The Great Musician Frank Zappa and His Philosophy.

“There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.” - Frank Zappa.

“Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.” - Frank Zappa.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U2FrNVjzwU[/youtube]

:occasion-cake: :occasion-birthday:

Hey! :slight_smile:

Thank you very much.

Those with fixed opinions about music such as those expressed in this thread should understand that all
taste is subjective and you cannot therefore give a truly objective view about a musician or their music

Zappa and drugs:

Frank Zappa said:

“Don’t expect friends, don’t expect fun, don’t expect a good life, don’t expect anything; and if you get something, it’s a bonus.” :stuck_out_tongue:

I never expected to be born, so the forces that forced me to be born against my consent better damn well give me some kind of compensation.

the theory: originally, record production was owned and run by older people who weren’t ‘hip’ to the tastes of the consumer public. during this period there was more experimental freedom given to artists; when a band appeared with a demo tape, the production owner was willing to give the music a chance and sign the band… because he had no idea what the consumer public didn’t like. this period existed before rigid trends developed among the different genres. then, a younger generation began to own and run these production companies… and with this happened a significant narrowing of experimental freedom for artists. instead of taking a risk in producing an unfamiliar kind of music (as older owners did), they looked explicitly for a specific and predictable sound that was similar enough to what was already popular. and thus began the trend of drawing rigid lines between genres and following formulas.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP4wsURn3rw[/youtube]

@3:15. on the musical illiteracy of the consumer public (a condition fostered by the invention of the ‘music video’).

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

we notice this now, especially, in modern music video; the emphasis on theatrics, histrionics, costume, dancing and stage performance rather than the music itself.

tired of the same old crap on all the pop stations, i tuned in to a local college station that plays underground grunge and rock. fuck it, i’ll give it a chance, right? i figure the odds be…

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACYfndr1DwY[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpNn1nht0_8[/youtube]

He is right that classical music would be more popular with the younger generation if it was presented in video format for them
But this is a sad commentary on attention spans as they cannot just listen to music without needing something to watch as well

Many bands have been fashion conscious but it only becomes a problem when it is more important than the music
That is to say when the image is given greater emphasis over it when in fact they should really be complementary

The most blatant example of this is Kiss who despite being one of the biggest rock bands ever have a very average back catalogue if truth be told
Their stage presence is out of total proportion to their actual musical ability and they have less than a handful of truly great tracks to their name

Compare that to David Bowie who was also fashion conscious but never allowed it to become more important than the actual music
Not even at the peak of his career when he was Ziggy Stardust for even if he did not dress up at all the music would still be fantastic

There is a right way to mix music and fashion and a wrong way and Bowie is the former and Kiss are the latter and everyone else is somewhere in between them
Kiss actually went through an existential crisis in I983 when they decided to remove their make up but a truly great band would not be worrying about this at all


Those old lost interviews are excellent to watch for such a uniquely talented and perceptive man he was

Did a booger-bear
Come from somewhere out there
Just to land in the Andes?
Was she round
And did she have a motor
Or was she something different
Guacamole Queen
Guacamole Queen
Guacamole Queen
At the Armadillo in Austin Texas, her aura,
Or did someone build a place
Or leave a space for Chester’s Thing to land
(Chester’s Thing . . . on Ruth)
Did a booger-bear
Come from somewhere out there
Did a booger-bear
Come from somewhere out there
Did the Indians, first on the bill
Carve up her hill

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD26qirlky4[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwyH9rAkugI[/youtube]

but… wait this can’t be right. she’s not supposed… this is… she’s not… look she shouldn’t be… wtf fuck man. i need a drink of water.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb5XIv_mwc4[/youtube]

“A true classic performed by true legends. I am not even in the same realm of playing as the Weather Report lineup and i am clearly not Jaco Pastorius, so i know i have not performed it flawlessly or exactly how it should be. But thats okay!” - ausha

oh. shut. up.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdLHNy3JR0s[/youtube]