20 Questions: Frank And Moon Unit Zappa - Revision history

Spider of Destiny at 21:50, 23 July 2026

2026-07-23T21:50:59Z

Spider of Destiny at 21:33, 6 June 2026

2026-06-06T21:33:32Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 15:12, 21 October 2021

2021-10-21T15:12:07Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 18:45, 6 October 2021

2021-10-06T18:45:24Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 15:06, 10 September 2021

2021-09-10T15:06:18Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 04:04, 25 July 2021

2021-07-25T04:04:17Z

Spider of Destiny at 02:03, 27 October 2020

2020-10-27T02:03:11Z

Spider of Destiny at 02:01, 27 October 2020

2020-10-27T02:01:57Z

Spider of Destiny at 13:06, 20 September 2011

2011-09-20T13:06:53Z

Propellerkuh at 20:48, 25 December 2007

2007-12-25T20:48:11Z

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 '''Would you get dressed up in a suit and tie – or even a tuxedo – if the occasion called for it?<br>
-Well, I have many suits and ties. I mean, I've been to court before. I've got all the costumes necessary to deal with the world. I even own a tuxedo, but I very seldom wear it. I've got a suit by Giorgio Armani and another one by Yves Saint Laurent and another one by some Italian whose name I can't remember. I've always had suits. As a matter of fact, one time, I went to the Grammy Awards in this beautiful blue suit and no shirt. Try it some time. Got a suit? Wear it without a shirt. It looks great, especially if you've got a tan. You got to do your neck, though. Hold a cigarette lighter up there.
+Well, I have many suits and ties. I mean, I've been to court before. I've got all the costumes necessary to deal with the world. I even own a tuxedo, but I very seldom wear it. I've got a suit by Giorgio Armani and another one by Yves Saint Laurent and another one by some Italian whose name I can't remember. I've always had suits. As a matter of fact, one time, I went to the [[Grammy Awards]] in this beautiful blue suit and no shirt. Try it some time. Got a suit? Wear it without a shirt. It looks great, especially if you've got a tan. You got to do your neck, though. Hold a cigarette lighter up there.
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← Older revision		Revision as of 21:33, 6 June 2026
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	[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]		[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]
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 Usually, there are resident groupies who come with the halls no matter who is playing. They're part of the furniture. I'm glad they're there, because that's who fucks the crew and the other guys in the band. I'm not interested in those girls, but I'm all in favor of it tor the others. When you go on the road, the more girls who get pooched, the happier the whole tour is. That's the key to a happy tour. The band and the crew that don't get laid when they go out tliere are the meanest, grouchiest, most unpleasant bunch of people to hang out with. "Go out and get pooched," I tell them. But I'm not interested in the girls who come to the hall for that purpose. I don't find them amusing. I like women full blown, with credentials. You know – an actual, functioning brain.
-There was one groupie I wrote about on the [[Fillmore East, June 1971|Fillmore]] album who wouldn't tuck the guy unless he sang her his hit single first. That's a true story. It happened to the two guys in the [[The Turtles|Turtles]] who were in the band with me at the time. She wanted them to sing [[Happy Together]]. And they did; you know, because why not?
+There was one groupie I wrote about on the [[Fillmore East, June 1971|Fillmore]] album who wouldn't tuck the guy unless he sang her his hit single first. That's a true story. It happened to the two guys in the [[Flo & Eddie|Turtles]] who were in the band with me at the time. She wanted them to sing [[Happy Together]]. And they did; you know, because why not?
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 '''Let's clear one thing up: There have been reports that you have a panty fetish and have encouraged women in your audiences to take theirs off and throw them up to you onstage. Well?<br>
-A few years ago, in Philadelphia, a girl approached the stage and pitched up this little pair of blue panties. I knew that the drummer and one of the other guys in the band liked to sniff girls' underpants, so as soon as she pitched them up, I made the drummer get off the stand and come down and sniff them. He did and immediately pretended to gag and faint and rolled all over the stage. The audience loved it. The girl, however, was somewhat chagrined, but I have it on good authority that the panties 'were' semi-lethal. Anyway, I decided that since the people seemed to enjoy that so much, every night, we would invite girls to take their panties off and throw them up to us. But when I looked out at the audience, I realized how many of the girls were wearing pants. To assist them, I came up with helpful ways for them to take their panties off without taking down their Levis. I suggested, it they were wearing bikini panties, that they rip them on the sides and pull them off that way. If they were wearing those big, ugly cotton jobs, I told them to go back to the toilet. We did collect a large quantity of panties – hundreds of them. We gave them to an artist in Colorado named [[Emily James]], and she's making a wall hanging out of them. She'll eventually exhibit it.
