Music. 168.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/music_etds/168
