I liked some of the early Mothers of Invention stuff when I was in high school, but I haven’t listened to it in years. Some of the pop parodies were themselves pretty good pop tunes, and there were interesting musical ideas, noises and studio tricks, heavily influenced by avant garde composer Edgard Varese. But best of all, he hated hippies, and that early Mothers material mocked them mercilessly. This take on Hey Joe is a pretty good example.
I didn’t much care for his music from the 70’s and beyond, although you can’t deny that he was talented as a musician. I saw him live in high school, and it was one of the most boring concerts I ever saw. He and his musicians were top notch, but they played like three “songs” in two hours. My date and I fell asleep leaning against each other. Long scarves were a thing in the 70’s, and our friends managed to tie us together with one without waking us up. Waking up in bondage at a Frank Zappa concert was more memorable than anything coming from the stage that night.
I don’t know any of his songs other than that pancake one. His musicianship never made my inner punk tingle.
But as a human being… he’s just like, the best.
I liked some of the early Mothers of Invention stuff when I was in high school, but I haven’t listened to it in years. Some of the pop parodies were themselves pretty good pop tunes, and there were interesting musical ideas, noises and studio tricks, heavily influenced by avant garde composer Edgard Varese. But best of all, he hated hippies, and that early Mothers material mocked them mercilessly. This take on Hey Joe is a pretty good example.
I didn’t much care for his music from the 70’s and beyond, although you can’t deny that he was talented as a musician. I saw him live in high school, and it was one of the most boring concerts I ever saw. He and his musicians were top notch, but they played like three “songs” in two hours. My date and I fell asleep leaning against each other. Long scarves were a thing in the 70’s, and our friends managed to tie us together with one without waking us up. Waking up in bondage at a Frank Zappa concert was more memorable than anything coming from the stage that night.
But as a cultural warrior against philistines and puritan pests, Zappa was non pareil.
I used to love it when these smug assholes would get dunked on by rock ‘n’ rollers smarter than they were.