Happy Birthday Frank Zappa: ‘King Kong’ Live In London With The Mothers Of Invention In 1968

Today marks what would have been the 76th birthday of legendary musician Frank Zappa. The free thinking Baltimore-born guitarist, composer and producer passed away in 1993 just a few days shy of his 53rd birthday. Zappa’s singular vision and approach to creating music was a one-of-a-kind genius that accounted for hours upon hours of fantastic musical recordings.

The roster of musicians employed by Zappa in various supporting lineups during his career is filled with some of the most talented musicians to play rock music. His early-1960s group The Mothers Of Invention alone boasted many talented iterations of its lineup. In honor of Frank’s birthday today, here’s footage of The Mothers Of Invention performing for British television in 1968.

The two clips below were filmed at the BBC for the television program Colour Me Pop. Zappa can be seen playing guitar alongside The Mothers Of Invention lineup of drummers Jimmy Carl Black and Art Tripp, bassist Roy Estrada, keyboardist Don Preston and saxophonists Ian Underwood, Bunk Gardner and Jim “Motorhead” Sherwood (also on tambourine).

Showcasing both the group’s talented musicianship as well as zany, oddball antics, the first video below is a 20+ minute interpretation of the Uncle Meat opus “King Kong.” The second video is of a performance of the freak out “Oh, In The Sky” led by Estrada and followed with a brief bit of footage of Zappa being interviewed.

Watch the two songs from 1968 here:

[King Kong]

[Oh, In The Sky]