"It took longer to complete than anything I've ever written"
August 9, 2022 11:21 AM Subscribe
The Gnarly Frank Zappa Essay (parts one, two, and three): An Experiment in Rock Criticism by Ted Gioia
Also, they appear NOT to be of Joycean length and, having been out for a month and a half already and probably posted to the fan boards, there are many reader comments. This is something I like for finding big-picture context.
posted by rhizome at 1:03 PM on August 9, 2022
posted by rhizome at 1:03 PM on August 9, 2022
He’s kidding, right?
I wanna tell you something, my friends, I am not kidding.
posted by pianoblack at 1:10 PM on August 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
I wanna tell you something, my friends, I am not kidding.
posted by pianoblack at 1:10 PM on August 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
(Part 3 was posted today, though the other parts are older. It may have been posted earlier for paid subscribers, a club of which I'm not a member.)
posted by box at 1:17 PM on August 9, 2022
posted by box at 1:17 PM on August 9, 2022
WARNING/GUARANTEE: This album contains material which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress.
In some socially retarded areas, religious fanatics and ultra-conservative political organizations violate your First Amendment Rights by attempting to censor rock & roll albums. We feel that this is un-Constitutional and un-American.
As an alternative to these government-supported programs (designed to keep you docile and ignorant). Barking Pumpkin is pleased to provide stimulating digital audio entertainment for those of you who have outgrown the ordinary.
The language and concepts contained herein are GUARANTEED NOT TO CAUSE ETERNAL TORMENT IN THE PLACE WHERE THE GUY WITH THE HORNS AND POINTED STICK CONDUCTS HIS BUSINESS.
This guarantee is as real as the threats of the video fundamentalists who use attacks on rock music in their attempt to transform America into a nation of check-mailing nincompoops (in the name of Jesus Christ). If there is a hell, its fires wait for them, not us.
A for effort, a generous C for execution. But then again, he is being pretty ambitious. By way of example, there’s a whole gnarly Marxist book about FZ, The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play. But he sometimes seem to lack the depth of knowledge needed for a truly gnarly essay. For example:
Zappa always demanded top-notch musicianship, and the various units of his band invariably boasted some remarkable, if little known, accomplishments. Few fans would guess, for instance, that Don Preston had gigged with jazz legend Elvin Jones for a year, had toured with Nat King Cole, and not only played the synthesizer, but had actually built one in 1966. Or that Bunk Gardner once performed on bassoon with the Cleveland Philharmonic. Or that Ian Underwood whose father was President of U.S. Steel, had music degrees from Yale and Berkeley.
Aside from the fact that FZ’s insistence on musicianship and sobriety is pretty well known, to write something like that without mentioning Lowell George and Roy Estrada and the band they formed with Bill Payne (who auditioned for the Mothers) seems odd at best.
Six months after the Fillmore East date, Zappa lost much of his equipment in a fire set off mid performance by a fan who apparently shot a flare gun at the ceiling. It seems to me that the cultural relevance of that moment, at least to rock music, deserves a mention.
I could go on about Captain Beefheart, 200 motels, his cameo on Miami Vice, but I don’t want this comment to get too gnarly.
posted by TedW at 1:30 PM on August 9, 2022 [5 favorites]
In some socially retarded areas, religious fanatics and ultra-conservative political organizations violate your First Amendment Rights by attempting to censor rock & roll albums. We feel that this is un-Constitutional and un-American.
As an alternative to these government-supported programs (designed to keep you docile and ignorant). Barking Pumpkin is pleased to provide stimulating digital audio entertainment for those of you who have outgrown the ordinary.
The language and concepts contained herein are GUARANTEED NOT TO CAUSE ETERNAL TORMENT IN THE PLACE WHERE THE GUY WITH THE HORNS AND POINTED STICK CONDUCTS HIS BUSINESS.
This guarantee is as real as the threats of the video fundamentalists who use attacks on rock music in their attempt to transform America into a nation of check-mailing nincompoops (in the name of Jesus Christ). If there is a hell, its fires wait for them, not us.
A for effort, a generous C for execution. But then again, he is being pretty ambitious. By way of example, there’s a whole gnarly Marxist book about FZ, The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play. But he sometimes seem to lack the depth of knowledge needed for a truly gnarly essay. For example:
Zappa always demanded top-notch musicianship, and the various units of his band invariably boasted some remarkable, if little known, accomplishments. Few fans would guess, for instance, that Don Preston had gigged with jazz legend Elvin Jones for a year, had toured with Nat King Cole, and not only played the synthesizer, but had actually built one in 1966. Or that Bunk Gardner once performed on bassoon with the Cleveland Philharmonic. Or that Ian Underwood whose father was President of U.S. Steel, had music degrees from Yale and Berkeley.
Aside from the fact that FZ’s insistence on musicianship and sobriety is pretty well known, to write something like that without mentioning Lowell George and Roy Estrada and the band they formed with Bill Payne (who auditioned for the Mothers) seems odd at best.
