Does thinking Frank Zappa sucks mean that I'm uptight?

It means that the music is obviously above you and you should just keep listening to Nirvana, PJ, and Alice In Chains cause it's probably more on your level.

horrible stuff. ill go back to listening to alice mud garden now.

Zappa's greatest hits album isn't very comprehensive. It focuses on his most commercial and humorous stuff, which I find to be mostly stupid and unfunny. That's only a small aspect of his work though. You're talking about a guy who put out 73 albums, and a 12-track greatest hits album put out by his record company against his wishes just isn't gonna cut it. I personally listen mostly to his instrumental material and stuff from 72-75 (his "jazz-funk" period). His concerts are very fun if you're familiar with his catalog. Some tours he did the same setlist every night, others he totally mixed it up like Pearl Jam. It depended on the scope and skill of his band at the time. Any live material with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums is a must hear, such as "Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar", an album of live guitar solos. Grateful Dead and Phish fans should listen to that album if they want to hear some REAL jamming.

The only time Zappa didn't write intentionally dumb lyrics was when he was doing sociatal satire, and even then he dumbed it up. The beauty of Zappa isn't in the lyrics, it's in the music. Check out the album Hot Rats.

dunkman wrote:

uptight? no it doesnt mean that... it does mean you have full function of your hearing though.

Zappa is Crappa.

Oh really, genius? Which of his 74 albums have you heard? (My guess is none.)

Zappa, by his own design, has a pretty limited audience. Granted, there are a multitude of styles represented in his catalogue, but his "Greatest Hits" do indeed play like a less-funny Weird Al with a pretentious spirit. But, if you go beyond that, you will find a razor-sharp satirist (Trouble Every Day, Flakes, the entire "Only In It For The Money", etc.), a first-rate guitarist (Black Napkins, Willie the Pimp, Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar, etc.), a well-respected jazz musician (Hot Rats, The Grand Wazoo, Waka/Jawaka), a talented composer, a terrific band leader, etc. Zappa was a genius - and a very involved voice politically (I can only dream about what his output would have been during the Bush years).

There are several reasons why Zappa has a limited audience, despite his talent.

1) He was heavily influenced by Edward Varese, who was willfully obtuse and harsh.

2) He was influenced by Doo Wop music, as well as jazz, which when combined with his Varese influence, produced some really bizarre music.

3) He recorded and released almost every musical impulse he ever had, including dumb toilet humor.

4) That dumb toilet humor (with pretty awesome music supporting it) was the most accesible aspect of Zappa's music and appeals to a large portion of the general public, so "Yellow Snow" becomes the most well-known song and does damage to Zappa's reputation to some extent. If only Inca Roads had become the most popular...

I would suggest listening to Hot Rats or One Size Fits All as a way of getting into Zappa's more "serious" stuff...

I've only got the Greatest Hits and it blows my mind. The instrumental concepts are incredible. It's also quite funny.

Some of his instrumental stuff, particularly his early stuff, is interesting from a compositional point-of-view although I'd much rather just listen to Varese and the jazz that Zappa was influenced by.

His poppy "funny" songs are best avoided like the plague.

And I've heard around 25-30 albums so is my opinion valid?

I am always torn on Zappa. I "get" him and his whole shtick. I've heard a ton of his material through friends. I own "Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar", and I listen to it occasionally. There's some interesting stuff on there and some cool jams, and the man is certainly a monster on guitar and a compositional master. I find it gets old after a couple of songs though. Unconventional compositions and song structures does not always translate to good music. And I really cannot stand 95% of his lyrical music. The whole "out there and goofy for the sake of bucking convention" gets old. It's like, we get it, you're "weird". He's not a novelty act (a la Weird Al) but he tries treading that line between goofy and artistic and rugged individualist and it just becomes tiresome. Much like some other bands, I "get" him but I don't dig him a whole lot. I do, however, respect the hell out of his "I do it my way" attitude. Yeah, his antics get old, but the man bowed to no-one. That I commend.

That being said, Trey Anastasio owes a lot of his sound and approach to Zappa, and I love Phish. Go figure. Phish just makes good music. And their jams take me places Zappa never can.

Another thing about Zappa is that a surprisingly small amount of video exists from his concerts. It also doesn't help that in two of the most common Zappa videos (Halloween 81 and Jones Beach 84), he and his band look totally gay, which wasn't usually the case.