We're Only In It For The Money

The bands name is extremely ironic but necessary is the one thing this album isn’t. I can’t get in to it, it’s psychedelic just for the sake of it. 4.1/10

Proof LSD doesn't always improve music.

I think I might be one of the only people that really enjoys the Mothers Of Invention albums 😬

I like the weirdness usually but something about this was a little off

Bit too experimental?

This really feels like a level of parody and criticism that may have hit harder at the time. It comes off as someone telling everyone how they're stupid and how this is highlighting that. It's not incompetently done but it doesn't do anything. I have no idea how this is mandatory listening. Maybe I'm an idiot they're talking about.

The most basic version of frustrated youth. Not so subtlety complaining and throwing a bit of a tantrum as an album. No one needs to hear this. I would not recommend it to anyone.

listened to again lots of weird goofs, some great stuff

7/10

This album is awful and truly difficult to listen through. I like some Zappa and I’m not above enjoying good satire but this sounds as insufferable as a 26 year old undergraduate student ripping a bong and bemoaning the current state of affairs.

The weird uncles of America owe the rest of us an apology for making this guy into a thing. It took me until this album to realize that American culture is too materialistic and that there are flaws in our political process. It's too bad I'm dead now that Frank Zappa bludgeoned me to death with the message for 35 minutes.

While I respect what Zappa accomplished and the lyrics are fun and message poignant, from a pure listening perspective, it's pretty rough. I like Zappa a lot, and a lot of his other parody, satirical songs have a lot of musical talent in them, but this feels more like a bunch of musicians fucking around in the studio and laughing at hippies, which while fair, doesn't make for a good audio experience.

it's very charming and has a political commentary and yet it feels very random but the random feels like it means something.. I;ve heard of the mothers of invention before, mostly as they were attacahed to Frank Zappa as well as the "indian of the Group," but I am happy to have listened to the album now! This is what this project is for! To hear culturally significant classics, to hear the great music of the past that I may have heard about but never actually listened to. The albuum is wildly funny, I especially liked Who Needs the Peace Corps as someone who lives next to SF and thinks hippies and that whole wave was pretty silly and funny. I loved Hair! I love SF and hearing "Frisco" is funny. Phony Hippies. Psychadelic dungeons. Crabs. Loving the police whilst getting the shit kicked out of you. Hot-cha! It's hilarious and I almost feel nostalgic for a time I was certainly not alive for. Smokin' an awful lot of dope, psychadelic gleam, bare feet. Dirty and stupid but happy is, I guess, beautifull. Hm. Pow-pow-pow! This album is so creative and interesting... Jimmy Carl Black is the Indian of the Group... but the interludes, the sounds, the talking... the nontraditional song structure. I love it! It's a good piece of history as much as it is a good piece of music. Cop kill a creep! Pow pow pow There's a weird lot of talk about cops beating people up in this album, at least thus far, and I do think/hope that they're on the right side of that issue.. Oinking... Hot poop wow Boy this album sure is wackadoodle But that's the point Take Your Clothes off when you dance is fun and sort of blissful even though I know its satirical it's stilll a little bit cute I think it's your mind... that's very disturbing and Woo its like my brain is melting I'm delirious. Perhaps that's the effect of the album. But I think it's excellent and I see why the Library of Congress liked it too.

interesting

I get that the point was to annoy you but if i wanted to laugh, I'd follow him into the bathroom

Wat een vage, trippy shit. Wel grappige teksten. Maar niks voor mij

Trippy interludes. Old timey.

Think it will get better with repeat listens. It's a "bit much" at first.

If ADHD was an album

Love Prog just not Zappa. I think he was a genius but it never clicked with me.

It’s weird as you’d expect a Zappa album to be. Must hear before you die? Nah 1001 album worthy: no 97:178

rip frank zappa u would've loved YTPs

Interesting...

Man, I've been fed a string of really bad albums from this list lately. I don't even know where to begin describing how bad this album was so I'll just give it one start and move on.

Well talk about a mood swing. When this artwork popped up for me I thought for a split second that I finally got my first Beatles album. Sadly, I was wrong. I guess I'm happy in a way that I've heard this record (and never will again), but it really was a slog. I know Frank Zappa and Howard Stern had mutual respect for one another, but I never know how much Howard had to have been influenced by this album. It seemed more like a comedy album than a music one. And unfortunately it wasn't all that funny.

By this time of his short, eventually vastly productive long career, Frank Zappa had had enough of the zeitgeist. He had seen through the bullshit that had now permeated the Haight-Ashbury psych dream scene and the straight laced over thirty stiffs pointing their fingers derisively to the point of mimicry. All he had to do was infuse those feelings into the music that was already standoffish in approach and respect towards what was already around and out would come this mish-mash of skits and compositions. It may not be for everyone, it probably never was but what's for certain is that Frank had his pulse on things, in his own way; and whether or not it was for monetary gain, at the end of the day, the art is what matters. Favorites: Who Needs the Peace Corps?, Concentration Moon, Mom & Dad, What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?, Absolutely Free, Let's Make the Water Turn Black, The Chrome Painted Megaphone of Destiny.

