230-469: Frank Vincent Zappa ( / ˈ z æ p ə / ZAP -ə ; December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock , pop , jazz , jazz fusion , orchestral and musique concrète works; he also produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as
460-485: A Luden's cough drops television commercial. Zappa's music was matched with Seeman's animation and the advertisement won a Clio Award for "Best Use of Sound". An alternate version of the soundtrack, called "The Big Squeeze", later appeared on Zappa's posthumous 1996 album The Lost Episodes . This version lacks Seeman's narration. While living in New York City, and interrupted by the band's first European tour,
690-400: A half-life of 444 years, and Hg with a half-life of 46.612 days. Most of the remaining radioisotopes have half-lives that are less than a day. Hg occurs naturally in tiny traces as an intermediate decay product of U . Hg and Hg are the most often studied NMR -active nuclei, having spins of 1 ⁄ 2 and 3 ⁄ 2 respectively. Hg is
920-442: A melting point of −38.83 °C and a boiling point of 356.73 °C, both the lowest of any stable metal, although preliminary experiments on copernicium and flerovium have indicated that they have even lower boiling points. This effect is due to lanthanide contraction and relativistic contraction reducing the orbit radius of the outermost electrons, and thus weakening the metallic bonding in mercury. Upon freezing,
1150-434: A mercury-aluminium amalgam when the two pure metals come into contact. Since the amalgam destroys the aluminium oxide layer which protects metallic aluminium from oxidizing in-depth (as in iron rusting ), even small amounts of mercury can seriously corrode aluminium. For this reason, mercury is not allowed aboard an aircraft under most circumstances because of the risk of it forming an amalgam with exposed aluminium parts in
1380-425: A misdemeanor , with all but ten days suspended. His brief imprisonment left a permanent mark, and was central to the formation of his anti-authoritarian stance. Zappa lost several recordings made at Studio Z in the process, as the police returned only 30 of 80 hours of tape seized. Eventually, he could no longer afford to pay the rent on the studio and was evicted. Zappa managed to recover some of his possessions before
1610-640: A soft metal , mercury forms very stable derivatives with the heavier chalcogens . Preeminent is mercury(II) sulfide , HgS, which occurs in nature as the ore cinnabar and is the brilliant pigment vermilion . Like ZnS , HgS crystallizes in two forms , the reddish cubic form and the black zinc blende form. The latter sometimes occurs naturally as metacinnabar . Mercury(II) selenide (HgSe) and mercury(II) telluride (HgTe) are known, these as well as various derivatives, e.g. mercury cadmium telluride and mercury zinc telluride being semiconductors useful as infrared detector materials. Mercury(II) salts form
1840-555: A bicycle as a musical instrument— using drum sticks and a bow borrowed from the band's bass player he proceeded to pluck, bang, and bow the spokes of the bike, producing strange, comical sounds from his newfound instrument. With Captain Beefheart, Zappa recorded some songs under the name of the Soots. They were rejected by Dot Records . Later, the Mothers were also rejected by Columbia Records for having "no commercial potential",
2070-548: A bunch of quotes". Despite Zappa's complaints, the book was later published in an updated edition in 1980 and again in 1996 after Zappa's death. Zappa then formed and toured with smaller groups that variously included Ian Underwood (reeds, keyboards), Ruth Underwood (vibes, marimba), Sal Marquez (trumpet, vocals), Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Tom Fowler (bass), Chester Thompson (drums), Ralph Humphrey (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), and Jean-Luc Ponty (violin). By 1973,
2300-480: A car with a sledgehammer as the song "Mother People" plays. He later provided a cameo in the Monkees' movie Head where, leading a cow, he tells Davy Jones "the youth of America depends on you to show them the way." Zappa respected the Monkees and attempted to recruit Micky Dolenz to the Mothers but RCA/Columbia/Colgems would not release Dolenz from his contract. During the late 1960s, Zappa continued to develop
2530-514: A certain degree doesn't care if it's popular. — Bill Wyman in Vulture (2016) The sound of rock is traditionally centered on the amplified electric guitar, which emerged in its modern form in the 1950s with the popularity of rock and roll. It was also greatly influenced by the sounds of electric blues guitarists. The sound of an electric guitar in rock music is typically supported by an electric bass guitar, which pioneered jazz music in
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#17327802797372760-593: A chamber 60 feet below the 1800-year-old pyramid known as the Temple of the Feathered Serpent , the third-largest pyramid of Teotihuacan , Mexico, along with "jade statues, jaguar remains, a box filled with carved shells and rubber balls". In Lamanai , once a major city of the Maya civilization , a pool of mercury was found under a marker in a Mesoamerican ballcourt . Aristotle recounts that Daedalus made
2990-419: A child he "used to play with it all the time", often by putting liquid mercury on the floor and using a hammer to spray out mercury droplets in a circular pattern, eventually covering the entire floor of his bedroom with them. Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from asthma , earaches and sinus problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of radium into each of Zappa's nostrils. At
3220-567: A contract at the Garrick Theater (at 152 Bleecker Street , above the Cafe au Go Go ) during Easter 1967. This proved successful and Herb Cohen extended the booking, which eventually lasted half a year. As a result, Zappa and his wife Gail, along with the Mothers of Invention, moved to New York. Their shows became a combination of improvised acts showcasing individual talents of the band as well as tight performances of Zappa's music. Everything
3450-458: A crushed larynx , which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing. A recording of the whole concert, including the attack, was released on the posthumous album The Mothers 1971 in 2022. After the attack Zappa needed to use a wheelchair for an extended period, making touring impossible for over half a year. Upon return to the stage in September 1972, Zappa was still wearing
3680-459: A digital display. Some transit telescopes use a basin of mercury to form a flat and absolutely horizontal mirror, useful in determining an absolute vertical or perpendicular reference. Concave horizontal parabolic mirrors may be formed by rotating liquid mercury on a disk, the parabolic form of the liquid thus formed reflecting and focusing incident light. Such liquid-mirror telescopes are cheaper than conventional large mirror telescopes by up to
3910-401: A factor of 100, but the mirror cannot be tilted and always points straight up. Liquid mercury is part of a popular secondary reference electrode (called the calomel electrode ) in electrochemistry as an alternative to the standard hydrogen electrode . The calomel electrode is used to work out the electrode potential of half cells . The triple point of mercury, −38.8344 °C, is
4140-519: A fondness for a good beat, a meaningful lyric with some wit, and the theme of youth, which holds an "eternal attraction" so objective "that all youth music partakes of sociology and the field report ." Writing in Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he said this sensibility is evident in the music of folk singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked , rapper LL Cool J , and synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys —"all kids working out their identities"—as much as it
4370-524: A forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech , self-education , political participation and the abolition of censorship. Unlike many other rock musicians of his generation, he disapproved of recreational drug use, but supported decriminalization and regulation. Zappa was a highly productive and prolific artist with a controversial critical standing; supporters of his music admired its compositional complexity, while detractors found it lacking emotional depth. He had greater commercial success outside
4600-481: A foundation of simple syncopated rhythms in a 4 meter , with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies often originate from older musical modes such as the Dorian and Mixolydian , as well as major and minor modes. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel perfect fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Since the late 1950s, and particularly from
4830-628: A frequent addition to the established rock format of guitars, bass, and drums in subsequent progressive rock. Instrumentals were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy and science fiction. The Pretty Things ' SF Sorrow (1968), the Kinks' Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969), and the Who 's Tommy (1969) introduced
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#17327802797375060-666: A guest appearance by Captain Beefheart on the only vocal track, "Willie the Pimp". It became a popular album in England, and had a major influence on the development of jazz-rock fusion . In 1970, Zappa met conductor Zubin Mehta . They arranged a May 1970 concert where Mehta conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic augmented by a rock band. According to Zappa, the music was mostly written in motel rooms while on tour with
5290-456: A handful of the most sophisticated commercial studios had multi-track facilities; the industry standard for smaller studios was still mono or two-track. Although none of the recordings from the period achieved major commercial success, Zappa earned enough money to allow him in 1963 to stage a concert of his orchestral music and to broadcast and record it. In March of that same year Zappa appeared on Steve Allen 's syndicated late night show playing
5520-531: A keen interest in the visual presentation of his work, designing some of his album covers and directing his own films and videos. Zappa attempted to earn a living as a musician and composer, and played different nightclub gigs, some with a new version of the Blackouts. Zappa's earliest professional recordings, two soundtracks for the low-budget films The World's Greatest Sinner (1962) and Run Home, Slow (1965) were more financially rewarding. The former score
5750-630: A key feature of psychedelia. Psychedelic rock reached its apogee in the last years of the decade. 1967 saw the Beatles release their definitive psychedelic statement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , including the controversial track " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds ", the Rolling Stones responded later that year with Their Satanic Majesties Request , and Pink Floyd debuted with The Piper at
5980-487: A laxative and dewormer, and it was used in teething powders for infants. The mercury-containing organohalide merbromin (sometimes sold as Mercurochrome) is still widely used but has been banned in some countries, such as the U.S. Mercury is an ingredient in dental amalgams . Thiomersal (called Thimerosal in the United States) is an organic compound used as a preservative in vaccines , although this use
6210-515: A leg brace, had a noticeable limp and could not stand for very long while on stage. Zappa noted that one leg healed "shorter than the other" (a reference later found in the lyrics of songs "Zomby Woof" and " Dancin' Fool "), resulting in chronic back pain. Meanwhile, the Mothers were left in limbo and eventually formed the core of Flo and Eddie's band as they set out on their own. In 1972, Zappa released two strongly jazz-oriented solo LPs, Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo , which were recorded during
6440-446: A local band, the Blackouts. The band was racially diverse and included Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood who later became a member of the Mothers of Invention. Zappa's interest in the guitar grew, and in 1957 he was given his first instrument. Among his early influences were Johnny "Guitar" Watson , Howlin' Wolf and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown . In the 1970s/1980s, he invited Watson to perform on several albums. Zappa considered soloing
6670-633: A long-distance call to the New York composer as a fifteenth birthday present. Unfortunately, Varèse was in Europe at the time, so Zappa spoke to the composer's wife and she suggested he call back later. In a letter, Varèse thanked him for his interest, and told him about a composition he was working on called " Déserts ". Living in the desert town of Lancaster, Zappa found this very exciting. Varèse invited him to visit if he ever came to New York. The meeting never took place (Varèse died in 1965), but Zappa framed
