The Mothers of Invention are without doubt the U.S.A.’s most controversial group. Frank Zappa, leader of the group, was in London recently to smooth the way for a concert at the Albert Hall.

He was trying to dictate the words of a "sound" – Plastic People to his secretary when we met.

"No," he told her, "it’s . . . ‘it’s plastic shampoo that makes you plastic people,’ see?" He turned round and said: "Man, we let off a smoke bomb on the word plastic. Like . . . fantastic!"

It’s the Mothers and their weird lyrics like those of Plastic People that cause such an uproar wherever they play. But Frank described their act as "a type of entertainment, seeking out other levels of human endurance. We try not to conform to the stereotype acne society – we like to make our audience think and like feel us."

Although the act appears to be psychedelic, Frank and the Mothers won’t be associated with the hippies. The Mothers are in it – as the title of the group’s second LP aptly says – "for the money".

"If the hippie movement’s idea of changing the world," he said, " is to sit around the parks smoking pot and getting beaten by the cops, they’re welcome." Frank sees himself basically as a businessman. "Once, those flower idiots asked us to play for nothing at a love-in. Well, we just politely said no, and bowed out quietly." No smoke bombs?

Source: slime.oofytv.set