ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the extent to which journalistic coverage, through the examination of Frank Zappa's dying and death, reflects and shapes the reality of a life-lived and sheds light on social views of death culturally and historically. As Zappa was a verbally articulate and outspoken musical performer, the mediation of his dying and death offers a potent possibility to examine the perception of his musical legacy through his obituaries and coverage of his death. The chapter examines the social functions of journalism's coverage of Zappa's death through news and obituaries, sample broadsheet and music press articles. In a connected thematic, that of retelling newsworthy stories, two particular political stories of Zappa's were much discussed in both UK and USA articles. Obituary writing is a discursive practice as old as newspapers themselves. As a mediated form of writing, embedded within a social institution, what they offer is a way of exploring a snapshot of society.