Zappa.com

None of my friends/familymembers/collegues understand why i like and bother listening to Zappa.<br>For the last couple of years i explained and talked about Zappa, his (approach to) music, his life, his work, his views and thoughts on (American) culture and society and what else....<br>I have played many, many hours worth of Zappa material (official material and bootlegs), but they just don't get it.<br>They think it's (here we go again...) weird, hard to tap your feets to, it doesn't have a decent melodie, the lyrics are either stupid or sexistic and his music isn't in 4/4......<br>I'm about to give up on their musical skills and views, they will probably never get it.<br>I hope they will enjoy their Dire Straits albums untill the end of time...because it seems as if Zappa will 4-ever remain a misunderstood talent and will only be appreciated by a small but loyal group of TRUE music lovers.....And that's a shame, because i believe that despite all the ''difficult'' music and ''stupid'' lyrics Frank had many, many important messages and things to say to whoever who was willing...<br><br>I guess my question would be: do YOUR friends understand your Zappa-appreciation???

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Alan Thicke: ''Now Frank, for those of us who have seen you as some kind of guru over the years, that's a kind of nihilistic assesment of music. Where's the hope ?''
Frank Zappa: ''Well, there isn't any...''

Very few of my friends understand my liking of FZ. One of them likes part of FZ catalog. He won't dig the Yellow Shark or Civilization Phase 3. But he will talk wonders about The best band you never heard. If you dig the whole thing, you're part of the few. I do indulge myself in listening to all but it all depends on what mood I'm in. ;D

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No doubt, we're doomed !

I`ve made similar experience like you guys.<br>If  I wanted to haunt my mother, I played Zappa. If I wanted to be different than my friends I put on Zappa on my walkman in school while they listened to Level 42 or Moadonna thinking it was a revelation. I´ve got some freinds today who like some of the material. But most of them just "accept" him as an original artist, but want to be left alone, saying "yes, Zliq. It`s alright, he`s got his place in history of music, BUT..." I stopped being a missioner to them. All I do once in a while is sort of smuggle a Zappa song on a sampler for a party or a long trip in a car. Sometime somebody asks: what`s that? If they realize it`s FZ they go WOW! because they didn`t expect him being that heavy/that slight/that jazzy/that straight/...<br>I make musik myself for 15 years now and I played in many different bands. Once in a cover band by the end of the eighties, we played Bobby Brown, Any Kind Of Pain, The Cocksucker`s Ball and - Promiscuous. We had our loughs, but the audience didn`t know the stuff (exept for Bobby Brown, which was appreciated cause it was a hit in Europe) and waited for U2 and Police. <br>Frank influenced me a lot. Usually it was the guitarists who like his rock-oriented material. I mean, a guitarist MUST love Zoot Allures, Watermelon and Baltimore I guess. But, even they can`t stand SUNPYG or Guitar - it`s not songs to them. I don`t know HOW they think and FEEL music... (funny enough it was always my fellow bass players that hated Zappa! The Drummers were in between...). My best musical mate is a multi-instumentalist and producer in Berlin. He loves it. Because it`s diffefrent, is an advernture to listen to, it varies a lot and: it`s so funny!  <br>My usual friends - especially the girls - say basically two things:<br>1. it`s ugly, sexistic, too abstract and mostly harmful to the ears<br>2. some of it is okay, but the tunes which SOUND okay are stylistically better done by other artists. So Frankie go home! <br><br>It`s sad and somehow...  but WE ARE NOT ALONE!

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Good Lobna!

Well, I guess I must be lucky: my two best friends are Zappa fans. Not on the same level as me, since they don't collect each and every FZ-release but they definitely like some of his music (mostly the rock and fusion-type stuff like Hot Rats or Over-Nite Sensation) and have some of his albums in their own collection. And they're fairly young, in their early or mid-twenties, just like me. They are both musicians, and I think a lot of musicians at least appreciate the high level of musicianship on FZ's records, even if they're not really into the music. <br><br>My parents aren't really into Zappa's music (my mother thought 'Aybe Sea' from BWS sounded like 'Chinese Music') , but I made a compilation tape with some more accessible FZ music (stuff like 'Blessed Relief') and we used to play that tape a lot in the family car. "Is that Frank Zappa? I thought he only made songs about yellow snow"...

