For the past month, I have found an inspiration. This inspiration is a man who was known as Frank Zappa. He was born in 1940 and died in 1993, of prostate cancer. This inspiration of mine created music for most of his life, music that could go around on any subject, dissing politicians and the government, lusting over Jewish princesses, not being able to dance well, muffins, ripping people that don’t act the way they really are, and flat out making music on whatever was in his brilliant mind. This was a man who did what he thought was right and flat out had fun with it! For expressing himself through such great and creative music, I admire this man and have the upmost respect for him and his art.
One thing I absolutely adore, love, respect, and just flat out, please let me say it again, LOVE in a person is a great sense of humor, hinted with a mix of sarcasm, and the mindset of “Hey, I’m gonna tell you what’s on my mind. Don’t like it? Tough shit, buddy.” type of attitude. I’ve known very few people who are really like that, or at least to the extent to satisfy my needs (o wat an analogy~) in that way. Those people are dear to my heart to say the least. Well, Frank Zappa is just like that, so I’ve got the upmost respect and love for the guy.
He stands up for himself in what he believes in. He was very opinionated and stood up for his thoughts and backed it up in the way he acted and responded to anyone who disagreed. Yet, he seemed like quite the gentlemen despite all the wackiness and rebellious attitude to him, again, a few more things I really respect. He stands up for what he believes in and doesn’t let up in his ways of expressing himself like that, but he’s not a complete asshole about it either. That’s awesome.
His lyrics are pretty fucking great too. Frank was a man who was extremely devoted to his music, and for a long very time, all the way until he just couldn’t be due to his cancer. He was known for being a workaholic with his music and it reflects with his music in the end, he brought together multiple musicians in his musical acts, the basic rock instruments and some more, and he mixed it all into his own style. It’s his style. It’s like Rock, Blues, mixed in with so much more, just something that you can’t describe in words. It’s Frank Zappa’s style, whatever you want to call it. It’s something truly amazing to me.
Obviously, as you can tell that I’ve repeated a couple times, I’m inspired by the guy. So, naturally, I’ve studied about him, have tried to listen to as many songs from him as possible, have read his autobiography (Thank God he did one! So many others never did…), have done covers of his songs for the laughs and fun of it, have watched his interviews and movies, studied about his bands, kids, family, etc etc. I must sound like a fucking stalker or something but it’s true. I’ve been deeply fascinated by this musical genius.
I’m really at the point to where he’s about the only thing I listen to. Not long ago, before I started listening to Zappa, you could ask me, “Hey Hux, who’s your favorite musician/band?” I would have probably answered The Doors for band but you would see me pondering over the favorite musician part. There were musicians that wrote great music (Bob Dylan), ones that could play the guitar outstandingly (Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Steve Lukather, others), but there wasn’t really anybody who could play a guitar really well, write songs that are both great and funny, and have the ability to just be completely awesome and make others laugh. Now, Frank Zappa has appeared and folks, I say proudly that Frank Zappa is my favorite musician. No fucking doubt. Nobody comes close. It took me a long time to find a favorite musician and be completely sure that he or she was the one, but Zappa definitely is the one.
He has songs where he’ll do guitar solos that leave me in awe, he’ll have songs with his bands that are so fucking hysterical and catchy, and he’ll have his songs that are just so what the fuckish, that it just blows my mind. The moment I listened to the song He’s Soooooo Gaaaaayyyyy, I was absoulutely fucking hooked. It had me laughing like hell and I must have listened to it 20 something, 30 something, shit, I wouldn’t doubt if it was 50 something fucking times! From then on, I find a few more songs of his, some more of the silly funniness, then some of the really serious music, and boom! I am listening to Frank Zappa and absolutely loving it.
Luckily, he lived longer than a lot of musicians did and was an extreme workaholic. He made many, many, many albums (I’m not even sure how many, 60 at least though), he wrote an autobiography (in a style that I really enjoyed, multiple funny pictures, cool fonts, the works!), and was able to record a ton of music. That’s something I’m really grateful for because so many musicians I liked had so few songs and such out because they died so young. He was a true composer and considered himself one first and foremost when asked about his music and he definitely was one! Mixing up so much with that Zappa style, many great songs and albums were made and Thank God they were! I can listen to his stuff in any mood I’m in because their is so much different stuff that is just timeless. I consider myself lucky that someone like Zappa existed and made so much amazing music.
Did he do drugs? Nope, believe it or not, he wasn’t into drugs or alcohol. He was a clean thinker for his songs and didn’t experiment with anything to help him write songs. He didn’t need it. He was definitely into his cigarettes though, “Tobacco is my favorite vegetable” is a quote he told an interviewer during his dying days.
He’s all over my YouTube as well. I’ve got a playlist of all Zappa related videos that’s closing in on 100 videos. I listen to it pretty often, it’s my background music you could say.
I like his kids too. One more thing I like about Frank is that he gave his kids very unique names, even prior to listening to Frank, I’ve always thought giving offspring crazy, unique, rare names was a great thing to do. Maybe it’s because Justin is soooo damn common? At least, around here it definitely is. Blacks, whites, even Hispanics, I know many Justin’s. Don’t get me wrong, I do like my name but it’s just too common. Anyways, he names his first daughter Moon Unit, I love that name, she actually had a quite successful hit working with her father in a comedy song called Valley Girl, when she was 14 years old. Insane. Definitely a Zappa. His second child and first son is named Dweezil, after his mother’s stubby oddly shaped toe of all things, lmfao, and he’s a very good guitarist himself. He actually does tours called Zappa plays Zappa and he plays great covers of his fathers songs. He actually performed with Frank a few times at a young age and was quite damn good at that too. I hope one day I can see Dweezil perform. Then, there’s his third child and second son, Ahmet Zappa. Ahmet is also a musician and is popular for noting to people that his name rhymes with vomit. He and Dweezil did some performances together that were pretty good and funny, not quite to the extend of what their father did but still good nonetheless. Then, there’s his last child and second daughter, Diva Zappa. He named her that because she was the loudest baby in the hospital. Works. :P
Since I like Zappa for pretty much everything about him, I am trying my best to get anyone I care about to listen to Zappa, hoping they’ll enjoy his stuff. Hell, writing this, I’m hoping to get some people to check out Zappa but I’m sure by now, you’ve probably stopped reading or have skimmed by simply because this post is so long and says things that are way too similar or nearly the same. Well, hey, at least I’m nice enough to paragraph and use somewhat okay grammar. :)
Perhaps the thing I admire most about Frank was simply this; He lived his life the way he wanted to. Or at least, it really seemed that way to me. It seemed like he did what was on his mind, no matter how much heat he took for it, and he just had that beautiful mentality of, “Hey, I’m gonna tell you what’s on my mind. Don’t like it? Tough shit, buddy.” that I love so much. He went out, made extremely unique music that was catchy, funny, innovative, and flat out amazing to me. He acted the way he always did to the very end too, when he knew his life was coming to an end, sarcastic, witty, hilarious, definitely not afraid to express what was on his mind, just look up at what I’ve previously written above, he continued to act that way to the very end. I’ve got nothing but respect, admiration, and love for Zappa. Thanks for all you did, Frank. I’ll see you someday, bro.
How can I put it? I like the guy. Frank Zappa fucking rocks.
