>ridicules drug users and won't allow his band to use

Zappa was an idiot.

>>70800060
>ridicules drug users and won't allow his band to use them
ONLY WHILE TOURING YOU FUCKING IDIOT. he said over and over he thinks drugs should be legal he doesn't care. but he doesn't want some junkie fucking up his live sets because they end being too fucked up. which happens majority of the time

>>70800135
All very true. He was a technical perfectionist and would not accept musicians into his band unless they had formal training in composition/music theory. He disdained rock music and at heart always wanted to be a classical composer, but the AOR format was the only viable, cost-effective way he could release his music.

>105 albums
>all mediocre
>acted like he was god's gift to humanity in all his interviews
What did he mean by this?

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>>70800213
>Zappa
>AOR
You're not being serious, are you? This is his output throughout the 80's. Albums of guitar solos (terrible in my opinion), modern classical music, two albums of classic Zappa satire and an album for a musical.

>>70800233
>acted like he was god's gift to humanity in all his interviews
You made almost the same thread yesterday, but it was only missing the last sentence. Don't forget to include it next time, it will definitely get you more (You)'s.

>>70800312
Finally I have enough for a 4chan gold pass, the last (you) took awhile.

>>70800233
Zappa WAS god's gift to humanity.

>>70800213
Even if you checked out the earliest Zappa records like Freak Out and WOIFTM, you can see there's lots of difficult passages and chord progressions that are not easy to play. They sound very different from the conventional 4/4 pop rock of that era.

Personally, I think his guitar solos were not his strong point. Yeah, he could play extended length 20 minute blues rock numbers, but they were rarely good in the sense of having feel/technical complexity/distinctive tone.

>>70800060
>smokes like a chimney and lives on a garbage diet consisting of fried clams, hot dogs, and canned chili
You can't really be right in every single aspect of your life. Robert De Niro is a great actor, but he's also jumped on the Trump hate bandwagon. Same goes for Meryl Streep and many other actors. And the person who made some of the most popular videos criticizing them? A Christian fundamentalist who talks about fantasy realms like hell...

>>70800335
congrats buddy

>>70800339
Please refer to:
>>70800335
>>70800312
And don't reply seriously to obvious bait threads.

>>70800367
May we please not bring /pol/ in here?

>>70800366
I wasn't at all impressed by his albums with the London symphony orchestra. I realize that those albums don't sound how he intended them and I've always wanted to hear his classical music. I've skipped his live albums for the most part, but please do yourself a favor and listen to Yellow Shark. It's a live album of his classical music played by a skilled musicians.

Back in the day, Zappa was highly respected in the music world and playing in his band was considered a privilege.

>>70800401
I'm not from /pol/. I've chosen a bad example, given that they are probably raiding this place right now.

I respect the guy's talent and compositional skills, but honestly his lyrics were too overwrought and also dated as fuck.

>>70800455
Well, he described current political events at the time. That could be considered dated, sure.

>>70800455
>>70800473
You guys do realize that Zappa only did social commentary for about 5-6 years. Most of his later stuff was purely instrumental with no lyrics at all.

>>70800506
I do. I should've mentioned that he social commentary in his early career.

For pure guitar awesomeness, the Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar albums cannot be beat. No lyrics, no real song structure, just guitar noodling with a backing band. They allow you to bypass the snide social commentary, the stupid scatological and sexual references, etc.

>>70800367
Every fucking time, some arsehole like you brings up politics. Fuck off

>>70800516
He did*

>>70800527
Please refer to:
>>70800434

He was impressed by his own genius the way a toddler is impressed by his own poops. I think music historians will not be kind.

>>70800563
Do you not understand the concept of satire? Do you also not realize that he was a cynic?

>>70800563
Reading interviews he usually seemed less ego-driven than matter of the fact about what he was interested in and trying to accomplish. He was even fairly humble about certain topics, like aspects of his guitar playing. But he was assertive, acerbic and a perfectionist, which I guess can come off as arrogant.

>>70800585
When he was interviewed before his concert with the London symphony orchestra and asked how he feels about the music, he said: "Oh, I think it's fantastic", while having a grin on his face and laughing. He even told his audience that the album he's made with them doesn't sound the way he wanted it to. And yet, he said that he thinks it's fantastic. Do you think he was actually being serious? Not to mention that the two hosts interviewing him said that his cynicism is stronger than ever.

