1968 WFMT Radio Chicago with Studs Terkel

Interview with Frank Zappa by Studs Terkel
August 1968, WFMT Radio Chicago
Transcription of the MP3 residing at Tasutpen.net
44:17 min.

Studs Terkel: "Who are the Brain Police?" In fact you might ask the question of this "1984" Orwell at 1968. These are questions posed by a remarkable group of young musicians, "Mothers of Invention", coast-based, eh … we're in Chicago at the ### playground, but the … the Mothers Of Invention is a remarkable group, headed by Frank Zappa, who is the guiding spirit musical director, our guest this morning, and no doubt this music is very strange, I'm sure, to very many of the listeners first time exposed to the Mothers. Frank, as we're listening to this song, "Who Are The Brain Police?", on your very first album, at Verve put-out Freak Out!, ah, some of the lines come to mind, ah, the instrumentation, the strange kind comes to mind … your thoughts … as we you hear it now.

FZ: All is, I do like that song. Fact, I'm goin' go home an' listen to it again as soon as I can, I really like that song.

ST: As we can talk about the … , about the lyrics first and then ask what yourself, what would you do with some of the lines, in case the audience might have missed it often … ah … the young, do you find ### the young, who listen to you, the people who … who hear the music, are much more attuned to … to the sound and everything?

FZ: Sometimes they are. I'm generally ### the response to music works like this: They all hear the words and don't pay any attention to the music or they hear the music as a sort of wallpaper which supports the words. And in seven out of ten cases they will misinterpret the words.

ST: But, maybe dwell on this ### before we talk about some other lyrics that hit me. It's … ah … something is happening quite obviously, something is happening, it's overwhelming the leaps they are taking … ah … sound is envolved, sight is envolved, technology is envolved … and to listen … so … the audience listening, either digs one part or the other, is that it?

FZ: Well, eh … what happens with the ordinary pop music, and that is the same pop music which is not making an attempt to extend the boundaries of music in general, I could use as an example … ah … the garden variety wipes all music which is being manufactured in large quantities today and very quickly merchandised to the record buying public, the people who hear these tunes generally pay very little attention to the words, and … ah … the music is perceived as a sort of … ah … glandular … ah … y'know, it … it goes to a different part of the … ah … body than our music goes to. And people … that's the way they generally listen to music, they tryin' to feel it with their body. Especially at my performance, where the volume is so high that it can almost knock you over.
The tendency is to let the music happen to you, rather than … ah … make any critical analysis ### or… ah … listen carefully to it. Because in most instances members of the audience, who are not prepared to make valued judgements about music other than "I like it" or … ah … "It pushes my chest in" or "It makes me want to dance and has a good beat and I give it ten points". Y'know that … above and beyond that, the audience is not trained to make judgements about music.

ST: In this case, let's take this one song as one take to work "Who Are The Brain Police?" from your very first album Freak Out!, there are certain lyrics involved here, but the lyrics and ### would also from the sound, this … this … ah … no, the technological advance is taking place, the noise, at the same time there's is musicality, that you know, so much, "What would you do if we let you go [sic], When the plastic's [sic] melted and so is the chrome?", you making comment right away, emediately, aren't you? You're taking about plastics also being human here, too.

FZ: Well, the way in which we use the term "Plastic", is used to … ah … (…) (in process of being transcribed by --Propellerkuh 07:16, 19 December 2008 (PST))