That would be Soul Music, which is so full of references to music acts that I would say I have only ever got 2/3 of them.
There’s a beer named after him too. It’s quite good. Maybe it will introduce him to more people.
Also in Peter Schickele’s The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach.
We are currently rewatching The Good Wife. Last night a character said he looked good in a uniform. The other character said he should get one with braid on the shoulders, “Like HMS Pinafore.”
Of course, when I watch a lot of more modern shows, I see a lot of current references to modern celebs and tech that go right over my head…
This thread reminds me of something I always found…unweasonable…,that all the main male characters from the Big Bang Theory were completely oblivious to classic Warner Bros cartoon characters.
(been watching Life of Brian clips)
Puns can be great, can’t they?
Back in my active practice days, we saw an order for a new drug called Antaris, and another pharmacist said, “I wonder if it’s a giant red tablet.” I giggled, and he was honestly surprised that there was another astronomy geek who got it.
Dog bless my public school education, I totally got this. I generally try not to hijack / bog down a thread here with puns, but IRL it’s kind of a good way to find out who shares one’s sense of humor / body of knowledge.
Where I work, a young CNA was going around asking “What’s a Yoko Ono?”, I was laughing too much to find out where she had heard the name or to tell her it was someones name.
It’s fun to get surprised the other way. I teach religious school at the synagogue, and have 4th graders (9 & 10-yr-olds, for those outside the US). When we were doing Chanukah trivia (and some not so trivia), one question was “What was the first year that Chanukah was celebrated at the White House [meaning, when did the president begin lighting a chanukiah along with the Christmas tree]?”
The answer is 2001.
One of my 4th graders says “Oh! it was George Bush.” He pauses a beat, then adds “the second one.”
That is the equivalent of FDR for me, a much more prominent president, one who was on the dime since before I was born, and I don’t think I knew that much about him when I was 9. I did know he was the second Roosevelt (albeit, different first name), but only by dint of my grandfather having been born in 1905, and named for the first Roosevelt.
I mentioned Frank Zappa and got a “Frank who?” from a 33 year old woman today. I thought at least some of his stuff would carry over a generation or two.
I’m a quarter century older and the only thing I know about Frank Zappa is that his daughter is called Moon Unit and his son Dweezil.
If it wasn’t for Dr. Demento, I wouldn’t have known who Tom Lehr was.
Another person whom I know primarily through Dr. Demento. I remember “Dancing Shoes” and “Valley Girl.” I did have a coworker about 15 years ago who was a huge Frank Zappa fan and seemed to regard him as some sort of musical messiah. He had to be pushing 50 at the time.
I’m 50, pretty well versed in 60’s and 70’s music, and I couldn’t name even one of his songs. I think he’s one of those guys who’s more famous for his personality than for his music.
The only single he had which made the top 40 in the U.S. was “Valley Girl” (which he recorded with his then-teenaged daughter Moon Unit on vocals).
He recorded an absolute ton of music (62 albums released during his lifetime, and a similar number released posthumously), and worked in a large number of different styles, but much of his music was experimental, often with satirical lyrics, and mostly never reached a large audience.
I definitely knew who Frank Zappa was (I am 57) but I, too, could not name a song of his.
I remember him most for giving testimony in the US senate in 1985 regarding rock lyrics which, IIRC, was part of the Satanic Panic.
At one time I owned about 33 (just counted) of these on vinyl, but that’s because I was gifted them in my twenties from a family friend who was moving overseas. He had gotten me into Zappa (also jazz and blues) when I was a teenager. These days I think I might have 8-10 on CD somewhere.
I was a big fan of his guitar solos and his tendency towards long, convoluted instrumentals. Less so the puerile stuff. Quite a singular talent, but definitely not very commercial. I know a fuck-ton about Zappa, but still less than some dedicated cultists. I suspect said cult following was very of a time and is steadily dying out without winning many new fans.
I own a couple of his albums, one of which is entitled Apostrophe ('), which was the most commercially successful of his albums, peaking at #10 on the Billboard 200 chart. The first track on that album is Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow, which was released as a single and reached #86 on the Billboard Top 100.
I loved that album and listened to it many times.
I’m familiar enough with “Valley Girl” that I can hear it in my head without having heard it for realz in, probably, decades. I can easily picture what he looks (looked) like. I can name several of his albums (many of which had quirky, memorable titles). And I’m familiar with Weird Al’s “Genius in France,” which is inspired by his work (and which features Dweezil on guitar). But aside from that, I’m not familiar with his music.