Zappa.com

Does anybody know of a link or have a quote from Frank Zappa in regards to his thoughts about Jazz from Hell winning a Grammy Award?

It seems that years ago, I read something along the lines where Frank Zappa mentioned some form of dislike in regards to Grammy awards.

One week before the telecast, he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "My nomination must have been an accident. Either that or a lot of people have a perverse sense of humour. I'm convinced that nobody ever heard [it]. I have no ambiguous feelings about the Grammys at all. I know they're fake. I find it difficult to believe that Whitney Houston is the answer to all of America's music needs."

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

I know Dweezil is only trying to shine some light on his Dad's legacy but it feels a little strange to see him win a Grammy a couple years ago for Peaches and get nominated again this year for what are basically note-for-note cover versions of recordings that are 30-40 years old. The Grammy's have never been more fake. No disrespect to Dweezil or Frank but if that's the best they can do what does that say about the state of music today. Better late than never I guess.

There's more than one way of looking at this. Stravinsky was a 20th composer who wasn't also a production genius and relied, like most composers, on understanding conductors in charge of competent orchestras to play his compositions accurately and with eyebrows. Zappa himself was very happy when he teamed up with the Ensemble Modern and Peter Rundel. I hardly think Dweezil is doing his dad a disservice by playing his music accurately and providing something that otherwise wouldn't exist.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

I agree. Dweezil's doing a great job. I've seen ZPZ seven times and looking forward to number eight. All I'm saying is that the Grammy's are a joke. If you go in with the idea that they are recognizing the best of the past year you are usually going to be dissapointed. Awards shows are just marketing tools for the industry. They want to generate more business and the best way to do that is to increase the sales of the Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber records by 10%. The ancillary awards are not really important to them. That's why they don't get on TV. At the end of the day I guess I'd rather have Dweezil and Frank's music getting some recognition rather than not, but the Grammy's still suck.

Personally I say any recognition is better than none and better late than never...I say the glass is half full!

Yeah. You're right Plook. But, you have to understand I've been bashing the Grammy's for the last 30+ years and it's a hard habit to break. Remember Milli Vanilli?

You can blame it on Plook, or you can blame it on yourself. But mainly, you can "Blame it on the rain that's was fallin', fallin', blame it on the stars that shined at night!"

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

Oh Cal your sooo proffessional...and quite the word smith...

That is song lyrics from the fantastically great Milli Vanilli.

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

Just don't blame Canada!

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Stay with me flagrantly and we'll have ecstasy for all eternity.

Speaking of Canada, didn't Neil Young finally win a Grammy Sunday night? Another fine, young, up-and-comer. These Grammy folks are really on top of things.

Thank you. I was trying to separate out what Dweezil is doing from what industry awards represent. Although I think he has a tendency to lap that shit up in a way his father never could.

Totally agree. I can't watch, they're deplorable, along with all the others. No matter how genuine they appear to be, there's always a significant percentage of industry bullshit involved.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

I think I liked the Lady and the Egg.

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And now in the corner to my right the man whom need no introduction

FZ came on the radio, BBC Radio 1 here in England. He was being interviewed by Nicky Campbell in 9o or 91. FZ mentioned a book about Payola about how things which this thread speak of stink. He may have referred to Pink Floyd not wishing to bother about payola when they released their Another Brick '45 in 1979 as the band were confident of their status amongst the record buying public. Not so it seems, as the single was about to stiff, so 'something' was done about it. The upshot is that one of the characters involved in payola was presented an award by the Industry as 'most fabulous humanitarian of the year'.
FZ had not made public that he had cancer, but I knew of the rumour (from a german guy called Harry Ottum) and I know Campbell knew, but he still had to quite disrespectfully bring up the topic of cancer when he referred to Tomas Nordegg expression serious as cancer. FZ batted it away 'yea..Ooh yea - serious as cancer' It kind of confirmed to me that Campbell was (and still is) a shit.

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A Blanket in my Muesli. A Blanket in my what??

He's a CEO for Chrissakes!

Great story Diplo...these are the stories the forum was ment for and the memorabilia, the horsing around I like also...interaction with like minded individuals and all that, but things like you recall here, that is the true reason we show up here...IMHO

I think you're both referring to this book...



I actually just finished reading it for a third time last week. And I can tell you that how you described the payola situation of the early 80s above, isn't exactly the correct nor full story. But if you're interested in the music business side of things, it's probably the most compelling read one could ever hope to come across. I highly recommend it.

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