From Frank Zappa to Mariah Carey and the first relic job, Adrian Belew’s go-to Strat has lived a life
As the Fender Stratocaster celebrates its 70th anniversary as one of, or surely the world’s most successful electric guitar design of all time, Guitar World has been leafing through the cover archive, in which, unsurprisingly, there are a lot of iconic Strats and their owners.
We thought we would give those owners a call to see what those Strats are up to now, and to find out more about what made this guitars special.
On the cover of our May 1982 issue, it was Adrian Belew’s turn, and his has truly lived a life less ordinary, tracking with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, King Crimson and more, but Belew thinks it might just have started something big in guitars. Is this the first relic’ed guitar?
Where, when and why did you buy this guitar?
“I had a plain, natural-finish Stratocaster when I joined Frank Zappa’s band [in late 1977], and I used it only on the American tour because it never made it home. I don’t know if it was stolen or if the airline lost it, but that Strat was never seen again. I had two weeks before we were going to start the European dates [in 1978], and we were going to rehearse in London for 10 days or something.
“At the time I was in Nashville, where I live now. I went to a local used guitar store and was poking around, and in the back they had this kinda ugly Stratocaster hanging on the wall – like a brown sunburst. [Laughs] I said, ‘How much for this one?’ They said, ‘It doesn’t have a case, so we’ll give it to you for $285.’ A pretty good buy, I thought.”
“Seymour Duncan used to live where I grew up in Cincinnati, and he was a spectacular guitar player in that area long before I even played out. I called up Seymour when I was back out in California, and I said, ‘What am I gonna do? I have this ugly-ass guitar.’ He said, ‘I know what to do.’
“He got in the trunk of his car and took out all these things – files and a screwdriver and spray paint and lighter fluid. He laid it on the lawn, and before I could say anything, he took the lighter fluid out and squirted it on the face of the guitar and set it on fire. I said, ‘Well, I guess I’m committed now!’ [Laughs] It looked just like the beginning of Bonanza.
“Then he went to work. He dragged it through the grass. He sanded the back of the neck and put motor oil on it. He took screwdrivers and things and chipped some of the stuff off of it. I did the spray paint – a few bits here and there. I’m gonna be bold and say that might be the first relic’ed guitar – and you can thank Seymour Duncan for that. I took it back the next day, and Frank said, ‘If you wanted to ruin your guitar, Adrian, why didn’t you loan it to a friend?’” [Laughs]
What songs or albums did you record with it?
“I used this guitar on my European tour with Zappa in ’78, and because some of [Zappa’s 1979 album] Sheik Yerbouti was done from live shows in Europe, that guitar will be on there. I used it again when I jumped into David Bowie’s band – and to make Lodger and the live record, Stage.
The cover was made in Japan, and I explained to the photographer, Mr. Sukita, that I wanted to be standing in a field with a rhinoceros, wearing a red suit with that guitar
“Then I joined Talking Heads, and in 1980, I used it for five albums that were Talking Heads-related: Remain in Light, Tom Tom Club’s [self-titled album], Jerry Harrison’s The Red and the Black, David Byrne’s The Catherine Wheel and The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads. In fact, it was the only guitar I had through this whole period.
“I probably did some other projects in that period, including Laurie Anderson. I was really busy then, and everybody wanted me to jump on their record.
“Then I joined King Crimson, and the next one everyone would know for sure was [1981’s Discipline]. The next year I put out my first solo record, Lone Rhino. The cover was made in Japan, and I explained to the photographer, Mr. [Masayoshi] Sukita, that I wanted to be standing in a field with a rhinoceros, wearing a red suit with that guitar.”
Any stories/quirks/anecdotes about it?
“Maybe one of the most well-known songs [it was featured on] would be [Tom Tom Club’s] Genius of Love, which has been a huge hit now three times. It’s been sampled 166 times by different artists, which is something I only learned recently when [Latto’s Big Energy] came out in 2022.
This guitar has crossed over a lot of people’s ears
“I was at a King Crimson show, I was signing autographs and somebody handed me Mariah Carey’s record and said, ‘Would you sign this?’ I said, ‘I don’t even know Mariah Carey. Why would I do that?’ They said, ‘Oh, you’re right here. It says you co-wrote this.’ They opened it up and showed that I co-wrote [her 1995 hit Fantasy, which samples Genius of Love] with [Talking Heads’] Chris [Frantz] and Tina [Weymouth]. I was amazed.
“That’s exactly how I learned about it – otherwise I might have never known. It was the Number 1 record in the country at the time, but I don’t listen to mainstream radio. I called up my manager the next day, and he didn’t know either. This guitar has crossed over a lot of people’s ears.”
Do you still have it?
“It’s in the Number 1 spot on the wall of guitars in my studio, where I’m standing right now. The Twang Bar King guitar is Number 2.”