+A few years ago, in Philadelphia, a girl approached the stage and pitched up this little pair of blue panties. I knew that the drummer and one of the other guys in the band liked to sniff girls' underpants, so as soon as she pitched them up, I made the drummer get off the stand and come down and sniff them. He did and immediately pretended to gag and faint and rolled all over the stage. The audience loved it. The girl, however, was somewhat chagrined, but I have it on good authority that the panties 'were' semi-lethal. Anyway, I decided that since the people seemed to enjoy that so much, every night, we would invite girls to take their panties off and throw them up to us. But when I looked out at the audience, I realized how many of the girls were wearing pants. To assist them, I came up with helpful ways for them to take their panties off without taking down their Levis. I suggested, it they were wearing bikini panties, that they rip them on the sides and pull them off that way. If they were wearing those big, ugly cotton jobs, I told them to go back to the toilet. We did collect a large quantity of panties – hundreds of them. We gave them to an artist in Colorado named [[Emily Alana James|Emily James]], and she's making a wall hanging out of them. She'll eventually exhibit it.
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 '''Describe the state of rock 'n' roll.<br>
-The state of radio determines the state of rock 'n' roll. A healthy society would not tolerate what's going on the air right now. That broadcasting is in the state it is tells me there are a lot of people out there who ''like'' it, who ''crave'' it – and they're ''fucked.'' It's like ostrich time; stick your head in the sand. People give up, they're afraid of the future. The biggest things that sell are the noncontent records – records that sound OK but say nothing – and all of them sound the same. I'm a pretty good listener, but I find it difficult to tell the difference between [[wikipedia:REO Speedwagon|REO Speedwagon]] and [[wikipdia:Journey|Journey]]. They all blend together because it's planned that way. The radio becomes wallpaper to your lifestyle. Certain types of themes and ideas are repeated over and over again. You turn on the radio to your favorite station that plays those special kinds of noises. And it triggers the same response over and over again. It becomes your life.
+The state of radio determines the state of rock 'n' roll. A healthy society would not tolerate what's going on the air right now. That broadcasting is in the state it is tells me there are a lot of people out there who ''like'' it, who ''crave'' it – and they're ''fucked.'' It's like ostrich time; stick your head in the sand. People give up, they're afraid of the future. The biggest things that sell are the noncontent records – records that sound OK but say nothing – and all of them sound the same. I'm a pretty good listener, but I find it difficult to tell the difference between [[wikipedia:REO Speedwagon|REO Speedwagon]] and [[Wikipedia:Journey|Journey]]. They all blend together because it's planned that way. The radio becomes wallpaper to your lifestyle. Certain types of themes and ideas are repeated over and over again. You turn on the radio to your favorite station that plays those special kinds of noises. And it triggers the same response over and over again. It becomes your life.
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 ''Rock's knight-errant and his valley-girl daughter assess the state of dating, drugs and – gag us with a spoon! – american culture''
-''[[Frank Zappa]]'s 30-odd albums include such rock classics as "[[Lumpy Gravy]]" "[[We're Only In It For The Money]]" "[[Hot Rats]]" "[[Sheik Yerbouti]]" and "[[Burnt Weeny Sandwich]]." Now his daughter [[Moon Zappa|Moon Unit]] has catapulted herself into the rock limelight with the father/ daughter collaboration "[[Valley Girl]]."
+''[[Biography|Frank Zappa]]'s 30-odd albums include such rock classics as "[[Lumpy Gravy]]" "[[We're Only In It For The Money]]" "[[Hot Rats]]" "[[Sheik Yerbouti]]" and "[[Burnt Weeny Sandwich]]." Now his daughter [[Moon Zappa|Moon Unit]] has catapulted herself into the rock limelight with the father/ daughter collaboration "[[Valley Girl]]."
 ''David and Victoria Sheff cornered the father of musical weirdness and his daughter (he has three other children: [[Dweezil Zappa|Dweezil]], [[Ahmet Zappa|Ahmet]] and [[Diva Zappa|Diva]]) in the Zappas' Hollywood Hills home recording studio. The Sheffs' report: "Never second guess a man wearing shocking-purple blousy pants, a gray-silk shirt, pink socks and red tennis shoes with a silver z on them who once composed a piece of music titled '[[Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?]]' And Moon seems like a very nice person, too."''

