Convince Me Why I Should Like Frank Zappa

i used to quite like 'we're only in it for the money' - the bits of dissonant electronics and jagged jump cuts are probably quite exciting if you've never heard faust. only problem is extracting any enjoyment from the music from the combined weight of zappa's execrable smug-muso cuntishness and knowing what complete wankers all his fans are (not entirely his fault i know)

but, yeah, if you can listen beyond that that album has some moments. ben watson has on occasions almost made me want to listen to some zappa again, but i don't think it'd live up to the weight of expectations his writing pins to it.

I like Hot Rats, like everyone else, and Bobby Brown Goes Down seems to somehow sidestep his normal silly crapness and actually become weirdly poignant. I also really like the Reuben and the Jets LP (this is the fake doo-wop one) but otherwise he really can just piss off. Mind you, I loathe the Fugs as well...

there is no need to. ive tried to get into his stuff repeatedly (last time was a few years back) but cant seem to do it. everyone says pfunk was like the black zappa/mothers, but i know which one i prefer. im still looking for the one thing of theirs thatll draw me in. i find zappa himself really interesting though.

tried but too wacky for me. captain beefheart on the otherhand gets the job done! anyone know how he got the name??? i'm imagining some pre-black metal onstage animal sacrifice... the Capt'n growling into the microphone raising a glistening cow heart in his hand.

I think it had something to do with the shape of his glans.

Not a big Zappa fan, but this song is excellent:

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He's an acquired taste. Most people think they don't like frank because, well, they don't like frank. I can't actually imagine why you'd like him. Try these, but I wouldn't expect too much. I prefer later period / post-Mothers Frank and am therefore a Zappa apostate, and this is even further away from the sub-Beefhart (whom he produced / financed) stuff like Hot rats.

I couldn't find a clip of Dickie's Such an Asshole that was any good but you really need to hear that before making a judgement, preferably the one off You Can't Do That Onstage Anymore Volume 3. But here's some good ones, though watching video on YouTube is nothing like as good as getting stoned to Joe's Garage with Essex Hippies in the early 90s.

Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk - just about the easiest-to-get-into Zappa song out there. Comedic TV evangelist-baiting.

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Cocaine Decisions
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Flakes - prog pop heaven.
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Sharleena - from amusing cod reggae to sunkissed psychedelic guitar wigout in three simple steps. Better than it sounds - well it couldn't be worse - but I fucking love this. As Frank himself would have put it, "Good noodle". Everyone should hear the guitar solo on this at least once in their life, it makes almost all other guitar music redundant.

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Never been great fan. Was intriqued after reading about the Varese connection though.

cobretti said:

Not a big Zappa fan, but this song is excellent:

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Click to expand...

yes it certainly is

"the return of the son of monster magnet" is not on youtube, so i can't help you...

zhao said:

tried but too wacky for me. captain beefheart on the otherhand gets the job done! anyone know how he got the name??? i'm imagining some pre-black metal onstage animal sacrifice... the Capt'n growling into the microphone raising a glistening cow heart in his hand.

Click to expand...

From what I remember, 'beefheart' was his grandfather's pet name for his testicles. I'm not sure why anyone would need a pet name for their testicles ...

He makes a good point about hippies and the music biz.

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If only for this video

<a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2997023">Frank Zappa - City Of Tiny Lights</a><br/><object width="425px" height="360px" ><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><param name="movie" value="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=2997023,t=1,mt=video"/><embed src="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=2997023,t=1,mt=video" width="425" height="360" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed></object>

"From what I remember, 'beefheart' was his grandfather's pet name for his testicles. I'm not sure why anyone would need a pet name for their testicles ... "

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I thought it was something to do with a (male) relation's genitals - can't say which particular part though.

An uncle, or possibly great-uncle, and yes, it was the bell-end. At least, that's what Lamarr said on 'Buzzcocks' once years ago. A mate of mine who's well into Beefheart says that story's complete bollocks though, and told me some alternative explanation which I've since forgotten.

Anyway, re. Zappa, some great songs I've heard include the aforementioned 'Joe's Garage' (just can't see how anyone can fail to like that song), 'My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama', a cool instro called 'Ya Hozna', 'Disco Boy', 'Bobby Brown Goes Down', 'Catholic Girls' and an awesome swamp-blues workout with Beefheart on vocals called 'The Torture Never Stops'. And those are all on a couple of posthumous compilations I've got, so I've scarcely skimmed the surface really.

I think Zappa is one of those artists - like The Beatles, coincidentally enough - who demands a certain respect for the sheer volume of his output, as much as anything. And while I think Zappa, like all prolific artists, fails to be both prolific and consistently great, there's a hell of a lot of good stuff all the same. Maybe worth getting a few choice compilations rather than whole albums?

Though I'm speculating on that one - can any proper Zappa-heads here recommend some particular original records?

Edit - fuck it, this album cover is all the reason you need:

Mr. Tea said:

Though I'm speculating on that one - can any proper Zappa-heads here recommend some particular original albums?]

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Something like You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol.1 is a good overview. There's enough amazing &/or characteristic shit on there to get someone interested, particularly on the last half of the first side with Big Swifty followed by that epic Don't Eat The Yellow Snow. Lather is a good album too ... three CDs of virtually every style Zappa ever played around with including The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution which is body music & has actual psychedelic power & ecstatic polyrhythms at the end. I was always a big fan of the late 1988 band stuff too, like Make A Jazz Noise Here, just because of the rush of hearing the sick close harmonies of such a huge array of horns under such tight control.

But he's a cynical bastard & doesn't believe in the cosmic power of music so fuck him. Soon as I found Sun Ra I never listened to Frank again.

I watched a film about Zappa on Sky Arts the other day. It was quite a revelation. I've never liked his rock music. There's too much "theatre" and being "satirical" in it. But I now have real respect for him as a composer. I'd always assumed he was the usual "rock musician trying to do classical" , but no. He was a seriously serious composer.

A couple of short things...





Now going to get into longer stuff with the LSO and Ensemble Modern.