Frank Zappa’s damning review of American culture: “We mean nothing”
Whilst the late Frank Zappa was a musical genius, without his distinctive personality, there’s no way he would have become the icon that he is remembered as today. A hippie-hating misanthrope with a profoundly authentic view of the world, alongside his many artistic accomplishments, he left behind a treasure trove of interviews that outline just how fascinating of a character he was.
One of the most compelling portraits of Frank Zappa is the 2016 documentary feature Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words. A fusion of clips from interviews, performances and unseen archival footage, it swaps the usual talking heads used in traditional music documentaries and instead offers an organic picture of the influential American musician conjured by no one but himself.
There are many notable moments in the film. Still, one of the most enlightening comes during an interview in which Zappa discusses American culture and how insignificant it is compared to countries with their own traditions that are thousands of years old. In fact, the ‘Cosmik Debris’ musician was so scathing about the American cultural identity that he simply said: “We mean nothing.”
Zappa explained: “The thing that sets the Americans apart from the rest of the cultures in the world is; we’re so fucking stupid. This country has been around for a couple of hundred years, and we think we’re hot shit, and we don’t even realise that other countries have thousands of years of history and culture, and they’re proud of it. And when we deal on an international level, you know, with foreign policy and stuff like that, and we try and go in, as you know, the big American strong country and all that stuff, they must laugh up their sleeves at us because we are nothing. We are culturally nothing; we mean nothing. We’re only interested in the bottom line.”
Noting the difference between America and the rest of the world, he continued: “Every other country has their own art, their own music, their own theatre, their own drama, their folk dances, folk songs, folklore, and it means something to them, and they’re proud of it, and that’s their ethnic heritage. We have Levi’s, we have designer jeans, we have hamburgers, we have Coca-Cola, we have REO Speedwagon, we have Journey, we have this one, we have that one, and then we go out there, and we say, ‘Yeah, but we also have neutron bombs and poison gas, so maybe that makes up for it.'”
The musician concluded: “I mean, it’s really kinda sad when you evaluate it that way. And I think that a country that doesn’t do something to sustain its culture, whatever it is, doesn’t invest in it, doesn’t keep it happening, isn’t proud of it, maybe they just shouldn’t exist. Because it’s the culture and the beautiful things that a society produces, those are the things that should survive for thousands of years, not the designer jeans.”
Following these comments, it makes sense that Zappa would become the hero of a small Lithuanian republic following the fall of Communism.
Watch the interview below.
