Quotessence
Home / Books / The Real Frank Zappa Book

The Real Frank Zappa Book

Book by Frank Zappa · 4 quotes · Comedy, Composer, Composing

Filter quotes by topic

AllComedyComposerComposingCompositionFailureMusicNostalgiaNostalgicSuccessTrends

The Real Frank Zappa Book Quotes

“The really big news of the eighties is the stampede to regurgitate mildly camouflaged musical styles of previous decades, in ever-shrinking cycles of 'nostalgia. (It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice—there are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia. When you compute the length of time between The Event and The Nostalgia For The Event, the span seems to be about a year less in each cycle. Eventually within the next quarter of a century, the nostalgia cycles will be so close together that people will not be able to take a step without being nostalgic for the one they just took. At that point, everything stops. Death by Nostalgia.)”

NostalgiaTrendsNostalgic
Book:The Real Frank Zappa Book
Create image

“Failure is one of those things that 'serious people' dread. Invariably, the persons most likely to be crippled by this fear are people who have convinced themselves that they are SO bitchen they shouldn't ever be placed in a situation where they might fail. Failure is nothing to get upset about. It's a fairly normal condition; an inevitability in ninety-nine percent of all human undertakings. Success is rare—that's why people get so cranked up about it.”

SuccessFailure
Book:The Real Frank Zappa Book
Create image

“If any of my kids ever asked me that question, the answer would have to be: "What I do is composition." I just happen to use material other than notes for the pieces. Composition is a process of organization, very much like architecture. As long as you can conceptualize what that organizational process is, you can be a ‘composer’ — in any medium you want. You can be a ‘video composer’, ‘film composer’, a ‘choreography composer’, a ‘social engineering’ composer — whatever. Just give me some stuff, and I'll organize it for you. That's what I do.”

ComposerCompositionComposing
Book:The Real Frank Zappa Book
Create image