2 thoughts on “Zappanale #21: Zappa & The GDR Exhibit”

  1. I’ve always been intrigued, Barry, by the relationship between Zappa and the early Mothers music, the GDR, as well as their relationship the underground in other countries behind the, then, Iron Curtain. Today, many critics attempt to limit FZ’s and the Mother’s influence, yet it wasn’t The Beatles or The Who or The Stones’ albums revolutionaries and intellectuals in these countries were secretly bootlegging and passing around – they were Zappa and Mothers albums. Then as now, Zappa’s lyrics and music spoke often to an individual sense of freedom (and individual sense of cynicism, too) that pervades all of modern life. It is just because of that that Zappa was quite literally kept off commercial radio, and it’s promotion of positive pop music values – as well as it’s rejection of anything negative, critical, or satirical.

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