Zappa Quotes

• Interviewer: 'So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman?' Frank Zappa: 'You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?

  Frank Zappa

  Hair, Long, Doe

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• People like Frank Zappa were amazing for us Brits.

  Rick Wakeman

  People, Frank, Brits

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• But I mean, again, Zappa's far more musical than the Bonzos ever were.

  Neil Innes

  Mean, Musical

  "Bonzo Dog Band". Interview with Richie Unterberger, www.furious.com. January, 2001.

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• We are not a Zappa cover band. We only play Frank's songs that were recorded by the Mothers of Invention and I think a lot of those songs were complex.

  Jimmy Carl Black

  Mother, Song, Thinking

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• I got married about three years ago again to a wonderful German woman. Her name is Monika and she is beautiful. She is one of the biggest women Zappa fans I have ever met in my life.

  Jimmy Carl Black

  Beautiful, Years, Names

  Jimmy Carl Black Interview by Stephen Moore in Munich, Germany, www.stevemoorebooks.com. March 29, 2000.

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• The hardest and worst interview that I have ever done was with Frank Zappa.

  Nina Blackwood

  Done, Interviews, Worst

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• Frank Zappa... was Beethoven for insane rock guys.

  Scott Ian

  Rocks, Guy, Insane

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• I think there's plenty of room, even in the most serious activist circles, for humor. Humor can be very effective both to inspire, and as a weapon. Just ask Frank Zappa and Charlie Chaplin.

  Jello Biafra

  Thinking, Circles, Inspire

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• Jeff Beck is my idol .. sometimes he finds notes that I just do not have on my guitar. Frank Zappa's another one .. I loved Frank Zappa ... I do think Van Halen reinvented the guitar ... he's an excellent musician, a shrewd guitarist and as a person he's wonderful.

  Ritchie Blackmore

  Music, Thinking, Idols

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• The mother of invention in music is necessity, not Frank Zappa!

  Steve Winwood

  Mother, Invention, Music Is

  Source: www.bullz-eye.com

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• American culture has a lot of great moustaches in its history. Mark Twain had a great moustache, Charlie Chaplin, Ben Turpin ... but Zappa, he's got the best moustache in American history. Got the moustache, right, and he's got that little thing on his chin, I think it's called an imperial, that is, like, the coolest thing. That's like one of the great icons of the twentieth century.

  Matt Groening

  Thinking, Icons, Culture

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• Frank [Zappa]'s music was never for the mass audience. His music contains specific kinds of information that you won't find elsewhere in rock and roll.

  Gail Zappa

  Rocks, Rock And Roll, Information

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Frank [Zappa] was not a big fan of having lyrics, but sometimes he had things to say that lent themselves to lyrics.

  Gail Zappa

  Fans, Sometimes, Bigs

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Frank [Zappa] said he probably would have been a major criminal, given his brain power and his attention to detail, had he not been a composer. But being a composer is not something you can't help.

  Gail Zappa

  Brain, Criminals, Details

  Source: therumpus.net

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• I think a solo moves forward the way a song does, because it's reflective of the chords that I'm considering as I'm soloing, and at the same time I'm going as much out on a limb as Frank Zappa used to, in terms of just going crazy on the instrument.

  John Frusciante

  Song, Crazy, Moving

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• When you think of diversity, George Duke fits that bill better than a lot of people. He's played a lot of straight-ahead jazz with people like Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley; he's played a lot of fusion with his own groups, with Stanley Clarke; and, you know, he did the rock thing with Frank Zappa. He's written all kinds of big arrangements for people like Burt Bacharach. So, he's covered the board. He's still a great pianist.

  Christian McBride

  Thinking, Rocks, Diversity

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• Pastoralia by George Saunders. Possibly my favorite book. Its one of the weirdest books Ive ever read. If Monty Python and Thomas Pynchon had a love child, and it was raised by Frank Zappa on a weird commune, that would be this book.

  Libba Bray

  Children, Book, Python

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• Frank Zappa was one of the gods of the Czech underground, I thought of him as a friend. Whenever I feel like escaping from the world of the Presidency, I think of him.

  Vaclav Havel

  Thinking, Escaping, World

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• My first big gig was an opening show for Frank Zappa, and I think that was difficult.

  Tom Waits

  Thinking, Gigs, Firsts

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• When I was growing up, when I was 11 years old I was listening to The Mothers of Invention. You know, I mean I was a Frank Zappa fan in Arkansas.

  Billy Bob Thornton

  Mother, Growing Up, Mean

  Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

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• When Frank Zappa would get an idea for a song, he just did it. He didn't wait for anybody or expect anyone to do it.

  Steve Vai

  Song, Ideas, Waiting

  Source: archive.alternativenation.net

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• One of my pet peeves is that sometimes the talents of my band get overlooked because, and it was the same problem that Frank Zappa had, with a lot of groups that use humor, people don't realize there's a lot of craft behind the comedy.

  Al Yankovic

  People, Pet, Groups

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Frank [Zappa] always wanted to do a sound library - he sampled so many great musicians. For piano, for example, he sampled every octave, not just one (that you could just transpose electronically), and he did all different types of attack, with and without pedals, all that kind of stuff.

  Gail Zappa

  Piano, Library, Musician

  Source: therumpus.net

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• My obligation is to release the music the way Frank [Zappa] released it.

  Gail Zappa

  Way, Release, Obligation

  Source: therumpus.net

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• There was a lot of camaraderie among the bands. I remember a lot of times when I'd be driving up Laurel Canyon and pass by the house where Frank Zappa was living and I'd just see people out on the porch playing guitars.

  June Millington

  Guitar, People, House

  Source: therumpus.net

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