Angry_Dragon wrote:Music isn't supposed to be funny and songs aren't supposed to be about fucking Catholic girls.

Why? Do you really think there's no place for humour in music? Admittedly Catholic Girls isn't a great song, it's not even one of FZ's best, but some recordings of live Zappa stuff make me laugh every time I hear them. The dynamic that FZ had with his various bands made for some hilarious moments.

Angry_Dragon wrote:I'm glad this fucker is dead.

That's just mean spirited.

NOT CRAP

Angry_Dragon wrote:CRAP

....grown up enough to develop the concept that music isn't supposed to be funny and songs aren't supposed to be about fucking Catholic girls.....

Really? There isn't some element of humor to the Ramones or the Stooges schtick? I mean, comon - they're the fucking STOOGES for chrissake!

To state that music shouldn't be funny is quite limiting. That's one element of music that is supposed to make people feel better. Music that provides some form of oblivion seeking is what is etherial and mystical about its ability to move us. What about Spike Jones, or Carl Stalling, or Strauss with the Til Eulenspeigel?

If there's anything music shouldn't be is boring, predictable, cliched. I wonder how many SERIOUS INDIE groups I'd shut down if I stated that music shouldn't be so SERIOUS, SELF-OBSESSED, or filled with whiney EMOTIONAL PISSING AND MOANING.

http://www.ifilm.com/viralvideo

Zappa on crossfire, with novak in 86......

creative, prolific, diverse, influential for a lot of musicians i appreciate...

i definitely give a NOT CRAP.

BUT...

i have to throw in a high waffle rating to concede that he is VERY overrated, VERY snobby in his way, and his sheer volume of output is sometimes used to shut up his detractors in a way that I don't think is totally fair -- if someone thinks he's crap, who cares if he put out tons of it?

his guitar leads are definitely overrated, and for a guy who likes to satirize everything you think he'd know better than to crank his guitar up way too high in the mix and drown everyone out for 2 minutes of soloing practically unrelated to the song which would've been 3 min otherwise.

but ZOMBY WOOF is fucking AWESOME and left an indelible mark on my brain. i long to be such a creature, and have such manic music accompany my presence.

Fuck Frank Zappa & fuck that star named after him. CRAP.

Frank Crappa.

Although I'll admit that I used to enjoy, at various times in my life*, Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe, and We're Only in It for the Money. I remember staying up until midnight on a school night once to hear the "world premiere" of Joe's Garage. It was so not worth it.

*various times between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, which seems like Zappa's shelf-life as far as I can tell.

oh, and fuck his children too.

ticdouloureaux wrote:http://www.ifilm.com/viralvideo

Zappa on crossfire, with novak in 86......

Priceless.

Watching that made me think of a choice quote, which I will probably get only slightly wrong:

"If the words in songs made people do things, we would all love each other."

You almost got it.

"If the words in songs made people do things, we would all love each other, except the words in Anal Cunt songs."

SO NOT MOTHER FUCKING CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zappa is the man. People who dislike him haven't heard his stuff. Yes, he has a fair amount of redolent material, but the great stuff is so great...

My faves:
Waka/Jawaka
The Grand Wazoo
Hot Rats
Apostrophe
Zoot Allures
One Size Fits All
Overnight Sensation
Sheik Yerbouti
Joe's Garage (Act I)
All of the Mothers of Invention catalog (especially Uncle Meat, Burnt Weenie Sandwich, Weasels, well, all of them!)

And all the modern compositions -- Yellow Shark, Jazz From Hell, Civilization Phase III

Oh, fuck... The movie Baby Snakes is so great. Rent it! The Bruce Bickford claymation alone is worth it.

Yeah, the 40% crap vote is most likely due to ignorance of his good material. "Valley Girls" wasn't the peak of his career.

His brilliance far outweighs his crap. And there was a fair amount of crap. Just don't listen to those albums. You're not going to hear muzak versions of them in the supermarket, so they will not harm you.

When Ensemble Modern starts playing your compositions, you can feel free to call Zappa crappa. When Other Minds gives 2 days of it's festival in honor of your music, feel free to call Zappa crappa. Well, even then, you're out of line.

Whether you like it or not, so much good has come from Zappa influence. All of the great progressive and art rock bands worship the guy. I swear, the chamber rock stuff he did aorund 69-70 sounded like Univers Zero years before they did (Daniel Denis admits the influence).

If your favorite band is The Sex Pistols, then yeah, you won't get it...

As a guitar player alone, Zappa is revolutionary. He introduced Hendrix to the wah pedal. But when you throw in his insanely great compositional skills... Frank Zappa is considered to be one of the most important composers of the 20th century. He's in a league with people like Stravinsky, Cage, Verese, Penderecki... No, not "Valley Girls". But the man did some really amazing stuff, and it's his least popular work (go figure... Most people want music they can stomp their feet to).