My two favorite artists are by far Frank Zappa and Prince. I was wondering if many other Prince fans are Zappa fans as well.

I grew up listening to Zappa - my mother was a confirmed Frankaholic. It didn't really rub off on me, though I have a few of his albums and I have a lot of admiration for his wit, political commentary and willingness to advocate for the things in which he believed. And of course, speaking sheerly in terms of creativity and musicianship, there's a lot of similarity between Zappa and Prince.

Yeah I really like his work like 'Zombie Woof', 'My guitar wants to kill your momma' and G-Spot Tornado

I like the songs he did with Captain Beefheart too

my 3 favorite musicians of all time are zappa, miles davis, and prince. i love zappa's music. he was a brilliant composer, and guitar player. it is sometimes frustrating that much of the general public only see him as being
"that weird guy" either because of the satiristic side of his lyrics, or the complexity of the compositions. one of the things that i most enjoy about his music is that he could always surprise you with something, either a really nasty guitar lick, or a really beautiful musical interlude.

frank is without doubt my favorite guitar player. his playing was always inventive, interesting, and rocked.

i am glad to have been able to have seen him in concert many times. there are only a few people i have seen in concert that have the command of the stage the way frank did. prince does also, but in a very different vein.
[This message was edited Sun Dec 8 16:58:33 PST 2002 by medoc2003]

medoc2003 said:

yeah, unfortunatly im only 16 so i never got a chance to see zappa in concert. that really upsets me. and i havent seen prince in concert yet either because im a relativly new prince fan.

is it just me or do people hear a heavy zappa influence on prince's "the holy river". listen around 6:23 and there is one passage that i hear and think is verry zappa-esque. it could just be me but let me know if you hear the same thing.

i always thought that musically "play in the sunshine" sounded zappa-esque. i am not at home and won't be able toget to my copy of emancipation for about 5 weeks or so, but when i go home, i'll check out holy river.

ZAPPA is AMAZING!!!
Zappa & Prince are my favs.
FZ did SO much. His stuff is WILD!!
Thank you for starting a Zappa thread!!
wish we had an FZ emoticon!

What are his best albums?

careydevi said:"What are his best albums?"

My personal faves are:

We're Only In It For The Money
Hot Rats
One Size Fits All
Joe's Garage
You Are What You Is

U can't go far wrong buying any of the aforementioned.

yes, Zappa rules

my top 3 artists :

1. Prince
2. Zappa
3. Bowie


I've started many a topic on Zappa in this forum. I find many similarities in Zappa and Prince's careers, both battled warners, both were independant and bot made the music they want 2 make!

Zappa is a true genius, may he rest in peace

DorianGray said:

add Apostrophe and Absolutely Free (marvelous album)
I never saw him perform on stage I started collecting his music in 1992...

my list of favorite albums:

absolutely free
uncle meat
hot rats
the grand wazoo
apostrophe
one size fits all
bongo fury
zappa in new york
lather
shut up'n play yer guitar

oh yes lather is definetely up there

and the new live album OZ is very cool as well

i love just about any peice of music that zappa laid his hands on but one album to add is "Roxy/Elswhere". that album is so amazing that it scares me. i strongly recommend getting it as an intro to zappa's music. the song "Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?" from that cd is REDICULOUS!! in the main theme, each bar is in a different time signature.

hope you enjoyed that rant!

erm...Although I haven't experienced Zappa as to an extent as you all have, I wondered what you guys think of his insturmental album. I don't remember the name but share your opinions on it.

his instrumental album... hmmm which one?

Yellow Shark?
Civilization phase 3
lumpy gravy??

there's just so many 2 choose from...

to carydevi:
as starbuck said, there are many either totally or mainly instrumental albums. the instrumental stuff is what i love about zappa. some folks are attracted to the biting satire and sort of humorus side of his music, but what knocks me out are the instrumentals.

hot rats: mainly instrumental, only 1 vocal track great album.

the grand wazoo: mainly instrumental, only 1 vocal track, also a great album.

shut up'n play yer guitar: instrumental album, all guitar solos.

orchestral favorites, london symphony, and the yellow shark, all 3 are orchestral/symphonic albums.

jazz from hell: electronic/synclavier instrumental album

i could continue on because he released 60-70 albums during his career, so i'll leave it at that.

What Medoc said

I do love his satirical approach a lot
and yes his instrumentals are very top notch!! Not 1 artist comes close to his genious!!

starbuck said:

ahhh...
I love hearing these words in the name of FZ!

Time to do our maths children.

Music = Frank Zappa + Miles Davis + Prince.

Why you ask?

-They did things their own way
-Didn't take no sh*t from no one
-Musical innovators
-Great bandleaders - attracted great musicians
-Long fruitful careers - Huge output
-Distinctive sound
-Willingness to do what the music demanded

i agree that prince is EXTREMELY talented but i wouldnt rank him with miles davis and frank zappa merely because i think that zappa and davis have a more original sound.

dont misunderstand me, im not knocking prince, its just that he borrowed a lot from other artists, when i listen to zappa, i do hear a lot of influence from other people BUT zappa played many different styles of music and he basically invented a few of the many sounds that he plays. it is very hard to explain what i mean but if you listen to zappa's music you'll know EXACTLY what im talking about.

lyrics or no lyrics i love to death almost anything zappa ever touched. something about his compositional skills really gets my hear off.

Yes Zappa had a way of inventing his own music over and over again
My first Zappa record ever was Absolutely Free (bought it in 1992) and I was immediately hooked !! What a creative mind, my next was Apostrophe ' , The humour in it was 2 much 4 me, I just had 2 have everything the man made! I do so regret that I have never seen him live but luckily I have lots of concerts and videos 2 watch, listen 2
I also collect all Zappa lp's as they tend 2 differ from the cd releases

jonno said:

I get the connection. I like a little bit of Zappa ("Sheikh Yerbouti" is the first album I heard, and it's still my favourite). Very prolific, occasionally blessed with genius, but man if ever someone needed an editor and a stop sign it was the late great Mister Z.

jonno said:

Agree with you 100%...
Frank Zappa could churn out some guitarsolo's that are just simply some of the most dreamy ever produced by man, IMHO...

Neversin.

Recently I've been buying several 12" by Zappa,
I acquired the dancing Fool 12" with the xtended version
and the picture disc for You are what you is"

Maybe some of the Zappa loving orgers would like 2 trade live shows?