Frank Zappa has always been known for his more than unusual
lyrics, his abstract interpretation of instrumentalization, and for pushing the
political boundaries. All of the above statements hold true in "Joe's Garage Acts I, II, & III" where Frank
tells the fictional story of an adolescent by the name of Joe who forms a band
just as the government begins to outlaw music because of it leads to unusual
sexual practice and drug usage.
A little background on the record is, Zappa created the
story for this album around the time where congress was considering censoring
music, and 6 years before the Parents Music Resource Center was founded. In the
fictional world of Joe's Garage, Zappa shows what "The Mothers of
Prevention" could do to music if they had their way with music.
Joes Garage is more or less a movie for the ears rather than
an actual album to sit and listen to. With all acts totaling roughly an hour
and a half, it is most definitely a play for your ears to enjoy. The first song
"The Central Scrutinizer" introduces the government employee known as
"The Central Scrutinizer" who is the narrator and tells you the tale
of Joe whose life is ruined by playing music.
The next song "Joes Garage" is the title name of
the album, but tells the beginning of the story and how Joe starts out simply
playing in a band, and playing every night to his mothers detest, practicing
night after night to get as good as the people he idolizes. The band Joe plays
in dreams of playing in "A go-go bar" and playing the same repetitive
music that is played on the pop radio stations of the late 70's and early 80's.
Eventually, the story progresses to where Joe's band starts
to get some local recognition and he begins to date a "Catholic Girl"
by the name of Mary, who he meets at the local church. Joe is out playing a
show, but little does he know that his girlfriend Mary is cheating on him
backstage at a seperate show so she can get a backstage pass to see a famous rock
band, and The Central Scrutinizer uses this opportunity how music is causing
more trouble.
Once Joe catches wind of Mary and her dirty adventures, he
falls in with the fast crowd, and starts to fool around with a girl named
Lucille, who gives him an un-pronounceable STD, which leads Joe to sing the
song "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?” But even more unfortunate for Joe, he
fell in love with Lucille, and we all know that sad teenage story about how a
member of the opposite sex will break your heart, and this leads Joe to sing
"Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up".
After Joe is left in a mental daze, the Central Scrutinizer
uses this opportunity to interject by saying "Joe says Lucille has messed
his mind up, but, was it the girl or was it the music?" and tells how Joe
tries to make himself feel better by joining a church to retain some values he
lost playing music. And that is the close of Act I of Joe's Garage.
Act II starts out with Joe joining a very strange church,
and his mind is still so messed up from Lucille, that he just goes along with
all the craziness the church has. The church leads Joe to believe, that to make
himself feel better he must join a club where you dress up as a house wife,
speak german, and have sexual intercourse with robots, which is the last thing
Joe needed.
Joe finds a particular robot at a place called "The
Closet" that he takes home to have relations with, and ends up breaking
it. After Joe breaks the "Sy Borg" the Central Scrutinizer appears to
tell Joe he has to pay for it, to which he replies "The church took all my
money two songs ago!" and he is left to "Come out of the closet"
with the Central Scrutinizer.
When Joe does "Come out of the closet" he is sent
to a prison particularly for people from the music industry, where he meets a former
recording executive who tells him the story of "Bald headed John" who
runs the prison showers. Joe spends a great deal of time in prison, where some
real bad stereotypical things happen to him.
The end of Act II leaves Joe saying he want to be
"Outside now" where he slowly begins to lose his sanity even further
than it was gone before, and you can clearly visualize as he bawls up in the
corner and just repeats to himself "I can't wait to see what it's like on
the outside now"
Act III starts off with Joe finally being released from
prison after his run in with Sy Borg, and breaking the music laws. His mental
state is almost entirely deteriated after spending hard time in solitary
confinement, and he never had the chance to recover from his broken heart after
Mary left him and Lucille messed up his mind.
Joe encounters an old lady that he used to cut the grass for
when he was in his youth to get enough money to pay for his music addiction. He
is just mindlessly walking around, his mental state entirely gone, imagining
guitar solos, and vocal tracks to his songs, and imagining that the critics
love his songs and praise him all the time, but sadly none of this is
happening.
The very old woman looks at Joe and is absolutely shocked
after seeing the state that he is left in after his music addiction, and the
only words she can really seem to get out is "He used to cut the grass, he
was a very nice boy". As she is saying that Joe begins to have flashbacks
of playing in his garage and her yelling "Turn it down! I'm calling the
police" but he just simply keeps on moving.
A very mentally disturbed Joe is walking down the street
moving his lips and talking to himself about his music, as "Watermelon in
Easter Hay" comes on, which takes you inside the mind of Joe and the music
he is creating. At this point, the Central Scrutinizer states that this is
Joe's very last song he will ever think of or play for the rest of his life
before he gives up music forever.
After Joe gives up music, he gets a job at the UMRK (Utility
Muffin Research Kitchen, a reference to the song Muffin Man off of another
Zappa album Bongo Fury) where he decorates muffins for a living and becomes a
pretty happy guy after giving up music. After this the Central Scrutinizer
doesn't hesitate to interject one last and final time to tell you of the evils
of music.
Joe's Garage is a phenomenal album and should most definitely
be turned into a play or movie of some sort, with the great story that is told.
The story of Joe is definitely an interesting one, and most definitely a bold
one considering the politics surrounding music at the time. If this album is at
least anything, it’s a giant middle finger to the Parents Music Resource
Center, who if got their way, would have hundreds of Central Scrutinizers
policing music every single day.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment