Zappa, Does humor belong in music ???

Intelligent humour is great in lyrics and music. For me Zappa's crude shock humour to make a point about freedom of expression is completly wasted on me. And for that reason I could never take his music seriously. The way I look at it is if he didn't respect his music enough to play it with class and write lyrics which make you think instead of cringing at its crudeness then I'm certainly not going to waste my valuable time trying to enjoy what talent may be hidden. I'll go and listen to someone who takes a little more pride in their work.

Empathy wrote: So, I assume you boycott Mozart's work as well, for similar reasons?

I must have missed his 'Concerto for full bladder orchestra on Why does it hurt when I pee'.

Yeah, I heard the orchestra were afraid they might blow it.
     

Dr. Occulator wrote: Intelligent humour is great in lyrics and music. For me Zappa's crude shock humour to make a point about freedom of expression is completly wasted on me. And for that reason I could never take his music seriously. The way I look at it is if he didn't respect his music enough to play it with class and write lyrics which make you think instead of cringing at its crudeness then I'm certainly not going to waste my valuable time trying to enjoy what talent may be hidden. I'll go and listen to someone who takes a little more pride in their work.

Then I guess he wasn't writing it for you.

Oh well, to each his own.

Dr. Occulator wrote: Intelligent humour is great in lyrics and music. For me Zappa's crude shock humour to make a point about freedom of expression is completly wasted on me. And for that reason I could never take his music seriously. The way I look at it is if he didn't respect his music enough to play it with class and write lyrics which make you think instead of cringing at its crudeness then I'm certainly not going to waste my valuable time trying to enjoy what talent may be hidden. I'll go and listen to someone who takes a little more pride in their work.

He respected his music enough to a) make it decades more advanced and progressive than 99% of PA and b) to spend countless hours learning to play it and making sure it's played by the best of the best. Any of the musicians he played with would die laughing hearing your claim.  

No.

I don't like Zappa that much either, but of all the people on PA he is probably the only one who was a true composer, in the Bach/Beethoven/Schonberg sense of the word.

Yeah, he was prolific, but I think the quality of much of his work suffered for it.
(probably why his song titles are often silly; he didn't regard it as quality, just recording a
stream of musical consciousness). Maybe he felt he had to record every musical thought
that came out of his head. Most great artists do use some form of internal quality control.

If humour weren't allowed in music there'd be no Focus!!!

Hamburger Concerto is in my Top 10 at the mo - Harem Scarem has me laughing every time I play it!  So many music jokes, and Van Leer's brilliant vocals!

If prog took itself seriously all the time, it would get boring... well maybe...

stonebeard wrote: Doo-Wop Zappa =

Oh c'mon there's only one real Zappa Doo-Wop album (and it isn't even bad Doo-Wop) is his entire catalogue of 70+ records.

Cygnus X-2 wrote: stonebeard wrote: Doo-Wop Zappa = Oh c'mon there's only one real Zappa Doo-Wop album (and it isn't even bad Doo-Wop) is his entire catalogue of 70+ records.

Not for moi. There are a lot of little songs that are just crappy because of the doo-wop. A lot on URWhatUIZ () and Sheik Yerbouti is nonsense because of that, and that's only 2 albums.

Also:

Jazz from Hell =