Six months after the Fillmore East date, Zappa lost much of his equipment in a fire set off mid performance by a fan who apparently shot a flare gun at the ceiling. It seems to me that the cultural relevance of that moment, at least to rock music, deserves a mention.
I could go on about Captain Beefheart, 200 motels, his cameo on Miami Vice, but I don’t want this comment to get too gnarly.
posted by TedW at 1:30 PM on August 9, 2022 [5 favorites]
Let me show you my dance of architecture.
posted by lkc at 1:36 PM on August 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by lkc at 1:36 PM on August 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
Incidentally, "incongruous spark plugs" would be a great Zappa album name.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:49 PM on August 9, 2022
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:49 PM on August 9, 2022
Frank taught me the most important thing to know about mountains.
posted by delfin at 7:01 PM on August 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by delfin at 7:01 PM on August 9, 2022 [3 favorites]
he was a musical genius who was also one of the original edgelords - unfortunately, i've never achieved the poodleness necessary to reconcile the two, so i concentrate on the music, try to ignore the post 1969 or so lyrics and wonder why it is that i never hear much of deep emotion in his work
i need to check that poodle book out from the library again ...
posted by pyramid termite at 8:02 PM on August 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
i need to check that poodle book out from the library again ...
posted by pyramid termite at 8:02 PM on August 9, 2022 [4 favorites]
I had always been more interested in the strange outliers that often featured in the UK top 40 but coming from a Catholic background in a very Catholic Ireland hearing 'Heavenly Bank Account' and 'Dumb All Over' was basically the formation of me. Then one day I hitched 30 miles to the nearest bookshop, bought The Real Frank Zappa Book, and it became my bible.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 11:52 PM on August 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 11:52 PM on August 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
I loved Zappa as a weird born-in-1985 suburbanite kid. I got his “greatest hits” off Napster via dialup, was blown away when i found the Fillmore East album, and I think my blog was titled St. Alphonso’s Pancake Breakfast for a while.
I guess I still love Zappa but, man, everything pyramid termite said. Perfectionism can freeze people emotionally in adolescence, just as much as any other addiction, and brilliance can be a terrible enabler. And so much of Zappa’s work seems to be the work of a man who never grew out of imposter syndrome and who never grew out of hating himself for needing affection and admiration, and hating those who gave it to him.
His lyrics can be just appallingly misogynistic. He was a brilliant satirist, and some of his most cutting lines were saved for caricatures of women, especially those who committed the sin of being attracted to his flawed self and those around him (the hippie in “Camarillo Brillo,” the groupies, basically every woman character from Joe’s Garage, the “horny little Jewish princess,” the Valley Girl). The Zappa stand-in narrators of these songs *hate* that they are attracted to these people and vice-versa, reduce them to stereotypes, and cut them down.
And so much of Zappa’s work is presented as parody: absurdist (but brilliant) lyrics and titles and bombastic (but brilliant) instrumentation, the over the top doowop falsettos on Cruisin’ with Ruben & the Jets. But so often it feels like he was terrified to play it straight, to be unironically just a guy who loved making music and wanted people to hear it. If you get everyone laughing with you, you don’t have to worry about them laughing at you.
posted by smelendez at 1:57 AM on August 10, 2022 [8 favorites]
I guess I still love Zappa but, man, everything pyramid termite said. Perfectionism can freeze people emotionally in adolescence, just as much as any other addiction, and brilliance can be a terrible enabler. And so much of Zappa’s work seems to be the work of a man who never grew out of imposter syndrome and who never grew out of hating himself for needing affection and admiration, and hating those who gave it to him.
His lyrics can be just appallingly misogynistic. He was a brilliant satirist, and some of his most cutting lines were saved for caricatures of women, especially those who committed the sin of being attracted to his flawed self and those around him (the hippie in “Camarillo Brillo,” the groupies, basically every woman character from Joe’s Garage, the “horny little Jewish princess,” the Valley Girl). The Zappa stand-in narrators of these songs *hate* that they are attracted to these people and vice-versa, reduce them to stereotypes, and cut them down.
And so much of Zappa’s work is presented as parody: absurdist (but brilliant) lyrics and titles and bombastic (but brilliant) instrumentation, the over the top doowop falsettos on Cruisin’ with Ruben & the Jets. But so often it feels like he was terrified to play it straight, to be unironically just a guy who loved making music and wanted people to hear it. If you get everyone laughing with you, you don’t have to worry about them laughing at you.
posted by smelendez at 1:57 AM on August 10, 2022 [8 favorites]
I worshipped Frank Zappa during my teen years, rejected him during my twenties and have returned to him in what I've come to call my Actual Adulthood. The music still moves me even if his life story mostly just makes me sad.
I recently listened to the Roxy recordings and compared them to the Baby Snakes-era band and you can tell how badly the split with Warner Brothers destroyed his love of rock-adjacent music. It's when the garden-variety sexism of his early work curdles into harsh misogyny. There's plenty of great stuff to be found in any Zappa era, his guitar playing only improved during this time, but there's a lack of personal growth going on: just a hardening.
