Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa was an American guitarist, composer, independent music producer, film director, and cult figure. Politically, he was an outspoken advocate of freedom of expression, and a vocal opponent of organized religion, censorship, authoritarianism, fascism, and the PMRC — the latter of which was headed by then-Senator Al Gore's wife, Tipper Gore, at the time.
=Politics=
===General positions===
* Zappa predicted that the GOP's influence on the United States would eventually lead America to a fascist theocracy & far-right nationalism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9856_xv8gchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp8wYtTjWA0https://twitter.com/zappa/status/1271351921811562497 
 
 
* Frank supported civil rights, the songs Uncle Remus and Trouble Every Day criticized sensationalist journalism, civil unrest, racism, and the various difficulties to achieving equal civil rights, within contemporary American society. The song Uncle Remus also suggests that class and race are connected.
 
He also added that the writing of "Uncle Remus" wasn't exactly from the viewpoint of a black person.
* Frank believed that the recreational use of drugs should be legalized, even though he personally disapproved of such.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpDs_LGSZN4 
* Frank strongly advised anyone who was old enough to register and vote, to vote.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcxzpbkV2Tg&ab_channel=tomtiddler1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaw_jGiGdy4&ab_channel=DaveDavidDaveDavid
* Frank Zappa was pro-choice. 
* Zappa often advocated the legalization of prostitution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC09dS9E2ak 
*Despite being a constitutional fundamentalist, Frank did not see the Founding Fathers in any high regard. 
*Zappa was against the excessive funding of the military, seeing it as a waste of resources. 
 
===Controversy===
Some of his lyrics were politically incorrect, leading to some of Frank's fans distancing themselves a bit from Frank.http://forum.zappa.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14092&start=25 Starting with the anti-establishment/anti-war zeitgeist of the 1960s, the message of his music changed over time, criticizing the United States government, religious conservatism, and televangelists. Frank generally evaded questions about lyric content, stating he thinks his lyrics contain valid criticisms or mockery of people.
====Accusations of racism====
The Anti-Defamation League asked Frank to apologize for his song Jewish Princess, due to its content listing out various stereotypes of Jewish women, Frank refused, saying that he demanded an apology for being accused of anti-Semitism.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoOSDs0V9SE Later he made the song "Catholic girls" as a response to the allegations against him. 
====Acusations of homophobia====
He was also accused of homophobia due to the songs He's so gay and Broken hearts are for assholes (among several others); however, Frank categorically denied this. 
====Criticism of the Women's liberation movement and accusations of misogyny====
Frank was a self-described "sexual libertarian",https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/03/frank-zappa-women who shied away from calling himself anti-feminist,https://www.afka.net/Articles/1975-12_Berkeley_Barb.htm yet he was also opposed to full-throated support of what was called, "women's liberation", in the second half of the 20th century. He seems to state he thought women were already liberated, and that the only women who needed liberation were the more old-fashioned ones.https://www.afka.net/Articles/1976-12_Blast.htm 
That being said, he thought the women's liberation movement was not ultimately bad, but just inconsequential and a temporary hobby for women.
Furthermore, he's stated that he thought both men and women, for the most part, were stupid (something that is often misinterpreted by his critics).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5WEU30Iodshttp://amara.org/en/subtitles/rRQmAw3lYsIA/en/1/download/Frank%20Zappa%20on%20Fads%20%20Blank%20on%20Blank%20%20PBS%20Digital%20Studios.en.txt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bdxoikYAsU
Frank's album, "Thing-Fish", and his song, "Bobby Brown" were more pointed screeds against women's liberation. Both works implied feminism would lead to homosexuality, and male incontinence. A well-known quote from the song, "Bobby Brown", goes:
In response to feminist criticism, Frank saidhttps://www.afka.net/Articles/1976-12_Blast.htm 
There was not much public outrage over Frank's music at the time, as Frank had the most radio airplay in countries that did not speak English. For example, "Bobby Brown". became a hit in 1980s Finland, with people considering it a love song, due to not understanding the English lyrics.
==Influence/involvement==
===PMRC===
 
