Frank Zappa: “Never discuss philosophy or politics in a disco environment”
Despite emerging from the depths of the counterculture scene, Frank Zappa never really bought into it that much. Instead, he sought to reveal everything it claimed not to be, standing tall against the pretence that defined an entire era. As Grace Slick once said: “Frank sat behind piles of electronic equipment, discussing his latest ideas for orchestrating satirical hippie rock music. Never a druggie, Frank openly made fun of the very counter-culture he was helping to sustain.”
Zappa always seemed like one of the industry’s most enigmatic figures, enhanced by his deadpan and standoffish demeanour, arriving in stark contrast to the pop monoliths that emerged during his time. Unlike them, who rose to fame by polishing up the parameters of blues and rock ‘n’ roll, Zappa was endeared to classical music and composers like Edgard Varese, marking his official arrival in the music industry as somewhat unexpected.
Equipped with harsh opinions from the off, Zappa brought his intelligence to everything he did, using his platform to air his displeasures towards the industry at large. Most of these can be found easily, but when it came to censorship, Zappa felt particularly strongly about the way the higher-ups in the industry pushed to control to the point of toxicity. Often, this meant he jumped between detailing the system’s nuances and harshly disregarding the country’s values.
As he once said during Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words, “We mean nothing”. Instead of allowing it to be a precursor to some existential musing, however, he dove into the negatives of the American value system, saying, “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.”
“If you wanted to know the answers to any of these questions, you would never get them in an environment like this.”
frank zappa
That said, while Zappa was almost always switched on and ready to deliver some eye-opening commentary about society and the music industry, he knew how to pick his moments. During his famous interview with Grace Slick in 1984, he kept his cards relatively close to his chest despite her asking questions about his views on the industry and advice he would give to bands trying to make it.
For instance, while he happily divulged his views on whether artists should take the plunge (“Get another job”), he was quick to shut down when Slick asked, “What would be the first adjustment you would make in a political system if you had the power to do so?” After a beat, Zappa bites back, “No, I won’t answer that. If you wanted to know the answers to any of these questions, you would never get them in an environment like this. A wise man once said, ‘Never discuss philosophy or politics in a disco environment.'”
Granted, said environment seemed filled with younger aspirationals who weren’t sure whether to take Zappa’s words seriously or not, but his demeanour seemed entirely poised to reject commenting on anything that could later come full circle. He also seemed more relaxed than in other interviews, likely due to Slick’s presence, but this meant his comment seemed to point towards another acknowledgement of tact regarding celebrity and commenting on issues in the spotlight.
Throughout his life, Zappa had observed the approaches by others attempting to virtue signal against things they believed in. However, he also understood the power of choosing to do so at the right moment and not wasting your breath when such comments run the risk of being met with indifference. After all, he believed thoughtful topics deserved the time of day, not the dismissiveness of an off-hand remark in a flippant setting.
