He was definitely not crap but here he is in a famous poster on the crapper.
He was an avant garde artist, not a pop musician.
Ahmet Zappa’s twitter feed on Bowies death: It super blows that David Bowie is gone. Atleast he is hanging out with my dad right now. Just hope Lou Reed isn’t being a dick about it. :lol
Fan of Frank here, I like weirdness and artist that can stretch the limits and Frank was one of those guys from the get go. Playing bicycles, dildos and food items isn’t everyone’s idea of music but hey what the hell it’s rock and roll. His “love songs” are explicit and to the point.
I like throwing some Zappa in for the unsuspecting top 40 listener. Usually follows up with “who is this?” and “Did he just say what I thought he said?”
Like it or not he had a way of getting the attention of the listener whether through his music or just the casual interview. As a child he put the seed in my head to take a closer look at how the government operates.
If Dweezle Zappa comes to your town by all means check him out. He is outlandish as well and there are always more woman at his shows than sausages.
If Frank Zappa were alive today, he would be a different person. Some of us are able to adapt to reality.
Others are trapped in the past. (Hail Odin!)
Zappa had tremendous influence on other artists, in many different genres outside of rock, including prog, jazz and even classical music. He, himself, was proficient (and prolific) in multiple genres and well known for pushing every available musical ‘envelope’ in existence.
Just like in science, the musical world needs experimenters, risk takers, and those who won’t settle. Oftentimes they aren’t particularly appreciated during their active years, but in retrospect, their contribution becomes apparent.
I’d rank him pretty close to a genius.
Zappa’s low-brow humor and potty-mouth persona masked true musicianship. Put on one of his discs and just listen to the music, not the words.
Oh yeah, recently I tried to look up some Frank Zappa on Rhapsody. It did not work. You know why? Because Rhapsody gives you things like what you’re looking for. So in like 10 songs, maybe 2 were Frank Zappa. The problem here is, of course, that if you’re looking for Frank Zappa, there’s simply nothing like Frank Zappa that even comes close. So that’s sort of a thing.
This. But I did like “Yellow Snow.”
Mr. Zappa is worshipped as a god by one of us in the house. I don’t get him at all, can’t bear his music, it’s all undisciplined noise to me. (and I love noise at times, of different types). But I do get that he has talent unseen by such as me. I think his musical influence has been big and will always be.
I like very, very little of Zappa’s music, but his talent was undeniable. He was a superb guitarist, he wrote very complicated music, he commanded the loyalty and respect of top notch musicians from many genres… none of that says “No talent.”
I’m a casual Zappa fan and have several albums, but I think that his technical skill may be being oversold in this thread. He’s a good guitarist (see Shut up 'n Play Yer Guitar), but he’s not in the top echelon of guitarists like Steve Vai (who got started as Zappa’s “stunt” guitarist). I enjoy his skill as a composer and writer more than his (very solid) technical abilities. Perhaps even more important was his recognition of technical skills in others and his ability to gather them in his band and draw more out of them. He was a hard worker and demanding band leader.
IMHO, most of Zappa’s stuff is a bit esoteric for most of us. But I recommend his Strictly Commercial album as a semi-sorta-accessible place to start with Zappa. It’s got “Valley Girl,” “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow,” and my personal favorite, “Montana,” along with a number of his more accessible* tracks.
*Again, “more accessible” on the scale of Frank Zappa. If you like it, it might be worth venturing further into Zappa’s works. If that album is too weird for you, then stop there; his other stuff isn’t going to be more normal.
If I remember correctly Steve Vai got hired because Zappa wanted his catalog transcribed into sheet music and it was very hard to find someone who could do it. Vai could. He was 18 years old.
One thing that is undeniable. He surrounded himself with amazing performers and musicians. Whether it was frequent guest musicians like George Duke or Jean-Luc Ponty or long time band members like Steve Vai and Terry Bozzio.
If anyone was wondering my custom title comes from Zappa.
Wasn’t Zappa the one that released a couple albums where he deliberately played guitar very poorly? I recall interviews where he said it was an artistic statement. That art music can be atonal and discordant. He also produced albums where he choose to show his guitar skills. Zappa was a skilled player when he wanted to be.
Weird dude. I can’t stand his music. Think its artsy-fartsy bullshit. But, undeniably Zappa was a creative and talented musician. Despite most of us not understanding or even liking his music.
The Mothers were great.