Incredibly unique and experimental while also having superb songwriting and performance.

Oh wow, another one that transports me right back to my rebellious teenage years. Loved this album. Always thought Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention to be the musical equivalent of Monthy Python's Flying Circus. What I appreciate about this 1001 Albums thing is the opportunity to reconnect or discover. My grandson (16) who got me into this bought their album as a result of it some months ago.

My problem with this is that it's too close in sound to the things it's parodying (which I also tend not to like), so it's not satisfying musically. And it's not funny enough to succeed on that front either.

An album that encompasses Zappa to me. All over the place and like a bunch of talented kids left alone with a tape recorder.

why

Not my cup of tea

Music sucked. Only redeeming qualities was that a lot of lyrical themes are still relevant today and they shit on the Beatles a lot.

Already shared my feelings here and would consider knocking this down a star for the ASMR of it all but eh

Cue a Liz Lemon eyeroll

Profoundly irritating

uh it's like jethro tull except not fun to listen to. I understand that it's experimental and lyrically smart, and has some actual good musical elements but it was shitty to listen to. I didn't like listening to it at all and I tried to listen to it some more but I really didn't care for this

This could be incredible as satire of 1960s American culture - I don't know enough about the era to judge that adequately but I'm happy to take the experts' word on it. But music it ain't.

3/5

I get it, it's satire....right?

Maybe a one star. But it's not baad bad, it's just too experimental for my taste.

Zappa's answer to the hippie movement. Irreverent, childish, innovative, boundary pushing at times.

This is an album you have to listen to all at once. It's an excellent piece of satire, but horrible for casual listening. I suppose I'm just in the right mood for it today, but I didn't hate it. It's chaos, but it's funny.

Crazy experience. Glad to have heard this one but not something I’d revisit often.

It's definitely different, a unique experience. Not in a good way though. I feel like Frank's vocal delivery is really sing-songy and kind of lame. There is a pattern to the delivery that makes me cringe. It's hard for me to imagine how he got so famous. This music is a one and done for me, I don't feel like I ever need to listen to this again. Maybe the message in the vocals is nice but it's not something that I would care to spend any time on.

Not for me

It's ok, GOOFY AF!

Track 11 said it best - "Hot Poop" 2 ⭐️

One of the worst albums on here

This is a tough listen. Not really enjoyable at all, but I /think/ that's what it's trying to be

Is this satire? I don't get it.

Probably trippy for it’s time but pretty terrible by todays standards

Um álbum ótimo disfarçado de álbum ruim. Os elementos anédoticos não me pegam muito, pois já disse em outra review que não ligo pra humor em música. Gosto da atitude sardónica e caustica do Zappa de criticar e zombar de tudo e todos. É uma atitude comendável, mas musicalmente, o disco deixa muito a desejar. Muitas partes são ótimas, mas como um todo, não consigo me imaginar ouvindo-o inteiro novamente. 2/5

This is classic commercial irreverence from The Mothers. Good on ya, lads. Good on ya.

Judging by the cover I was expecting some sort of parody version of Sgt Pepper’s by the Beatles, but what I actually got was almost aggressively bad. Unfunny skits, unlistenable experimental interludes and lyrics that were written by someone who hated both hippies and ‘the man’, trying to show how ‘CRAAAAYZEEE’ they were but sounding like a budget Dr Demento.

I enjoyed it way more that I think I would, reading to other reviews. Yes, it's chaotic, weird, sometimes (many times?) it's too focused on being weird not to loose the listener. But it's also funny and making fun of everyone and anyone, experimental in a good way, explore all directions (at once?), has some great moments lost in this... maelstrom. With all its quirks and defaults, it's a brilliant record.

Some of the lyrics made me laugh but this was overall an unpleasant experience. My ceiling for late 60s silly psychedelic fuckaroundery is about at the level of The Beatles' White Album and this was just too much. That said, I might have liked, say, watching a live version of this without all the studio noodling. But this is my first 1-star for a reason.

DNF - tapped out after the fourth song. Clearly had something to say, but not being of the 60s I couldn't decipher it. I also didn't want to, because the music itself was booooring

I understand this album was in protest to societal issues, but at least make it enjoyable??

Just, why? You know they are all capable of something so much better than this. It’s a joke record that nobody was prepared to put a stop to when they should have.

I wanted to like this more, but the noise sections were just too much.

2.5

Far more insufferable and smug than any of the music it's supposed to satirize. Head's so far up its own ass, it's practically an ouroboros

3.5

Maybe I shouldn't have been so afraid of this album. It's not unlistenable, but it's hard for me to take it seriously. Honestly it's kinda like listening to a comedy album. It's almost too easy to just dismiss it because of that. "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?", "Let's Make the Water Turn Black", and "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" But then there's "Nasal Retentive Calliope Music" and "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny" which are pretty much musique concrète, which I personally have a hard tine finding a point in them. The rest is kinda mindless silly nonsense to me. It feels a Monty Python album that just isn't all that funny. 5.55 ★★½

Psychedelia for the sake of being psychedelic and experimental. Not my prefered thing. 2.5 stars

I don't care for this much at all. I feel like it's just trying to be goofy for the sake of being goofy and nothing here is memorable enough to really warrant it's existence. Some of the production is kind of interesting, but that's about all I've got. 1 star.

