Artist:Frank Zappa f/Moon Unit Zappa
Song:Valley Girl
Album:Have I Offended Someone?
Frank Zappa had the only pop hit of his career with Valley Girl. His music was a mixture of various popular music styles with an emphasis on social commentary and humour. He was born Dec. 21, 1940 in Baltimore. While studying music at Chaffey College in Alta Loma, CA, he joined a group called the Soul Giants. They morphed into The Mothers and Tom Wilson of Verve Records changed the name to The Mothers Of Invention. Zappa wrote all the songs. His mix of rock, jazz and modern classical music along with the humour built a solid following for Zappa and by 1969 he started his own record company with Warner Bros. By the 80s, Zappa got the rights for all his recordings and released them through Rykodisc. The only unusual thing about Frank Zappa was his music. He was a normal family man with four kids. He got his 14 year old daughter Moon Unit Zappa to appear on Valley Girl. It pokes fun at the mentality of California teenagers at that time. The song is hilarious and if you listen to the words, it's very subversive. Much to Zappa's amusement, it was a huge hit. Have I Offended Someone? is a 1997 comp featuring Zappa's humourous songs. He recorded a lot of music so it's a small part of his output. Frank Zappa died of cancer on Dec. 4, 1993 at age 52. For me, his music was always interesting. Here's Moon Unit Zappa performing Valley Girl on Solid Gold complete with the Solid Gold Dancers. The funny thing about this clip is it doesn't take advantage of the song's humour. And daddy is nowhere to be seen.
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