Grace Slick and Frank Zappa’s dark warning about the future of the music industry
In many ways, despite their inherent differences, Grace Slick and Frank Zappa always seemed cut from the same cloth. As two like-minded musical pariahs, the pair viewed the industry differently from most, observing its brokenness from the inside out. It’s easy to see why. After all, intellectuals like them often encounter more issues when it comes to navigating commercial and external pressures amid constant scrutiny.
While the admiration was perhaps stronger for Slick, she viewed Zappa as the ultimate outsider, though in a way that demonstrated how to address and overcome some of the industry’s greatest downfalls. Although they differed in some ways, like their attitudes towards substance use, Slick identified with Zappa’s mindset and lifestyle, even if they seemed somewhat off-kilter at times.
As she recalled in her autobiography, “Frank Zappa’s house in the canyon, which I visited several times, looked exactly like a troll’s kingdom”.
She continued, noting how there would be “fuzzy-haired women” in “long antique dresses” while the musician sat behind “piles of electronic equipment discussing his latest ideas for orchestrating satirical hippie rock music”. Although a part of the counterculture movement, Slick admired how Zappa poked fun at its pretentiousness.
Back then, many of the same issues reigned supreme. For instance, while it seems many of the industry’s disadvantages in the current landscape are new issues, many date back decades, like the fight for rising artists to establish themselves without a wad of money behind them or the way women have to push more ardently than their male counterparts to gain respect outside of their appearance.
“They’ll hold onto your money, and you’ll have to sue them to get it.”
frank zappa
All of these things were facets of the industry that Slick and Zappa knew well from experiencing them on a day-to-day basis. Although their challenges had specific nuances, the struggles of “making it” were fairly textbook. Both had the chance to discuss this during their notorious 1984 interview, where they exhibited their typical deadpan demeanour with a sort of resigned exhaustion.
Part-way through, Slick asked Zappa what advice he would give to bands first starting out who don’t have any funds to support such a move or backing from a big label. “It’s not possible [to do],” he deadpanned. “They’ll hold onto your money, and you’ll have to sue them to get it,” he continued, shutting down Slick’s next question about the most important thing for a band to do when first starting out: “Don’t start.”
He added: “Get another job. Don’t do it.”
Slick shared the sentiment, responding: “It’s looking bleak, even for people like me who have been around for a while.”
Although dark, their cynicism isn’t entirely out of place, especially considering the many obstacles both had to overcome to get to where they were. After all, during a time when more labels were manipulating and pushing their artists to generate cash and nothing else, it’s easy to see why choosing to have no part of it would be the better option.
However, doing so also means artists will never have the chance to alter the industrial landscape of contemporary music, which only allows the vicious cycle to continue.