6900-573: A loud amplified sound, often centered on the electric guitar, based on the Chicago blues , particularly after the tour of Britain by Muddy Waters in 1958, which prompted Cyril Davies and guitarist Alexis Korner to form the band Blues Incorporated . The band involved and inspired many of the figures of the subsequent British blues boom, including members of the Rolling Stones and Cream , combining blues standards and forms with rock instrumentation and emphasis. The other key focus for British blues
7130-587: A mainstream audience with hits including " Blowin' in the Wind " (1963) and " Masters of War " (1963), which brought " protest songs " to a wider public, but, although beginning to influence each other, rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with mutually exclusive audiences. Early attempts to combine elements of folk and rock included the Animals' " House of the Rising Sun " (1964), which
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7360-495: A major element of progressive rock. From about 1967 bands like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience had moved away from purely blues-based music into psychedelia . By the 1970s, blues rock had become heavier and more riff-based, exemplified by the work of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple , and the lines between blues rock and hard rock "were barely visible", as bands began recording rock-style albums. The genre
7590-429: A major influence on subsequent electronic rock . With the advent of punk rock and technological changes in the late 1970s, progressive rock was increasingly dismissed as pretentious and overblown. Many bands broke up, but some, including Genesis, ELP, Yes, and Pink Floyd, regularly scored top ten albums with successful accompanying worldwide tours. Some bands which emerged in the aftermath of punk, such as Siouxsie and
7820-410: A more basic form of rock and roll that incorporated its original influences, particularly blues, country and folk music, leading to the creation of country rock and Southern rock. In 1966 Bob Dylan went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde . This, and subsequent more clearly country-influenced albums, such as Nashville Skyline , have been seen as creating the genre of country folk ,
8050-486: A multi-million dollar breach of contract lawsuit. During a lengthy legal debate, Warner eventually released the four disputed albums during 1978 and 1979, Zappa in New York having been censored to remove references to guitarist Punky Meadows . Following the split with Warner, Zappa reconfigured the four disputed albums, along with some other material, into a quadruple album called Läther (pronounced "leather") and negotiated distribution with Phonogram Inc. for release on
8280-486: A multibillion-dollar industry and doubling its market while, as Christgau noted, suffering a significant "loss of cultural prestige". "Maybe the Bee Gees became more popular than the Beatles, but they were never more popular than Jesus ", he said. "Insofar as the music retained any mythic power, the myth was self-referential – there were lots of songs about the rock and roll life but very few about how rock could change
8510-589: A national phenomenon. It is often argued that the surf music craze and the careers of almost all surf acts was effectively ended by the arrival of the British Invasion from 1964, because most surf music hits were recorded and released between 1960 and 1965. By the end of 1962, what would become the British rock scene had started with beat groups like the Beatles , Gerry & the Pacemakers and
8740-522: A new version of the Mothers (from then on, he mostly dropped the "of Invention"). Along with Ian Underwood, the new band also included British drummer Aynsley Dunbar , jazz keyboardist George Duke , bassist Jeff Simmons , and the two lead singers of the Turtles , Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan , who, due to persistent legal and contractual problems, adopted the stage name "The Phlorescent Leech and Eddie" or " Flo & Eddie " for short. Another member of
8970-448: A positive charge. One example is Hg 3 (AsF 6 ) 2 containing the Hg 3 cation. Mercury(II) is the most common oxidation state and is the main one in nature as well. All four mercuric halides are known and have been demonstrated to form linear coordination geometry , despite mercury's tendency to form tetrahedral molecular geometry with other ligands. This behavior
9200-459: A preacher, prosecutions of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and the breaking of the payola scandal (which implicated major figures, including Alan Freed, in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs), gave a sense that the rock and roll era established at that point had come to an end. Rock quickly spread out from its origins in the US, associated with the rapid Americanization that
9430-444: A prog rock influence and while ranking among the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, heralding the era of pomp or arena rock , which would last until the costs of complex shows (often with theatrical staging and special effects), would be replaced by more economical rock festivals as major live venues in the 1990s. The instrumental strand of the genre resulted in albums like Mike Oldfield 's Tubular Bells (1973),
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9660-446: A rigidly delineated musical definition." In the opinion of music journalist Robert Christgau , "the best rock jolts folk-art virtues—directness, utility, natural audience—into the present with shots of modern technology and modernist dissociation ". Rock and roll was conceived as an outlet for adolescent yearnings ... To make rock and roll is also an ideal way to explore intersections of sex, love, violence, and fun, to broadcast
9890-625: A rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. By the late 1960s " classic rock " period, a few distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock , folk rock , country rock , Southern rock , raga rock , and jazz rock , which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock , influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene . New genres that emerged included progressive rock , which extended artistic elements, heavy metal , which emphasized an aggressive thick sound, and glam rock , which highlighted showmanship and visual style. In
10120-721: A route pursued by a number of largely acoustic folk musicians. Other acts that followed the back-to-basics trend were the Canadian group the Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival , both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder , Bonnie Raitt and Lowell George , and influenced
10350-510: A scaled-down version known as the Petit Wazoo that toured the U.S. for five weeks from October to December 1972. In December 1972, David Walley published the first biography of Zappa, titled No Commercial Potential . Zappa was severely critical, calling it "a quickie, paperback, sensational book". He said that it contained "gross inaccuracies", described the writing as "not quality workmanship" and claimed that Walley had "just slung together
10580-507: A sign of Zappa's perfectionism at the expense of human feeling. Others were irritated by 'his autocratic ways', exemplified by Zappa's never staying at the same hotel as the band members. Several members would play with Zappa again in subsequent years, while Lowell George and Roy Estrada went on to form the band Little Feat . Zappa assembled remaining unreleased recordings of the band on the albums Burnt Weeny Sandwich and Weasels Ripped My Flesh , both released in 1970. After he disbanded
10810-481: A slogan one only began to hear in 1972 or so, mobilized all those eager to believe that idealism had become passe, and once they were mobilized, it had. In popular music, embracing the '70s meant both an elitist withdrawal from the messy concert and counterculture scene and a profiteering pursuit of the lowest common denominator in FM radio and album rock . Rock saw greater commodification during this decade, turning into
11040-557: A small apartment in Echo Park, Los Angeles . After he met Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman during his short period of private composition study with Prof. Karl Kohn of Pomona College , they moved in together in Ontario , and were married December 28, 1960. Zappa worked for a short period in advertising as a copywriter. His sojourn in the commercial world was brief, but gave him valuable insights into its workings. Throughout his career, he took
11270-462: A solo artist. His work is characterized by nonconformity , improvisation sound experimentation, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos , and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation. As a mostly self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that
11500-406: A teenager Zappa was simultaneously enthralled by black R&B ( Johnny 'Guitar' Watson , Guitar Slim ), doo-wop ( The Channels , The Velvets ), and modern composers, such as Igor Stravinsky , Anton Webern and Edgard Varèse ." R&B singles were early purchases for Zappa, starting a large collection he kept for the rest of his life. He was interested in sounds for their own sake, particularly
11730-459: A variety of complex derivatives with ammonia . These include Millon's base (Hg 2 N ), the one-dimensional polymer (salts of HgNH 2 ) n ), and "fusible white precipitate" or [Hg(NH 3 ) 2 ]Cl 2 . Known as Nessler's reagent , potassium tetraiodomercurate(II) ( K 2 HgI 4 ) is still occasionally used to test for ammonia owing to its tendency to form the deeply colored iodide salt of Millon's base. Mercury fulminate
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#173278027973711960-464: A variety of directions, including Dylan and the Byrds, who began to develop country rock . However, the hybridization of folk and rock has been seen as having a major influence on the development of rock music, bringing in elements of psychedelia, and helping to develop the ideas of the singer-songwriter, the protest song, and concepts of "authenticity". Psychedelic music's LSD -inspired vibe began in
12190-529: A variety of sources such as the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music , and rhythm and blues . Christgau characterizes rock lyrics as a "cool medium" with simple diction and repeated refrains, and asserts that rock's primary "function" "pertains to music, or, more generally, noise ." The predominance of white, male, and often middle class musicians in rock music has often been noted, and rock has been seen as an appropriation of Black musical forms for
12420-456: A verdict Zappa subsequently quoted on the sleeve of Freak Out! In 1964, after his marriage started to break up, he moved into the Pal studio and began routinely working 12 hours or more per day recording and experimenting with overdubbing and audio tape manipulation . This established a work pattern that endured for most of his life. Aided by his income from film composing, Zappa took over
12650-506: A wooden statue of Aphrodite move by pouring quicksilver in its interior. In Greek mythology Daedalus gave the appearance of voice in his statues using quicksilver. The ancient Greeks used cinnabar (mercury sulfide) in ointments; the ancient Egyptians and the Romans used it in cosmetics . By 500 BC mercury was used to make amalgams (Medieval Latin amalgama , "alloy of mercury") with other metals. Alchemists thought of mercury as
12880-535: A year, Zappa found a copy (he noticed the LP because of the "mad scientist" looking photo of Varèse on the cover). Not having enough money with him, he persuaded the salesman to sell him the record at a discount. Thus began his lifelong passion for Varèse's music and that of other modern classical composers. He also liked the Italian classical music listened to by his grandparents, especially Puccini 's opera arias. By 1956,
13110-501: A young, white and largely male audience. As a result, it has also been seen to articulate the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, "rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality and aggression". Since the term "rock" started being used in preference to "rock and roll" from the late-1960s, it has usually been contrasted with pop music, with which it has shared many characteristics, but from which it
13340-474: Is a detonator widely used in explosives . Organic mercury compounds are historically important but are of little industrial value in the western world. Mercury(II) salts are a rare example of simple metal complexes that react directly with aromatic rings. Organomercury compounds are always divalent and usually two-coordinate and linear geometry. Unlike organocadmium and organozinc compounds, organomercury compounds do not react with water. They usually have
13570-675: Is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll " in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues , rhythm and blues , and country music . Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk , and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock
13800-562: Is a topical antiseptic used for minor cuts and scrapes in some countries. Today, the use of mercury in medicine has greatly declined in all respects, especially in developed countries. Mercury is still used in some diuretics , although substitutes such as thiazides now exist for most therapeutic uses. In 2003, mercury compounds were found in some over-the-counter drugs , including topical antiseptics , stimulant laxatives, diaper-rash ointment , eye drops , and nasal sprays . The FDA has "inadequate data to establish general recognition of
14030-409: Is also used in fluorescent lighting . Electricity passed through mercury vapor in a fluorescent lamp produces short-wave ultraviolet light , which then causes the phosphor in the tube to fluoresce , making visible light. Mercury is a heavy, silvery-white metal that is liquid at room temperature. Compared to other metals, it is a poor conductor of heat, but a fair conductor of electricity. It has
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#173278027973714260-480: Is an exception, and iron flasks have traditionally been used to transport the material. Several other first row transition metals with the exception of manganese , copper and zinc are also resistant in forming amalgams. Other elements that do not readily form amalgams with mercury include platinum . Sodium amalgam is a common reducing agent in organic synthesis , and is also used in high-pressure sodium lamps. Mercury readily combines with aluminium to form
14490-423: Is centered on the electric guitar , usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar , drums , and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4 time signature using a verse–chorus form , but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music , lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock
14720-540: Is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music. Four years later, Bill Haley 's " Rock Around the Clock " (1954) became the first rock and roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, and opened the door worldwide for this new wave of popular culture. Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , Fats Domino , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Gene Vincent . Soon rock and roll
14950-472: Is generally agreed that garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically around 1966. By 1968 the style largely disappeared from the national charts and at the local level as amateur musicians faced college, work or the draft . New styles had evolved to replace garage rock. Although the first impact of the British Invasion on American popular music was through beat and R&B based acts,
15180-432: Is in decline. Although it was widely speculated that this mercury-based preservative could cause or trigger autism in children, no evidence supports any such link. Nevertheless, thiomersal has been removed from, or reduced to trace amounts in, all U.S. vaccines recommended for children 6 years of age and under, with the exception of the inactivated influenza vaccine. Merbromin (Mercurochrome), another mercury compound,
15410-555: Is in the music of Chuck Berry , the Ramones , and the Replacements . The foundations of rock music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music , with country and western . Debate surrounds
15640-426: Is obtained by grinding natural cinnabar or synthetic mercuric sulfide. Exposure to mercury and mercury-containing organic compounds is toxic to the nervous system , immune system and kidneys of humans and other animals; mercury poisoning can result from exposure to water-soluble forms of mercury (such as mercuric chloride or methylmercury ) either directly or through mechanisms of biomagnification . Mercury
15870-411: Is often distanced by an emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and a focus on serious and progressive themes as part of an ideology of authenticity that is frequently combined with an awareness of the genre's history and development. According to Simon Frith , rock was "something more than pop, something more than rock and roll" and "[r]ock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with
16100-597: Is similar to the Ag ion. The best known mercury halide is mercury(II) chloride , an easily sublimating white solid. Mercury(II) oxide , the main oxide of mercury, arises when the metal is exposed to air for long periods at elevated temperatures. It reverts to the elements upon heating near 400 °C, as was demonstrated by Joseph Priestley in an early synthesis of pure oxygen . Hydroxides of mercury are poorly characterized, as attempted isolation studies of mercury(II) hydroxide have yielded mercury oxide instead. Being
16330-399: Is termed as a rock band or a rock group. Furthermore, it typically consists of between three (the power trio ) and five members. Classically, a rock band takes the form of a quartet whose members cover one or more roles, including vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist, drummer, and often keyboard player or another instrumentalist. Rock music is traditionally built on
16560-484: Is the Band." Mercury (element) Mercury is a chemical element ; it has symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver and was formerly named hydrargyrum ( / h aɪ ˈ d r ɑːr dʒ ər ə m / hy- DRAR -jər-əm ) from the Greek words hydor ' water ' and argyros ' silver ' , from which its chemical symbol is derived. A heavy , silvery d-block element, mercury
16790-401: Is the only metallic element that is known to be liquid at standard temperature and pressure ; the only other element that is liquid under these conditions is the halogen bromine , though metals such as caesium , gallium , and rubidium melt just above room temperature . Mercury occurs in deposits throughout the world mostly as cinnabar ( mercuric sulfide ). The red pigment vermilion
17020-429: Is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. His lyrics reflected his iconoclastic views of established social and political processes, structures and movements, often humorously so, and he has been described as the "godfather" of comedy rock . He was a strident critic of mainstream education and organized religion , and
17250-573: Is used as the ligand). Mercury(I) chloride , a colorless solid also known as calomel , is really the compound with the formula Hg 2 Cl 2 , with the connectivity Cl-Hg-Hg-Cl. It reacts with chlorine to give mercury(II) chloride , which resists further oxidation. Mercury(I) hydride , a colorless gas, has the formula HgH, containing no Hg-Hg bond; however, the gas has only ever been observed as isolated molecules. Indicative of its tendency to bond to itself, mercury forms mercury polycations , which consist of linear chains of mercury centers, capped with
17480-400: Is used in thermometers , barometers , manometers , sphygmomanometers , float valves , mercury switches , mercury relays , fluorescent lamps and other devices, although concerns about the element's toxicity have led to the phasing out of such mercury-containing instruments. It remains in use in scientific research applications and in amalgam for dental restoration in some locales. It
17710-518: Is used in some liquid-in-glass thermometers , especially those used to measure high temperatures. A still increasing amount is used as gaseous mercury in fluorescent lamps , while most of the other applications are slowly being phased out due to health and safety regulations. In some applications, mercury is replaced with less toxic but considerably more expensive Galinstan alloy . Mercury and its compounds have been used in medicine, although they are much less common today than they once were, now that
17940-535: The Billboard Hot 100 . The British Invasion greatly influenced garage bands, providing them with a national audience, leading many (often surf or hot rod groups) to adopt a British influence, and encouraging many more groups to form. Thousands of garage bands were extant in the United States and Canada during the era and hundreds produced regional hits. Despite scores of bands being signed to major or large regional labels, most were commercial failures. It
18170-566: The Aberdeen Proving Ground run by the U.S. Army . Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored mustard gas , gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident. This living arrangement had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare, ailments and the defense industry occur frequently throughout his work. Zappa's father often brought mercury -filled lab equipment home from his workplace and gave it to Zappa to play with. Zappa said that as
18400-524: The American folk music revival had grown to a major movement, using traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style, usually on acoustic instruments. In America the genre was pioneered by figures such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and often identified with progressive or labor politics . In the early sixties figures such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan had come to the fore in this movement as singer-songwriters. Dylan had begun to reach
18630-591: The First Matter from which all metals were formed. They believed that different metals could be produced by varying the quality and quantity of sulfur contained within the mercury. The purest of these was gold, and mercury was called for in attempts at the transmutation of base (or impure) metals into gold, which was the goal of many alchemists. The mines in Almadén (Spain), Monte Amiata (Italy), and Idrija (now Slovenia) dominated mercury production from
18860-593: The Naval Postgraduate School . They soon moved to the San Diego neighborhood of Clairemont , and then to the nearby city of El Cajon , before finally returning to San Diego. Since I didn't have any kind of formal training, it didn't make any difference to me if I was listening to Lightnin' Slim , or a vocal group called the Jewels ;..., or Webern, or Varèse, or Stravinsky . To me it
19090-478: The Neolithic Age . In China and Tibet , mercury use was thought to prolong life, heal fractures, and maintain generally good health, although it is now known that exposure to mercury vapor leads to serious adverse health effects. The first emperor of a unified China, Qín Shǐ Huáng Dì —allegedly buried in a tomb that contained rivers of flowing mercury on a model of the land he ruled, representative of
19320-479: The Verve division of MGM , which had built up a strong reputation 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 the Mothers of Invention as Mother was short for motherfucker —a term that, apart from its profane meanings, can denote a skilled musician. Under Zappa's leadership,
19550-422: The garage rock / post-punk revival in the 2000s. Since the 2010s, rock has lost its position as the pre-eminent popular music genre in world culture, but remains commercially successful. The increased influence of hip-hop and electronic dance music can be seen in rock music, notably in the techno-pop scene of the early 2010s and the pop-punk-hip-hop revival of the 2020s. Rock has also embodied and served as
19780-417: The protest song , rock music has been associated with political activism , as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex, and drug use, and is often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity . At the same time, it has been commercially highly successful, leading to accusations of selling out . A good definition of rock, in fact, is that it's popular music that to
20010-442: 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
20240-546: The 1650s. Fahrenheit's mercury thermometer was based on an earlier design that used alcohol rather than mercury; the mercury thermometer was significantly more accurate than those using alcohol. From the early 21st century onwards, the use of mercury thermometers has been declining, and mercury-containing instruments have been banned in many jurisdictions following the 1998 Protocol on Heavy Metals . Modern alternatives to mercury thermometers include resistance thermometers , thermocouples , and thermistor sensors that output to
20470-454: The 1950s saw the growth in popularity of the electric guitar, and the development of a specifically rock and roll style of playing through such exponents as Chuck Berry, Link Wray , and Scotty Moore . The use of distortion , pioneered by Western swing guitarists such as Junior Barnard and Eldon Shamblin was popularized by Chuck Berry in the mid-1950s. The use of power chords , pioneered by Francisco Tárrega and Heitor Villa-Lobos in