3.5

So Sgt Pepper had Bob Dylan on the cover but this one has Jimi Hendrix so it’s at least better in one way. Very freaky, biting, madcap, eclectic and satirical, sticking it to hippies at every turn. No need for Residents on this list, this album has weird cartoony pitch-shifted ditties covered to a tee and about a decade earlier. Nasal Retentive Calliope Music has Benefit Of Mr Kite beat. Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny perhaps loses to Day In The Life by a small margin.

If Frank Zappa was born in 2000 he probably would have made a meme page or become a twitter troll. Since neither of those things existed, he had to give us this crap instead

Good lord this stinks. Think I need to be high to tolerate. Totally disjointed, barely music. Sure some of the production effects may have been interesting/creepy at the time but I can’t believe anyone would give these guys money.

unfortunately not for me, i like the 60s sound but it's generally too silly in a way that doesn't make me feel joy (and i like a lot of silly music). having said that, ugliest part of your body is a certified classic

2.5

A boneless Trout Mask Replica.

What the hell is this shit

What an incredibly strange and erratic journey. I'm glad I was aware it was a satirical art piece before going in, or I would've been very, very confused. The music was discordant and intentionally bewildering, constructed to deliberately mess with your ears... and I liked it. I certainly wouldn't listen to this in regular rotation, but as an album it's a very fun journey that provides a very unique and more obscure perspective on a very iconic era in history (that is, anti-Hippy). I found it extremely creative, interesting and fun. It was like being in a museum about an era long past. I'm a big fan of "slice of life" stuff, and this felt a lot like that, aside from its pure artistic merit. I visited MONA in Hobart early last year and there was an exhibit by the artist Tamy Ben-Tor titled "My Name is Adolf Hitler" and listening to this album gives me similar vibes to that - absurd, surreal but ultimately historical as both the media and its subject are so far removed from present day. All that being said, if this album weren't so well-produced sonically, it wouldn't be have been a pleasurable listen. It's carefully and skillfully constructed unchaotic chaos. Favourite Track: Who Needs The Peace Corps and Flower Punk are probably tied, with What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? in close second.

Interesting and experimental, but obnoxious and grating in that it feels like I'm getting harrassed by minions for 40 minutes so it all ends up being pretty unlistenable to me, sorry

Strange music. What do you expect with Zappa.

quite a strange album, got it right after sgt pepper, probably designed to do that much is fun, songs were proper weird though, didn’t hate it, didn’t adore it

You can't say it's not inventive You also can't say that it's in any way listenable

Not my style

Incredible. Funny and satirical, sounds cool as hell, just a great time all around.

wow. this really sucks

Bit wacky but I dug the concept

This was odd. Not unexpected for Zappa, but odd nonetheless. And not really good.

OK dude, I get it, you hate hippies.

Hilarious lyrics, really unexpectedly rewarding

What an experience to listen to this record. It starts with a song with weird samples that made me fear this would be a one star review. But then there are several really funny and cool songs. Not sure if I will listen to it again but this stuff is why I started this project, to open my mind to new stuff. Three stars.

Ah the anti-beatles album. I don't know the real story behind this but after the several listens over the years I decided Zappa used every Beatles "sound" of these and twisted them to use against them. Against them might be the wrong words.... There are other great Zappa albums I pick before this one. For the money is enjoyable to pick out what Beatles song he's satirizing though.

Really get the feeling that Frank Zappa was skewering Boomers decades before it was cool.

Fun album, pretty unique too

Admittedly didn't like it at the start but sort of grew on me. If your into psychedelic music I could appreciate why you would enjoy this 3*

Neobičan album, čula sam ga prije. Dosta je psihodeličan, ali istovremeno nekako pitak. U moru same same albuma koje imaš prilike čuti, moram ovo nagraditi nekom finom ocjenom. 4/5, 7/10

One of the few satirical concept albums I think I've ever heard. Targeting both political parties, the hippie subculture, and psychedelic rock as a whole (that album cover reference is too on-the-nose), the Frank Zappa-led Mothers of Invention get experimental with it here too. The editing and recording is notable and probably the main reason this album is included in this list. Utilizing "musique concrète" as they call it, you'll notice a strange collage of sounds all throughout, most notably this overarching warped dialogue that's featured prominently. Hard not to admit that the above makes the whole thing sound disjointed though. Also felt that the group focused a little too much on the hippie slander, started to feel a tad overdone at points. Some marks for the experimentalism, though. Side note: the personnel notes for this album were objectively hilarious

Uhhhh, meh. A couple decent moments here and there, but overall this album is not for me. The are some Zappa albums I love, but this ain’t one of ‘em.

