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Artist
Mothers of Invention/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
9+ albums
contemporary classicaljazzAvant-Gardeexperimentalzappa
about
Frank Zappa vowed never to return to Britain unless he got an apology from the Queen after the Royal Albert Hall cancelled a musical performance of his notorious film score 200 Motels in 1971. Zappa did eventually return to the UK but died without getting an apology from anybody. Now there will be redress of a kind when the show is finally given its UK premiere. Made at Pinewood Studios, the film was said to present a surrealistic vision of life on the road for Zappa and his band, the Mothers of Invention, and the phenomenon of groupies. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was enlisted to play a concert of the film's music at the Albert Hall. But things turned sour when the orchestra's lead trumpet player, John Wilbraham, pulled out, objecting to being asked to speak four-letter words included in the lyrics. In newspaper reports at the time Mr Wilbraham commented: "The whole thing revolted me." Then, three days before the concert was due to be performed in February 1971 to a sell-out audience of almost 5,000 fans, the Royal Albert Hall cancelled it. The concert hall spokesman commented at the time, saying: "The programme content was not agreeable to us." Its then general manager, Frank Mundy, went one step further, describing 200 Motels' songs as "filth for filth's sake". Tony Palmer, Zappa's co-director, said the musician was furious at the decision to cancel. "The Albert Hall management, which at that point was very stuffy and very conservative, hadn't been told exactly what