20700-485: The 1960s onward, the majority of industrial plants moved away from mercury cell processes towards diaphragm cell technologies to produce chlorine, though 11% of the chlorine made in the United States was still produced with the mercury cell method as of 2005. Thermometers containing mercury were invented in the early 18th century by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit , though earlier attempts at making temperature-measuring instruments filled with quicksilver had been described in
20930-584: The 1973–1975 band". In April 1975 Zappa complained about ongoing contractual problems between DiscReet and Warner. Zappa released Bongo Fury (1975), which featured a live recording at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin from a tour the same year that reunited him with Captain Beefheart for a brief period. They later became estranged for a period of years, but were in contact at the end of Zappa's life. In 1976, Zappa produced
21160-467: The 19th century and later on by Willie Johnson and Pat Hare in the early 1950s, was popularized by Link Wray in the late 1950s. Commentators have traditionally perceived a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By 1959, the death of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash, the departure of Elvis for the army, the retirement of Little Richard to become
21390-477: The Banshees , Ultravox , and Simple Minds , showed the influence of progressive rock, as well as their more usually recognized punk influences. In the late 1960s, jazz-rock emerged as a distinct subgenre out of the blues-rock, psychedelic, and progressive rock scenes, mixing the power of rock with the musical complexity and improvisational elements of jazz. AllMusic states that the term jazz-rock "may refer to
21620-572: The Beatles, demonstrating "to the rock generation in general that an album could be a major standalone statement without hit singles", such as on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963). Folk rock particularly took off in California, where it led acts like the Mamas & the Papas and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to move to electric instrumentation, and in New York, where it spawned performers including
21850-566: The Bizarre and Straight labels were discontinued. Zappa and Cohen then created DiscReet , also distributed by Warner. Zappa continued a high rate of production through the first half of the 1970s, including the album Apostrophe (') (1974), which reached a career-high No. 10 on the Billboard pop album charts helped by the No. 86 chart hit " Don't Eat The Yellow Snow ". Other albums from
22080-618: The Boots II box set. After losing $ 50,000 (equivalent to $ 376,000 in 2023) worth of equipment and a week's break, the Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre , London, with rented gear. During the encore, an audience member, jealous because of his girlfriend's infatuation with Zappa, pushed him off the stage and into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. The band thought Zappa had been killed—he had suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as
22310-617: The Byrds ' shift from folk to folk rock from 1965. The psychedelic lifestyle, which revolved around hallucinogenic drugs, had already developed in San Francisco and particularly prominent products of the scene were Big Brother and the Holding Company , the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane . The Jimi Hendrix Experience 's lead guitarist, Jimi Hendrix did extended distorted, feedback-filled jams which became
22540-431: The Byrds adopted rock instrumentation, including drums and 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, which became a major element in the sound of the genre. Later that year Dylan adopted electric instruments, much to the outrage of many folk purists, with his " Like a Rolling Stone " becoming a US hit single. According to Ritchie Unterberger , Dylan (even before his adoption of electric instruments) influenced rock musicians like
22770-594: The Dominos , followed by an extensive solo career that helped bring blues rock into the mainstream. Green, along with the Bluesbreaker's rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John McVie , formed Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac , who enjoyed some of the greatest commercial success in the genre. In the late 1960s Jeff Beck , also an alumnus of the Yardbirds, moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band,
23000-635: The GTOs . The Mothers' first album on Bizarre was 1969's Uncle Meat , which Zappa described as "most of the music from the Mothers' movie of the same name which we haven't got enough money to finish yet". A version of the Uncle Meat film was released direct-to-video in 1987. Principal photography having never been completed, the VHS videocassette is a "making of" documentary showing rehearsals and background footage from 1968 and interviews with people involved with
23230-507: The Gates of Dawn . Key recordings included Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow and the Doors ' self-titled debut album . These trends peaked in the 1969 Woodstock festival , which saw performances by most of the major psychedelic acts. Sgt. Pepper was later regarded as the greatest album of all time and a starting point for the album era , during which rock music transitioned from
23460-471: The Jeff Beck Group . The last Yardbirds guitarist was Jimmy Page , who went on to form The New Yardbirds which rapidly became Led Zeppelin . Many of the songs on their first three albums, and occasionally later in their careers, were expansions on traditional blues songs. In America, blues rock had been pioneered in the early 1960s by guitarist Lonnie Mack , but the genre began to take off in
23690-506: The Joint " (1949), also covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952; and " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (in fact, Ike Turner and his band the Kings of Rhythm ), recorded by Sam Phillips for Chess Records in 1951. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music (then termed " race music ") for a multi-racial audience, and
23920-503: The Lovin' Spoonful and Simon and Garfunkel , with the latter's acoustic " The Sounds of Silence " (1965) being remixed with rock instruments to be the first of many hits. These acts directly influenced British performers like Donovan and Fairport Convention . In 1969 Fairport Convention abandoned their mixture of American covers and Dylan-influenced songs to play traditional English folk music on electric instruments. This British folk-rock
24150-549: The Mothers of Invention recorded the album widely regarded as the peak of the group's late 1960s work, We're Only in It for the Money (released 1968). It was produced by Zappa, with Wilson credited as executive producer. From then on, Zappa produced all albums released by the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. We're Only in It for the Money featured some of the most creative audio editing and production yet heard in pop music, and
24380-477: The Mothers of Invention returned to Los Angeles in mid-1968, and the Zappas moved into a house on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, only to move again to Woodrow Wilson Drive. This was Zappa's home for the rest of his life. Despite being successful in Europe, the Mothers of Invention were not doing well financially. Their first records were vocally oriented, but as Zappa wrote more instrumental jazz and classical style music for
24610-578: The Mothers of Invention, Zappa released the acclaimed solo album Hot Rats (1969). It features, for the first time on record, Zappa playing extended guitar solos and contains one of his most enduring compositions, " Peaches en Regalia ", which reappeared several times on future recordings. He was backed by jazz, blues and R&B session players including violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris , drummers John Guerin and Paul Humphrey , multi-instrumentalist and former Mothers of Invention member Ian Underwood, and multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis on bass, along with
24840-462: The Mothers of Invention. Some of it was later featured in the movie 200 Motels . Although the concert was a success, Zappa's experience working with a symphony orchestra was not a happy one. His dissatisfaction became a recurring theme throughout his career; he often felt that the quality of performance of his material delivered by orchestras was not commensurate with the money he spent on orchestral concerts and recordings. Later in 1970, Zappa formed
25070-455: The Mothers' equipment was destroyed when a flare set off by an audience member started a fire that burned down the casino. Deep Purple were in the audience that night, and would immortalize the event on their classic 1972 song " Smoke on the Water ". A recording of the incident and immediate aftermath can be heard on the bootleg album Swiss Cheese/Fire , released legally as part of Zappa's Beat
25300-399: The Mothers' lineup would be ever-changing during their time together, with members including Collins, Estrada, Black, Elliot Ingber , brothers Bunk and Buzz Gardner , Don Preston , Billy Mundi , Jim Fielder , Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood , Ian Underwood , Art Tripp , and Lowell George . With Wilson credited as producer, the Mothers of Invention, augmented by a studio orchestra, recorded
25530-476: The Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds , were much more directly influenced by rhythm and blues and later blues music. Soon these groups were composing their own material, combining US forms of music and infusing it with a high energy beat. Beat bands tended towards "bouncy, irresistible melodies", while early British blues acts tended towards less sexually innocent, more aggressive songs, often adopting an anti-establishment stance. There was, however, particularly in
25760-588: The Searchers from Liverpool and Freddie and the Dreamers , Herman's Hermits and the Hollies from Manchester. They drew on a wide range of American influences including 1950s rock and roll, soul, rhythm and blues, and surf music, initially reinterpreting standard American tunes and playing for dancers. Bands like the Animals from Newcastle and Them from Belfast , and particularly those from London like
25990-672: The Seeds ) to near-studio musician quality (including the Knickerbockers , the Remains , and the Fifth Estate ). There were also regional variations in many parts of the country with flourishing scenes particularly in California and Texas. The Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon had perhaps the most defined regional sound. The style had been evolving from regional scenes as early as 1958. "Tall Cool One" (1959) by
26220-682: The Turtles, Jim Pons , would join on bass in February 1971, following Simmons' departure the previous month and his brief replacement by Martin Lickert. This version of the Mothers debuted on Zappa's next solo album Chunga's Revenge (1970), which was followed by the double-album soundtrack to the movie 200 Motels (1971), featuring the Mothers, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , Ringo Starr , Theodore Bikel , and Keith Moon . Co-directed by Zappa and Tony Palmer , it
26450-676: The US was becoming dominated by lightweight pop and ballads, British rock groups at clubs and local dances were developing a style more strongly influenced by blues-rock pioneers, and were starting to play with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts; this influence would go on to shape the future of rock music through the British Invasion . The first four years of the 1960s has traditionally been seen as an era of hiatus for rock and roll. More recently some authors have emphasised important innovations and trends in this period without which future developments would not have been possible. While early rock and roll, particularly through
26680-606: The US, particularly in Europe. Though he worked as an independent artist , Zappa mostly relied on distribution agreements he had negotiated with the major record labels . He remains a major influence on musicians and composers. His many honors include his posthumous 1995 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award . Zappa was born on December 21, 1940, in Baltimore , Maryland, to Rose Marie ( née Colimore) and Francis Vincent Zappa. He
26910-619: The USSR and South Africa from 1955 to 1957, influencing the globalisation of rock. Johnny O'Keefe 's 1958 record " Wild One " was one of the earliest Australian rock and roll hits. By the late 1950s, as well as in the American-influenced Western world, rock was popular in communist states such as Yugoslavia, and the USSR, as well as in regions such as South America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, American blues music and blues rock artists, who had been surpassed by
