Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play
by Ben Watson
Our Price: $138.72
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.99 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ben WatsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-04
ISBN: 0312141246
Number of pages: 621
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Book Reviews of Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play
Book Review: A smack in the face to lazy rock criticism
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book for no reason that is very clear to me anymore, since when I bought it I was neither a left-wing academic nor a Zappa fan. I think the sheer obsessive folly of the whole thing got me hooked. And in fact, quite apart from it's virtues as a treatise on philosophy (which, among other things, it is) or a book about Zappa, it's one of the best books ever written about rock music. Watson's brilliant inspiration was to try to bring together his dedicated left-wing politics and his love for the vast and ungainly oeuvre of the decidedly non-left-wing Frank Zappa. It's a heroic attempt, and the amazing thing about it is that it's persuasive. Zappa's hatred of religious fundamentalism, his dedication to music, his humour, his indomitable determination to stick to his guns, his courage in opposing repressive government policies, are what get Watson really enthusiastic. It's true that there's not all that much here about the music qua music, although Watson considers Zappa to be an important composer and the finest rock guitarist since Hendrix (and he's not far wrong about either); but the minute attention to Zappa's lyrics produces some of the most unlikely and brilliant literary criticism since William Empson. The section when he goes to visit the ailing Zappa in LA is remarkable (Zappa seems to have generally approved of the book, and is a gracious interviewee even when he claims that he can't stand Shakespeare.) "Preposterousness is an underrated quality" claims the author in a letter to Zappa's wife, and this book bears him out. It also turned me into a Zappa fan. Now that has to be a good thing.
Summary of Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play
Too iconoclastic, too rude, too idiosyncratic to be easily embraced by the music world or the critics, the late Frank Zappa lives on by having established the avant-garde musical seat in the pantheon of artistic genres. Here, Watson details the esoteric and ambitious work of one of this century's most dedicated and unclassifiable masters of freedom and imagination.There is probably no figure of modern popular music who so deserves the sort of scholarly exercise undertaken by Ben Watson in this book, and I am personally convinced that Zappa will be regaled by 21st Century music historians as a "crux of the biscuit" of 20th Century music.
And this 700 page tome will certainly be cited by our music historian descendants. In fairness, it may confound today's Zappa fans with it's copious references to Adorno, Freud, and Marx, but is likely to delight the erudite with its excerpts of the playfully situationist lyrics of Zappa, completely deconstructed by Watson. There is no doubt that Zappa was a genius--albeit a peculiarly American sort--and there is no doubt that no book has yet attempted such a thorough (albeit peculiar) analysis of his genius. Highly Recommended.
Music Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Music Books
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brainby Oliver Sacks
Knopf Publishing Group; Published: 2008; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.98
Listenby Joseph Kerman, Gary Tomlinson
Bedford/St. Martin's; Published: 2007-02-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.95
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Centuryby Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Forever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylanby Douglas R. Gilbert, Dave Marsh
Da Capo Press; Published: 2006-10-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops:
Heroes And Villains: The True Story Of The Beach Boysby Steven Gaines
Da Capo Press; Published: 1995-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops:
Handbook for Sound Engineers, Third Editionby Glen Ballou
Focal Press; Published: 2002-01-21; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Jazz Anecdotesby Bill Crow
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-05-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.18
Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williamsby Paul Hemphill
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2006-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.93
Price in other shops:
How to Train Singers/ Book and Tapeby Larra Browning Henderson
Parker; Published: 1991-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.95
Price in other shops:
I, Tina: My Life Story (icon!t)by Tina Turner, Kurt Loder
It Books; Published: 2010-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.30
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Cosmik Debris: The Collected History and Improvisations of Frank Zappaby Greg Russo
Crossfire Pubns; Published: 2003-01-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.95
Price in other shops:
Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore - Vol. 2Rykodisc; Release date: 1995-05-16; Music CD
Best price: $36.59
Zappa The Hard Wayby Andrew Greenaway
Wymer UK; Published: 2011-12-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.95
Price in other shops:
Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore - Vol. 5Rykodisc; Release date: 1995-05-30; Music CD
Best price: $32.29
Price in other shops:
Mother!: The Frank Zappa Storyby Michael Gray
Plexus Publishing; Published: 2003-05-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Academy Zappa: Proceedings Of The First International Conference Of Esemplastic Zappology (ICE-Z)S a F Pub Ltd; Published: 2005-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.64
Price in other shops:
Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappaby Pauline Butcher
Plexus Publishing; Published: 2011-10-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops: