Frank Zappa: Classic or Dud?

The Residents being pretty obvious Zappa fans themselves.

i have that downtown does the beatles CD somewhere (i am not morrisp's dad)

Thread has gone on too long without someone mentioning The Residents but I'm not a fan of either to draw any substantial connecting composition lines other than "they're prolifically good at manufacturing satire." I did find this:

In 1972, Zappa was one of the intended recipients of the mail-out release of The Residents' debut 1972 EP Santa Dog, however the address the group had was outdated and the package was returned to them marked "no longer at address"

Zappa probably wrote "no longer at address" himself.

xxx-post!

Today would have been FZ's 80th birthday btw.

I remember reading something years and years ago - like, years! almost 40 years? maybe in Spy? somewhere else? - where the authors did an experiment to see how little information they could put on an envelope and still have the letter reach its recipient, and they found that either just a picture of Reagan or a picture of Zappa was enough to get it there.

Wonder where your mail would end up now with a picture of Reagan or Zappa?

They'd just keep circling the globe, forever.

Here’s a poorly formatted (sorry) scan transcription of the piece’s intro:

How famous is famous? We've always figured that il an average American.—say* a
Postal Service employee—’knows your name or your lace, you're a bona fide

somebody. Thus, spy’s Celebrity Postal Experiment, in which
the relative famousness
of 58 celebrities has been
determined by their
ability to receive
incompletely addressed
fan mail. Each celebrity
was sent four letters:
the first inscribed with
only the celebrity's
name; the second,
with the celebrity 's
name s city and
ZIP code; the
third, wirh only
a glued-on
photograph of
the celebrity;
and the fourth
bearing a
photograph and
the pictured
celebrity's city
and ZIP code,

All the letters

requested an autographed photo for a
fictitious 1 2-year-old boy named Chad.

The experiment offers many revelations
on the nature of celebrity. Among them: that
no matter how famous you arc* an envelope
adorned wirh nothing but your likeness will
not be delivered to you (all the photo-only
letters were returned); that no matter how
big Madonna and Woody Allen are on the
coasts, heartland favorites like Norm
Schwarzkopf, Ann Landers and Michael
Jordan (the only people whose names alone
were enough to get mail to them) win out in
the posta 1-clerk-recogninability department;
and that Tina Brown is in the same tank of
celebrity as Bob

Today would have been FZ's 80th birthday btw.

― Motoroller Scampotron (WmC), Monday, December 21, 2020 1:53 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

woah I didn't know he was that older than dylan

can I just say the PRMC sticking a Parental Advisory sticker on Jazz From Hell is funnier than anything Zappa's ever done

(xp) He always struck me as a 50s kind of guy. A lot of his antipathy towards hippies was towards people younger and stupider (iho) than him.

Holy shit, I cannot believe I more or less remembered that. What year was that from?!

yeah I didn't know he was a teen in the 50s and was already an adult when the Beatles hit, definitely makes more sense why he viewed hippies with skepticism

also the doo wop thing

xp JULY/ AUGUST 1992

Oh, so not *that* long ago. Still! Not bad, noggin.

The Mothers were ancient, Don Preston was born in 1932!

wow yeah stuff like We're Only In It For the Money makes way more sense once you realize Zappa was almost 30...I'd assumed he was like, 22

maybe I assumed that because Freak Out has such a "just got out of high school" vibe to it

I do think that if Zappa had held off on the satirical crap and made the music largely instrumental, he might now be held in the same regard as someone like Robert Fripp - highly respected and influential oddball who never sold a million records but is admired for not compromising. And however much FZ boasted of his uncompromising stance he also used to whine about how he had to write the titties n' beer songs because people expected it. If he'd gone the other route he'd probably have found it easier to get funding for his orchestral works too. Still, he was hardly obscure so what do I know.

Some King Crimson (esp early) might be better as instrumental too. (sorry Pete Sinfield.)

Zappa probably wouldn't have wanted to share royalties with a lyricist, when he apparently found writing words to music facile.

https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/4kqoPDUCCWra722LxlkcebgO-LQPSwdRygbFgKycgS2Gbm6VQwoq5cLDrGHqfkxFgpV4e3aZxiktnaXWGa5KtSKp4-X1PS2CKj681N03fEpjhaQtTtQbzwEAQAtU36cc73dlzjdpzxW8=s0-d-e1-ft#https://files.constantcontact.com/8e40a73f401/32d63799-b210-40a1-9aa2-5d8067566fc3.jpg

This is real, btw.