27140-399: The United States and Mexico, which once produced a large proportion of the world supply, have now been completely mined out or, in the case of Slovenia ( Idrija ) and Spain ( Almadén ), shut down due to the fall of the price of mercury. Nevada 's McDermitt Mine, the last mercury mine in the United States, closed in 1992. The price of mercury has been highly volatile over the years and in 2006
27370-751: The Wailers and " Louie Louie " by the Kingsmen (1963) are mainstream examples of the genre in its formative stages. By 1963, garage band singles were creeping into the national charts in greater numbers, including Paul Revere and the Raiders (Boise), the Trashmen (Minneapolis) and the Rivieras (South Bend, Indiana). Other influential garage bands, such as the Sonics (Tacoma, Washington), never reached
27600-628: The Zappa family had moved to Lancaster , a small aerospace and farming town in the Antelope Valley of the Mojave Desert close to Edwards Air Force Base ; he would later refer to Sun Village (a town close to Lancaster) in the 1973 track "Village of the Sun". Zappa's mother encouraged him in his musical interests. Although she disliked Varèse's music, she was indulgent enough to give her son
27830-527: The advent of rockabilly, saw the greatest commercial success for male and white performers, in this era, the genre was dominated by black and female artists. Rock and roll had not disappeared entirely from music at the end of the 1950s and some of its energy can be seen in the various dance crazes of the early 1960s, started by Chubby Checker 's record " The Twist " (1960). Some music historians have also pointed to important and innovative technical developments that built on rock and roll in this period, including
28060-405: The aircraft. Mercury embrittlement is the most common type of liquid metal embrittlement, as mercury is a natural component of some hydrocarbon reservoirs and will come into contact with petroleum processing equipment under normal conditions. There are seven stable isotopes of mercury, with Hg being the most abundant (29.86%). The longest-lived radioisotopes are Hg with
28290-530: The album Good Singin', Good Playin' for Grand Funk Railroad . Zappa's relationship with long-time manager Herb Cohen ended in May 1976. After Cohen cashed one of Zappa's royalty checks from Warner and kept the money for himself, Zappa sued Cohen. Zappa was also upset with Cohen for signing acts he did not approve. Cohen filed a lawsuit against Zappa in return, which froze the money the pair were expecting to receive from an out-of-court settlement with MGM / Verve over
28520-487: The band's concerts, audiences were confused. Zappa felt that audiences failed to appreciate his "electrical chamber music". In 1969, there were nine band members and Zappa was supporting the group from his publishing royalties whether they played or not. In late 1969, Zappa broke up the band. He often cited the financial strain as the main reason, but also commented on the band members' lack of diligence. Many band members were bitter about Zappa's decision, and some took it as
28750-585: The biggest selling rock band of all time and they were followed into the US charts by numerous British bands. During the next two years British acts dominated their own and the US charts with Peter and Gordon , the Animals, Manfred Mann , Petula Clark , Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits, the Rolling Stones, the Troggs , and Donovan all having one or more number one singles. Other major acts that were part of
28980-458: The burgeoning Los Angeles underground music scene. In early 1966, they were spotted by leading record producer Tom Wilson when playing "Trouble Every Day", a song about the Watts riots . Wilson had earned acclaim as the producer for Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel , and was one of the few African-Americans working as a major label pop music producer at this time. Wilson signed the Mothers to
29210-516: The business side of his career. He and Herb Cohen formed the Bizarre and Straight labels to increase creative control and produce recordings by other artists. These labels were distributed in the US by Warner Bros. Records . Zappa/Mothers recordings appeared on Bizarre along with Wild Man Fischer and Lenny Bruce . Straight released the double album Trout Mask Replica for Captain Beefheart , and releases by Alice Cooper , The Persuasions , and
29440-461: The chart. Their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964, drawing an estimated 73 million viewers (at the time a record for an American television program) is considered a milestone in American pop culture. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held 12 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the entire top five. The Beatles went on to become
29670-553: The classical music world intensified when a concert, scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall after filming, was canceled because a representative of the venue found some of the lyrics obscene. In 1975, he lost a lawsuit against the Royal Albert Hall for breach of contract. After 200 Motels , the band went on tour, which resulted in two live albums, Fillmore East – June 1971 and Just Another Band from L.A. ;
29900-464: The crustal mass, mercury ores can be extraordinarily concentrated considering the element's abundance in ordinary rock. The richest mercury ores contain up to 2.5% mercury by mass, and even the leanest concentrated deposits are at least 0.1% mercury (12,000 times average crustal abundance). It is found either as a native metal (rare) or in cinnabar , metacinnabar , sphalerite , corderoite , livingstonite and other minerals , with cinnabar (HgS) being
30130-424: The delights and limitations of the regional , and to deal with the depredations and benefits of mass culture itself. — Robert Christgau in Christgau's Record Guide (1981) Unlike many earlier styles of popular music, rock lyrics have dealt with a wide range of themes, including romantic love, sex, rebellion against " The Establishment ", social concerns, and life styles. These themes were inherited from
30360-531: The dimeric cation, Hg 2 . Stable derivatives include the chloride and nitrate . In aqueous solution of a mercury(I) salt, slight disproportion of Hg 2 into Hg and Hg results in >0.5% of dissolved mercury existing as Hg . In these solutions, complexation of the Hg with addition of ligands such as cyanide causes disproportionation to go to completion, with all Hg 2 precipitating as elemental mercury and insoluble mercury(II) compounds (e.g. mercury(II) cyanide if cyanide
30590-527: The early 1960s, Zappa wrote and produced songs for other local artists, often working with singer-songwriter Ray Collins and producer Paul Buff. Their " Memories of El Monte " was recorded by the Penguins , although only Cleve Duncan of the original group was featured. Buff owned the small Pal Recording Studio in Cucamonga , which included a unique five-track tape recorder he had built. At that time, only
30820-455: The early 1970s among existing blues-rock and psychedelic bands, as well as newly formed acts. The vibrant Canterbury scene saw acts following Soft Machine from psychedelia, through jazz influences, toward more expansive hard rock, including Caravan , Hatfield and the North , Gong , and National Health . The French group Magma around drummer Christian Vander almost single-handedly created
31050-460: The early 1970s, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): The decade is, of course, an arbitrary schema itself—time doesn't just execute a neat turn toward the future every ten years. But like a lot of artificial concepts—money, say—the category does take on a reality of its own once people figure out how to put it to work. "The '60s are over,"
31280-462: The early stages, considerable musical crossover between the two tendencies. By 1963, led by the Beatles, beat groups had begun to achieve national success in Britain, soon to be followed into the charts by the more rhythm and blues focused acts. " I Want to Hold Your Hand " was the Beatles' first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 , spending seven weeks at the top and a total of 15 weeks on
31510-519: The electronic treatment of sound by such innovators as Joe Meek , and the elaborate production methods of the Wall of Sound pursued by Phil Spector . The instrumental rock and roll of performers such as Duane Eddy , Link Wray and the Ventures was further developed by Dick Dale , who added distinctive "wet" reverb , rapid alternate picking, and Middle Eastern and Mexican influences. He produced
31740-483: The equivalent of forming "air sculptures", and developed an eclectic, innovative and highly personal style. He was also influenced by Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh . Zappa's interest in composing and arranging flourished in his last high school years. By his final year, he was writing, arranging and conducting avant-garde performance pieces for the school orchestra. He graduated from Antelope Valley High School in 1958, and later acknowledged two of his music teachers on
31970-581: The example set by the Beatles ' 1965 LP Rubber Soul in particular, other British rock acts released rock albums intended as artistic statements in 1966, including the Rolling Stones ' Aftermath , the Beatles' own Revolver , and the Who 's A Quick One , as well as American acts in the Beach Boys ( Pet Sounds ) and Bob Dylan ( Blonde on Blonde ). Garage rock was a raw form of rock music, particularly prevalent in North America in
32200-498: The first record, and worldwide hit, for the Virgin Records label, which became a mainstay of the genre. Instrumental rock was particularly significant in continental Europe, allowing bands like Kraftwerk , Tangerine Dream , Can , Focus (band) and Faust to circumvent the language barrier. Their synthesiser-heavy " krautrock ", along with the work of Brian Eno (for a time the keyboard player with Roxy Music ), would be
32430-455: The folk scene. The first group to advertise themselves as psychedelic rock were the 13th Floor Elevators from Texas. The Beatles introduced many of the major elements of the psychedelic sound to audiences in this period, such as guitar feedback , the Indian sitar and backmasking sound effects . Psychedelic rock particularly took off in California's emerging music scene as groups followed
32660-463: The forced layoff from concert touring, using floating line-ups of session players and Mothers alumni. Musically, the albums were akin to Hot Rats, in that they featured extended instrumental tracks with extended soloing. Zappa began touring again in late 1972. His first effort was a series of concerts in September 1972 with a 20-piece big band referred to as the Grand Wazoo. This was followed by
32890-539: The form of one of its common ores, cinnabar, is used in various traditional medicines, especially in traditional Chinese medicine . Review of its safety has found that cinnabar can lead to significant mercury intoxication when heated, consumed in overdose , or taken long term, and can have adverse effects at therapeutic doses, though effects from therapeutic doses are typically reversible. Although this form of mercury appears to be less toxic than other forms, its use in traditional Chinese medicine has not yet been justified, as
33120-513: The format of rock operas and opened the door to concept albums , often telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme. King Crimson 's 1969 début album, In the Court of the Crimson King , which mixed powerful guitar riffs and mellotron , with jazz and symphonic music , is often taken as the key recording in progressive rock, helping the widespread adoption of the genre in
33350-471: The formula HgR 2 , which are often volatile, or HgRX, which are often solids, where R is aryl or alkyl and X is usually halide or acetate. Methylmercury , a generic term for compounds with the formula CH 3 HgX, is a dangerous family of compounds that are often found in polluted water. They arise by a process known as biomethylation . Mercury is used primarily for the manufacture of industrial chemicals or for electrical and electronic applications. It
33580-445: The groundbreaking Freak Out! (1966), which, after Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde , was the second rock double album 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, Freak Out immediately established Zappa as a radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to
