Truth and Method: How Can We Be More Objective When Analysing Music

I read a review of Frank Zappa and the And this week – and despite its negativity,  it got me thinking about the ways in which our world views impact the ways in which we interpret meaning in music. Being simplistic about it – if one looks at the world through a Marxist lens, the chances are you will be suspicious of (what you perceive to be) authority (such as universities or academics), not to mention the ‘truth’ that institutionalised narratives impose. Likewise, if you regard music to be ‘absolute’ (when its beauty is itself), semiological (where it has the potential to refer to meanings outside of the music itself) or spiritual (where it has some relation to the divine) – your world view will play a big part in helping you decide what the music ‘MEANS’.

For me, as outlined in Gadamer’s ‘Truth and Method’ – real objectivity is impossible. We can’t help but ‘know’! However – we have to try!!

So – my question is: Where do the meanings of music lie – and how do we overcome the prejudices of our ‘methods’ to produce ‘truth’? I don’t have any definite answers to this – but am interested in ideas/responses.

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Frank Zappa and the And: Chapter 7 – Zappa and the Story Song

Chaper 7 of Frank Zappa and the And is by Geoff Wills. Geoff’s chapter covers loads of interesting cross references that influenced Zappa’s musical idiolect.I have copied the first few hundred words below to give you a feel for the subject matter. Also – Geoff is an accomplished artist – and the attached drawing will be incorporated for the cover of the book.

The era in America after World War II was an especially rich one with regard to cultural phenomena. In the area of music, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky had moved to the USA, and were wielding considerable influence. Charles Ives was finally achieving recognition after his second symphony was premiered by Leonard Bernstein in 1951. In jazz, the bebop experiments of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie had emerged, as had the orchestral innovations of Stan Kenton, Boyd Raeburn and Claude Thornhill. In Cinema, the 1940s created the bleak atmosphere for Film Noir, while in the 1950s a fear of Communism was obliquely reflected in a wave of Science-Fiction movies such as The Thing from Another World[1] and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.[2] American art made a worldwide impact with Abstract Expressionism, as did American literature with the Beat writers. Comedy was also transformed by a group of satirical stand-up comics, such as Shelley Berman and Lenny Bruce, not to mention the emergence of Rock n’ Roll. This was the era in which Frank Zappa grew up and, sponge-like, he soaked in all the cultural influences around him, stored them, and ultimately regurgitated them in an original synthesis. This chapter will focus on one approach that Zappa used to present his synthesis, namely the story-song. It will attempt to make parallels between themes in his work and those in the wider area of American culture. It will also examine the way that Zappa developed the trade-mark sound of his voice to frequently present these story-songs.

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[1] Christian Nyby and Howard Halks, The Thing from Another World, Winchester Pictures Corporation (1951).

[2] Don Seigel, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Allied Artists Pictures (1956).

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Frank Zappa and the And: Chapter 6 – Zappa and Resistance

I got some good news from Ashgate today – the Frank Zappa and the And: A Contextual Analysis of his Legacy was given the final green light for publiction – so the book will be out this year. So – here is the into to Chapter 6. This essay is by Prof. Claude Chastagner from the University of Montpelier, and he is investigating an important aspect of Zappa’s legacy – his relationship with resistance. Here is the start of the essay -

Artists are in a privileged position to voice the grievances of the silent, helpless, anonymous citizen. They can articulate the disapproval of objectionable legislation, obnoxious leaders, insufferable social policies, or ruthless economic plans. They can testify in court against censorship, write paeans to the rainforests, organise concerts to fight famine, or persuade people to register to vote. I am obviously alluding to the much publicised actions of artists like Sting, Bob Geldof, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, George Harrison, R.E.M., and many others, including Franz Zappa. There are so many ways to disagree with one’s contemporaries, and so many reasons to do it. However, Sting’s or Bob Geldof’s agendas were probably different from Frank Zappa’s when he testified against censorship in popular music at the Parents Music Resource Centre (PMRC) Senate hearing in 1985, or when he wrote ‘don’t forget to register to vote’ on the sleeve of his Fillmore East, June 71 album. As a rule, rock musicians have opted for two main strategies, which have by now become quite familiar. One is overt protest, in the form of rebellious anthems, crowd-arousing slogans, angry riffs, or defiant postures. This has been the case with some late 1960s bands (from Country Joe and the Fish to Jefferson Airplane), numerous punks bands, among them, most prominently, The Clash, and more recently groups such as Rage Against the Machine, The Agitator, or Lethal Bizzle. The other has been to devote oneself to a cause, organise and federate fellow artists, and raise money and consciousness by staging worldwide events. Frank Zappa is a stranger to both, with few of his songs relying on straightforward rebellious riffs, save in a tongue-in-cheek manner, and lyrics rather meant to make people think, laugh, or frown, than yell slogans. Likewise, Zappa was never concerned by charity rock, though he often opposed the advocates of censorship. Zappa, however, could easily stand as protest incarnate. His pedigree is indeed irreproachable: 10 days in jail in 1964 for what was considered as pornographic recordings, the patronage of Václav Havel, his public indictment of the PMRC agenda, etc. His lyrics often read as violent satires of Middle America, scathing attacks on all kinds of religious bigotry, rednecks, and televangelists, while his compositions have consistently challenged moral and musical norms, including those of rock music. Hence his iconic rebellious status, which in the seventies and eighties stretched behind the Iron Curtain.