Man, high school me thought this was the greatest thing ever! It was so great: pointed satire of the government, clueless adults and the hippie counterculture. I haven’t revisited in a very long time, and I have to say, aside from a nostalgic appreciation, it didn’t really hold up. The “satire” is pretty heavy handed and smug and in at least one case super misogynistic. There’s a couple of songs that still resonate (Absolutely Free and Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance) and I really dig the arrangements of most of these songs, Zappa was a fascinating composer. But there’s no sense of introspection here. It’s a lot of finger pointing, and the points aren’t wrong but it feels like a lecture set to avant-garde music. 3 stars, though I weirdly want to go 4.

Frank, I love ya, but…

STRANGE. A never-ending and not fun trip. Gives major ick.

I was already annoyed by the first song and that annoyance was refreshed with each song that followed. This was nothing more than self-absorbed noise masturbation. I believe the album title. They certainly weren't in it for the music.

I'm curious to know if this is generally accepted or simply my own opinion: This might be the earliest punk album and it's great.

weird

"This is some weird shit" doesn't even come close to summarising this album. Overall: 2/10

Spess

I’d be surprised if We’re Only In It For The Money made any money. Not a bad start, but breaks down quickly. Bout half way through Concentration Moon the music and lyrics get really silly and continue through to the end. Flower Punk is listenable, then a tough finish. Never listened to the entire album until now, but it might have been targeted to the 16 year old male that read Mad Magazine. Either way, it’s not good and doesn’t hold up at all. Frankly, it comes in at (1.4*s)

What's The Ugliest Part of this album? The whole thing... It was like a bad Wonka dream. I will say this is a testament to how weird Zappa can really get, there's no one quite like him. However, most of this album is really annoying and I wouldn't classify it as music. The jokes aren't landing anymore so it's not even a fun listen. It's such an eclectic mash up of things and they think they're all being so clever the whole time. It's really juvenile and off putting. 1.05 for minstrel Smurfs.

I had always heard Frank Zappa was an insane individual and this record is proof. Complete chaotic mess of an album. It's like the Beatles - White Album on crack which makes sense with the album cover being a play on Sgt. Pepper. What a weird and wild ride though. It's absolutely mental but I wasn't bored with it. Mom's fave song title got to be "Hot Poop" but prob disappointed it was just Zappa whispering some paranoia about the sound engineers and not a bathroom scene with...never mind. I watched the movie "200 Motels" written and directed by Zappa and it's a good follower to this record. Both are pure lunacy and what too much touring can do to a band. Need more acid and spaghetti. And yes, pants too tight on several songs cause sounds like leads ball's are being crushed. Don't know if I will ever listen to this again but probably for the trip...1.5 stars.

Frank Zappa has a reputation for being weird for the sake of weird. This basically describes We're Only In It For The Money. It's hard to even call it an album as its mostly a bunch of joke-songs that don't really work beyond a surface level listen, and even less so if you take them at an individual level. I assume this album made a splash at the time due to the album artwork and direct attack/satire of pop culture in its moment. I imagine the shock value is the reason for its inclusion in the list which I guess is reason enough considering some of the other entries. I didn't enjoy the listen but i guess I appreciate my exposure to a piece of dated pop culture and getting another snapshot of Zappa's inscrutable legacy. Nearly 60 years removed in the current internet age this is a skippable relic with little to no relevance. I'll file this away as a weird novelty that I'm glad I heard even if I didn't like it. 1.12 stars

Love Frank

Kind of strange 60s music but I like how it’s different

Man, Frank Zappa really didn't like hippies. Slightly unfair to call this an album really. As a collection of songs it's pretty awful, nowhere near as good as other Zappa work, but as a piece of art it's great, although of it's time. Part sound collage, part scathing satire and critique, part note-perfect parody, and with a couple of bits of fantastic experimental sounds. I'd definitely whistle 'Who needs the peace corps' and 'what's the ugliest part of your body' in the shower. But put on to listen and enjoy? Probably not. Recommend you listen once, with the full understanding you probably wouldn't go back for more.

Yeah this was pretty weird, not really sure what was going on here and skipped the last song anyways. The line 'hi boys and girls, my name is Jimmy Carl Black and I’m the Indian of the Group.' is kinda legendary though

Not much of a fan

I'll admit it's a mixed bag but I do love Zappa and Co's satirical take on society and it's a whole lot of fun when I'm in the right mood. Shame there's no Fugs on this list