33810-700: The historic Almaden Quicksilver Mine and created a county park on the site, after conducting extensive safety and environmental analysis of the property. All known mercury compounds exhibit one of two positive oxidation states: I and II. Experiments have failed to unequivocally demonstrate any higher oxidation states: both the claimed 1976 electrosynthesis of an unstable Hg(III) species and 2007 cryogenic isolation of HgF 4 have disputed interpretations and remain difficult (if not impossible) to reproduce. Unlike its lighter neighbors, cadmium and zinc, mercury usually forms simple stable compounds with metal-metal bonds. Most mercury(I) compounds are diamagnetic and feature
34040-710: The house over the summer. They married in 1967, had four children and remained together until Zappa's death. 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 rhythm changes into songs that were built from diverse elements. Examples are "Plastic People" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", which contained lyrics that lampooned
34270-414: 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." At this time Zappa had also recorded material for an album of orchestral works to be released under his own name, Lumpy Gravy , to be released by Capitol Records in 1967. Due to contractual problems, the album was held back. Zappa took
34500-458: The impetus was soon taken up by a second wave of bands that drew their inspiration more directly from American blues , including the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds . British blues musicians of the late 1950s and early 1960s had been inspired by the acoustic playing of figures such as Lead Belly , who was a major influence on the Skiffle craze, and Robert Johnson . Increasingly they adopted
34730-467: The invasion included the Kinks and the Dave Clark Five . The British Invasion helped internationalize the production of rock and roll, opening the door for subsequent British (and Irish) performers to achieve international success. In America it arguably spelled the end of instrumental surf music, vocal girl groups and (for a time) the teen idols , that had dominated the American charts in
34960-517: The label were R&B oriented white rock bands that made use of jazzy horn sections, like Electric Flag , Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago , to become some of the most commercially successful acts of the later 1960s and the early 1970s. British acts to emerge in the same period from the blues scene, to make use of the tonal and improvisational aspects of jazz, included Nucleus and the Graham Bond and John Mayall spin-off Colosseum . From
35190-490: The largest use of mercury in the late 20th century was in the mercury cell process (also called the Castner-Kellner process ) where metallic sodium is formed as an amalgam at a cathode made from mercury; this sodium is then reacted with water to produce sodium hydroxide. Many of the industrial mercury releases of the 20th century came from this process, although modern plants claim to be safe in this regard. From
35420-446: The late 1950s and 1960s. It dented the careers of established R&B acts like Fats Domino and Chubby Checker and even temporarily derailed the chart success of surviving rock and roll acts, including Elvis. The British Invasion also played a major part in the rise of a distinct genre of rock music, and cemented the primacy of the rock group, based on guitars and drums and producing their own material as singer-songwriters. Following
35650-666: The latter included the 20-minute track " Billy the Mountain ", Zappa's satire on rock opera set in Southern California. This track was representative of the band's theatrical performances—which used songs to build sketches based on 200 Motels scenes, as well as new situations that often portrayed the band members' sexual encounters on the road. On December 4, 1971, Zappa suffered his first of two serious setbacks. While performing at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland,
35880-459: The letter and kept it on display for the rest of his life. At Antelope Valley High School , Zappa met Don Glen Vliet (who later changed his name to Don Van Vliet and adopted the stage name Captain Beefheart ). Zappa and Vliet became close friends, sharing an interest in R&;B records and influencing each other musically throughout their careers. Around the same time, Zappa started playing drums in
36110-417: The local police to suspect that he was making pornographic films. In March 1965, Zappa was approached by a vice squad undercover officer, and accepted an offer of $ 100 (equivalent to $ 970 in 2023) to produce a suggestive audio tape for an alleged bachelor party . Zappa and a female friend recorded a faked erotic episode. When Zappa was about to hand over the tape, he was arrested, and the police stripped
36340-410: The loudest, wildest, most electrified fusion bands from the jazz camp, but most often it describes performers coming from the rock side of the equation." Jazz-rock "...generally grew out of the most artistically ambitious rock subgenres of the late '60s and early '70s", including the singer-songwriter movement. Many early US rock and roll musicians had begun in jazz and carried some of these elements into
36570-476: The many recordings which have been suggested as "the first rock and roll record ". Contenders include " Strange Things Happening Every Day " by Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1944); " That's All Right " by Arthur Crudup (1946), which was later covered by Elvis Presley in 1954; " The House of Blue Lights " by Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack (1946); Wynonie Harris ' " Good Rocking Tonight " (1948); Goree Carter 's "Rock Awhile" (1949); Jimmy Preston 's " Rock
36800-542: The mercury for the colonies. Mercury deposits were discovered in the New World, and more than 100,000 tons of mercury were mined from the region of Huancavelica , Peru, over the course of three centuries following the discovery of deposits there in 1563. The patio process and later pan amalgamation process continued to create great demand for mercury to treat silver ores until the late 19th century. Former mines in Italy,
37030-569: The mercury required for CFL bulb manufacture. Environmental dangers have been a concern, particularly in the southern cities of Foshan and Guangzhou , and in Guizhou province in the southwest. Abandoned mercury mine processing sites often contain very hazardous waste piles of roasted cinnabar calcines . Water run-off from such sites is a recognized source of ecological damage. Former mercury mines may be suited for constructive re-use; for example, in 1976 Santa Clara County, California purchased
37260-617: The mid-1950s by white singers such as Carl Perkins , Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and with the greatest commercial success, Elvis Presley . Hispanic and Latino American movements in rock and roll, which would eventually lead to the success of Latin rock and Chicano rock within the US, began to rise in the Southwest ; with rock and roll standard musician Ritchie Valens and even those within other heritage genres, such as Al Hurricane along with his brothers Tiny Morrie and Baby Gaby as they began combining rock and roll with country- western within traditional New Mexico music . In addition,
37490-550: The mid-1960s the Left Banke , the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, had pioneered the inclusion of harpsichords , wind , and string sections on their recordings to produce a form of Baroque rock and can be heard in singles like Procol Harum 's " A Whiter Shade of Pale " (1967), with its Bach -inspired introduction. The Moody Blues used a full orchestra on their album Days of Future Passed (1967) and subsequently created orchestral sounds with synthesizers. Classical orchestration, keyboards, and synthesizers were
37720-479: The mid-1960s and so called because of the perception that it was rehearsed in the suburban family garage. Garage rock songs often revolved around the traumas of high school life, with songs about "lying girls" and unfair social circumstances being particularly common. The lyrics and delivery tended to be more aggressive than was common at the time, often with growled or shouted vocals that dissolved into incoherent screaming. They ranged from crude one-chord music (like
37950-435: The mid-1960s as acts developed a sound similar to British blues musicians. Key acts included Paul Butterfield (whose band acted like Mayall's Bluesbreakers in Britain as a starting point for many successful musicians), Canned Heat , the early Jefferson Airplane , Janis Joplin , Johnny Winter , the J. Geils Band and Jimi Hendrix with his power trios , the Jimi Hendrix Experience (which included two British members, and
38180-401: The mid-1960s onwards, rock music often used the verse–chorus structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock. Because of its complex history and its tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that "it is impossible to bind rock music to
38410-553: The mining of cinnabar and refining for mercury are hazardous and historic causes of mercury poisoning. In China, prison labor was used by a private mining company as recently as the 1950s to develop new cinnabar mines. Thousands of prisoners were used by the Luo Xi mining company to establish new tunnels. Worker health in functioning mines is at high risk. A newspaper claimed that an unidentified European Union directive calling for energy-efficient lightbulbs to be made mandatory by 2012 encouraged China to re-open cinnabar mines to obtain
38640-446: The modern chemical symbol for mercury. It is an abbreviation of hydrargyrum , a romanized form of the ancient Greek name for mercury, ὑδράργυρος ( hydrargyros ). Hydrargyros is a Greek compound word meaning ' water-silver ' , from ὑδρ - ( hydr -), the root of ὕδωρ ( hydor ) ' water ' , and ἄργυρος ( argyros ) ' silver ' . Like the English name quicksilver ( ' living-silver ' ), this name
38870-453: The most common ore. Mercury ores often occur in hot springs or other volcanic regions. Beginning in 1558, with the invention of the patio process to extract silver from ore using mercury, mercury became an essential resource in the economy of Spain and its American colonies. Mercury was used to extract silver from the lucrative mines in New Spain and Peru . Initially, the Spanish Crown's mines in Almadén in Southern Spain supplied all
39100-521: The new Zappa Records label. Läther was scheduled for release on Halloween 1977, but legal action from Warner forced Zappa to shelve this project. In December 1977, Zappa appeared on the Pasadena, California radio station KROQ-FM and played the entire Läther album, while encouraging listeners to make tape recordings of the broadcast. The album integrates many aspects of Zappa's 1970s work: heavy rock, orchestral works, and complex jazz instrumentals, along with Zappa's distinctive guitar solos. Läther
39330-414: The new music genre zeuhl with their first albums in the early 1970s. Greater commercial success was enjoyed by Pink Floyd, who also moved away from psychedelia after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968, with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), seen as a masterpiece of the genre, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. There was an emphasis on instrumental virtuosity, with Yes showcasing
39560-433: The new music. In Britain the subgenre of blues rock, and many of its leading figures, like Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce of the Eric Clapton -fronted band Cream , had emerged from the British jazz scene. Often highlighted as the first true jazz-rock recording is the only album by the relatively obscure New York–based the Free Spirits with Out of Sight and Sound (1966). The first group of bands to self-consciously use
39790-411: The next album, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets (1968), was very different. It represented a collection of doo-wop songs; listeners and critics were not sure whether the album was a satire or a tribute. Zappa later remarked that the album was conceived like Stravinsky's compositions in his neo-classical period: "If he could take the forms and clichés of the classical era and pervert them, why not do
40020-409: The opening of the mine in Almadén 2500 years ago, until new deposits were found at the end of the 19th century. Mercury is an extremely rare element in Earth's crust ; it has an average crustal abundance by mass of only 0.08 parts per million (ppm) and is the 66th most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Because it does not blend geochemically with those elements that constitute the majority of
