Frank Zappa is a god to tons of metal brainiacs armed with eccentric chops and surreal antics. The art rocker's odd character portraits inform Primus' “My Name Is Mud,” a tale of a twisted murderer set to lurching funk, while his zany operatics seep into System of a Down's alt-metal blitz "I-E-A-I-A-I-O." Indie rockers also dig him—the atonal climax to My Morning Jacket's ballad “Strangulation” echoes Zappa's modern classical work.