I like to watch the news, because I don't like people very much and when you watch the news... if you ever had an idea that people were really terrible, you could watch the news and know that you're right.
Frank ZappaRead
Let’s be realistic about this, the guitar can be the single most blasphemous device on the face of the earth. That’s why I like it . . . The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar: now that’s my idea of a good time.
Interpretation
Frank Zappa embraces the paradox of the electric guitar's power and its potential for chaos, celebrating its rebellious nature.
In this quote, Frank Zappa expresses his appreciation for the electric guitar, highlighting its duality as both a beautiful instrument and a source of noise and chaos. He finds joy in its loudness and rebellious spirit, suggesting that art, like music, can be both deeply enjoyable and provocatively disruptive, challenging conventional notions of aesthetics.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about the importance of embracing chaos in creative endeavors.
I like to watch the news, because I don't like people very much and when you watch the news... if you ever had an idea that people were really terrible, you could watch the news and know that you're right.
The richest people in the world aren't particularly smart or happy. And the happiest people in the world aren't particularly smart or rich.… That leaves me making music. But we can't talk about that.
Bad facts make bad law, and people who write bad laws are in my opinion more dangerous than songwriters who celebrate sexuality. Freedom of speech, freedom of religious thought, and the right to due process for composers, performers and retailers are imperiled if the PMRC and the major labels consummate this nasty bargain.
Don't mind your make-up, you'd better make your mind up.
Music is always a commentary on society.
I'm more interested in melodic things. I think the biggest challenge when you go to play a solo is trying to invent a melody on the spot.
Songs don't have to be about going out on Saturday night and having a good rink-up and driving home and crashing cars. A lot of what I've done is about alienation... about where you fit in society.
If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?
It is a good thing to stand away from the canvas from time to time and take a full view of the picture.
Books are seldom useful unless they are also beautiful.
For me the experience of writing is really an experience of losing control.... I think it's very much like dreaming or like surfing. You go out there and wait for a wave, and when it comes it takes you somewhere and you don't know where it'll go.
Art isn't only a painting. Art is anything that is creative, passionate and personal. Art is the unique work of a human being created to touch another. Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.
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