40250-473: The opportunity to radically restructure the material, adding newly recorded improvised dialogue. After the contractual problems were resolved, a new album of the same name was issued by Verve in 1968. It is an "incredible ambitious musical project", a "monument to John Cage ", which intertwines orchestral themes, spoken words and electronic noises through radical audio editing techniques. The Mothers of Invention played in New York in late 1966 and were offered
40480-534: The period are Over-Nite Sensation (1973), which contained several future concert favourites such as "Dinah-Moe Humm" and " Montana ", as well as Roxy & Elsewhere (1974) and One Size Fits All (1975), which are notable for the tight renditions of highly difficult jazz fusion songs in such pieces as " Inca Roads ", "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" and "Be-Bop Tango (Of the Old Jazzmen's Church)". A live recording from 1974, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 (1988), captures "the full spirit and excellence of
40710-413: The planet became one of the alchemical symbols for the metal, and Mercury became an alternative name for the metal. Mercury is the only metal for which the alchemical planetary name survives, as it was decided it was preferable to quicksilver as a chemical name. Mercury was found in Egyptian tombs that date from 1500 BC; cinnabar , the most common natural source of mercury, has been in use since
40940-412: The psychedelic rock and the Canterbury scenes came Soft Machine, who, it has been suggested, produced one of the artistically successfully fusions of the two genres. Perhaps the most critically acclaimed fusion came from the jazz side of the equation, with Miles Davis , particularly influenced by the work of Hendrix, incorporating rock instrumentation into his sound for the album Bitches Brew (1970). It
41170-413: The regional hit " Let's Go Trippin ' " in 1961 and launched the surf music craze, following up with songs like " Misirlou " (1962). Like Dale and his Del-Tones , most early surf bands were formed in Southern California, including the Bel-Airs , the Challengers , and Eddie & the Showmen . The Chantays scored a top ten national hit with " Pipeline " in 1963 and probably the best-known surf tune
41400-400: The rights to Zappa's early Mothers of Invention recordings. The MGM settlement was finalized in mid-1977 after two years of negotiations. Litigation with Cohen also prevented Zappa having access to any of his previously recorded material during the trials. Zappa therefore took his personal master copies of the album Zoot Allures (1976) directly to Warner, while bypassing DiscReet. Following
41630-400: The rise of rock and roll in the US, found new popularity in the UK, visiting with successful tours. Lonnie Donegan 's 1955 hit " Rock Island Line " was a major influence and helped to develop the trend of skiffle music groups throughout the country, many of which, including John Lennon 's Quarrymen (later the Beatles ), moved on to play rock and roll. While former rock and roll market in
41860-483: The rivers of China—was reportedly killed by drinking a mercury and powdered jade mixture formulated by Qin alchemists intended as an elixir of immortality. Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun , the second Tulunid ruler of Egypt (r. 884–896), known for his extravagance and profligacy , reportedly built a basin filled with mercury, on which he would lie on top of air-filled cushions and be rocked to sleep. In November 2014 "large quantities" of mercury were discovered in
42090-543: The role as co-lead singer (even though he never considered himself a singer, then or later). He convinced the other members that they should play his music to increase the chances of getting a record contract. The band - comprising Zappa, Collins, Roy Estrada , and Jimmy Carl Black - debuted at the Broadside Club and was renamed the Mothers since this gig took place on May 10, 1965 – Mother's Day . They increased their bookings after beginning an association with manager Herb Cohen , and gradually gained attention on
42320-475: The romantic concept of art as artistic expression, original and sincere". In the new millennium, the term rock has occasionally been used as a blanket term including forms like pop music, reggae music , soul music , and even hip hop , which it has been influenced with but often contrasted through much of its history. Christgau has used the term broadly to refer to popular and semipopular music that caters to his sensibility as "a rock-and-roller", including
42550-423: The safety and effectiveness" of the mercury ingredients in these products. Chlorine is produced from sodium chloride (common salt, NaCl) using electrolysis to separate metallic sodium from chlorine gas. Usually salt is dissolved in water to produce a brine. By-products of any such chloralkali process are hydrogen (H 2 ) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is commonly called caustic soda or lye . By far
42780-468: The same era, and by percussion produced from a drum kit that combines drums and cymbals. This trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, the Hammond organ , and the synthesizer. The basic rock instrumentation was derived from the basic blues band instrumentation (prominent lead guitar, second chordal instrument, bass, and drums). A group of musicians performing rock music
43010-421: The same ... to doo-wop in the fifties?" The opening theme from Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is sung in "Fountain of Love". In 1967 and 1968, Zappa made two appearances with the Monkees . The first appearance was on an episode of their TV series , "The Monkees Blow Their Minds", where Zappa, dressed up as Mike Nesmith , interviews Nesmith who is dressed up as Zappa. After the interview, Zappa destroys
43240-555: The second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk was an influence in the 1980s on new wave , post-punk and eventually alternative rock . From the 1990s, alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge , Britpop , and indie rock . Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop-punk , electronic rock , rap rock , and rap metal . Some movements were conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including
43470-498: The singles format to albums and achieved cultural legitimacy in the mainstream. Led by the Beatles in the mid-1960s, rock musicians advanced the LP as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, initiating a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. Progressive rock, a term sometimes used interchangeably with art rock , moved beyond established musical formulas by experimenting with different instruments, song types, and forms. From
43700-413: The skills of both guitarist Steve Howe and keyboard player Rick Wakeman , while Emerson, Lake & Palmer were a supergroup who produced some of the genre's most technically demanding work. Jethro Tull and Genesis both pursued very different, but distinctly English, brands of music. Renaissance , formed in 1969 by ex-Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, evolved into a high-concept band featuring
43930-582: The sleeve of the 1966 album Freak Out! Due to his family's frequent moves, Zappa attended at least six different high schools, and as a student he was often bored and given to distracting the rest of the class with juvenile antics. In 1959, he attended Chaffey College but left after one semester, and maintained thereafter a disdain for formal education, taking his children out of school at age 15 and refusing to pay for their college. While in college, Zappa met Terry Kirkman and played gigs at local coffee houses with him. Zappa left home in 1959, and moved into
44160-498: The songs ruthlessly satirized the hippie and flower power phenomena. He sampled surf music from his Studio Z days in the audio collage Nasal Retentive Caliope Music . The cover photo parodied that of the Beatles ' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . The cover art was provided by Cal Schenkel whom Zappa met in New York. This initiated a lifelong collaboration in which Schenkel designed covers for numerous Zappa and Mothers albums. Reflecting Zappa's eclectic approach to music,
44390-617: The sounds of drums and other percussion instruments. By age twelve, he had obtained a snare drum and began learning the basics of orchestral percussion. Zappa's deep interest in modern classical music began when he read a LOOK magazine article about the Sam Goody record store chain that lauded its ability to sell an LP as obscure as The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse, Volume One . The article described Varèse's percussion composition Ionisation , produced by EMS Recordings , as "a weird jumble of drums and other unpleasant sounds". Zappa decided to seek out Varèse's music. After searching for over
44620-551: The split with Cohen, Zappa hired Bennett Glotzer as new manager. By late 1976, Zappa was upset with Warner over inadequate promotion of his recordings and he was eager to move on as soon as possible. In March 1977, Zappa delivered four albums (five full-length LPs) to Warner to complete his contract: Zappa in New York (a 2-LP set), Studio Tan , Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites . These albums contained recordings mostly made between 1972 and 1976. Warner failed to meet contractual obligations to Zappa, and in response he filed
44850-433: The studio from Paul Buff, who was now working with Art Laboe at Original Sound . It was renamed Studio Z. Studio Z was rarely booked for recordings by other musicians. Instead, friends moved in, notably James "Motorhead" Sherwood. Zappa started performing in local bars as a guitarist with a power trio , the Muthers, to support himself. An article in the local press describing Zappa as "the Movie King of Cucamonga" prompted
45080-421: The studio of all recorded material. The press was tipped off beforehand, and next day's The Daily Report wrote that "Vice Squad investigators stilled the tape recorders of a free-swinging, a-go-go film and recording studio here Friday and arrested a self-styled movie producer". Zappa was charged with "conspiracy to commit pornography". This felony charge was reduced and he was sentenced to six months in jail on
45310-400: The studio was torn down in 1966. By April 1965, Ray Collins , one of Zappa's friends during the early Studio Z days, was the singer of an R&B band called the Soul Giants, based in Pomona, California . That month, he asked Zappa to take over as guitarist in the Soul Giants, following a fight between Collins and the group's original guitarist. Zappa accepted, and soon assumed leadership and
45540-409: The symptoms of its toxicity were confused with those of the syphilis it was believed to treat. It is also used as a disinfectant. Blue mass , a pill or syrup in which mercury is the main ingredient, was prescribed throughout the 19th century for numerous conditions including constipation, depression, child-bearing and toothaches. In the early 20th century, mercury was administered to children yearly as
45770-418: The therapeutic basis for the use of cinnabar is not clear. Mercury(I) chloride (also known as calomel or mercurous chloride) has been used in traditional medicine as a diuretic , topical disinfectant , and laxative . Mercury(II) chloride (also known as mercuric chloride or corrosive sublimate) was once used to treat syphilis (along with other mercury compounds), although it is so toxic that sometimes
46000-558: The three-octave voice of Annie Haslam . Most British bands depended on a relatively small cult following, but a handful, including Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Jethro Tull, managed to produce top ten singles at home and break the American market. The American brand of progressive rock varied from the eclectic and innovative Frank Zappa , Captain Beefheart and Blood, Sweat & Tears , to more pop rock orientated bands like Boston , Foreigner , Kansas , Journey , and Styx . These, beside British bands Supertramp and ELO , all demonstrated
46230-586: The time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation and mercury exposure. Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator Cal Schenkel . Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas, released by the nearby chemical warfare facility, and his health worsened when he lived in Baltimore. In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health to Monterey, California , where his father taught metallurgy at
46460-406: The time, the recording did not go entirely as planned. In a 1967 radio interview, Zappa explained that the album's outlandish 11-minute closing track, "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" was not finished. The track as it appears on the album was only a backing track for a much more complex piece, but MGM refused to allow the additional recording time needed for completion. Much to Zappa's chagrin, it