Zappa testified before the U.S. Senate in a 1985 hearing about his concerns regarding the potential risks of having a mandatory "explicit lyrics" warning label on records and tapes, as it would establish a dangerous precedent in violation of the First Amendment. As such, he was an outspoken critic of the PMRC, and any other legislation that resembled it.Frank argues against censorship by self-appointed defenders of The American Way on Larry King Live in 1985.Again, Zappa argues about lyric rating with a clueless host on CNN.
 Eventually the RIAA agreed to voluntarily place the warning labels on records, thus preventing the need for any government regulations, but Zappa did not like that either, believing it to be just as bad. For a while in the 1980s and 90s, tapes and CDs featuring Zappa's music lacked the warning label. Interestingly enough, Zappa's 1986 album 'Jazz From Hell' is the only instrumental album since the hearings to carry the RIAA Parental Advisory sticker, due to some stores (allegedly Fred Meyer) objecting to some of the song titles:.
Listen to the "Congress Shall Make No Law..." album for the discussion in the Senate hearing, as well as his thoughts on the PMRC outside of the Senate.
===Cultural Ambassador of Czechoslovakia===
In January 1990, Frank was invited to become the "cultural ambassador of Czechoslovakia" by Václav Havel (he was regarded by members of the Velvet Revolution as a symbol of freedom & rebellion due to his music previously being banned by the ruling communist party).
===Party Politics===
The time of the 1988 US party political primaries.https://www.afka.net/Articles/1988-02_Buzz.htm Pat Robertson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan were favorite political targets of Frank. Two live albums, Broadway the Hard Way and Frank Zappa in New York, are good showcases of his politically-informed songs. His snark was not restricted to Republicans; Democrats like Jesse Jackson were also targets.
==Political ideology/stances==
As he got older, Zappa became more socially conservative, explicitly described himself as a capitalist, tried to portray himself as a nuclear family figure, and self-described as a "libertarian on many issues".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPPzRTbYd0I 
A couple years before death, he relayed that he was a registered Democrat, but was thinking about leaving the party, before stating he was going to 'shred' his membership.web Interview with Mienfoking Films (4:50) on YouTube He had a fondness for certain figures like Mario Cuomo and Pete du Pont. Zappa considered running for president and admired the independent politician Ross Perot shortly before death. While mulling his presidential bid, Zappa wanted Perot to be his running mate with Alan Dershowitz as AG.https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2019/07/09/that-time-frank-zappa-considered-running-for-president-with-h-ross-perot-as-his-veep-2/
Like many self-described conservatives, he was a hypocrite. His family man shtick in the 1980s was almost entirely a ruse, although he sometimes copped to it, for example mentioning he was an absent father. According to his daughter, Moon Zappa, Frank Zappa fell out of love with his wife in 1982 and his businessman shtick was encouraged by his wife to keep home in his USA studio. The goal was to keep him away from his German mistress.https://www.harpercollins.com/products/earth-to-moon-moon-unit-zappa According to Moon, Zappa ruled his house like a libertine patriarch. He insisted on polygyny for himself, but only monogamy for his wife.
Zappa was also a notable example of an artist who desired to be judged on his works, rather than on image or categorization. He never made any Sexiest Man Alive rankings, except maybe his own. 
 
An example of Zappa's more libertarian tendencies would be his thoughts on the non-aggression-principle. 
====Views on Government====
He was against the application of a smaller government due to the possibility of having such a system being easily exploited by various demagogues. https://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Frank_Zappa._Interview_in_Playboy
Frank believed that there were a lot of issues with the way the U.S government was being operated:
=====Revolution, Freedom & democracy=====
Frank advocated for an American revolution (mainly because he thought America was an Authoritarian country), without violent protests, as he saw them as ineffective and harmful.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F44xiNhk_n4&ab_channel=RoyLoeffler-Back-up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShB8SCBKc2c&ab_channel=TheAaronChannel
 
=====Economic=====
Frank believed that capitalism was a more favorable alternative compared to its competition.
 
Frank also strongly proposed to "tax the churches".http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/30729.html 
======Criticisms of Supply-side economics======
 
 
======The Education system====== 
He wanted to cut any further spending on the military, and put that money in the educational system.
=====Law enforcement & Crime=====
 http://forum.zappa.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11831
====Criticisms of the Christian right====
Zappa was an outspoken opponent of the Christian Right from the outset, and in songs such as "Heavenly Bank Account" Zappa advocated removing the tax-exempt status from all religious organizations, regardless of politics. He was also contemptuous of the fundamentalists' hypocrisy, as demonstrated in the songs Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk (1988):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-79uI_u9Src and The meek shall inherit nothing" (1981):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJXaFuDcOx0
 
Zappa was raised Catholic but became an atheist around the age of 18. "Frank Zappa: America's Weirdest Rock Star Comes Clean" by John Swenson, High Times, March 1980 While Zappa had plenty of criticisms of religious institutions, and television evangelical preachers, in particular, Zappa supported the right of people who wanted religion... provided they "exhibited more respect for the rights of those people who do not wish to share your dogma, rapture or necrodestination." Zappa, Frank, and Peter Occhiogrosso. 1989. The real Frank Zappa book. New York: Poseidon Press. p. 308 "The Dangerous Christians"
====Criticisms of the Libertarian Party====
A delegate from the, US Libertarian Party once tried to convince Zappa to run for president under their party umbrella, to which Frank declined, arguing that parts of the Randite wet-dream platform were "either wrong or stupid".https://www.afka.net/Articles/1988-02_Buzz.htm Zappa did leave the option open, however, if the party changed a few things in their platform.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPPzRTbYd0I
====Social====
Due to Zappa's upheld belief in freedom of choice and expression, he's expressed sentiments of endorsement to some progressive causes and or activists. However, that hasn't stopped him from referring to himself as a "practical conservative".The religions and political views of Frank Zappa The Hollowverse 
 