>>70800647
are you fucking braindead?

>>70800662
Thanks for the kind words my friend.

>>70800517
>>70800366
My uncle saw Frank Zappa at Cobo Hall in Detroit in 1981, and he said that the audience (meaning typical Camaro-driving mullethead rock fans) couldn't get enough of his boring guitar wankery. When he picked up his baton and started playing some really pretty classical compositions, the audience got bored and started booing. So Frank just shrugged and went back to noodling on his guitar. Eventually people starting throwing stuff on stage and he stormed off and quit the show.

>>70800335
>>70800233
Don't you have to post in a Death Grips thread somewhere, kiddo?

>>70800060
>le cigarettes cause cancer meme

>>70800751
That may have had something to do with the Camaro-driving mullethead rock fans.

>>70800813
Oh, really? They don't? They only increase the risk of cancer, but they don't cause cancer?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1747982
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16183982
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24604023

I'm a Zappa fan, but I have never liked his guitar playing. To me it sounds sloppy, hurried, and soulless.

To be honest (and IMO) I don't think Zappa was a good musician, and I was happy when he hired pros to do the job. I like Zappa for his other talents... writing & composition, arrangements, wit & intelligence, and his eye for (true) musicianship.

I appreciate Zappa for being an uncompromising, unstoppable force of music for decades despite all the crap the music business and public threw in his way. A lot of his music was great, some of his lyrics were vile, but whatever it was he did it his way. He taught himself just about everything and his expertise and energy from guitar-playing to composing to being a bandleader (Zappa's band was arguably one of the most sought-after gigs of his time) to producing to mastering the latest technology to keeping his business a going concern was mind-boggling.

By all accounts I've read, he was a good family man, wasn't a druggie, spendthrift, drama queen, etc. I'm sure they're out there, but it's hard to find anyone that would say much bad about him.

Of course his admirable qualities don't make his music any more or less likable but anyway...

>>70800936
>I appreciate Zappa for being an uncompromising, unstoppable force of music for decades despite all the crap the music business and public threw in his way. A lot of his music was great, some of his lyrics were vile, but whatever it was he did it his way. He taught himself just about everything and his expertise and energy from guitar-playing to composing to being a bandleader (Zappa's band was arguably one of the most sought-after gigs of his time) to producing to mastering the latest technology to keeping his business a going concern was mind-boggling.
that's why vai was the best vessel for him

>>70800936
Soulless? Seriously? How can you call Watermelon In Easter Hay Soulless?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUja5B8ei2U

>>70801021
He even said back in the day, that he there is something to offend everyone in his music and that everything bad was already said about him. I could only imagine the reaction he would get by the general public in this day and age, given the surge SJWs have had.

>>70800788
>I'm so mature for listening to frank Zappa
Cringe

>>70800788
Please refer to:
>>70800388

>>70800846
greentext causes cancer

Zappa was at times a hilarious lyricist, but mostly he was just stupid and tryhard. He was extremely prolific and worked harder than almost anyone in the business, was great at mentoring young musicians, and unlike most prog and metal artists, he genuinely had the compositional skills to produce complex musical pieces.

For all that, it's remarkable that his huge musical output is rarely great. I think it has a lot to do with his public perception as a cynical, holier-than-thou asswipe. I grant that that was probably the attraction; he appealed to wiseguy teenagers who thought "Everyone's stupid but me."

To me, that attitude is boring and phony. Imagine composing a really beautiful little instrumental piece and giving it a bathroom joke-tier title. You're committing an unforgivable cop out, allowing yourself to pretend "If you don't like this song, well that just shows what a dope you are, because it was SATIRE, and you're just too stupid to get it."

zappa is a meme

>>70801123
also women

>>70800060
Strongly agree and now I will be hiding this thread which I sincerely thank you for making. Keep on truckin OP

>>70801111
And my post had no green text.

>>70800936
According to Adrian Belew, Zappa hired those other guitarists because he couldn't play and sing at the same time. He needed other guys to play while he was singing.

>>70801115
Or perhaps he understood that putting any value on extramusical characteristics such as the title of the piece is retarded.