Mothers of 60s arse

I know it's not for everyone but I do enjoy Frank Zappa's absurd genius

Classic Zappa cray-zee-messs Classy AF

Listen up you mothers... invent this! 🌹 🌻 🌷 🌿 🌵 🌾 🌼⁣ 👖 👖 👖 👖 👖 👖 👖 🐩💨

01) Are You Hung Up - / 02) Who Needs the Peace Corps? - 6,0 03) Concentration Moon - 4,0 04) Mom & Dad - 6,5 05) Telephone Conversation - / 06) Bow Tie Daddy - 4,0 07) Harry, You're a Beast - 4,5 08) What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body? - 4,0 09) Absolutely Free - 5,0 10) Flower Punk - 4,0 11) Hot Poop - / 12) Nasal Retentive Calliope Music - 1,0 13) Let's Make the Water Turn Black - 5,0 14) The Idiot Bastard Son - 4,0 15) Lonely Little Girl - 5,0 16) Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance - 4,0 17) What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body? (Reprise) - 1,0 18) Mother People - 5,0 19) The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny - 1,0 TOTAL: 3,37 (34/100)

If I ever get the urge to experience a fever dream without the pesky illness to go with it, I'll just throw this album on.

Wild to think that this barrage of noise, tape loops and non-songs exists on a list with Mariah Carey's "Butterfly" (spoilers?). Now, I like me some Zappa, but this album's (if you can still call it that) inclusion on this list makes no sense to me. This one is a hard 1/5 for me just because there's nothing enjoyable about it.

An incredibly creative album in spite of it being a leering, boring, profoundly uncomfortable listen. Songs are too short, chomped up, groped, too cutesy and self-aware, a relic that likely sounded like a revolution in 1968 to the too cool to be cool counterculture strays but in 2025 to my ears anyways sounds like Frank Zappa jerking off for shock value & to let everyone know how different & wacky he is. Mourning wood. Get it? Idiot lyrics, cartoony vocals, silly inside jokes, loony sounds that scream OMG what a character Zappa is (!) so dada (!) type of poop. This isn't the sound of a generation (in decline or otherwise) at best it's a collection of sound bites that collectively play like what one would hear in the waiting room of some fever dream purgatory as the rug is pulled out from under you as your name is called in speaking tongues. "Mr. Shithole the DR will see you now." No doubt this was a great album at one time before Zappa decided to goof on his own work for street cred or whatever. Burnt Weeny Sandwiches for all the lord has risen! There are traces of absolute brilliance on WOIIFTM which is a testament to Zappa's restless untamed genius for better or worse.

Awful album. No redeeming features whatsoever

Not Zappa again! Too much! All I'll say... If this was my meal at a restaurant, I'd get drunk, start a food fight, then dine and dash. And crush them on Yelp.

Ended up being more cringe than a parody.

Random music pieces. Until track 9 just o.k. but beginning with "Flower Punk" too much annoying noice. fun: "What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?" 1,5

As Todd Snider says, it’s the counter culture to the counter culture. Not really listenable, but it’s funny, creative, and makes fun of the Beatles. Zappa is awesome

Like a depraved episode of Scooby Doo. We are the other people, we are the other people, we hate the Beatle people, we are the Scooby Doo. (Apologies to scoob and the gang. Hippy hating Zap wouldn’t dare be associated anyway.) Me, I’d rather listen to real music Mr. Christgau, like say, Sgt. Pepper’s, other than this horse shit. Sure, the Beatles recorded Pepper’s in large part to make money, but hey, that’s capitalism, and the result would not have been what it was if the Beatles didn’t actually care about their product or their legacy. Zappa is a jealous zealot, talented in a less soul-striking way, and uses the accusation that others (like the Beatles) are only in it for the money to, well, try ‘n make some money… One album (Peppers) stands the test of time and will probably be cherished for centuries. The other has a track called Hot Poop. Which is more worthy of my heart-investment? Fuck Frank Zappa.

I get it. It must have been really far out there way back when. I never need to hear it again.

The Zappa I've heard of is on full display on this album. Well, personality-wise at least - musically, he's more renowned for his jazz-fusion stuff, I'd say, which is nowhere to be found here. While at times Zappa may come off as overly bitter toward the meaningless "stand for everything, stand for nothing" attitude of hipster culture at a time as precarious and uncertain as the Vietnam war and MLK's assasination ridden late '60s (especially on the opener 'Who Needs The Peace Corps'), I do think he means well at the end of the day, especially as the album rounds itself out thematically and he starts to point his fingers at the real enemies, the establishments, the cops, the regressiveness of past generations on a song like 'Mom & Dad'. Primarily, songs like 'Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance' and 'What's The Ugliest Part of Your Body (reprise)' show Zappa at his most compassionate and understanding - with these songs tackling the ineffectively superfluous and shallow aspects of a lot of those '60s movements he despised so much. Musically, it's interesting but very incoherent at times; everything feels like a splice, feels very fake with all these vocal effects, sound clips, and sudden cuts to other musical ideas. It fits the bill for the album, but as an experience, it wasn't something I really enjoyed on the first listen. I guess I more enjoyed the weird, experimental ambient antics of songs like 'The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny' and 'Nasal Retentive Clliope Music' - kind of the esoteric ahead-of-the-curve stuff I expect out of a Zappa record. The more straightforward "pop" cuts come off as parodical (kind of like this album cover), though some were still enjoyable. I really liked the opener 'Who Needs The Peace Corps?' and 'Let's Make The Water Turn Black' as standalone songs. Cool, important, and an interesting enough first listen, but I don't see myself re-visiting this one again for a while.

