“What do you make of a society that is so primitive that it clings to the belief that certain words in its language are so powerful that they could corrupt you the moment you hear them?””
I am no Frank Zappa scholar. As with many of the artists included in this year’s calendar, the challenge has been to provide entry points into their profound catalogue of work. So no attempt is made to offer some definitive look. Consider that Mr. Zappa produced 62 records during his lifetime and 57 posthumously. Do the math: 119 albums, often 3 in one year and they rarely sucked. Musician, singer, songwriter, band leader yes. In listening recently, it is his skills as a composer; with pieces that seem most intimately mercurial, complex in their velocity: sonic rampages, but delicate too, that most struck me.
Hear “Uncle Meat” from 1969 as a primal example
and this bright eyed little sea biscuit of a compost heap soundscape.
“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.””
Hardest perhaps to ignore though is The Mothers of Invention’s first record “Freak Out.” In particular one of the first little known rap songs, “Trouble Every Day,” wherein Zappa brilliantly dissects the 1965 Watts riots in one of his stampedingly original sociological reports.
“On a personal level, Freaking Out is a process whereby an individual casts off outmoded and restricting standards of thinking, dress, and social etiquette in order to express CREATIVELY his relationship to his immediate environment and the social structure as a whole. Less perceptive individuals have referred to us who have chosen this way of thinking and FEELING as “Freaks” hence the term: Freaking Out. • On a collective level, when any number of “Freaks” gather and express themselves creatively through music or dance, for example, it is generally referred to as a FREAK OUT. The participants, already emancipated from our national social slavery, dressed in their most inspired apparel, realize as a group whatever potential they possess for free expression. • We would like to encourage everyone who HEARS this music to join us . . . become a member of The United Mutations . . . FREAK OUT!”
“There are only two things to remember. Number one…Don’t Stop, and number two…Keep Going!””
“The universe consists of 5% protons, 5% neutrons, 5% electrons and 85% morons.””
Frank with his wife Gail. It probably wasn’t easy being a wizard, but I bet he had fun trying.