>>70801192
Most guitarists can't play and sing at the same time. James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine are freak exceptions to the rule.

>High Times: Have you ever thought of doing solo performances?

>Zappa: Just walk onstage with a guitar? I can't sing and play at the same time. In fact, I can't sing and I have a lot of trouble playing, so that's kind of out of the question.

>High Times: What do you mean, you have a lot of trouble playing?

>Zappa: What I like to do best on the guitar is something that requires an accompaniment. I can't sit down and play chords and lines at the same time on a guitar-like a classical guitarist-and make something musically coherent out of it. I do either one or the other. I don't do 'em at the same time. And I don't have the coordination to strum chords and sing lyrics on top of it. I just can't do it. I've got a vocal range of just about an octave. So actually, I'm pretty limited in that framework. If I were going to go out and tour, or do anything by myself, the only thing I could do is lecture. I have had offers to do that.

>>70801172
its not all about u anon

>The stuff that I do has a very low mindless-fun quotient, which is important to all forms of mass entertainment. Unless you can do the dishes to it, unless you can talk over it, then it's drawing too much of your attention. For the broadest base of American pop-music consumption, the mindless-fun quotient is very important. You buy a record because it reinforces your lifestyle. Not necessarily to listen to it, but just to have it with you, just to be in the atmosphere of your life so you can groove along with your peer group with this thing supporting your aesthetic. You're upwardly mobile, you're a groovy guy, kinda modern, so you have fusion music. You're a laid-back, romantic person, you have the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. These are artifacts that support your lifestyle. Now what kind of a person buys one of my records? Obviously people who don't necessarily conform to the standard configuration. But they need to be entertained just as much as the other people. Everybody is entitled to listen to the kind of music or see the kind of film or whatever entertainment that makes them feel good. That's what entertainment is for-to make you feel good. And theoretically, there must be people out there who use the records that I make to reinforce their lifestyles or whatever image they have of themselves or whatever image they have of the way they live. The easiest way to figure it is that there are lyrics on the record that say things you agree with. People who listen to my records are cynical. Nobody wants the feeling that they're totally alone.

>>70801115
Have you watched a single interview with him? If you did, I doubt that you'd think that he had a holier-than-thou attitude. That attitude is boring and phony, ok. Was there someone else with the same attitude at the time or were there hundreds of bands trying to be as sterile as possible desperately trying to get a record deal? And what about his song titles and lyrical themes? How dare someone put humor into their music instead of making a thousandth album about being in love?

>>70801229
>Most guitarists can't play and sing at the same time

Or it's more accurate to say guitarists usually can't play anything really complicated while singing, or anything that diverges too much from the vocals.

>>70801288
He also made quite a lot of instrumental music, with no lyrics (classical music, jazz fusion, albums of guitar solos, etc.).

>>70801288
>Was there someone else with the same attitude at the time or were there hundreds of bands trying to be as sterile as possible desperately trying to get a record deal? And what about his song titles and lyrical themes? How dare someone put humor into their music instead of making a thousandth album about being in love?

Kind of true. Zappa once complained about how for a while, the only bands that got on the radio were REO Speedwagon, Styx, Journey, Doobie Brothers, etc.

>>70800213
so he was only in it for the money?

>>70801345
This performance never ceases to amaze me:
https://youtu.be/QilNVTZx5CI
No wonder why Zappa wanted him in his band despite his inability to read music.

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>>70801368

>>70801288
And what's more, he made an instrumental song called "Variations on the secret Carlos Santana chord progression" and Santana thought it was hilarious and loved it.
http://www.afka.net/Articles/1995-01_Tmershi_Duween.htm

>>70801416
are you really defending the honor of a dead man? he enjoyed rock music but was against corporatism. he could have made straight forward classical experimental music and been a huge hit as well but that wouldve been a huge risk after the success of mothers of invention

>>70801489
How could classical music ever be commercially successful? Sure, there would always be an audience, but you don't see soccer moms listening to Schoenberg on their way to school with their daughters.

>>70800060
>says "there is more stupidity than hydrogen" in the universe
>proceeds to prove it by naming his son Dweezil and his daughter Moon Unit

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>>70801527
>Dweezil is named after one of his mom's toes