As weird as it was, I enjoyed it

I mean...whaaaaaaaaaa????

While this album has its place in time and may have been cutting edge at some point, it is lost on me.

I hate this so much. I despise the insincerity and utter contempt for the audience shown here. It feels like an entire album of "Screw you for listening to this." Feeling that contempt, I've decided to stop listening to it.

I probably needed to be on a ton of drugs to find enjoyment in this... This solidified that I'm just not a Zappa fan. He's probably actually a talented musician, but every album adjacent to him that comes up on here is some stupid, garbage music that's meant to critique other music or whatever. Like this is supposed to be criticizing the Beatles for selling out I guess? It's difficult to take that seriously in hindsight with how impactful the Beatles have been, and also just how much I didn't enjoy thus album.

To put it lightly It’s experimental And quite weirdly keen

Liked it at first, but kept repeating the same joke/point.

There are better Zappa albums

Still confused by Zappa. Am I wasting his time or is he wasting mine?! Would he have been a court jester in another era? I still manage to listen to his albums all the way through though. Same for all Zappa albums for me. Zappa, in another life choose great musician, not mediocre comedian/musician! I suppose somebody had to inspire Weird Al, I hope that isn’t on this list.

Not for me. Psych rock just is not really music

This album perfectly describes psychedelics or psych rock because I would have to be under the influence to thoroughly enjoy it.

I feel like I missed the joke by 60 years but it's so bonkers I kind of respect it.

what the hell. Loved it as a sound installation, not as individual pieces of music.

Weeeeerd

I have been told Frank Zappa is really good. I have not found that to be the case so far. Maybe the next one will be.

# 452 : 07/04/2025 : Can't Listen to it, it's all over the place and I don't think it is very good. Sometimes this list feels like things are included just because they were popular at the time, or they're by a big name artist, but does anyone actually still listen to this album?

so called weird sounds and experimental lovers sure run fast the other way when they come into the presence of true weirdo i mean of course i know this one is a total hit or total miss for majority of the listeners but you know at least it evokes emotions and makes you question what you just listened to Also the lyrics slaps, i mean come on; "There will come a time when every evil That we know will be an evil That we can rise above" wish i was stoned af when listening to this...

I am a Beatles fan, half a left wing but also sometimes conservative, a 60s rock enjoyer who actually tried to dress like a hippie, and this album successfully attacked all my weakness. if i can travel back in time to see a Frank Zappa concert, i would like to be that stupid with a flare gun. 2/5

You either get it or you don't. This shits weird, but so am I, so it's right in my wheel house.

You gotta respect it, but Zappa’s at his best when he’s doing crazy jazz shit and not this absurd, edgy, psych rock. I think this could be real great if it was 20% less grating, but I understand that goes against everything this album stands for.

Well, that was…something. I’m too much of square for this kind of psychedelic/avant-garde music. 1 star

the mothers are such an interesting band because basically every song has a couple seconds of the coolest music ever immediately followed by the most unlistenable shit. zappa reigns supreme though so 4 stars

Didn't enjoy it. I guess it's meant to be artsy, but seriously, wtf. Obviously Zappa is a great guitar player, but he is so much better elsewhere. This is a stupid parody that forgets that music is meant to entertain. Where is the beauty, where is the tune, and where is the irony promised? This just seems like a parody of parodies. It doesn't have the cynical, dry humour of Tom Lehrer, and doesn't do justice to the strangeness of Tom Waits because it's trying so hard to be funny that it isn't working. Yeah. I like mocking hippies too. But can we be smarter about it please?

This was very difficult to rate. At some points I wanted to give it a 5! And then I wanted to give it a 1! It has moments of both. So I'll compromise with a 3.

Some people got high and recorded some absolute bollocks, yet some how instruments got played so in some ways impressive but not really entertaining.

I like it more than the other psych rock albums I’ve heard so far. It still sucks and I will never listen to it again

Not my favorite Zappa to listen to, but one of his most interesting.

Eksperimenterende psykrock, en blandet landhandel, sgt pepper

once again ... this 1001 albums list is forcing me to actually listen to the artists that i had been perfectly willing to accept as "important" and "influential" via received wisdom. i think it's important to have a frank zappa but maybe not important for *me* to listen to a frank zappa. nevertheless, i kinda hate-liked this album? like somehow very well crafted and catchy even though i don't really like what it was parodying. 3.5

This is for someone and I hope they find it but it sure ain’t me

A lot of the things I dislike about Sgt Pepper's without any of the things I like

да уж, не ожидал такого от битлов...

I wish there was a rating less than 1. Good lord.

Psychadelic

Weirdo fun times

One really long disjointed song. Flower punk doesn't completely suck.

