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#Post#: 174--------------------------------------------------
Re: 13.20 of unfiltered Garage Rock
By: indigo_dave Date: July 7, 2017, 7:40 am
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I was in a band around age 20. A couple of guys in the band
were Zappa fans. They would quote lines from his "songs"
(burlesques really). Then sometimes they would add "but he's a
really serious musician". Which he was. I never quite took to
Zappa's music.
I have come to be fond of Captain Beefheart, especially his
"Clear Spot" album. "Clear Spot" was Beefheart's attempt at
commercial success after disappointing sales of "Lick My Decals
Off Baby". He never quite caught on.
I think Zappa caught on (at a cult level anyway) more from his
comedy parody than his music. The music benefited from the
exposure.
I have a t-shirt with a Zappa quote: "The only difference
between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they
own".
I digress.
#Post#: 178--------------------------------------------------
Re: 13.20 of unfiltered Garage Rock
By: AJ Date: July 7, 2017, 5:47 pm
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[quote author=indigo_dave link=topic=17.msg174#msg174
date=1499431231]
I was in a band around age 20. A couple of guys in the band
were Zappa fans. They would quote lines from his "songs"
(burlesques really). Then sometimes they would add "but he's a
really serious musician". Which he was. I never quite took to
Zappa's music.
I have come to be fond of Captain Beefheart, especially his
"Clear Spot" album. "Clear Spot" was Beefheart's attempt at
commercial success after disappointing sales of "Lick My Decals
Off Baby". He never quite caught on.
I think Zappa caught on (at a cult level anyway) more from his
comedy parody than his music. The music benefited from the
exposure.
I have a t-shirt with a Zappa quote: "The only difference
between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they
own".
I digress.
[/quote]
Zappa enjoyed more commercial success than a lot of people
think. Usually people think of "Yellow Snow" and "Valley Girl",
but he toured constantly and sold out all his shows. Frank was a
complex person and wrote complex,serious music. If you listen to
his songs, even the sound effects and cat squalls are musically
correct. It may be hard to think of a dog bark as a perfect F#m
1/8 note...But they were. He was dead serious about his music
and about life in general. He was a straight person his entire
life, but an avid cigarette smoker and coffe drinker. Prostate
cancer took him rather young.
He was an enemy of censorship in all it's forms...Cleaned up his
appearance a bit and actually argued against it as it pertained
to the music industry in the US Congress. He was completely
without guile, absolutely said what he meant at all times. He
was an advocate for the Czech Republic and other struggling
democracies, traveling the world to help.
He was a pretty fucking outrageous guitarist as well IMHO. But
the sheer volume of his work, and the incredible variety...from
the outrageous rock stuff to Fairlight composed jazz and
symphonies.
Ok...I've raised my Zappa flag high enough...LOL.
#Post#: 182--------------------------------------------------
Re: 13.20 of unfiltered Garage Rock
By: Bucky Date: July 7, 2017, 11:56 pm
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I started listening to Zappa when I was in the eighth grade,
though never got far into his immense catalog. Dynamite
guitarist, and quite the composer. But he was sober when he
wrote some of that stuff, which is scary. Truly a case of genius
mixing with insanity.
He named his kids Moonunit and Dweezil without a single hit of
acid, and he didn't care if anyone remembered him or his music.
If he hadn't made it in music, he would've looked convincing in
his padded cell.
#Post#: 183--------------------------------------------------
Re: 13.20 of unfiltered Garage Rock
By: indigo_dave Date: July 8, 2017, 6:50 am
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I remember when Zappa died. I heard Zappa's wife Gail (sp?) on
NPR once. The topic ? Pancakes. She said Frank loved pancakes
and would sometimes bring home specimens from restaurants he'd
been to (on the road?) to illustrate the "ideal" he wanted her
to attempt.
I really have to believe that many teenage boys were attracted
to Zappa for his snickering sarcastic humor. Many probably
learned to like or even love his music. I'm sure many became
devotees of his guitar chops.
There is a quote I ran across by some writer (circa 100 years
ago or so) named Ezra Pound. The quote: "music begins to
atrophy when it departs too far from the dance...poetry begins
to atrophy when it gets too far from music". That statement
resonated with me. It's a subjective thing, but for me,
Frank Zappa's music departed too far from the dance too often.
In the end, I think Zappa was a master marketer. His humor
sold his music (IMO) to many who'd have quickly turned away
from all that weirdness.
Regarding Captain Beefheart. I had a college roommate who'd
seem him in Boston. He said a chimpanzee act opened for him.
I read someplace that when Beefheart first played in NYC at Town
Hall (a venue) Ornette Coleman and Charles Mingus were in the
audience to hear him. He should've been getting traction and
sales similar to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew IMO. A complete
original.
Zappa was a complete original also.
#Post#: 187--------------------------------------------------
Re: 13.20 of unfiltered Garage Rock
By: AJ Date: July 8, 2017, 11:40 am
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One of my favorite Zappa quotes...
"[i]Talking about music is like dancing about architecture"
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