FZ:

They were originally just called The Mothers, and then, uh, when we finally got our record contract with MGM, some pinhead there had decided that this was a bad name for a group and that no radio station would ever play our records because the name was too risqué. And they were suggesting other things that we should change it to, so, out of necessity we became The Mothers Of Invention. It was— Just by adding those other two words to it, we were able to keep the record company happy. But naturally, the radio stations didn't play the music anyway, because it wasn't about the name of the band, it was what we were singing about, and the way the music sounded.

Because at the time, it was, you know, if you were a good musician, you were a motherfucker, and Mothers was short for collection of motherfuckers. And actually, it was kind of presumptuous to name the band that, because we weren't that good musicians, we were . . . But by bar-band standards in the area, we were light-years ahead of our competition, but in terms of real musicianship, I just suppose we were right down there in the swamp.