If you have an Apple+ membership, you can access Washington Post via Apple News
Zappa's Family
- Thread starter paligap
- Start date
Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:
Well, he's been dead since before they were born.
Not in the 70's, my friend.
jimfisheye
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2010
- Messages
- 3,420
Jean-Luc Ponty and George Duke were already well known. Vinnie Colaiuta, Terry Bozzio, Steve Vie, Adrian Belew...
(And a few more glaring names not on the tip of my tongue right now.)
Yeah, all old people! I'm old. Frank died in 1993... so this was all a while ago now. But pretty much anyone who went on to be anyone that came through one of his bands were regarded like they graduated from Berkeley or something.
(And a few more glaring names not on the tip of my tongue right now.)
Yeah, all old people! I'm old. Frank died in 1993... so this was all a while ago now. But pretty much anyone who went on to be anyone that came through one of his bands were regarded like they graduated from Berkeley or something.
Now I get it. Zappa was never mainstream. I was fortunate enough to hang out with people in the 70s who were into decidedly non-mainstream music. Jazz, blues, prog, and Zappa. My son and one of his friends are kind of getting into Zappa via Apostrophe and Over-Nite Sensation which is as mainstream as he ever got. But the earlier stuff is a much more challenging deep-dive.
That WaPo article was great, and I am a subscriber. For a dollar a week they do a pretty good job of covering real news, biases and all.
jimfisheye
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2010
- Messages
- 3,420
Zappa was blacklisted in the US for his political hit pieces. Trouble Every Day and Who Are The Brain Police right from the first album. And the more subversive stuff after, not just Dickie's Such An Asshole, got attention. He had top 10 hits in other countries. He hit mainstream strong enough. His risque lyrics are tame compared to a lot of stuff. Pointed, yes! If he wanted to piss someone off he really could drive that home!
Trouble Every Day is a real stunner. Great, angry song.
jimfisheye
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2010
- Messages
- 3,420
Some might say modern stuff like WAP is offensive. It's just profane and stupid. Catholic Girls' lyrics are tame next to that but also a really pointed narrative on church people hypocrisy that would very much get under their skin. And in a way that leads to people laughing along at them and really pissing them off! But it's more songs like Packard Goose and the concept of the government outlawing music (like some middle eastern countries very literally still do) that got him in trouble. That's just Joe's Garage.
Releasing non-commercial music is hardly being blacklisted (famously rejected by Columbia Records for having "no commercial potential"). Valley Girl was his only US hit, driven by MTV. Bobby Brown wasn't played in the US but was a hit overseas.
You must have been quite sequestered.
Musicians who played with Zappa include:
Jim Fielder (BS&T), Lowell George (Little Feat), Adrian Belew (King Crimson, Talking Heads, David Bowie), Warren Cuccurulio (Missing Persons, Duran Duran), Steve Vai (Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth), Aynsley Dunbar (John Mayall, Jeff Beck, Journey, Jefferson Starship, Nils Lofgren, Eric Burdon, Shuggie Otis, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Whitesnake, Pat Travers, Sammy Hagar, Michael Schenker, UFO, Michael Chapman, Jake E. Lee, Leslie West, Kathi McDonald, Keith Emerson, Herbie Mann), Jim Gordon (member of The Wrecking Crew, Derek and the Dominos, Delaney & Bonnie, George Harrison, Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Traffic, Dave Mason, Steely Dan, Souther–Hillman–Furay Band), Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson (Weather Report, Genesis), Terry Bozzio (Missing Persons, U.K.), Vinnie Colaiuta (Sting, many others), Chad Wackerman, Dave Samuels, George Duke, Eddie Jobson (Jethro Tull, Curved Air, Roxy Music, U.K.), Lou Marini (BS&T, Blues Brothers), Randy Brecker, Jean Luc-Ponty, Jack Bruce (Cream, West, Bruce and Laing, John Mayall, Manfred Mann, Tony Williams Lifetime, Graham Bond Organisation, Lou Reed, Carla Bley, Robin Trower, Gary Moore).
But his wife WAS a groupie before she became a wife. Infidelity was part of the gig, after all.
I don’t know Sonik. Even 15 minutes could pretty much exclude you from Q 39.
Frank was an autodidact who couldn’t be done with high school soon enough. He abhorred the public education system and so he had his kids take the GED (high school equivalency exam) at age 15. They all did and they all passed. Nowadays you have to be at least 16 years old to sit for the exam in Cali.
Yeah just a dumb Southern boy.
How many musicians have you known that play for a living, and what were their thoughts on Zappa?
I roadied and did soundboard etc for a lot of club bands, and I knew people that got albums cut with major labels.
Also I see you listed groups. That's not the same as being a band member, or just maybe being on the same concert ticket, right?
I stand by what I said.
Ozzie Osborne was a Zappa fan .(and likewise quad)
In a Utube interview on the Sabbath Record Sabotage, he mentioned he was stoked because... "Frank Zappa just released Apostrophe(') in Quad".
In a Utube interview on the Sabbath Record Sabotage, he mentioned he was stoked because... "Frank Zappa just released Apostrophe(') in Quad".
I believe he was showing the bands that Zappa alum went on to play with or be members of.Yeah just a dumb Southern boy.
How many musicians have you known that play for a living, and what were their thoughts on Zappa?
I roadied and did soundboard etc for a lot of club bands, and I knew people that got albums cut with major labels.
Also I see you listed groups. That's not the same as being a band member, or just maybe being on the same concert ticket, right?
I stand by what I said.
Take Ade for instance, he was Frank's stunt guitarist and went on to play with Bowie, King Crimson, The Bears, Talking Heads etc.
So while you may not have heard people talk about Frank, he has influenced a very large number of musicians, bands and styles.
At least that is my take on his point; yours being equally true since that is a simple statement of fact with what you went though.
I had friends way back that were totally into Zappa and the Mothers. I used to go to Bobby's house and listen in on his RTR playback. (I met Bobby shortly after he got out of the Navy, and shortly after I went in the Army) Zappa wasn't that important to me, but my friends were, and I was always willing to listen to anything.
R.I.P. Bobby.
R.I.P. Bobby.
I know several. Steve Vai, Mike Keneally, Scott Thunes. And they all speak of Frank and their time with him with reverence. Google Steve Vai/Zappa interviews on Google, watch some of the YouTube ones and you'll see how he and many others who worked with Frank feel about him.Yeah just a dumb Southern boy.
How many musicians have you known that play for a living, and what were their thoughts on Zappa?
I roadied and did soundboard etc for a lot of club bands, and I knew people that got albums cut with major labels.
Also I see you listed groups. That's not the same as being a band member, or just maybe being on the same concert ticket, right?
I stand by what I said.
There are three touring bands of former FZ band members out playing Frank's music, also with reverence. The Zappa Band, Banned From Utopia, and Project Object. From the stage and when I speak with them after the show, they all share their thoughts on Frank, and they are effusive with their praise and admiration. They will also admit that he was a task master, and tough on his musicians. And would not tolerate drug use among his musicians.
But overall they love and respect him. I've yet to read or see any former bandmates slag him or hate him. If you have, please share.
I never said anything about any former band mates one way or another. I see you want to heap high praise on Zappa, and that's fine if that's the way you feel but now this is getting out into the weeds.
Huh?
You asked "How many musicians have you known that play for a living, and what were their thoughts on Zappa??"
Similar threads
