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Frank Zappa's Death Leaves More Than A Void In Rock.

By GARY GRAFF
Knight-Ridder News Service

But Zappa, who died Saturday from prostate cancer at age 52, will certainly be remembered -- with reverence by some, respect by most all. You may not be able to hum a favorite Zappa tune off the top of your head, but his contributions as a musician, composer, activist and social commentator are tightly woven into the fabric of the culture.

Most will probably recall his humor. Zappa was wickedly satirical and, at times, tasteless. His first big hit, after all, was ''Don't Eat the Yellow Snow.'' And his 27-year output was filled with envelope-pushing titles such as ''Jewish Princess,'' ''Broken Hearts Are for Assholes'' and ''Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?''

He wasn't afraid to poke fun at pop culture's commercialism -- a 1967 album was titled ''We're Only in It for the Money'' -- or at its cherished icons; the cover of that same album parodied the cover of the Beatles' ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.'' And his biggest hit, 1982's ''Valley Girl,'' was an unrestrained swipe at ''Gag me with a spoon'' teen-age mall culture.

Even his own family wasn't safe: Zappa named his children Moon Unit, Dweezil, Diva and Ahmet Rodan -- the youngest after the winged friend of Godzilla.

But all that isn't what made Zappa compelling. Never content to merely crank out tried and true rock riffs, Zappa informed his music with touches of jazz and classical music as well as electronic innovations.

''Relentlessly experimental'' is the description of Zappa in the ''Rolling Stone Album Guide.'' And his catalog of 50-plus albums bears that out, ranging from the rock of his early recordings with the Mothers of Invention to his instrumental showcases (''Guitar'' and the three-volume ''Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar'' series) and his orchestral collaborations (''Lumpy Gravy'' and ''London Symphony Orchestra'').

Hard rock guitarist Steve Vai, who served an apprenticeship with Zappa during the '70s, said, ''The best thing about Frank was he really encouraged you to play out on the edge, to go out as far as you can. It was like, 'Just keep going; we'll figure out a way to bring it back when we have to.' ''

And as onetime Zappa groupie Pamela Des Barres wrote in her book, ''I'm with the Band,'' anything Zappa did was ''attempting to alter the world by scaring, repulsing, reviling and cracking up humanity.''

The Baltimore-born Zappa was credible outside of music as well. In a suit, he cut an authoritative figure during his passionate testimony about pop lyrics before Congress in 1985 during hearings instigated by Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Committee.

On his tours, Zappa would hold voter registration drives. ''An uninformed public can't be an effective electorate,'' he explained before his final Detroit engagement in 1988. His favorite story from those times was a concert in Hartford, Conn., where a third of the 480 fans who signed up registered as Republicans, causing one member of the Connecticut Citizens Action Group to tell Zappa, ''You certainly have an unusual audience.''

''Knowing that there's something wrong out there, I'm going to be a highly stressed individual,'' Zappa explained in 1988. ''I'd rather have a lump on my head from banging it against the wall than the overall stress I'd have if I sat around doing nothing at all.''

Zappa was an enormous figure in all aspects of rock music. And even someone who doesn't own one of his albums should be sorry that he'll no longer be around to do more.