The recordings I find most fascinating are the instrumental pieces he was composing towards his end. This piece mentions "The Yellow Shark," but I would also recommend the music from "Civilization Phase III," which was meant as a final statement of sorts. In a very real sense, it's his most user-unfriendly piece of work (I can only listen to it once per year) but it hits emotional notes that his previous compositions only barely hinted at. Maybe that was just a byproduct of him dealing with his own mortality, but I'd like to think that he was hinting at where he was heading had he lived. Living to 52 seemed like a relatively full life when I was 15 and getting into his music, it's only recently that I really understood just how young he truly was.
posted by HunterFelt at 2:57 AM on August 10, 2022 [6 favorites]
I recently listened to the Roxy recordings and compared them to the Baby Snakes-era band and you can tell how badly the split with Warner Brothers destroyed his love of rock-adjacent music. It's when the garden-variety sexism of his early work curdles into harsh misogyny. There's plenty of great stuff to be found in any Zappa era, his guitar playing only improved during this time, but there's a lack of personal growth going on: just a hardening.
The recordings I find most fascinating are the instrumental pieces he was composing towards his end. This piece mentions "The Yellow Shark," but I would also recommend the music from "Civilization Phase III," which was meant as a final statement of sorts. In a very real sense, it's his most user-unfriendly piece of work (I can only listen to it once per year) but it hits emotional notes that his previous compositions only barely hinted at. Maybe that was just a byproduct of him dealing with his own mortality, but I'd like to think that he was hinting at where he was heading had he lived. Living to 52 seemed like a relatively full life when I was 15 and getting into his music, it's only recently that I really understood just how young he truly was.
posted by HunterFelt at 2:57 AM on August 10, 2022 [6 favorites]
But so often it feels like he was terrified to play it straight, to be unironically just a guy who loved making music and wanted people to hear it.
That sort of rings true, at least for the pop and rock parts of the spectrum, however his orchestral works (which I have grappled with but don't really listen much to) seem to be playing it more straight?
Reminds me that I still haven't seen the recent documentary.
posted by Harald74 at 3:36 AM on August 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
That sort of rings true, at least for the pop and rock parts of the spectrum, however his orchestral works (which I have grappled with but don't really listen much to) seem to be playing it more straight?
Reminds me that I still haven't seen the recent documentary.
posted by Harald74 at 3:36 AM on August 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
I always figured the nastiness of his pop stuff was anger at being stuck making pop stuff, plus maybe self loathing for being the sort of guy who thinks he's too good for pop stuff, plus etc. (But I am very much a casual fan, since I can't handle the nastiness.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:18 AM on August 10, 2022
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:18 AM on August 10, 2022
Inspired by Alex Winter's (yes, that Alex Winter) recent documentary on Zappa, I spent the first few months this year listening to the entire pre-humous Zappa discography in chronological order after having only dipped into some of the highlights of his '60s and '70s period. So I'm looking forward to seeing what Gioia has to say about the whole thing, thanks for the links!
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:30 AM on August 10, 2022
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:30 AM on August 10, 2022
The first record I bought was Absolutely Free by the Mothers. I was around 14 and heard it at 2am in the morning on a local top forty AM station. The whole album uncensored. I lied there in the dark, hearing something I had never really heard anything like it before. I quickly gathered up the other albums. Lumpy Gravy was my favorite. I moved on after Hot Rats more or less. The music was getting kind lame especially the lyrics. I recently watched that new documentary. Quite good and pretty fair in covering the troubled genius with serious issues. I’m glad that my intro to serious music with electric guitars was the Mothers. It opened my mind to a lot of other things. I really liked Giola’s article. One person wrestling with a huge body of work by one guy utilizing a bunch of really talented musicians all to realize some music that was in his head.
posted by njohnson23 at 2:20 PM on August 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by njohnson23 at 2:20 PM on August 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Zappa's own autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, is a fun read, and answers a few of the questions Gioia has. For instance, he said he'd do all instrumental music if he could, but that wouldn't sell, so he had to have lyrics— given that, he mostly just wrote to amuse himself. He's also quite aware of his own limitations; he notes that given his narrow vocal range, "I couldn't pass an audition to join my own band."
I'd also point out that whatever message Valley Girl has, it's Moon Zappa's— it's her material.
posted by zompist at 2:58 PM on August 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'd also point out that whatever message Valley Girl has, it's Moon Zappa's— it's her material.
posted by zompist at 2:58 PM on August 11, 2022 [4 favorites]
Mixed feelings about FZ, obviously a genius, with a very wide scope of creativity. I vaguely recall a quote like: "He makes beautiful music sound ugly" which I don't quite agree with, but gives me pause.
(anecdote: some of my relatives lived in LA and their kids went to high school with his kids, who were cool. About their dad: he was weird, and you couldn't touch his car, like even put a finger on it, or he would get really angry.)
posted by ovvl at 5:40 PM on August 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
(anecdote: some of my relatives lived in LA and their kids went to high school with his kids, who were cool. About their dad: he was weird, and you couldn't touch his car, like even put a finger on it, or he would get really angry.)
posted by ovvl at 5:40 PM on August 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by saintjoe at 12:13 PM on August 9, 2022 [1 favorite]