Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were one of the strongest influences on early rock n' roll. In recent years, Zappa has publicly defended rock from cultural conservatives like Tipper Gore and her group, the Parents' Music Resource Center, which seeks greater parental control over what they consider the inordinate influence of sex and violence in rock music.

We asked Frank Zappa to respond to selected passages from The Closing of the American Mind, in which Allan Bloom laments "parents' loss of control over their children's moral education," and provocatively labels rock music "junk food for the soul." (read more)

This article was also published in:

• Society Pages, No. 43, December 1988
• Essays on the closing of the American mind, ed. Robert L. Stone, 1989

See also New Perspectives Quarterly - Zappa vs. Bloom