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Frank Zappa was born in 1940, the son of an arsenal worker who made poison gas during World War 2, and began his interest in music during his high school years. ... During the 60’s, Zappa joined a pub band called the Soul Giants as a stand in guitarist, before transforming them into the now infamous Mothers of Invention. Zappa once claimed that he never had any intention of writing rock music, instead he wanted to compose more serious music for concert audiences. ...
Zappa is still widely considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, and anyone who has ever paid attention his music is likely to be able to see why. ... Frank Zappa was brimming over with musical talent and released over sixty albums throughout his career, but it is not simply his musical melodies, harmonies and rhythms that capture the imagination of his fans but also the intelligent, sarcastic and often downright rude content of his lyrics. Zappa relished baffling the music critics and goading censorship organisations and the easily offended, dim-witted public. Zappa once even turned down a Grammy claiming that “Grammys are fake”. Zappa’s music could never really be said to fulfil a practicable aim, he tended to record music not because he saw the value of it, but because he saw the usefulness of it, that it would perhaps make people think, or that it could open up their eyes. ... Zappa also had a serious side too, which is less easily accessible than the comic, satirical side of his works. In this essay I hope to demonstrate the two opposite sides of Frank Zappa, and the clever use of irony that was his trademark.
The logical place to start when considering this issue is Zappa’s debut album with the Mothers of Invention: Freak Out. ... Virtually all the lyrics on the album are parodies of one musical style or another and through the song “Go Cry on Somebody Else’s Shoulder” Zappa takes a huge swipe at pop music in general. ... ”
From only this verse already it is easy enough to see the blatant use of sarcasm that Zappa loved to use. Zappa used humour as a weapon against things that he didn’t like or agree with, and as we can see from this song he is aiming his wit this time at pop love songs, wondering why his darling doesn’t “dig” him despite his financial input on his image and appearance. Yet even in this humorous piece there seems to be a more serious comment just under the surface.
Approximate Word count = 2102
Approximate Pages = 8.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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