ADORNO & JAZZ: REFERENCES (3) -- FRANK ZAPPA

[Ralph Dumain <rdumain@xxxxxxx>]

(1) TELOS, no. 87, Spring 1991; special section on Musicology: Popular
Music from Adorno to Zappa.

(2) Volpacchio, Florindo.  "The Mother of All Interviews: Zappa on Music
and Society", TELOS, no. 87, Spring 1991, pp. 124-146.

This interview with Frank Zappa is part of a special section on
"Musicology: Popular Music from Adorno to Zappa."  Zappa discusses Webern,
Adorno, Shoenberg, rock, the music industry, etc.  He makes a number of
interesting comments on the topics I mentioned, though none with any real
depth.  I imagine you would do better placing his remarks into the context
of what you probably know about Zappa's take on music from other sources.
He likes Schoenberg, makes some remarks on Adorno's compositions, OK but
not new, demythologizes rock as a rebellious art form, et al.

(3) Watson, Ben.  FRANK ZAPPA: THE NEGATIVE
DIALECTICS OF POODLE PLAY.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.

(a) As much bullshit as there appears to be in Ben Watson's punk-inspired
tome, the sheer amount of information he supplies on a number of matters,
including of course Zappa's music, is bound to be instructive.  However,
not having listened to Zappa, I don't see a point in reading beyond the
intro before listening to Zappa's stuff.  The last I heard of Zappa was 200
MOTELS.  There is a good possibility that my first introduction to Zappa
was WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH thanks to my composer friend.  For purely
intellectual reasons apart from the music itself I am reminded that Zappa
appears to be a pivotal, world-historical cultural figure.  Hence I am
convinced I will need to listen to his music, which I ignored for years due
to my having outgrown his attitude.  Maybe you can help me out here.

(b)  I myself despise punk, and Watson, who is a British Trotskyist (SWP)
that came out of the punk subculture, comes off like a punk cultist
jerk-off, but a 600-page book is likely to have some useful information in
it.  As for Zappa, I haven't heard any of his stuff for over 25 years, and
that was when the film 200 MOTELS came out.  And before that, the only
album I ever heard of his was WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH, way back in high
school.  Given that Zappa had one foot in pop, one in the serious
avant-garde, I'm becoming really curious about him.  As for negative
dialectics, I cringingly await the commentary of others.