"All your children are poor, unfortunate victims of systems beyond your control.
A plague upon your ignorance, to the great despair of your ugly life.
All your children are poor, unfortunate victims of lies you believe.
A plague upon your ignorance, that keeps the young from the truth they deserve."
-Frank Zappa, 1967, "What's the Ugliest Part of your Body?" from "We're only in it for the money."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1rwkgCAVsc
What did Frank Zappa know?
It's a common meme that Frank grew up in the Laurel Canyon area, with a father who worked
as a chemist in the military. However, what separates Frank from other CIA assets is that he
not only unmasked and despised CIA assets, such as the Grateful Dead, but that he lived in
relative segregation due to his mixed status. Frank's father was a guinea pig (no pun intended)
for money, allowing applications of unknown substances in return to payment for his participation.
This is how the Zappa family was able to eat in the 50's, in addition to following farm trucks to catch
any food that fell off (from his autobiography).
Frank hated hippies, pot, LSD, the Beatles, openly discussed the possibility of AIDS being a man-made virus,
and testified before congress in opposition to the PMRC and a blank tape tax that was purposed by
Al Gore, and more importantly, Al's wife Tipper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgAF8Vu8G0w
Frank's first album "Freak Out!" contained the song "Who are the Brain Police?', which contains possible MKULTRA hints.
"What will you do if we let you go home?
And the plastic is all melted, and so is the chrome?
Who are the Brain Police?
What will you do when the label comes off?
And the plastic's all melted, and the chrome is too soft?
(screaming and feedback)
I think I'm gonna die.
I think I'm gonna die.
I think I'm gonna die...."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuABc9ZNtrA
The final song on the album is an aborted sound collage, missing only the final melody,
called "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet." The song itself is one of Frank's earliest
failures, meandering pointlessly without the final melody as the record company pulled the plug
before Frank could finish. The piece was intended as a multi-part sound collage, with the first
section being named "Ritual Dance Of The Child-Killer."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP_YxDdGni0
Frank was around the famous "Vito" freak who predated hippie culture. A possible CIA asset himself,
Vito was already shunned among the freak community for pedophilia. Vito's only son died mysteriously,
apparently having fallen through a hole in a roof while under the influence of LSD at the age of 3. According
to his colleagues, Vito was un-phased, if not joyful, at this event. Frank did not have much positive to say,
if anything at all, about Vito post 1966.
Frank made one song directly implicating the CIA's manipulation of culture on his second album, Absolutely Free.
The song itself, Plastic People, referred to people living as NPC's, unaware of the working of the world around them.
This theme has shades of MKULTRA, which would explain Frank's disdain for LSD. The lyric in question is at 40 seconds in.
"...and there's this guy from the CIA, and he's creeping around Laurel Canyon..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVEqxSlaQ64
The second to last track on "Absolutely Free" is "Brown Shoes Don't Make it," a song about a father pimping his underage
daughter out to the mayor of the town for status/pride/money. In addition to possibly providing first hand knowledge of pizzagate/MKULTRA
in 1967, the track is a likely candidate for the first rock opera ever released, being comprised of 8 minutes of multiple 30 second long
songs.
(1:18)"A world of secret hungers.
Perverting the men who make your laws.
Every desire is hidden away.
In a drawer in a desk, by a Naugahyde chair.
On a rug where they walk and drool.
Past the girls in the office,
We see in the back of the city hall mind.
A dream of a girl, about 13.
Off with her clothes, and into a bed.
Where she tickles his fancy, allllll night loooonnggg......
- (skipping a lot of quality content for the sake of brevity in this writing.)
Nasty, nasty, nasty.
Only 13, and she knows how to nasty nasty...
She's 13 today, and I hear she gets loaded!
If she were my daughter, I'd....
(What would you do, Daddy?)
If she were my daughter, I'd....
(What would you do, Daddy?)
SMOTHER MY DAUGHTER IN CHOCOLATE SYRUP
AND STRAP HER ON AGAIN. OH BABY!
SMOTHER MY DAUGHTER IN CHOCOLATE SYRUP
AND STRAP HER ON AGAIN.
SMOTHER MY DAUGHTER IN CHOCOLATE SYRUP
AND STRAP HER ON AGAIN!
She's a teenage baby, and she turns me on.
I'd like to make her do a nasty on the white house lawn!
I'D LIKE TO SMOTHER MY DAUGHTER IN CHOCOLATE
AND BOOGIE 'TILL THE COWS COME HOME!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZLWD75KKGA
Frank's third album. We're Only in it for the Money, is a vicious condemnation of the entire artificial culture of the 60's.
This is the album that contains the fore-mentioned song, "What's the Ugliest Part of your Body?" What is potentially even
more fascinating is a sample of a phone call that he included as a sound collage link in between songs (think Dark Side
of the Moon, where all the songs bleed together). The transcript of "Telephone Call" goes as follows.
"(ring)
(Suzy)Operator, hold for a minute please.
(Frank) Hello, could you call 678-9866?
(Suzy) He's gonna bump you off yet. He's got a gun, you know?
If he didn't get you in Laurel Canyon, he's gonna get you here."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKJoI4U3o2E
Suzy goes onto calmly explain to her parents that they shouldn't worry about
their phone being tapped, because her's is, too.
Frank died unexpectedly of cancer in 1993.
I know this is extremely vague, but what do you guys make of it?
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spacepopecoast2coast ago
I really need to take some time and properly get into Zappa
always got the impression he was one of the good guys - didn't know he hated The Beatles haha that takes some serious balls, but he sure as shit had the skills to back up whatever shit he wanted to talk
ignacious_riley ago
In the months after Revolver, Paul McCartney stated in an interview that "...the next album will be our 'Freak Out!'" Paul, in other interviews, mentioned wanting to make a mix between the Beach Boy's "Pet Sounds" and Zappa's "Freak Out!"
The first songs recorded were for an autobiographical album. "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were to be crucial tracks, outlining respectively John and Paul;s childhood. The songs were kept, but not included, for the final album which abandoned the childhood theme for one about a fictitious band reuniting. This was Sgt. Pepper. "We're Only in it for the Money" and "Lumpy Gravy" were Frank's response. Check out the album art, that's actually Jimi Hendrix in person on the cover. https://http2.mlstatic.com/frank-zappa-were-only-in-it-for-the-money-D_NQ_NP_20724-MLB20196794926_112014-F.webp
Both him and Clapton ("GOD god oh god, I can see god!!") we're included on the album in samples of real life conversations Frank recorded while they were tripping ("Ah... ah... are you hung up? Out of sight, man, but are... uh... are you hung up?"), though Jimi's involvement is legendary and possibly non-existent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IemQsLV9dTM
Frank appears on the Hendrix track "Stars that Play with Laughing Sam's Dice" (STP with LSD) on sound manipulation. Frank traded Jimi a wah pedal (Jimi's first ever) for Jimi's guitar that he sacrificed (played on Zoot Allures).
Happy to answer any questions! I am a Zappa nerd.
spacepopecoast2coast ago
HOLY FUCK that album cover haha no idea how I've never seen that before now
"Stars that Play with Laughing Sam's Dice" damn dude if that's not a loaded song title, shots ffffireeedd
ignacious_riley ago
Fun fact: that album art matched Sgt. Pepper's so well that the printing company used to print both of them on the same sheet of paper to save on colored ink. Great quote from Frank in a 1975 interview with Captain Beefheart (his childhood friend) and George Duke, "Man, that'd make for some great wallpaper!"
spacepopecoast2coast ago
haha you're just shooting from the hip, respect the trivia for sure - if I go for one album, where should I start?
glad McCartney was listening to Zappa tho... Rubber Soul and Revolver had some great songs, but Sgt. Pepper's and onward is where The Beatles really come alive for me
ignacious_riley ago
Absolutely, and when Frank and John hooked up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G18aGDMy5Y4)), Frank apparnetly knew enough Beatles tunes to jam over "She's Loves You" and "Help" backstage before the show.
Sorry for the cavalier writing, it isn't often I can talk to people about this stuff! Recommend one album? He made 100 before he died! For me though, it's "Hot Rats." Ever hear a modern album where it sounds like 40 people, but it's three musicians doing overdubs? Hot Rats was commissioned by Sony in 1969 as a test record for their world first 16-track tape recorder. They wanted someone who would possibly break their prototype in use as beta-testing, and Frank delivered a complete masterpiece that constitutes a strong candidate for the first jazz fusion and experimental prog album.
Pro-tip: Frank butchered his albums when he released them on CD in the 80s, the original mixes have entirely different instruments and sections. Search out the original mix for everything.
Here is a track called "Peaches en Regalia." Frank plays all strings, most drums. Ian Underwood plays all keys and all wind instruments. Shuggie Otis on bass, I forget the main drummer. The guitar solo is actually played on bass, recorded with the tape moving at half speed so it shifts up an octave when played back normally, layered 9 times with a wah pedal and doubled by a flute. The entire piece is in sonata form. No songs about poop and pee here, just high art. One of maybe 7 albums of his that I believe you cannot even come close to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSb_YW3p8CY
spacepopecoast2coast ago
no apology necessary, I think it's super rad
ignacious_riley ago
Man, as a composer/artist (gotta be careful not to dox myself), I feel you. That's just Frank, man, you could make a very serious and heavy argument for him being America's Mozart/Bach/Varese/whatever. He's a motherfucker, and the further down the rabbit hole you go, the more you get! There are plenty of other guys who are worthy of that title in America, but the only Americans who come close for me off the top of my head are John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, and Albert Ayler. Of course, mentioning black artists on a racially conscious board such as this will catch flack, but I am of the firm belief that aside from freaks (Zappa/The Stooges/Velvet Underground), music stopped evolving harmonically around 1964-1967, when the FBI murdered all of the black artists/leaders. Oh boy, what could have been, and what is happening now, just makes me so fucking sad...
spacepopecoast2coast ago
who could argue tho for real, the best and most honest art always seems to come from the underdogs... when that tune is all you have, but it's yours and no one can take it from you
excited to listen thru some of these Zappa records, predicting I'm gonna find out where some of my favorite artists really got a lot of their sound from