After spending most of 1980 on the road, Zappa founded Barking Pumpkin and released the album Tinsel Town Rebellion in 1981.
[4] Also in 1981 the label released three individual volumes in the Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar series which were initially sold only in the United States by mail order.
[12] A deal was then made with EMI, which allowed Them or Us and Thing-Fish to be distributed by Capitol Records in the United States.
The warning said that the album "contains content which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress", and the guarantee claimed that the lyrics would "not cause eternal torment in the place where the guy with the horns and pointed stick conducts his business".
[11][12] Dweezil Zappa released his debut album Havin' a Bad Day on Barking Pumpkin in 1986.