Brilliantly bonkers

I really don't like anything to do with Frank Zappa. His career crosses the threshold from aesthetically unrelatable to just genuinely dishonorable. The scat jokes, the attention seeking imagery without really saying anything at all, the juvenile demeanor while essentially just collecting signifiers that want so badly to be seen as musically clever. I've listened through Zappa's discography more times than anyone reasonably should outside the confines of a CIA black site because guys that resonate with this function a lot like dead heads and make it a core aspect of their identity, so whoever isn't initiated should be evangelized too. I've actually sat through a lot of stuff that absolutely honks because of a guy -- entire episodes of Joe Rogan and Lex Fridman podcast, Cum Town, National Lampoon, Megadeth, David Goggins, Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Dune and Mad Max movies, Slipknot, Star Wars, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Burzum, Tool, Dungeons and Dragons, anything to do with bitcoin or sports betting, Starship Troopers, Death Before Dishonor. Some of it eventually resonated with me after getting older and growing more jaded and fucked in the ass by life -- power electronics, Houllebecq novels, hardcore. Zappa is probably at dead bottom of the list of stuff that still honks because I can't even bring myself to find it endearing for being out of my wheel house in some uncomfortably sincere or Tarzan-like way, it is just unrelentingly hollow and fucking annoying.

Not my very favorite by Zappa, but it’s still quite a monument in the scope of pop music’s culture and rock history. In essence, he took pop culture of the time and flipped it on its face. We’re Only On It For The Money is a bit of a grower of a record, but it’s genuinely funny, witty, and scathing in spots. I think that of the majority of Frank’s early material, but this album and Freak Out! should be considered essential listening and absolute musts to understand how experimental music gets where it does.

So Frank Zappa is super weird and I love it. This is less an album of music and more a cultural commentary. I love it. It is so weird and so... nothing normal that whatever is going on musically is kind of second handed by the playful, hippy, anti-establishment, social commentary thing that is going on throughout. I think that the whole "blame it on the boomers" thing is limited to neoliberal conservative types and not really looking at the hippy pot heads that were plentiful. That, in part, is why generational wars are stupid. Hell, there are plenty of golden ager liberals out there. Maybe it would help the newer generations to listen to Frank Zappa to understand this shit has been going on forever! Take a chill and use your voice. We've got this!

Hørte tre sanger. Nei takk. Ikke for meg.

À la poubelle

Tenker 68ernes versjon av oslo/berlin løkka peeps digget dette hardt mens de røyket økologiske rever og spiste kabaret med banan.

One of the best Zappa albums from a period where he was on fire in the strangest ways possible

Jaime le da un 3 ( le gusta lo experimental) Nuria le da un 2 ( no le gusta lo experimental)

Woof…. Some of these you can’t help but wonder how they got on here

Absolutely shit

This is the 68th album I’m rating. I’ve heard Frank Zappa is great but I’ve never listened to anything he made, I think. Adding to my Playlist - Nothing. Not Adding to my Playlist - Are You Hung Up?, Who Needs the Peace Corps?, Concentration Moon, Mom & Dad, Bow Tie Daddy, Harry, You’re a Beast, What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body?, Absolutely Free, Flower Punk, Hot Poop, Nasal Retentive Calliope Music, Let’s Make the Water Turn Black, The Idiot Bastard Son, It’s His Voice on the Radio, Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance, What’s the Ugliest Part of Your Body? (Reprise), Mother People, and The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny. All in all I liked 0/18 songs. This was awful but I kinda like it for what it is. It does what it does perfectly but I hate what it does. It makes fun of mainstream music well but it sounds awful.

Well, that was…something. I’m too much of square for this kind of psychedelic/avant-garde music. 1 stars

Let's give this album one song to be anti-cop, but you know who really needs to be taken down a peg? Those damn hippies. So the rest of the album will be making fun of hippies. This is good satire.

No for me

Thought this had some funny moments in it, also didn't know that Frank Zappa was around this early. I thought he came around in the 70sish.

I can't imagine there was much money to be made from this album.

I want to like this more than I did. A few very good bits. A lot of not so much bits. Impressive they were doing this concurrent with Sgt Peppers, they were ahead of their time, for sure.

I’m sure this was biting satire at the time, but it doesn’t really hold up and was a tough listen. Borderline 1 for me but I’ll bump it up because I appreciate what they’re going for. Definitely prefer the “Hot Rats” Zappa era

1.9 Didnt really connect with me. Maybe I'm not smart enough to get it, maybe time has just passed by on this album.

It’s certainly an interesting album. I’m glad I heard it but I don’t see putting it on again..

1. Complete waste of time 2. What? 3. What? 4. What? Why? 5. Ridiculous I can't go one by one anymore. I read the Wikipedia article. I understand the joke, but I don't think it's a great joke. Or at least I'm so far removed in time or uneducated about the times/events being satirized, the joke isn't relevant to me. The music isn't very enjoyable by itself and because the joke is lost on me, I'm not enjoying this album at all. I think even if I heard this when it was relevant, I wouldn't care for the music the messaging comes wrapped in. Too many backwards passages, weird hard left/right panning, strange noises, nonsensical spoken word passages for me to be able to enjoy this.