 
=====Critcisms of Traditional gender roles=====
Frank was critical of traditional gender roles whether it be stated through interviews or art, examples of this would be the songs, "Any kind of pain" criticizing the way women were exploited in show business, and with "beauty knows no pain" he mocks the fetishization of "beauty" in general. 
Zappa later referred to the social expectation between men doing "manly things" such as drinking beer as "Pseudo military behavior". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL7l2z0m4VE&t=0s 
=====Criticisms of The hippie movement=====
The hippie movement would occasionally make its appearance in Frank Zappa's music, more often than not in a comedic (fuzz) tone. https://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Category:Conceptual_Continuity
=====Criticisms of Media=====
 
 
Frank was contemptuous of most media outlets in America, claiming that most of them twist the news in order to further their political interests. 
====Environmentalism====
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa0dXEQBzxc&list=LL&index=4&ab_channel=PLASTICDADAII
====Denialism====
Unfortunately, Zappa's detestation of fundamentalism and puritanism, and his suspicion of institutions, led him to be dismissive of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s. In one collection of zingers printed by the in 1990, he speculated that the hype around AIDS was "to keep people from having sex" and that the epidemic was "pure propaganda" that was "all a puritanical holdover from a fundamentalist religious ethic that has acted itself like a virus and infected everything from Congress to the judiciary.""Zingers from Zappa" by Hugh Boulware, Chicago Tribune, 1990 April 26 Zappa was also dismissive of the origins of the HIV virus in a 1993 interview;"The 1993 Playboy Interview with Frank Zappa", Playboy, January 1993, reposted on December 3 2018 this in part was the motivation behind his song criticizing C. Everett Koop, "Promiscuous".
Zappa's detestation for most recreational drugs unfortunately did not extend to tobacco; in fact, Zappa was a very heavy chain-smoker of cigarettes throughout his entire life."Bob Zappa on Frank, smokes, and addiction" by Dari Olds, The Fix, 2015 July 8, archived on 2015 July 29 In his dictated autobiography The Real Frank Zappa Book, Zappa stated, "To me, a cigarette is food. I live my life smoking these things... This may be a baffling concept to the people in San Francisco who believe that they will live forever if they stamp out tobacco smoke."Zappa, Frank, and Peter Occhiogrosso. 1989. The real Frank Zappa book. New York: Poseidon Press. p. 228 "America Drinks and Goes Marching"
=Art=
Zappa's art is characterized by sociopolitical iconoclasm, techniques to recruit a cult-fandom, and scorn for "formula music". His music is notable for its playful fusion of multiple genres and time signatures. A throng of musicians toured and recorded with Zappa throughout his career, many of them making big names for themselves for passing Zappa's increasingly tough (and at times sadistic) audition process. Among these were include Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio, Ike Willis, Ruth Underwood, and Mike Keneally. Bands or individuals citing Zappa's influence or admiration for his work include the funk-bluegrass-metal-experimental band Primus,These guys are so weird it's barely worth trying to categorize them. Try this or maybe this and you'll get some idea. liberal documentarian Michael Moore, pop musician Kate Bush, the creator of the Simpsons Matt Groening, and the comedian Bill Hader.
Zappa had a minor film career, most notably for acting in, co-writing, and co-directing 200 Motels. His performance as host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live was poorly received and he was prohibited from appearing again.https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/frank-zappa-banned-snl-reason-video-embarrassing/
==Death and post-mortem==
Zappa passed away on 14 December 1993 from prostate cancer. In 2016, Zappa's children had very public fights over inheritance and licensing issues surrounding his former property not long after their mother, Gail Zappa, died.https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/inside-the-zappa-family-feud-104088/ This feud was reconciled two years later in private meetings.https://liveforlivemusic.com/news/zappa-family-trust-dweezil-reconcile/
=External links=
*Zappa Wiki Jawaka, a wiki dedicated to Zappa.
*Zappa.com, the official site
=See also=
*Parents Music Resource Center
*Satanic Panic
*The Beatles
*John Lennon
*The Clash
=Notes=
=References=
Category:Atheists
Category:California
Category:Musicians
Category:Freedom of speech