Frank Zappa, The Music Industry, Government, & Joe's Garage [Wall of Text Warning]

Recently while toking and listening to music with my father, he introduced me to an old artist Frank Zappa. Now, I'm an 18 year old city boy who listens to mostly rap, but I sincerely do appreciate all sorts of music and I'm usually very open to listening to something new. My dad whipped out the 2 disc album "Joe's Garage Acts I, II, & III" The story behind the release of the album had to do with attempts by the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) to address the issue of song lyrics with sexual or satanic content. Frank Zappa saw this as an attempt of government censorship, and as an artist himself went before the Senate and challenged the PMRC. This was a huge debate and you can find the testimonies on YouTube here;
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxB-ZePpS7E]YouTube - Part 1 - Frank Zappa at PMRC Senate Hearing on Rock Lyrics[/ame]

Zappa clearly destroys the PMRC's testimony and makes them look stupider and stupider with every sentence he constructs. The more I looked into this debate the more and more it intrigued me. I kept doing more and more research trying to find out everything I could. Censorship was what the PMRC was really trying to achieve, and if it succeeded the entire music industry, and perhaps our way of life today, would be greatly altered. Censorship of one thing could possibly lead to the censorship of other things. This made me realize how bad the idea of censorship really is. It abolishes human creativity. It makes us "robots".

So I put the discs in, rip them to my Zune library, and start listening to the album and reading through the booklets in the CD. I was reading the opening intro on like the second page and it discusses the governments attempts at censorship. And sort of hints at a conspiracy of our entire government. It even claims that our constitution is being amended to accommodate the future. Obviously it seems certain things should be amended, but for the most part I believe not a damn thing should be further changed on that document. The constitution represents our very way of life, and stands for true liberty. The idea of the album's background character "The Central Scrutinizer", whose job it is to enforce all un-passed laws is, in my mind, supposed to represent the government. The album brings up very controversial points about government, in my mind. It reads;

"Eventually it was discovered, That God, Did not want us all to be the same. This was, BAD NEWS, For the Government of The World, As it seemed contrary, To the doctrine of, Portion Controlled Servings. Mankind must be made more, Uniformly if, THE FUTURE, Was going to work. Various ways were sought, To bind us all together, But, alas, Same-ness was unenforceable. It was about this time, That someone, Came up with the idea of, TOTAL CRIMINALIZATION. Based on the principle that, if we were ALL crooks, We could at last be made uniform, To some degree in the eyes of, THE LAW. Shrewdly our legislators, Calculated, That most people were, Too lazy to perform a, REAL CRIME, So no new laws were, Manufactured, Making it possible for, Anyone to violate them, Any time of the day or night, And, Once we had all broken, Some kind of law, We'd all be in the same,Big happy club, Right up there with the, President, The most exalted industrialists, And the clerical big shots, Of all your favorite religions. TOTAL CRIMINALIZATION, Was the greatest idea of its, Time and was vastly popular, Except with those people, Who didn't want to be crooks, Or outlaws. So, of course, they had to be, TRICKED INTO IT... Which is one of the reasons, Why, Music, Was eventually made, ILLEGAL."

Now with all that crazy stuff put into mind, does the idea really seem that far fetched? It already seems individual power is becoming even more minuscule with each presidential term, and almost seems like the government of today is even trying to protect us from ourselves. It is appearing to be more about money than ever, and not about the good of a nation. It already seems like mass people were to oppose their government or speak out against what they are doing, the government tries it's best to silence them. Even if it comes down to military actions against it own people. You can see it happening today in Libya or Egypt. I think once you start attacking your own civilians, your government is corrupt. Under no circumstances can a government not be corrupt if it is attacking it's own people.

A little bit back onto topic, I strongly recommend "Joe's Garage" to all of you to listen to one day and just get blazed to and listen to the whole thing in it's entire. It's actually a story too, so if you keep blazing and listening I'm sure you will enjoy it. it brings up a lot of topics you can question yourself. Do you think it is possible that our government is already corrupted, or that the constitution really is being amended for "The Future". The idea in my mind doesn't seem to far fetched. What our country really needs is another George Washington. What is the City's perspective on all of this? I never thought a rock album would spark such an interest in politics, or generate so many questions in my mind. I'm not paranoid about "The Future" of the world and whatnot, I'm just believe it is very possible that government is all just a huge front, for someone with this "master plan" of how the world should eventually be.

Sorry about the wall of text everyone, but at least you got a well thought out post, and something out of the ordinary to throw into the mix of your day.

Edited by Cudder x, 22 March 2011 - 10:59 PM.
Grammar

Bump.

I think we all know how corrupt our government is. It's not hard to figure out when they don't even try to hide it anymore. Besides, that whole deal with Zappa and the senate took place back in the mid 80's. It was all basically revisited again, with Zappa at the table again, when Tipper Gore went after Eminem. That's why there are warning stickers on CDs now, and edited versions of albums are available for the kiddies. Is it a form of censorship? Kind of, but the original, more explicit versions of our music is always available. You just have to be 18 to buy it.

Oh, how I miss the days when Ozzy bit the heads off of pigeons just for the PR.

I realized it happened long ago, but still think it is a very interesting topic and the outcome could have greatly shaped our nation and perhaps the world in a very different way.