Zappa Records is an independent record label based in California that currently specializes in reissuing the recorded output of Frank Zappa. The label was founded in 1977 by Frank Zappa and revived in 2006 by the Zappa Family Trust.
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History
After leaving Warner Bros. Records, Zappa founded the label Zappa Records in 1977, and formed a deal with Phonogram Inc., which distributed the label's releases in the United States. Its first release was the live album Sheik Yerbouti, followed by the dystopian rock opera Joe's Garage.
L. Shankar's Touch Me There was released on Zappa Records in 1979.
In 1981, after Phonogram refused to release the single "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted", which criticized Jimmy Carter's reintroduction of the military draft, Zappa founded Barking Pumpkin Records.
In 2006, the label was revived with the release of Dweezil Zappa's Go with What You Know and Frank Zappa's Imaginary Diseases and Trance-Fusion on Zappa Records, followed by The Dub Room Special (2007), One Shot Deal (2008) and Feeding the Monkies At Ma Maison (2011).
In 2012, the Zappa Family Trust regained control of Frank Zappa's recorded output and made a distribution deal with Universal Music Enterprises to reissue the recordings on the Zappa and Barking Pumpkin labels.