The Great Musician Frank Zappa and His Philosophy.

I know Frank Zappa’s music very well and I saw Frank Zappa in Germany several times - a long time ago.

In addition: December 21 - the birthday of both Frank Zappa and Arminius. :smiley:

To me Frank Zappa was the second greatest, because Carl Orff (1895-1982) was the greatest composer of the twentieth century. See also here.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4z2Ey4PYT4[/youtube]
[list][list][list][list][list][list][list]- “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff, 1937 -[/list:u][/list:u][/list:u][/list:u][/list:u][/list:u][/list:u]

Bust of Carl Orff in München,
Ruhmeshalle (= hall of fame).


An information about the Zappanale:


Bust of Frank Zappa in Bad Doberan.

:laughing:

Oh, wait. Will my name be on your ignore list, Zoot Allures, because I said that Frank Zappa was merely the second greatest composer of the twentieth century?

Zappa is a garbage composer. Its the equivalent of a clown on autotune, sitting at a campfire making improv music to computer generated rythms. Even a nigger could do better.

We’ll let that go because considering you probably struggle even to play Mary Had A Little Lamb on the piano, your musical incompetence is excused, for now.

Meanwhile, get to know the guy before you judge him. You’re under the impression that he is a idiot because of the samples of music that I have given you. There is a comedic element to his overall style… something purposely designed as a form of social criticism during the periods in which the songs were written, but he is also a very serious composer.

You have no idea who you are talking about here. The Beatles? Elvis Presley? The Rolling Stones? Child’s play, Trixie.

Stick around, I’ll show you.

You insult my intelligience, peon.

I am aware of his pathetic attempts at humor in his music, which is the only way the masses find his music palatable, because it cannot be taken seriously. Because it is unorthodox, and cannot be taken seriously, it achieves avant-garde status, because the moderns like any piece of art, including paint on a wall by a chimpanzee, simply because it is unorthodox, and something unusual, similar to the 12 tone fad.


“Civility please, gentlemen.”

Great and Wise Trixie, relax - please, relax - and listen to “Zoot Allures”:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5gnubhlgF0[/youtube]
[list]- “Zoot Allures” by Frank Zappa, 1976 -[/list:u]

But here comes my question again: What about Frank Zappa’s philosophy?

Wait, don’t listen to it! Listen to the studio version first, it’s always cleaner.

About his philosophy: I’ve read his biography and the quotes that are found on the internet. There are bits and pieces of religious criticism and political commentary, but nothing really straight forwardly philosophical. He was interested in science more than anything (his biography was dedicated to Stephen Hawking, in fact). Of course you can glean philosophical meaning from some of his song lyrics once in a while, but nothing officially philosophical.

Yes, I know, but unfortunately I can’t open it - like the most of Zappa’s music, especially his studio versions, as I already told you once in another thread. The reasons are the copyrights.

There are two Zappa songs I like the most: “Apostrophe” (1974) and “The Purple Lagoon” (1977).

I am also interested in science more than anything. But the older I have become the more my critique of science has increased.

Did he never say anything about the most famous philosophers?

I know that he was religiously and politically incorrect. So he was quite correct. :slight_smile:

Why should I be civil when he rapes my ears with this shtick he calls music? It’s so…boring.

I think the guy in the photo in the original post needs a haircut, don’t you think? How is it possible for a man who not only accepts but glorifies taking photos in a messy physical state be capable of composing good music? Alright, there are exceptions, but don’t you think this is his general attitude towards life? to be sloppy? to disobey laws, to be against any sort of discipline? Isn’t that what all rock ‘n’ roll, and later on, punk music is all about? To be an ugly leper celebrating ugliness?

How can you compare Carl Orff to Frank Zappa?

The rock and roll I listen to celebrates Valhalla values, witch values, your values, my values. Zappa is not my kind of rock and roll, its more like just a rock, but without the roll.

Quotes from Zappa
“I never listened to stuff like Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven. It just didn’t sound interesting to me.”

Zappa’s philosophy
“One day I discovered that if you took a missle, and added ten warheads to the missle, instead of just one, you can blow more things up. I was impressed with the atomic bomb”

What kind of music do you prefer then?

Videogame music, some rock and roll, classical music, a couple of 90’s pop songs, my little pony songs.

I was joking a bit. The photo was satirically meant. Zappa would probably have done the same as I did with his photo, because Zappa was not always serious.

Actually I would never compare Carl Orff to Frank Zappa, but I did it in this case, because of the fact that I like classical music as well as rock music and of the fact that I was quickly confronted with Carl Orff to Frank Zappa when Zoot Allures’ said something about the best composer of the 20th centurry in his first post of this thread.

Best rock composer of the 20th century is probably Peter Gabriel.

Some other (more serious) photos of Frank Zappa:

Pretty much any random classical piece of decent quality can destroy anything I’ve ever heard from Zappa. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata? Sure. Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings? Sure. Scriabin’s Etude Op 8 No 12? Sure. Mozart’s Little Serenade? Sure. Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto? Sure. Need I go on? Even film music and trailer music (e.g. Two Steps from Hell) is better than most of rock ‘n’ roll.

This he thought when he was a little child.

For comparison:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdncUKMFPiI [/youtube]

Why? :-k

Because number one, its progressive rock. Its like a hybrid of classical music, rock music, and futuristic music. It is of higher musical quality than Rush, King Crimson, ELP, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc. who are all amateurs in comparison, who don’t harness the classical motifs right. I’d have to say King Crimson or Rush is the second best of the bunch, though a bit too homogenous for my tastes, each song is to uniform compared to the previous. Floyd is too dry, and Zepellin too melodramatic. ELP is too freeform, and directionless at times.

Zappa is just like a cacophony of crap. In that one song you posted, he attempted to emulate progressive rock, but it just sound like a kid in the garage, hammering random notes, like an improvised jazz garage jam session. No identity, no substance, just gibberish. And it he puts it all together through the veil of comedic humor. It’s the glue of his poop, the only thinking holding the pieces.

I like progressive rock music very much. It is my favorite kind of rock music. But that does not automatically mean that the best rock composer is a progressive rock musician. Please do not forget other rock musicians, especially the jazz rock musicians, because they are also very good rock composers.

I totally agree.

Thre quality of the classical music is a little bit higher than the quality of the progressive rock music.

No.

It is more like doing it in another way (comedic humor included), but Frank Zappa did not hide anything behind his humor; he had a very serious side as well.