Terry Bozzio is possibly the greatest drummer in rock history. I have yet to see anyone who can surpass his technical ability, humor, charisma and overall musianship.
Possibly the most well-rounded Zappa song. It has everything we've come to expect in perfect proportions.. Insane talent, complexity, mad originality, ultra stupidity & wildly funky. I love this era of his, his band and his look are at its rocking best IMO.
Agreed.Punky's whips was one of te most well rounded zappa songs ever. Avant Garde,classical,contemporary ,and a wicked rock ending.Then it went down te drain with Sloppy vinnie poly colai,march 1978.
I went to see Zappa 5 times when I was growing up in Chicago, during the 1970's. He always had the very best musicians in his band....Bozzio was no exception....
Hi John you have to understand Frank poked fun at every established norm. Angel a very produced product meant to appeal to a younger audience by mimicking angels and playing contrived safe trendy poppy music was in Frank's mind the height of over played mediocrity which now seems the norm. Terry and Frank decided to take a shot in there own unique style emphasizing Terry's amazing Drum chops. This band was multi level. As you know by now. Frank fought against censorship in music even went before a senate committee on the subject and is one of the reasons we have warning labels on music these days instead of bans.
Zappa was a great example of true art being transgressive. During his life, there really wasn't a group he didn't manage to offend in some form or another. At the same time he was constantly demanding the most of his (incredibly talented) band and pushed together the disparate genres of jazz, metal, rock, funk, soul, and classical into something wholly unique. His music was the peak of strangeness and technical ability all in one package. You might recognize the guitarist playing alongside Frank in this recording, Adrian Belew, who went on to join King Crimson.
Dale Bozzio's also a trip, or she was. You know, I haven't listened to Missing Persons in decades. Guess I'll check them out again this week. Insane performance here. If there isn't a musical version of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this could qualify. Freakin fever dreamish. 🤘
Slop, check out at 12:05 ,a little Grand funk railroad band feel. This creative composition has alot of layers to it, and a cover tune melody "isn't it romantic" then avente gard theme style ,into the grooviest r/b solo in pop history,it contends!
It was Prime Zappa.Adrian Belew vocals and great strat abuse,two live keyboard players,Peter Wolf and Tommy Mars.Ed Mann on percussion,better than Ruth,and Frank's finest drummer/vocalist and finest fit of a zappa drummer for Zappas Hard Rock era style,unlike the sloppy Colaiutas over use of phrasing and polyrhthmic mess ,totally unnecessary after Bozzio left,in March 1978. But Terrys jazz fusion style was also mind boggling(listen to purple Lagoon,live in NY). This was the closest frank got to the most perfect band in his career.Not the organic jazz fusion duke/nap/Ruth era.This band was way better for the direction frank had to take.
@@MrTortureneverstops1 Ed Mann, a highly skilled jazz virtuoso on marimba. Ruth,a great performer on percussion but no jazz ability in improvd. She mastered the art of memorizing written out compositions but had close to no improv skills.In fact,she never solo'd once. Zappa best all around band was the Baby Snakes movie concert series into Hammersmith.Feb 28,1978.And yes,better than the Roxy era,Nap,duke,Ruth.This baby snakes lineup was the perfect fit for Frank's more Pop/ rock/metal direction.
Terry and his wife Dale and another Zappa band member went on to form their own band named Missing Persons. They had a few hits and were on the charts with a couple of them. In the early 80s I went to see them in concert and they really lived up to their name, they didn't show up for the show.
The guitar solo in this is one of my favorites. I saw Terry in 2014 and 2018 in solo outings. There are fan and official videos out there of Terry's later work, including some duets with Chad Wackerman.
punky meadows was lead guitar for a band called ''angel''which was the white side of the same management stable of ''KISS''....they being their dark side....and a bit of banter began when they saw a publcity shot of the angel band and Terry supposedly was aroused by the succulence of punkys lips....so Frank is taking the shit out of him....hence the song.
Dude yyour reaction is priceless you can hear Terry on Jeff Becks Guiitar shop. Cymbals are diatonic and chromatic tuned. His kit grows to titanic proportions in an effort to be more musical , melodic Zappa plays Zappa the Black Page is one you should check out. Frank wrote for Terry to challenge Him. Dweezle is such a great musician. Many different line up changes. New and different musicians coming and going you need too watch everything you can find!,
Frank and Bozzio were shining a light on corporate glam rock or any contrived music and the band guys who would sell out and wear whatever clothes and whatever haircut the record label told them to. Hey Terry's not gay! OK???!!!
I've never read or heard the actual story of the genesis of this song but Frank famously incorporated band folklore into songs. Someone may know the actual story but it could have started from a throw-away comment of some sort from Terry and then Frank just ran with it...I don't know.
there is a video - a kind of drum tutorial on some advanced shit Bozzio was up to - that just happens to show Bozzio with such a pretty - _blonde_ - hairdo which again fucks with gender presentation in a you can't look away way. This song - or Oratorio - was indeed inspired by Terry bringing Frank this publicity photo he was a little conflicted about. btw _Life after Angel Meadows had retired from the music business, and for 13 years owned and ran a tanning salon in Oakton, Virginia.[1] Punky Meadows Solo Career 2015 - _ ...