 

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Frank Zappa and the And – Chapter 5: Zappa and Satire: From Conceptual Absurdism to the Perversity of Politics

Over the last week I have had the first official feedback from Ashgate on the Zappa book. It has been very positive – so with look the book is target for a 2012 release. Chapter 5 is by Nick Awde – and focuses on the relationship of Zappa and Comedy. So – five chapters down – Seven to go

Humour is a driving force throughout the oeuvre of Frank Zappa, a unifying element integral to his lyrical and instrumental music, films and corporate image. Indeed, while comedy is a genre that does not always travel beyond national or even the narrowest of social circles, Zappa’s humour proved no obstacle in helping his work transcend international boundaries,finding ready partners in the art, protest and civil rights movements that grew out of post-war society in North America and Europe. Humour, specifically satire, was the force that propelled Frank Zappa from conceptual comedian to social commentator to ‘perverse’ politician.

The vast majority of Zappa’s tracks stand up to scrutiny in this respect – even across a recorded repertoire of more than 60 official albums it is remarkably hard to identify ‘duds’ since context shifts with time and one must constantly revise appreciation of any given track.This chapter intends to provide an overview of Zappa’s humour and, identifying the principal satirical elements therein, to offer pointers towards placing him within the American comedy spectrum. It shall also note formative effects of his upbringing, the socio-historical context of comedy in post-war popular music, comic influences, and the changing effects of the times in which Zappa worked and his ability to adapt to them. Collectively, these will contribute towards a preliminary definition of his legacy.

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Chapter 3 of Frank Zappa and And: Zappa and Religion

When I put the call out for contributors to the Zappa book, one of the areas I wanted authors to explore was described as ‘Zappa and God’. Although most Zappa fans probably find this relationship problematic, I have always found Zappa’s Catholic upbringing and his opposition to Christian Fundamentalism interesting. Pandora’s Kevin Seal took up the challenge of exploring this fascinating area – and here is the beginning of his essay.

In the mythology Frank Zappa built throughout his work, he depicted religion as pure folly. Followers of religion appear as judgmental and gullible dupes, with religious leaders displayed as malevolent hypocrites. Yet throughout compositions such as ‘Watermelon in Easter Hay’ and ‘Sofa #2’, Zappa presents hints of the infinite. Is his take on a divine creator as cynical as his approach to zealots and patchouli-scented mystics? This essay intends to illuminate Zappa’s opinions of Catholicism, evangelical Christianity, and Eastern religions, and to demonstrate his view that music serves as a more valid means of spiritual communication than that which any organised religion can provide. After outlining Zappa’s position on religion, the essay will place particular emphasis on the texts of One Size Fits All, Joe’s Garage, You Are What You Is, and Broadway the Hard Way, and will examine the ways in which Conceptual Continuity and his Big Note theory resonate in the intersection of science and faith.

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Frank Zappa and the And: Sent Off Today!!!

Well, after over year of hard work – Frank Zappa and the And: A  Contextual Analysis of his Legacy was sent off to the publisher today. There will still be work to do once it goes through the publishing process – but I am so relieved that it is finally packaged up and posted. The goal is that the book will be published by the end of this year, and there really are some fantastic chapters, discussing many areas of Zappa’s legacy that have not being touched upon before. Over the next few months I will occasionally post sort extracts of specific chapters to give interested parties a taster. So –  I thought a good place to start would be the Introduction.

‘Composer, guitarist, film maker, satirist and political activist, of all the prominent rock musicians to emerge during the mid 1960’s, Frank Zappa (1940–1993) is arguably the most complex and prolific. During his 27 years in the public eye (1966–1993), Zappa released over 60 official albums between the inaugural The Mothers of Invention recording Freak Out! and Civilization Phase III, a figure that does not include numerous bootleg recordings, or the ‘official’ posthumous releases made available by the Zappa Family Trust. This inexhaustible creativity is complemented by unusual eclecticism, with Zappa being one of the few rock musicians to interface with both high and low culture on a regular basis, a process in which he freely juxtapositioned otherwise disparate musical styles (such as doo-wop, reggae and musique concrète) within the same compositions and albums. Besides a tendency for implementing this artistic freedom via his much quoted maxim, ‘anything, anytime, for no reason at all’, Zappa also progressively cross-referenced his own, other composers’ music, and popular culture at large throughout his career, providing a range of what Roland Barthes described as obvious and obtuse meanings for his audience’…………………………………………..

The chapter then goes on to cross reference many references that relate to Zappa, including – Roland Barthe, Umberto Eco, Eduard Hanslick, Michel Imberty, Robert Walser, Paul Hindermith, Milton Babbitt, James Joyce, Thomas Pynhon, Ben Watson, Plato, Jamie James, Aristotle, Richard Norton, Julian Dodd, Søren Kierkegaard, Joseph Grigley, Richard Middleton, Michel Faucault, John Blacking, Douglas Hofstadter, Nick Cooke, Jean-Jacques Nattiez, and er………………… Frank Zappa.

More to follow next time.

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