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"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air. You can never capture it again." -- Eric Dolphy

http://www.frappr.com/frankzappaforum - FZ Forum World Map

People like us who appreciate Frank's music are, and always will be in the minority. I am not going to say Frank's Music is better than mainstream, it is to me but so what. If the music is good to you then is good if it sucks it sucks. Period. We who loathe the mainstream, who feel their brains dripping out of our ears every time popular music is played are no better than those who enjoy it, just different. BUT!!!!!! I do find it curious that a vast number of us who love Frank's work are in fact musicians ourselves.

<br>[quote author=Man_from_Utopia link=board=legends&num=1031761957&start=0#8 date=09/16/02 at 18:06:15]<br>I am the new guy around here. I have been listening to Zappa for close to 15 years. Yes, I am the only one I know that listens to Zappa. And, I am sure, some of my family members/coworkers probably think I am fanatical. I probably am. People who glance through my CD collection usually always comment on the "Zappa Section", which takes up quite a bit. I am glad I found this Message Board. I haven't been to Zappa.com in some time. I bought Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" today, and thought I should check out the Zappa site. Glad I did. Thank you. ;D<br>[/quote]<br>Welcome to Z forum, Man from Utopia!  Lots of cool posts here.  Just don't confuse cool w/ drool cuz drool is cool.  I gotta buy Trout Mask Replica, never heard it before, but I love Beefheart.  There's a cool BeefheartSite (radar tower?)that has his artwork, discography, and lyrics!  My favorite Beefy CD is Ice Cream For Crow.<br><br>Thank the Creator that my old lady like FZ too but every time I put on Sleep Dirt and Ms Harris starts a wailing, she wants to kill me.  I crank it!<br><br>Gonna go check out the cardboard cutout sunset while I practice my ink mathematics.  Have fun.

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Free at last, free at last, great googleymoogley I am free at last!!!

[quote author=Studebaker link=board=legends;num=1031761957;start=0#3 date=09/12/02 at 06:08:30]..... "Is that Frank Zappa? I thought he only made songs about yellow snow"...[/quote]<br><br>i get a lot of that, but it's from the same people who don't get bukowski, roland kirk, bom shiva, etc... that's ok....<br><br><br>

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My mom likes Zappa to some degree and my dad and sister hate his music. Whenever I met people and said that I like Zappa they all say "Ahhh, Bobby Brown, that's a good song" and that's annoying. So I put on some crazy shit from The Lost Episodes....

None of my friends even know Zappa, let alone appreciate his music. And my girlfriend has no musical taste whatsoever, and so is not a fan. But I kinda like the fact that there aren't that many of us that 'get it' as it were. Yeah, it would be nice for F.Z. to get the credit and respect he so deserves but it didn't happen when he was alive so it sure as hell won't happen now.<br>It is an arrogant thing to say but I do believe that Zappa fans have a greater understanding and moreover a greater appreciation of music than most. But I only say that because I fail to understand how anyone could not like Zappa. Here's a quote from Chris Cornell about the Beatles that really sums up how I feel about Zappa and good music in general:- "I think most of the records that changed my life I stole...the entire Beatles catalogue I think I stole...The whole later Beatles period did that. It changed my opinion about music and changed me from a casual music fan into someone who couldn't wait to come home and sit in a room by myself and listen to all these records."<br> And I think that is the difference. I think that most of us here would be the type to just sit in a room and listen to and really appreciate our choice of music, be it Zappa or anything else. Whereas those that are into more main stream stuff would be less inclined to do the same.