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 '''Some people are surprised that you've written for and worked with several of the world's best' symphonies. Where do classical music and rock 'n' roll meet?<br>
-I don't think that classical in the ordinary sense has anything to do with rock 'n' roll. When I write music tor orchestra, if it ever gets played, it will be consumed by a rock-'n'-roll audience, not by the same people who go to see [[wikipedia:Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s ''Fifth.'' Most music in the United States is consumed only because of its fashionable function in relation to a given person's lifestyle. If you're a very modernistic kind of person with modern hair and so forth, you will not go and hear country-and-western music, even if you like it. There are cultural boxes that people put themselves into, and they stay there. For people who have a hard time figuring out the way the world works, I, guess it helps.
+I don't think that classical in the ordinary sense has anything to do with rock 'n' roll. When I write music tor orchestra, if it ever gets played, it will be consumed by a rock-'n'-roll audience, not by the same people who go to see [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s ''Fifth.'' Most music in the United States is consumed only because of its fashionable function in relation to a given person's lifestyle. If you're a very modernistic kind of person with modern hair and so forth, you will not go and hear country-and-western music, even if you like it. There are cultural boxes that people put themselves into, and they stay there. For people who have a hard time figuring out the way the world works, I, guess it helps.
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 '''Are you an exception, comfortable at a rock show and at an L.A. Philharmonic concert?<br>
-The fact is, I do neither. I don't go to see the L.A. Philharmonic, because I don't think it's very good and its repertoire doesn't entice me out of the house. I don't go to rock shows, because I'm not interested in what's being played at rock shows. I would buy a ticket to see the Chicago Symphony play ''Arcana,'' by [[Edgard Varèse]], for instance. But that ain't gonna happen, so I'm staying home. Boulez is my favorite conductor. A lot of people think he's too cerebral. A lot of conductors like to look good while conducting, and they wave their arms around a lot – a series of useless gestures that don't tell the musicians where the beat is. And if the beat isn't clear, the musicians don't play the notes all at the same time, the way they ought to, so the chords don't stack up right. With some music, such as slovenly romantic sleaze, it's no big deal, but I like a more rhythmic approach, and [[Pierre Boulez|Boulez]] has always been careful about that.
+The fact is, I do neither. I don't go to see the L.A. Philharmonic, because I don't think it's very good and its repertoire doesn't entice me out of the house. I don't go to rock shows, because I'm not interested in what's being played at rock shows. I would buy a ticket to see the Chicago Symphony play ''[[Arcana]],'' by [[Edgard Varèse]], for instance. But that ain't gonna happen, so I'm staying home. Boulez is my favorite conductor. A lot of people think he's too cerebral. A lot of conductors like to look good while conducting, and they wave their arms around a lot – a series of useless gestures that don't tell the musicians where the beat is. And if the beat isn't clear, the musicians don't play the notes all at the same time, the way they ought to, so the chords don't stack up right. With some music, such as slovenly romantic sleaze, it's no big deal, but I like a more rhythmic approach, and [[Pierre Boulez|Boulez]] has always been careful about that.
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-''rock's knight-errant and his valley-girl daughter assess the state of dating, drugs and – gag us with a spoon! – american culture''
+''Rock's knight-errant and his valley-girl daughter assess the state of dating, drugs and – gag us with a spoon! – american culture''
 ''[[Frank Zappa]]'s 30-odd albums include such rock classics as "[[Lumpy Gravy]]" "[[We're Only In It For The Money]]" "[[Hot Rats]]" "[[Sheik Yerbouti]]" and "[[Burnt Weeny Sandwich]]." Now his daughter [[Moon Zappa|Moon Unit]] has catapulted herself into the rock limelight with the father/ daughter collaboration "[[Valley Girl]]."
