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The sad thing about the Sixties was the weak-mindedness of the so-called radicals and the way that they managed to get co-opted. I think one of the things that helped that happen was LSD. It's the only chemical known to mankind that will convert a hippy to a yuppie.
Frank Zappa
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All the old history was written for the amusement of the ruling classes. The lower classes couldn't read, and their rulers didn't care about remembering what happened to them.
Frank Zappa
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I think it is good that books still exist, but they do make me sleepy.
Frank Zappa
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I can't talk to you about music because you don't know anything about music. I can talk to you about politics or sociology and all that peripheral stuff, but I can't talk to you about music. There's not enough information in common that I could say to you so you'd be able to understand. Besides, the people who read OUI don't give a fuck about music anyway.
Frank Zappa
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If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on TV telling you how to do your shit, then YOU DESERVE IT.
Frank Zappa
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It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice — there are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia.
Frank Zappa
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Music is the only religion that delivers the goods on earth.
Frank Zappa
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I think that if you use the so-called "strong words" you'll get your point across faster and you can save a lot of beating around the bush. Why are people afraid of words? Sometimes the dumbest thing that gets said makes the point for you.
Frank Zappa
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There's no reason to assume that my idea of what's better would really be better. I resent it when other people try to inflict their ideas of betterness on me. I don't think they know. And I can't see any authority on the horizon that's got any answers that seem worthwhile. Most of the things that are suggested are probably detrimental to your mental health.
Frank Zappa
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I have an important message to deliver to all the cute people all over the world. If you're out there and you're cute, maybe you're beautiful. I just want to tell you somethin' — there's more of us UGLY MOTHERFUCKERS than you are, hey-y, so watch out.
Frank Zappa
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The U.S. is a mere pup tent of a civilization. We've got two hundred years of stupidity behind us and we think we're right up there with everyone else who's been doing it for thousands of years.
Frank Zappa
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So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
Frank Zappa
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The bassoon is one of my favorite instruments. It has the medieval aroma, like the days when everything used to sound like that. Some people crave baseball... I find this unfathomable, but I can easily understand why a person could get excited about playing the bassoon.
Frank Zappa
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Everything on this planet has something to do with music. Music functions in the realm of sculptured air. Polluted as our atmosphere might be, air is the thing that makes music work. Since all other things that occur in the sound domain are transmitted to the ear through that swirling mass, depending on how wide you want to make your definition, you could perceive quite a bit of human experience in terms of music.
Frank Zappa
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Since I didn't have any kind of formal training, it didn't make any difference to me if I was listening to Lightnin' Slim, or a vocal group called the Jewels..., or Webern, or Varèse, or Stravinsky. To me it was all good music.
Frank Zappa
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On a personal level, Freaking Out is a process whereby an individual casts off outmoded and restricting standards of thinking, dress, and social etiquette in order to express creatively his relationship to his immediate environment and the social structure as a whole.
Frank Zappa
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The richest people in the world aren't particularly smart or happy. And the happiest people in the world aren't particularly smart or rich.… That leaves me making music. But we can't talk about that.
Frank Zappa
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Why do you necessarily have to be wrong just because a few million people think you are?
Frank Zappa
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Remember there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.
Frank Zappa
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The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the Tree of Knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just kept your fucking mouth shut and hadn't asked any questions.
Frank Zappa
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You know, people are basically shitty. It's when they prove it over and over again that it gets obnoxious.
Frank Zappa
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I consider that the building materials are exactly the same as what anybody else makes the thing out of. It's just the way they look at those materials is perhaps a narrower perspective. Time and those waves are at the disposal of anyone who wants to use them.
Frank Zappa
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I'll tell you what classical music is, for those of you who don't know. Classical music is this music that was written by a bunch of dead people a long time ago. And it's formula music, the same as top forty music is formula music. In order to have a piece be classical, it has to conform to academic standards that were the current norms of that day and age … I think that people are entitled to be amused, and entertained. If they see deviations from this classical norm, it's probably good for their mental health.
Frank Zappa
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A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.
Frank Zappa
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The lifestyle that I have is probably neither desirable nor useful to most people. Most people are probably better off getting the certification they desire and spindling their lives away the way they're doing. I don't think they'd enjoy living any other way. There are millions of people who acquire all sorts of wonderful feelings from watching a football game and drinking a bottle of beer. It makes them really happy. Doesn't do shit for me. But for them it's life itself. As long as they can believe in the beer and the football, then they've really got something. And it's probably more useful to them than religion. So why take it away? Why tell them what's really going on? Let 'em be happy.
Frank Zappa
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Quote of the day
Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ.
Martin Luther
Frank Zappa
Creative Commons
Born:
December 21, 1940
Died:
December 4, 1993
(aged 52)
Bio:
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American musician, songwriter, composer, record producer, actor and filmmaker.
Known for:
Joe's Garage (1979)
Hot Rats (1969)
One Size Fits All (1975)
Over-Nite Sensation (1973)
Zoot Allures (1976)
Most used words:
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music
time
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rock
child
read
smart
stuff
beer
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