After recording one fairly unremarkable album with the band, he left to join David Lee Roth’s high profile post–Van Halen band.
In 1984, he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen in the hard rock unit Alcatrazz. The only downside was, it seemed like Vai was headed for nothing more than cult status, when suddenly he shifted gears. It was an impression further solidified by his band, The Classified, a progressive, Zappa-esque unit that appealed to a small group of hipsters in Los Angeles who had little use for the growing Eighties hair metal scene. The independent album sold surprisingly well, and Vai gained a reputation as the thinking man’s guitar hero. There, he produced, engineered and recorded his first solo album Flex-Able, a compendium of warped instrumentals that were fabulously absurd and technically jaw-dropping. After leaving Frank’s band in 1983, Vai bought a house in Los Angeles where he built a modest recording studio in his backyard. It was clear that big things were in store for the kid who could play anything Zappa could dish out, but it would take a few years.
To be so young and receive validation by someone as discerning and brilliant as Frank Zappa was no small thing, and people began to take notice as his street cred soared. While the gig did not make the 20-year-old a pop star-Zappa’s music was too bizarre and underground for that-Vai was immediately put on the short list of “musicians to watch” in the guitar community. Zappa, a guitarist and composer of complex, satirical music, had a reputation as a fearsome bandleader that demanded nothing less than perfection from musicians. To really understand the genesis of the album, you have to travel back to 1980, when Vai was invited to join Frank Zappa’s band. Passion and Warfare was nothing less than the guitarist’s bid for immortality, and if it had the added benefit of leaving contemporaries like Edward Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen in the dust, so be it.
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