Frank Zappa's tragic real-life story

If you were ever a fan of The Simpsons, you partly have avant-garde rock musician and classical composer Frank Zappa to thank for that. As Simpsons creator Matt Groening explained, "Frank Zappa was my Elvis. His example encouraged me, made me feel it okay to go my own way."

Zappa took creative risks that few musicians would likely consider. When he first appeared on national television in 1963, his performance involved running a violin bow across a bicycle wheel. As the front man of the Mothers of Invention he combined multiple music genres, dizzyingly complex instrumentation, and absurd lyrics in songs like "Montana," which details a man's bizarre ambition to raise "a crop of dental floss." He also wrote experimental classical music and made a surrealist film featuring a rock star puppet that doubles as an adult toy.

Between the 1960s and early 1990s Zappa released more than 60 albums and earned a reputation as an amusing wordsmith, vulgar cultural heretic, and eloquent defender of free speech. Plus, he nearly became a Czech diplomat. But behind Frank Zappa's blistering wit and artistic brilliance was a life marred by illness, upheaval, and dysfunctional relationships. Here's the tragic story of one of music's most unconventional figures.