Frank Zappa the most popular PA artist?

I guess Zappa's mentioned so often here because he's always been so influential musically and almost acts as a kind of reference point for comparative statements.

I'm going to take advantage of this topic instead of starting a new one.  I've never really listened to Zappa outside of a few songs.  Any reccomendations?  I know he has quite the long list of albums, so if it's of any relevance, my favorite kind of music is more psychedelic stuff.

Probably FZ is so so popular in PA, he is often cited as one of the most influencial player and composer, but i think that most of the people cited him without hearing his music much, and that's because nobody (including me) comments his works in an very extensive manner.

himtroy wrote: I'm going to take advantage of this topic instead of starting a new one.  I've never really listened to Zappa outside of a few songs.  Any reccomendations?  I know he has quite the long list of albums, so if it's of any relevance, my favorite kind of music is more psychedelic stuff.

Edited by el dingo - January 27 2009 at 02:17

Henry Plainview wrote: Logan wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: Yorkie X wrote: I don't get the prog experience I`m looking for from Zappa , what Zappa plays is good for what it is , I call it "Rock in opposition"  but its not prog.   Time we stopped kidding ourselves and I think Zappa would agree with what I`m saying.   But maybe the prog experience you are looking for is not the prog experience others are looking for. I prefer to reserve the Rock in Opposition description for bands of the movement, and those that were influenced by it.  I don't think of Zappa that way -- too commercially oriented, I'd think, too. I agree with that as well, but it was tangential to the point I was making. ;-)

I know.  My response was specifically to Yorkie, but I wished to acknowledge/ repost your response to the same quote even though you were making a different point. :)

Roxy and Elswhere is a good one to start with too

or One Size Fits All

or Joe's Garage,

or a good majority of his albums are good to start, depending on what you're into, musically, and how open your mind is IMO

Personaly, I think Hot Rats have two of the best songs ever made. But from what other albums ive heard by him. I havnt been too impressed. Not that they were bad. Just nothing that fit my tastes.

HughesJB4 wrote: Logan wrote: Incidentally, I just started checking various artist names (listed in the PA band/artist pages) official sites at myspace to see how many "friends" are listed: Frank Zappa has 92819 friends. Peter Gabriel has 39137 friends. Miles Davis has 23125 friends. You gotta remember the vast majority of myspace users are scene kids, and because Zappa is the most trendy of out of him, David and Gabriel, of course Zappa will have more friends on myspace due to scene kids boosting his friend count. As the scene kids say "ZAPPA IZ TEH TRENDYZ". And sometimes they do this too after the sentence: ^_^. *Sorry Henry:P*

Are you kidding!!!! Zappa is trendier than peter gabriel.....lets not forget that genesis is probably the biggest sellouts in music history and have become more trendy and popular than Frank Zappa could ever be.  Frank Zappa was a force that battled conformity throughout his career, and the last word I would use to describe him would be trendy.  I agree with the previous posts that mention the range of Franks discography. He has made pure classical, pure jazz, chamber music, jingles, movie soundtracks, electronic music, syphonic rock, pure rock, satire, spoken word and the list goes on.  That man is the most influencial artist of the last 40-50 years.  As for THE BIG 5 (or six because I believe that gentle giant was AMAZING) Frank Zappa has released over 40 albums of original material, and over 100 total, name me one of those3 six that has come close to that feat and covered the range of different styles that Uncle Frank did.  That is why I believe his music is discussed so much, because it covers almost every genre so everyone can relate to one song or another.  Anyway, I just think you should rethink your wording when describing Frank: not trendy....how about transcendant, non-conformist, antiestablishmentarian, or maybe genious....but for the love of god not trendy!!!!!

jammun wrote:   So maybe FZ is experiencing a bit of a renaissance...

I think youre right!  The situation right now (war) looks alot like it did in the sixties when zappa started.  Youth is once again looking for a voice to tell them that trendy and popular is not always cool.  Frank portrays that message with the satirical non conformist way of writing music and lyrics.  In addition the internet allows todays youth to find material that was simply not available to me when i started listening to Frank Zappa (the 90's).  I had to scour every record store in my province to find a copy of uncle meat, now I could download the entire collection in a day with a torrent.

PS did you ever see him live....if so I am very jealous!!

Billy the Mountain wrote: HughesJB4 wrote: Logan wrote: Incidentally, I just started checking various artist names (listed in the PA band/artist pages) official sites at myspace to see how many "friends" are listed: Frank Zappa has 92819 friends. Peter Gabriel has 39137 friends. Miles Davis has 23125 friends. You gotta remember the vast majority of myspace users are scene kids, and because Zappa is the most trendy of out of him, David and Gabriel, of course Zappa will have more friends on myspace due to scene kids boosting his friend count. As the scene kids say "ZAPPA IZ TEH TRENDYZ". And sometimes they do this too after the sentence: ^_^. *Sorry Henry:P* Are you kidding!!!! Zappa is trendier than peter gabriel.....lets not forget that genesis is probably the biggest sellouts in music history and have become more trendy and popular than Frank Zappa could ever be.  Frank Zappa was a force that battled conformity throughout his career, and the last word I would use to describe him would be trendy.  I agree with the previous posts that mention the range of Franks discography. He has made pure classical, pure jazz, chamber music, jingles, movie soundtracks, electronic music, syphonic rock, pure rock, satire, spoken word and the list goes on.  That man is the most influencial artist of the last 40-50 years.  As for THE BIG 5 (or six because I believe that gentle giant was AMAZING) Frank Zappa has released over 40 albums of original material, and over 100 total, name me one of those3 six that has come close to that feat and covered the range of different styles that Uncle Frank did.  That is why I believe his music is discussed so much, because it covers almost every genre so everyone can relate to one song or another.  Anyway, I just think you should rethink your wording when describing Frank: not trendy....how about transcendant, non-conformist, antiestablishmentarian, or maybe genious....but for the love of god not trendy!!!!!

You are misinterpreting what he said, and trendy does not equal popular. Collins Genesis is as far away from trendy as popular music can get.

Edited by Henry Plainview - March 17 2009 at 02:29