46690-415: The toxic effects of mercury and its compounds are more widely understood. An example of the early therapeutic application of mercury was published in 1787 by James Lind . The first edition of The Merck Manuals (1899) featured many then-medically relevant mercuric compounds, such as mercury-ammonium chloride , yellow mercury proto-iodide , calomel , and mercuric chloride , among others. Mercury in
46920-417: The uncompleted production. During the Mothers' second European tour in September/October 1968 they performed for the Internationale Essener Songtage at the Grugahalle in Essen , Germany; at the Tivoli in Copenhagen, Denmark; for TV programs in Germany ( Beat-Club ), France, and England; at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; at the Royal Festival Hall in London; and at the Olympia in Paris. Zappa and
47150-409: The vehicle for cultural and social movements, leading to major subcultures including mods and rockers in the U.K., the hippie movement and the wider Western counterculture movement that spread out from San Francisco in the U.S. in the 1960s, the latter of which continues to this day. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the goth , punk, and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of
47380-941: The volume of mercury decreases by 3.59% and its density changes from 13.69 g/cm when liquid to 14.184 g/cm when solid. The coefficient of volume expansion is 181.59 × 10 at 0 °C, 181.71 × 10 at 20 °C and 182.50 × 10 at 100 °C (per °C). Solid mercury is malleable and ductile, and can be cut with a knife. Table of thermal and physical properties of liquid mercury: Mercury does not react with most acids, such as dilute sulfuric acid , although oxidizing acids such as concentrated sulfuric acid and nitric acid or aqua regia dissolve it to give sulfate , nitrate , and chloride . Like silver, mercury reacts with atmospheric hydrogen sulfide . Mercury reacts with solid sulfur flakes, which are used in mercury spill kits to absorb mercury (spill kits also use activated carbon and powdered zinc). Mercury dissolves many metals such as gold and silver to form amalgams . Iron
47610-418: The work of the Beach Boys , formed in 1961 in Southern California. Their early albums included both instrumental surf rock (among them covers of music by Dick Dale) and vocal songs, drawing on rock and roll and doo wop and the close harmonies of vocal pop acts like the Four Freshmen . The Beach Boys first chart hit, " Surfin ' " in 1961 reached the Billboard top 100 and helped make the surf music craze
47840-533: The work of established performers such as the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet (1968) and the Beatles' Let It Be (1970). Reflecting on this change of trends in rock music over the past few years, Christgau wrote in his June 1970 "Consumer Guide" column that this "new orthodoxy" and "cultural lag" abandoned improvisatory, studio-ornamented productions in favor of an emphasis on "tight, spare instrumentation" and song composition: "Its referents are '50s rock, country music, and rhythm-and-blues, and its key inspiration
48070-404: The world, except as a new brand of painkiller ... In the '70s the powerful took over, as rock industrialists capitalized on the national mood to reduce potent music to an often reactionary species of entertainment—and to transmute rock's popular base from the audience to market." Roots rock is the term now used to describe a move away from what some saw as the excesses of the psychedelic scene, to
48300-462: Was John Mayall ; his band, the Bluesbreakers , included Eric Clapton (after Clapton's departure from the Yardbirds) and later Peter Green . Particularly significant was the release of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (Beano) album (1966), considered one of the seminal British blues recordings and the sound of which was much emulated in both Britain and the United States. Eric Clapton went on to form supergroups Cream, Blind Faith , and Derek and
48530-400: Was $ 650 per 76-pound (34.46 kg) flask . Mercury is extracted by heating cinnabar in a current of air and condensing the vapor. The equation for this extraction is: In 2020, China was the top producer of mercury, providing 88% of the world output (2200 out of 2500 tonnes), followed by Tajikistan (178 t), Russia (50 t) and Mexico (32 t). Because of the high toxicity of mercury, both
48760-460: Was 1963's " Wipe Out ", by the Surfaris , which hit number 2 and number 10 on the Billboard charts in 1965. Surf rock was also popular in Europe during this time, with the British group the Shadows scoring hits in the early 1960s with instrumentals such as " Apache " and " Kon-Tiki ", while Swedish surf group the Spotnicks saw success in both Sweden and Britain. Surf music achieved its greatest commercial success as vocal pop music, particularly
48990-473: Was a major influence on subsequent rock-influenced jazz artists, including Herbie Hancock , Chick Corea and Weather Report . The genre began to fade in the late 1970s, as a mellower form of fusion began to take its audience, but acts like Steely Dan , Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell recorded significant jazz-influenced albums in this period, and it has continued to be a major influence on rock music. Reflecting on developments that occurred in rock music in
49220-463: 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 and was able to provide the group with the financial resources needed. Although Wilson was able to provide Zappa and the Mothers with an extraordinary degree of artistic freedom for
49450-561: Was all good music. — Frank Zappa, 1989 Zappa started at the age of 12, learning drum rudiments at a summer school group course in Monterey, California with a teacher named Keith McKillop. Frank said "Instead of drums, he had us practicing on wooden planks." Zappa joined his first band at Mission Bay High School in San Diego as a drummer. At about the same time, his parents bought a phonograph , which allowed him to develop his interest in music, and to begin building his record collection. According to The Rough Guide to Rock (2003), "as
49680-448: Was commissioned by actor-producer Timothy Carey and recorded in 1961. It contains many themes that appeared on later Zappa records. The latter soundtrack was recorded in 1963 after the film was completed, but it was commissioned by one of Zappa's former high school teachers in 1959 and Zappa may have worked on it before the film was shot. Excerpts from the soundtrack can be heard on the posthumous album The Lost Episodes (1996). During
49910-424: Was continued in the 1970s by figures such as George Thorogood and Pat Travers , but, particularly on the British scene (except perhaps for the advent of groups such as Status Quo and Foghat who moved towards a form of high energy and repetitive boogie rock ), bands became focused on heavy metal innovation, and blues rock began to slip out of the mainstream. By the 1960s, the scene that had developed out of
50140-415: Was directed by Zappa using hand signals. Guest performers and audience participation became a regular part of the Garrick Theater shows. One evening, Zappa managed to entice some U.S. Marines from the audience onto the stage, where they proceeded to dismember a big baby doll, having been told by Zappa to pretend that it was a " gook baby". In 1967, filmmaker Ed Seeman paid Zappa $ 2,000 to produce music for
50370-448: Was due to mercury's liquid and shiny properties. The modern English name mercury comes from the planet Mercury . In medieval alchemy , the seven known metals—quicksilver, gold , silver , copper , iron , lead , and tin —were associated with the seven planets. Quicksilver was associated with the fastest planet, which had been named after the Roman god Mercury , who was associated with speed and mobility. The astrological symbol for
50600-476: Was filmed in a week at Pinewood Studios outside London. Tensions between Zappa and several cast and crew members arose before and during shooting. The film deals loosely with life on the road as a rock musician. It was the first feature film photographed on videotape and transferred to 35 mm film , a process that allowed for novel visual effects. It was released to mixed reviews. The score relied extensively on orchestral music, and Zappa's dissatisfaction with
50830-449: Was founded in Britain), and Band of Gypsys , whose guitar virtuosity and showmanship would be among the most emulated of the decade. Blues rock bands from the southern states, like the Allman Brothers Band , Lynyrd Skynyrd , and ZZ Top , incorporated country elements into their style to produce the distinctive genre Southern rock . Early blues rock bands often emulated jazz, playing long, involved improvisations, which would later be
51060-497: Was issued in its unfinished state. During the recording of Freak Out! , Zappa moved into a house in Laurel Canyon with friend Pamela Zarubica, who appeared on the album. The house became a meeting (and living) place for many LA musicians and groupies of the time, despite Zappa's disapproval of their illicit drug use. After a short promotional tour following the release of Freak Out! , Zappa met Adelaide Gail Sloatman . He fell in love within "a couple of minutes", and she moved into
51290-448: Was of Sicilian, Greek, Arab and French descent. Frank, the eldest of four children, was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents. The family moved often because his father, a chemist and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in Florida in the 1940s, the family returned to Maryland , where Zappa's father worked at the Edgewood Arsenal chemical warfare facility of
51520-505: Was officially released posthumously in 1996. It has been debated as to whether Zappa had conceived the material as a four-LP set from the beginning, or only later when working with Phonogram. Gail Zappa claimed in 1996 that Läther was Frank's original intention. However, Zappa himself stated in an October 1978 radio interview that " Läther was made out of four albums. Warners has released two of them already and they have two more that they're probably gonna release." Rock music Rock
51750-591: Was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism , African-American rhythm and blues , and doo-wop music. He began writing classical music in high school, while simultaneously playing drums in rhythm and blues bands, later switching to electric guitar. His debut studio album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out! (1966), combined satirical but seemingly conventional rock and roll songs with extended sound collages. He continued this eclectic and experimental approach throughout his career. Zappa's output
51980-411: Was taken up by bands including Pentangle , Steeleye Span and the Albion Band , which in turn prompted Irish groups like Horslips and Scottish acts like the JSD Band , Spencer's Feat and later Five Hand Reel , to use their traditional music to create a brand of Celtic rock in the early 1970s. Folk-rock reached its peak of commercial popularity in the period 1967–68, before many acts moved off in
52210-548: Was taking place globally in the aftermath of the Second World War . Cliff Richard is credited with one of the first rock and roll hits outside of North America with " Move It " (1959), effectively ushering in the sound of British rock . Several artists, most prominently Tommy Steele from the UK, found success with covers of major American rock and roll hits before the recordings could spread internationally, often translating them into local languages where appropriate. Steele in particular toured Britain, Scandinavia, Australia,
52440-439: Was the first commercially successful folk song to be recorded with rock and roll instrumentation and the Beatles " I'm a Loser " (1964), arguably the first Beatles song to be influenced directly by Dylan. The folk rock movement is usually thought to have taken off with the Byrds ' recording of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man " which topped the charts in 1965. With members who had been part of the café-based folk scene in Los Angeles,
52670-430: Was the major force in American record sales and crooners , such as Eddie Fisher , Perry Como , and Patti Page , who had dominated the previous decade of popular music, found their access to the pop charts significantly curtailed. Rock and roll has been seen as leading to a number of distinct subgenres, including rockabilly, combining rock and roll with "hillbilly" country music, which was usually played and recorded in
52900-400: Was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s. Rock musicians in the mid-1960s began to advance the album ahead of the single as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, with the Beatles at the forefront of this development. Their contributions lent the genre a cultural legitimacy in the mainstream and initiated
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