Jazz From Hell

Official Release #47
Released in November 1986 on LP/cassette by Barking Pumpkin Records (USA) and EMI (worldwide), and in April 1987 on CD by Rykodisc.
→ Zappa's final intravital studio album; for the last seven years, he only oversaw the production of live concert albums
→ Received the "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" 1988 Grammy Award, Frank Zappa's first win after five nominations since 1980
→ According to an urban myth, which persisted online and even in printed media, like Peter Blecha's 2004 book "Taboo Tunes: A History of Banned Bands & Censored Songs," this fully instrumental album was supposedly marked with a PARENTAL ADVISORY: EXPLICIT LYRICS warning in retaliation from Tipper Gore (opens in a new tab) and her Parents' Music Resource Center (opens in a new tab), which Zappa fervently criticized. As per Dave Thompson (opens in a new tab)'s 2002 "Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting," the rumour originated from individual LPs sold in 1990 by Fred Meyer, a Pacific Northwest chain of department stores. The album was considered obscene due to the "…Hell" reference and the "G-Spot Tornado" track title and labeled by default in-store stickers with generic "Explicit Lyrics" wording. (In the 1980s and 1990s, many US retailers had customary rules, often stricter than RIAA guidelines — from Wal-Mart (opens in a new tab) flat out refusing such inventory, and Tower Records / Video chain only selling "explicit" albums to 18+ customers, to Musicland Group (opens in a new tab) and other record stores using extra stickers to mark the inventory at their discretion.) In 1996, PMRC (opens in a new tab) and RIAA (opens in a new tab) updated the default layout to "Parental Advisory: Explicit CONTENT" instead of "…LYRICS" to avoid such discrepancies.