Angel was a really popular rock band, but with very little substance. Punky Meadows was their super-pretty guitar player. This song was meant to say: your music is totally forgettable pop-rock, but you are very pretty. It was a send-up of all bands that were the opposite of Frank’s band: all looks and no chops.
It’s not really about Terry. It’s total sarcasm. Making fun of any closet case that denies being gay but has the hots for whoever famous singer/musician. You have to keep in mind, everything Frank wrote was sarcasm to the extreme and making humorous extreme examples of all kinds of people and situations.
no, not "everything Frank wrote was sarcasm": for example, what's so sarcastic about the lovely sea chanty "Aybe Sea" or the ballad "Solitude" or the somewhat grim "Dio Fa"?
The song is not deep or overly meaningful, and I think it's an example of Zappa making an absurd song based on an exchange he had with a band member. In this case Terry showing a particular interest in an over-the-top head shot of Punky Meadows. The performance is also typical Zappa with it's theatricality and absurdity. But most importantly, it's full of excellent solo's and humor.
This song and performance are examples of a time when artistic expression via sarcasm and musicianship were on display. Can you imagine a performance like this during today’s cancel culture? Heaven forbid that some thin skinned, easily offended twerp gets his or her little feelings hurt. Frank didn’t walk on egg shells. Freedom of speech is a right guaranteed by the first amendment of our constitution. Who wants to live in a society in which people are afraid to express themselves? That’s where we are today in this victim mentality society. Here’s an idea! Let’s be free to express ourselves in a culture of true tolerance. If someone hears something they don’t like, kindly remind them that there is a universe of other options to occupy their attention. If people want to focus on things that upset them, that’s their self-created problem.
FZ often satirized well…. EVERYTHING but wrote beautiful ballades, tone-poems, rock anthems classical and jazz-fusion pieces. A bit of a criticism on my part (Don’t get me wrong… I love FZ and 99% of his oeuvre) is his frequent mysoginy and especially what I think is clearly homophobia. This was not unusual even among “progressives” in the 1960’s and 70’s. They struggled with inclusion of lgbtqia+ people and seeing them (and their struggle) as a part of the larger liberation movement, “Bobby Brown” off of this album, being another example of cringy homophobia. the song is the 1980’s version of “no homo"
Haaaaa! Ha ha ha! When you stopped the video around 10 min and calmly parsed out what was going on step by step? Oh man! I haven't laughed so hard in a while. "I wanna sink my teeth into him. But I'm not gay. " Ha ha ha! That's all.
Yours is the second "reaction video" I have watched of one of my favorite Zappa live performances, Punky's Whips. The first one was some white guy and black gal (sorry don't recall who). What I notice is that none of you YOUNG PEOPLE can get past the GLOBOHOMO agenda interpretation of the song. FRANK always ALWAYS took opportunities to make fun of other musicians especially in live performances. This song is one of these exclusive liver performances where he hammers on Punky Meadows of ANGEL a notorious "hair band" of the late 70s. The other two musicians ragged on are Steven Tyler and the notable closeted Jeff Beck. Tyler is just the quintessential "dude looks like a lady" (they did the song, later on of course, in a self-effacing masterpiece). This is just calling other musicians "faggits" out loud in concert and when it was known to be a common ribbing that fellows did. This has no deeper meaning regarding Terry's sexuality. This is INCREDIBLE MUSICIANSHIP. None of you YOUNG PEOPLE even realize that ANDRIAN BELEW is the guitarist in the dress which is a WAC (Women's Army Corps) uniform. HE was discovered by Frank and went on to join King Crimson and also his own solo projects. TERRY BOZZIO and his wife DALE (also on Thing Fish by FZ as Artificial Rhonda) became the band in the early 80s Missing Persons. If you listen to enough FZ Live (I would suggest the entirety of the volumes of You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore) you will hear him reference other musicians such as Todd Rundgren "Todd and his spaceship..." in good fun. Todd Rundgren and Utopia did the album "Oops Wrong Planet." I really sincerely hope that any aspiring young musician would continue to listen and study up on Frank Zappa and ALL the musicians who played with him, He made many a career.
This is not a song you can appreciate, if you are a novice Zappa listener. Basically he is making fun of gay people. But musically it is excellent. This version you have picked, there is something wrong with the sound.
Prime Zappa. Until Terry had enough of Frank and Vinnie came around April 78, ruining Frank's direction from this mind boggling explosive Zappa rise in popularity ,and Hard Rock /metal transition after Frank's pretentious not so popular jazz rock fusion era of 72- early 75. In this Bozzio stardom era,Frank was even performing live on national prime TV. Merv griffin show, Saturday night live sensational performances, his best movie and his best selling albums,all in a 3 yr period. All the greats,be it in music,sports,etc,at one time reach the pinnacle of their careers and abilities. Frank reached his during this Bozzio era and was never close to matching it after March 78.He merely attempted aberrated variations of this bozzio era but didn't match it again. Thanks Peter K,for recognizing it. Of course some more Zoot and sheik,guitar solos from baby snakes,and Hammersmith would round off hisost successfully times.
I wonder if punky meadows hates this song. LoL he looks like he just might LoL c’mon punky ! By 10:45 why even question why. Terry you BAD ASSS MUTHAFUCKKKA ! YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING DUDE ! I LOVE YOU DUDE ! Ive easily watched this over 500 times. Every time frank starts rollin off the personnel at the end I get teary eyed. We miss you Frank !
