Much has been written and said about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Beatles legendary
first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. But, eleven months before that occasion, Steve Allen was already looking for
the next big musical sound. In this March 4, 1963 broadcast Mr. Allen looks on
as Frank Zappa, later of the Mothers of Invention, plays a pair of bicycles
with drumsticks, proving that percussion can be found anywhere.
And, as if that isn't enough to impress the audience, he then
proves that a bicycle’s handlebars can also be used as a wind instrument. The
result on the audience is comical, and Mr. Allen is, of course, making sport of
the whole thing. But watch Frank Zappa.
Throughout the whole ordeal; which at times it must have
been; he has a gleam in his eye, as if he can already see and hear the future
direction which pop music will take in just a few more years. Those discordant
sounds emanating from the bicycles are the birth cries of a new genre of music
called Heavy Metal.
The cacophony of sound made on the Steve Allen Show that night would
pale in comparison to the later sounds of super groups such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Cream. But, listen closely; you can hear the train of musical
change coming in this unique performance by Frank Zappa. He was a most unusual
man…
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