Tag: 1984

Zappa in the Thicke of it – May 30, 1984

In this interview clip, Frank Zappa makes an appearance as a guest on the short-lived talk show, Thicke Of The Night, hosted by Alan Thicke, on May 30th, 1984, promoting his upcoming tour, as well as a never filmed satirical video.

It didn’t surprise me that so much of middle America took to Thicke‘s wholesome image. We Canadians had been tuning out his afternoon talk show, The Alan Thicke Show, since it aired in 1980.

If they’ll swallow Alan Thicke (some network executive must have thought), they’ll swallow anything!

FZ’s Them or Us – Rereleased, 2010/12/1

In 1984 Frank Zappa self-published Them or Us, created with a dot matrix printer. A new facsimile edition – published by Pinter & Martin Ltd of the United Kingdom (which means they can only ship this book to the UK & Commonwealth; everyone else should check Zappa.com and Barfko-Swill after the rerelease date of December 1st, 2010) – brings this seminal work on conceptual continuity to a new generation of fans. Continue reading “FZ’s Them or Us – Rereleased, 2010/12/1”

FZ Interview – KYUU-FM San Francisco, 1984

In this three part KYUU-FM radio interview with Frank Zappa broadcast on May 17th, 1984 in San Francisco, California, Zappa talks about some his early guitar influences (Johnny Guitar Watson and Clarence Gatemouth Brown, for instance), the reasons which led to his decision to stop writing orchestral music after the Berkeley Symphony performance of his orchestral work at Zellerbach (and some of the ugliness of that world which he describes at length), his views concerning the usefulness and place of drum machines in recording music and concert performances, as well as other Zappa news circa 1984. This interview certainly reminded me how much Zappa became a bridge for me across so much of the awfulness which became known as 80s music.
Continue reading “FZ Interview – KYUU-FM San Francisco, 1984”

“Rock ‘n Roll Evening News” with Frank Zappa

On two separate appearances on the “Rock ‘n Roll Evening News” – one on October 11th, 1986 (clip above), and another on November 29th, 1986 (clip below), Frank Zappa explains why most aspects of popular culture (in their case, the 1980s) sucks a rat’s dick, and why nothing new is seldom ever heard or performed on television or radio (AM or FM), as well as speaks his views on drugs, politics, and concerning movements generally.
Continue reading ““Rock ‘n Roll Evening News” with Frank Zappa”

Frank Zappa – The Pier, NYC – August 26th, 1984

It always strikes me as unusual when Frank Zappa actually states that a concert is going to be a very long one – like the The Palladium show on October 31st, 1978:
Continue reading “Frank Zappa – The Pier, NYC – August 26th, 1984”

Frank Zappa – Let’s Move To Cleveland solos – 1984, Los Angeles

Frank Zappa and the Teenage Rockin’ Combo whips it out on “Let’s Move To Cleveland” in Los Angeles on July 21st, 1984.

Teenage Rockin’ Combo:

Frank Zappa – lead guitar, lead vocals
Ike Willis – rhythm guitar, vocals
Ray White – rhythm guitar, vocals
Napoleon Murphy Brock – saxophone, flute, vocals
Bobby Martin – keyboards, saxophone, vocals
Allan Zavod – keyboards
Scott Thunes – bass
Chad Wackerman – drums