I find Zappa’s attitude superior, and condescending. He is constantly slumming around in the gutters of rock mythology and putting it and you down, while doing it. He is superior to it but he owes his musical career to it.
Obviously one of the great musicians but much better in the 60s.
Apostrophe (’) is one of my favorite albums.
Never liked Zappa, and I’ve heard it all—a lot. I think his stuff is puerile, self-indulgent crap. Yeah, he could play some guitar. So can tens of thousands of other people.
shrug
I liked the Mothers a lot. I sort of had some doubts when Uncle Meat came out. Because after buying the double album, there wasn’t all that much I liked on it. The packaging was good. After I got 200 Motels, I sort of moved on. I always thought he was a great guitarist when he wanted to be one. I thought he was one of not all that many who used a wah wah pedal well. (Willie the Pimp and Son of Mr Green Genes).
A friend got offered a job to play with him. He played sax. His parents told him that was okay with them if he wanted to and would wish him the best, but if he continued his computer engineering and programming education, that’d be fine with them also and they’d wish him the best in that. And they’d pay for his tuition, books, fees, room, and board until he got his Master’s degree. He ended up having a fine career at Electronic Arts, I think it was, back in their early days.
Zappa wasn’t all that much fun to work for. NO drugs, NO booze. And it was pretty clear that his musicians were people he hired to play for him and he’d have no trouble replacing you.
Frank was also a great marketer. I can’t find on line links as this would be early 80’s, but the Frank Zappa accessories (like Phi Zappa Crappa t-shirts and other memorabilia) brought in net a million dollars a year. I dunno about you, but a million dollar a year payday is pretty good in 1980 dollars (on top of which were album sales, touring, appearances, etc).
I also remember a Guitar Player magazine issue where Frank was the featured player in the early 1980’s. Frank dropped the bombshell that he no longer played guitar. He just sampled himself.
I don’t think so, no. One of his excuses for not touring late in life was that his proficiency had waned through lack of regular practice and he felt he’d be cheating true fans of his guitar-playing. Although Zappa himself down-played his ability ( as he noted he was no virtuoso, as a virtuoso can play anything and he couldn’t - he hired folks to play the parts he couldn’t or wouldn’t ), he seem to have taken his playing seriously.
Zappa was a great composer if you liked complex, jazzy, long-winded instrumental pieces. Which I do, so he works for me :). I’ll still break out some of his very late MOI or mid-period instrumental work to listen to from time to time. Oddly it has held up for me better than a lot of the jazz fusion stuff I was listening to around the same time in my youth. His tendency to surround himself with top-notch musicians usually meant quality performances even if they were not to everyone’s taste.
But his humor ( which is what he is most remembered for, but not why I listen to him ), frequently was quite puerile. Also sometimes clever. But I can’t blame anyone for not caring about that side of his musial legacy.
However enormously talented he was.
Whether you like Zappa’s music or not, one cannot deny his talent. He evolved into an incredible guitarist and, even early on, surrounded himself with other excellent musicians throughout his career. This is a guy who was continually experimenting and changing, and was probably closer to jazz rock fusion than straight rock. Having seen him several times, I always came away wondering if his band wasn’t the hardest working man in show business - they were always awesome…
The early years with the MOI were satire do-wop intermixed with some real rock songs, the vaudeville tours with Flo and Eddie combined long instrumental jams with raunchy humor and impeccable musical timing, later as his music became more complex and his lyrics more ironic and tongue-in-cheek, he put together bands comprised of some amazing musicians, the instrumentals were great (Peaches En Regalia is an older song from ‘Hot Rats’, but one that is still covered today), and Zappa’s version of ‘Bolero’ IMHO is awesome…One could go on and on listing songs and moments, but those are all covered elsewhere…
OK, so I’m a fan, I get why people would be turned off to him, but one cannot question his talent…genius is a term thrown around too easily, but his influence on music and other musicians cannot be questioned…I think if you are turned off by the first thing you hear, you have a tendency to dismiss his music…but if you delve into the depth of his music, you really gain an appreciation for his talent…one thing Steve Vai talked about was how he didn’t care about what he had done, he was always experimenting, evolving, growing as an artist…
For grins, look at the youtube video of Steve Vai describing his audition with Zappa and you get a little insight of how he was and what he expected from his band…pretty funny…
I feel a little the same way about Dylan in that, I love his music and songs as long as someone else is arranging and singing them…I love that he wrote ‘Rolling Stone’ so that we have Jimi’s version to listen to over and over again…