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 '''What kind of mail do you get?<br>
-A lot of it is just complimentary-type stuff and a lot of "Can you help me with my personal problems?" stuff. Although I haven't answered any mail recently, last year I was pretty good about it. I didn't answer the stuff from deranged, crazy people. There are people with weird interpretations of my songs – like, one guy wrote me and told me he "figured out" Idiot Bastard Son. He figured that Ronnie is Ronald Reagan and Kenny is Ted Kennedy. He was wrong. The song is about two brothers named Ronnie and Kenny. In back of their house was a shed or a garage or something. At one point, Kenny, the younger brother, had moved into the shed for some reason. There was no toilet there, and he and this other guy would piss in these canning jars. Instead of dumping them out, they would pour them into these big crocks. Soon, they had gallons of piss. It got to be such a thing that everybody in the neighborhood would come over and piss in these fucking crocks. They had these crocks of piss sitting in their garage. Then these ''things'' started growing in there, swimming around in these crocks, and to this day, nobody knows what they were or where they came from. Finally, their father found out about it and made them pour the whole thing down the toilet – not in the gutter, not in the street, not on the lawn but down the toilet. OK, so I figure, if those things are alive and living in piss, you pour them down the toilet and flush it and these things are'probably this big in the sewers underneath Ontario, which is where it happened. While Kenny is doing this, Ronnie is living in the bedroom with this guy named Dwight. They used to save their snot on a window over Ronnie's bed. Just like everybody would piss in the jar, every night they would contribute of couple of boogers to this window, until you couldn't see through it. Just, you know, little kids having a good time. So I wrote a couple of songs about it: [[Let's Make The Water Turn Black]] and [[The Idiot Bastard Son|Idiot Bastard Son]].
+A lot of it is just complimentary-type stuff and a lot of "Can you help me with my personal problems?" stuff. Although I haven't answered any mail recently, last year I was pretty good about it. I didn't answer the stuff from deranged, crazy people. There are people with weird interpretations of my songs – like, one guy wrote me and told me he "figured out" [[The Idiot Bastard Son|Idiot Bastard Son]]. He figured that Ronnie is [[Ronald Reagan]] and Kenny is Ted Kennedy. He was wrong. The song is about two brothers named Ronnie and Kenny. In back of their house was a shed or a garage or something. At one point, Kenny, the younger brother, had moved into the shed for some reason. There was no toilet there, and he and this other guy would piss in these canning jars. Instead of dumping them out, they would pour them into these big crocks. Soon, they had gallons of piss. It got to be such a thing that everybody in the neighborhood would come over and piss in these fucking crocks. They had these crocks of piss sitting in their garage. Then these ''things'' started growing in there, swimming around in these crocks, and to this day, nobody knows what they were or where they came from. Finally, their father found out about it and made them pour the whole thing down the toilet – not in the gutter, not in the street, not on the lawn but down the toilet. OK, so I figure, if those things are alive and living in piss, you pour them down the toilet and flush it and these things are'probably this big in the sewers underneath Ontario, which is where it happened. While Kenny is doing this, Ronnie is living in the bedroom with this guy named Dwight. They used to save their snot on a window over Ronnie's bed. Just like everybody would piss in the jar, every night they would contribute of couple of boogers to this window, until you couldn't see through it. Just, you know, little kids having a good time. So I wrote a couple of songs about it: [[Let's Make The Water Turn Black]] and [[The Idiot Bastard Son|Idiot Bastard Son]].
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 '''20 Questions: Frank And Moon Unit Zappa'''<br>
 [[Playboy]], November 1982<br>
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 ''rock's knight-errant and his valley-girl daughter assess the state of dating, drugs and – gag us with a spoon! – american culture''