Valley Girl – Frank Zappa (1982)

Description

Additional information about this Frank Zappa vinyl art.

Frank Zappa – The Artist

Frank Vincent Zappa (1940 – 1993) was an American multi-instrumentalist musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterised by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity, and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse rock musicians of his era

Valley Girl – The Song

‘Valley Girl’ is a song by American musician Frank Zappa and his then-14-year-old daughter, Moon Zappa. The song appeared on Zappa’s 1982 album Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch and was released as a single, becoming his sole Top 40 hit. The lyrics were a deliberate attack on the slang and behaviour of stereotypical valley girls. Zappa stressed that it was not a happy song, and that he hated the San Fernando Valley, calling it “a most depressing place.” Moon supplied Frank with much of the content, speaking typical “valley girl” or “Valspeak” phrases she heard at “parties, bar mitzvahs, and the Galleria.” Though intended as a parody, the single popularised the valley girl stereotype nationwide. Following the single’s release, there was a significant increase in “Valspeak” slang usage, whether ironically spoken or not. In particular, the film Valley Girl capitalised on this cultural curiosity.
Zappa expressed concern that, despite his rich body of music, he was seen as a “novelty” artist because of songs like “Valley Girl” and “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow”. At the time of the single’s release, Moon said, “I am not a valley girl, but I guess that is my claim to fame.

Frank Zappa – The Shape

This record has been cut into the unmistakable shape of Frank Zappa with his long hair, large eyebrows and unmistakable large moustache and goatee beard.

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