The ZAPPA TRUST and San Diego-based Duckfoot Brewery Co have teamed up to launch a new FRANK ZAPPA tribute beer, Why Does It Hurt When IPA? It’s set to debut on ZAPPA’s birthday, December 21.

It’s a wild, improvisational jam of an IPA, brewed with ZAPPA hops, Simcoe and Cascade. The West Coast-style IPA has notes of passion fruit, spice and grapefruit (a favorite of FRANK ZAPPA’s) with a clean and dry finish. The can features never-before-published photos of Frank which pair nicely with the beer itself. In addition, the label explains more, “the Zappa hop, like the man, has a hugely eclectic style. Published flavor notes have ranged from passion fruit, mint, spicy, savory, fruity cereal, and uh...purple. (Try the beer, you’ll get it). Just like Frank, this hop is one of a kind and awesome.”

You can order Why Does It Hurt When IPA? by visiting ZappaBrew.com. The beer is offered solely in the U.S. as a 6-pack ONLY at 4.99 per beer, plus a flat rate of $25 shipping. There is a limit of two six packs per customer (with the shipping rate of $25).

The beer, which like many things ZAPPA, came about through a personal connection. Duckfoot co-founder, Matt DelVecchio, a ZAPPA fan from the age of six, is a longtime friend of Zappa Plays Zappa touring musician Pete Griffin who made the intro to the family.

“Our new friends (but they feel like old friends) at Duck Foot Brewing Co are making a delicious new brew using the Zappa hop,” AHMET ZAPPA says. “Stay home, be safe and enjoy Why Does It Hurt When IPA? responsibly. All the Zappa Trust proceeds from this batch will go to support the music community in need. Music is the Best!”

“We are so beyond thrilled to be making a beer for one of our favorite musicians of all time," Matt Delvecchio, Head Quack/Founder, Duck Foot Brewing Co adds.

Look for AHMET and the Duck Foot Brewing Co team to do an online meeting in the new year to discuss everything about the beer and take questions from fans around the world.

wasn't Zappa a teetotaler

$25 shipping!

You would have to be quite the fan to drink a can of beer depicting a guy sitting on the john.

A fitting tribute to the man, his music and his myth.

I will say "Why Does It Hurt When IPA" rolls off the tongue so poorly it could've been conceived by the man itself

Ha, exactly!

Joe's Garage is now a Sports Bar.

...or Crab Shack.

America Drinks and Stays Home.

there was a Joe's Garage restaurant in Minneapolis for years, nice place

Debate Topic:

Was Frank Zappa progressive rock?

Thought that was going to be a pomenitul post.

i'm trapping imagos for their pelts

He is the closest thing to an american prog avatar that exists… Rush in the 70s takes the cake as far as North america… but who else comes close as a stateside prog big shot? Todd, via A wizard and Utopia? Or Crack the Sky?

Kansas!

And, er, Starcastle?

I always thought so, yeah. Didn't even think it was controversial tbh. xp re prog

Lol ums.

Hmm, I never thought about the lack of US prog. Maybe we kind of favored the primitivists over the musical prigs. I guess the closest is, yeah, midwest butt-prog stuff like Kansas, Styx ... REO Speedwagon?

the best U.S. prog band is Cheer-Accident but they aren't really from the same era

Yeah, books usually attribute it to things like the Anglican choirboy tradition and/or the greater cultural presence of classical music in Europe.

xpost Oh, for sure once you fast forward a few decades there are good or better examples, many also from the midwest.

I think prog bands found a larger and more enduring audience in North America, though.

Kansas, absolutely. I've never listened to early Styx or Journey (which is sposed to be more fusoid), but my understanding is that they were indeed cornfed midwest —thank you JiC— BUTT PROG! I have heard early REO and that's just bog standard boogie…

Zappa's spiritual emptiness problematises the notion of him as a prog avatar

Thought that was going to be a pomenitul post.