Oh boy, I wish that I was one of the lucky ones who were in the room when this went down!
Frank Zappa was the most underrated guitarist of all time in my eyes. His music would stretch your musical boundaries and open you mind about the social consciousness of the day.
At best he was a danger to the establishment, in their eyes that is!
To get a little glimpse into what he was all about check out this video. I must warn you, this is a very long video but it is worth it to watch it from start to finish.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr Frank Zappa being interviewed on CNN:
I think my cousin Jeff looks a lot like him in his suit!
Keep on Jammin’
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I love how it starts out with the cheesy 80s graphics – it almost makes me want to go play Atari.
It is very interesting to see Zappa wearing a suit and debating these guys after he made an album called, “Weasels Ripped Out My Flesh” LOL
Your right on that one razas! I wanted to say that in the post but I thought that it would be too silly! Great minds think a like now don’t they?
I was laughing so hard when I saw him in a suit as well. It’s just so un-him!
Keep on Jammin’
Did anybody notice the beginning of the video has Duran Duran’s The Chauffeur playing in the background ???
Oh man, Frank Zappa under-rated? You must be under 35 years old. Zappa was the bomb back when I was in high school, and my generation knew him for “Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch” which was his later stuff (and his one big hit with the song Valley Girl). I was lucky enough to see him live a few times in middle school and my friends and I used to dial 1-818-Pumpkin so much our parents pissed about the long distance bill.
FYI, Zappa was the first to do independent publishing of his own music, not only that, he was the one who gave Steve Vai his start and Terry Bozio (the drummer) started with Zappa before he and his wife formed Missing Persons (wicked cool 80’s nu-wave band). Other Zappa alumni are Adrian Belew, Arthur Barrow, Mike Keneally, Don Preston (Penguin In Bondage!!!), Scott Thunes, Ike Willis, Ray White
Zappa and Dee Snider (Twisted sister) also led the fight against that bitch Tipper Gore and her PMRC who succeded in puttin those stupid “explicit lyrics” labels on albums (and helped sell millions of rap albums).
ha, my tattoo artist buddy and singer Kelly looks just like Zappa (but sings like Chris Cornell).
btw, you are aware that Al Gore’s bitch wife Tipper Gore was the one streamlining the fight that Zappa was opposing in this video. Anybody who wonders why Al Gore got screwed and we got screwed with Bush for 8 years, well, I guess most of my generation were apathetic and didn’t vote because we knew Gore’s wife tried to censor rock-n-roll and ended up boosting rap. ’nuff said.
I did realize that they were playing that tune when I first saw it! Too funny.
I still think that he was a unreal guitar player! BTW, I’m in my early 40’s. I only wish that I had the chance to have seen him during those years! A buddy of mine went to see the Zappa Plays Zappa tour and said that it was just out of this world, not to mention the price of the tickets!
Also, thanx for the comments about him being the first independent publisher. I thought that I heard that ages ago and this backs it up!
As for the guys that he helped start is quite impressive indeed.
I honestly wasn’t aware about the Tipper Gore thing at all. So she is to blame for all the rap stuff, interesting.
Keep on Jammin’
I think Frank deserves every prop he gets, but I wouldn’t call him overrated. He’s pretty much universally adored: