The Great Musician Frank Zappa and His Philosophy.

: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]

hang in there, boys…

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA1Uzt8iAig[/youtube]

a decade later…

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vql5T6e0fjc[/youtube]

special saint patrick’s day program for ILP…

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IETBMU0qOLk[/youtube]

vocaroo.com/iJJaaAfMkVF

Once upon a time, musta been ‘round October, few years back, in one o’ dose TOP SECRET LAB-MOTORIES de gubbnint keep stashed away underneath Virginia, an EVIL PRINCE, occasion’ly employed as a part-time THEATRICAL CRITICIZER set to woikin’ on a plot fo de systematic GENOCIDICAL REMOVE’LANCE of all unwanted highly-rhythmic individj’lls an’ sissy-boys!

De cocksucker done whiffed up a secret POTIUM… an’ right ‘long wid it, de ATROCIOUS IDEA dat what he been boilin’ up down deahhhh jes’ mights be de FINAL SOLUTIUM to DE WHITE MAIN’S ‘BOIDENNN’, ef yo’ acquire my drift…

Well, he were sure he had a GOOD THING GOIN’… but, dere was always de possobility dat somethin’ might fuck up, so, he planned to have a little test, jes’ to check it all out befo’ he dump’t it in de wattuh supply

Sho’tly denafter, wit HIGH-LEVEL GUBNINT CO-ROBBERATIUM, he arranged to have a good-will visit to SAN QUENTIM, 'long wit some country-westin mu- zishnin’s, ‘n sprinkle a little bit of it on some of de boys in deahhh (since dey done used a few of ‘em befo’ when dey was messin’ wit de ZYPH’LISS)

So, heah dey come wit de POTIUM, dump’nit all in de mash potatoes!

Den dey wen’ up to de warden’s office fo’ some HOT TODDY, watchin’ a little football while dey’s waitin’ to see what gone happen!

Fact o’ de matter were: NOTHIN’ HAPPENED, so dey went off’n dribbled it in a special shipnint of GALOOT CO-LOG-NUH dat went out 'bouts NOVEMBER!

Next thing y’know, fagnits be droppin’ off like flies…'long wit a large number of severely-tanned individj’lls, pre-zumnably of HAY’CHEN EXTRAKMENT!

But NOT DE BOYS IN DE REST HOME! Oh no! Mixin’ de shit wit de mash potatoes done SMOOTHED IT OUT a little, so’s it wouldn’t KILL yo’ ass, BUT, it sho’ would make y’ugly! ‘N ef y’was already UGLY, it’d make yo ass MEAN ‘n UGLY…‘n ef you was already MEAN ‘n UGLY, it’d turn ya into a strange, UNKNOWN KREETCHUH, never befo’ seen on BROADWAY!^LThass right! It’d turn ya’ into a ‘MAMMY NUN’! Head like a potato…lips like a duck…big ol’ hands, puffin’ up! BIG ONES! Science! ME-jev’l re-LIJ-mus costumery all over yo’ BODY! Yow! Oh yeah! Mmmm-hmmm!