the zappa question

[steve]

The Zappa thing is kind of interesting and might give it a go on the wiki at some stage. Two theories, both from JP:

1. He got boring in the "lavatorial" stage, but his sponsorship of Beefheart and Wild Man Fischer was good.

http://peel.wikia.com/wiki/Peeling_Back_The_Years_6_%28Transcript%29

Walters: Frank Zappa you are now likely to see with an orchestra at the Barbican. Well, how do you feel about Zappa? There's a good man to look at.
Peel: Well, his early stuff I used to enjoy quite a lot. I mean, until he got into his kind of lavatorial phase, which I found rather tedious, and that seemed to take up like a decade of his life. I mean, everything he did was fairly lavatorial, which is fine if you are like 12 years old or something – our William would probably find it all vastly entertaining – but I just found it rather tedious. But his early things I liked a lot. And of course I admired him as much as anything for his sponsorship not only of people like Wild Man Fischer but also Captain Beefheart, which is kind of crucial. Well, in the early part of his own life.
JW: And yet his own work rather lost that rootsy almost instinctive feel about Beefheart and Wild Man Fischer, were Zappa came to be more as if were like "a contemporary composer" - "it's a funny life, this music..."
JP: People have this yearning to be the clown playing Hamlet, you know. They all want to be taken terribly seriously and to be perceived as "artistes".
JP: OK, pick a track that you think features Zappa but is still OK.
JW: Well, because it's got Beefheart on it, I'd pick Willy The Pimp.


2. Peel met him, didn't like him, and therefore went off his music.

http://peel.wikia.com/wiki/16_March_2004

Peel is emailed by a listener and asked if he could play a Frank Zappa record. Peel explains that he liked a lot of the early Mothers of Invention records, but went off Zappa after meeting him.


With no checks, I think there's some kind of 1970 radio or TV interview by Peel with Zappa, so presumably that's the reference. But FZ was played during the 70s by Peel, although relatively little and scarcely at all after that.

My theory: Zappa is an all or nothing thing and Beefheart was always the real JP favourite anyway.

OK, enough of this....

SW




--- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "bty997881" <unity.gain@...> wrote:
>
> I've said it before, but Zappa. 
> Apart from some early Mothers, back when Peel was still a hippy, I never did hear him play a Zappa track, and FZ was nothing if not prolific.
> My guess is that his fondness for Beefheart and Wild Man Fisher, whom some consider to have been exploited by Zappa, was the reason, or maybe he just found his music a bit 'highbrow'...
> If I ever get round to writing a will, I swear that no-one will get a penny unless 'Peaches En Regalia' is played at my funeral,
> Cheers
> Roger
> 
> --- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "so_it_goes_2512" <so_it_goes_2512@> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Ben
> > 
> > For a long time I thought 'Good Vibrations' and 'God Only Knows' were wild cards in the 2000 All Time FF and that was it. However, a quick Wiki search turned up a fair few hits, including '409' (played on at least three occasions, two of them late on as well), and he seemed to like the Carl & The Passions album too. And yes, he played Pet Sounds on Radio London.
> > 
> > All the best
> > Steve (TK)
> > 
> > --- In peel@yahoogroups.com, Ben Harrison <abcdetc@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Did Peel ever play Beach Boys?
> > > More specifically: Pet Sounds
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 8:37 AM, so_it_goes_2512 <
> > > so_it_goes_2512@> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > **
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Tom Waits
> > > > Motown (although he did play some)
> > > > Depeche Mode (don't know if he hated them, but no sessions and no plays
> > > > says something)
> > > >
> > > > Steve (TK)
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "billfromnorthwales" <billfromnorthwales@>
> > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > I thought I might change this one around, for a laugh.
> > > > >
> > > > > I think in the early 70's, although he played them, he didn't like
> > > > Genesis or Deep Purple (so long Jon), though I was quite partial to them. I
> > > > don't think Peel ever took a shine to Hawkwind in the same way I did,
> > > > either.
> > > > >
> > > > > At that time I felt he and Bob Harris played too much Little Feat, whose
> > > > merits passed me by.
> > > > >
> > > > > In later years I really liked William Orbit and Lemon Jelly, and while
> > > > they may have not been hated, seemed under represented on his shows.
> > > > >
> > > > > Of course it is well known that his triumverate of evil were Genesis,
> > > > Yes and ELP, but who else did he hate that you like?
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >  
> > > >
> > >
> >
>