In a word, this is weird! It's weird, but I like it. There's a few parodies (including the obvious - the album cover!) and some "interesting" spoken word. There's some interesting messages that act as themes throughout, focused on superficiality (beauty, general thought). It's anti-hippie, which I'm guessing is the opposite of popular at the time.

I wonder if they were on drugs when they made this? 🤔 Got on my tits very quickly

Love me some zappa but this was not good

BEST SONGS: - What's the Ugliest Part Of Your Body? - Nasal Retentive Calliope Music - Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance

That was a very.... strange... album.

A unique work and learning experience but nothing something I imagine Liston frequently

Seems like this album could've been a little more subtle no? The only song that really sticks out is Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance, that song bopped. 2/5

So fittingly odd. Trying to make a point, but musically a little all over the place. Still not a bad album. 3/5 Probably won’t listen again

Hi boys and girls I’m Jimmy Carl Black

A sage once said that necessity is “the mother of invention,” but there is nothing necessary about this shit. People insist that Zappa was some sort of genius, but he seems incapable of putting together a tune that’s more than a couple bars long. Another sage said “don’t mistake lack of talent for genius…” I suspect he was thinking of this album.

Loved it

A remarkable, poignant work

This is what I would call "clever rock." It's created simply for the purpose of the artist showing how clever he/she is. It does not mean it is bad music but I am sure the parody of 60's rock played a lot better in the 1960's. I don't know what The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny is, other than just noise. I don't have a ton of feedback on this one, other than I have no idea why I had to hear this album and would be shocked if I ever subjected myself to this again.

Very strange. Nice production values. He doesn't like the police, but who does? Nothing that needs to be heard again. No breaks between songs, Flower Punk is a highlight.

Pretty inventive and interesting; probably deserves a relisten. Some of the interstitial bits with random dialogue might limit the appeal, but overall it feels like a singular piece of music.

So, hey, this is fun. Just like with my review of FREAK OUT!, I was having a pretty hard time trying to think of what I even wanted to say about this album. I had the thoughts, the opinions... Everything. I just, y'know, didn't have the words, that's all. Truly, this is phase two of that review. Like, already I'm suspecting that this is gonna be a trend with Zappa albums — I mean, if my group gets HOT RATS and this happens again... Goodness. However, I was having trouble for different reasons than I did with FREAK OUT!. Kind of the exact opposite reasons, actually. See, with that album, I hadn't listened to it too much, and there was just a lot of ground to cover, both in terms of material and what it was satirizing. A whole hour of taking the piss out of American culture and popular music, all for the freaks of Laurel Canyon in the 1960's. I'm a bit out of my depth there. Meanwhile, with WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY, I'm actually **very** familiar with it. As far as I can tell, this was, like, maybe my second Zappa album ever? I remember buying it off of iTunes around the same time I also purchased THE BEST BAND YOU NEVER HEARD IN YOUR LIFE, long before I went out and got APOSTROPHE (') or YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE, VOL. 2 on CD. This album has been in my life for over a decade at this point, so I end up running into the same initial "I don't know how to verbalize my feelings for it" problem I've had with stuff like WISH YOU WERE HERE and MY AIM IS TRUE. Honestly, at this point in time, I can't even exactly recall **why** I got this album as early into my Zappa fandom as I did. I mean, well, I do have one guess... While, length-wise, this album has less material than FREAK OUT!, clocking in at under forty minutes, the subject matter... On the one hand, there's really not as much ground to cover? For the most part it boils down to "Not only are hippies stupid, but so are the cops who beat hippies." It's a real SOUTH PARK "both sides suck" kind of mentality. If it wasn't for how I swear I can hear some empathy for hippies behind all the satire (or at least the freaks and the more opened-minded among them) on songs like "Mom & Dad" and "Concentration Moon", it'd bother me just as much as SOUTH PARK can and has. "Hippies are stupid, and absolutely should be called out for their stupidity, but the system is even worse" or something. That, and that this album is such a time capsule of 1968... It's kind of hard to be too bothered by it in 2025, y'know? But that's not the part of it that's given me trouble writing. It's... Well, you've seen the album cover. You've seen the title. It's The Beatles and SGT. PEPPER'S. This album, famously or infamously, is in part Zappa's response to SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND. It's an accusation that the group is insincere: extremely plastic and flat-out commercial. "Even if the album and music are OK, they're clearly just riding the psych rock and hippie train to make a buck." A lot of the intros I thought up for this review placed them and SGT. PEPPER'S at the forefront, describing either its release and the culture around it, or even just briefly relaying my relation to it, before transitioning over into this album. After all, I'm pretty certain that's largely the reason why I bought this album as early as I did: I love The Beatles and I accept the old guard's line about SGT. PEPPER'S, so why not dig into Zappa's little satire of both? Here's the thing, though: it's not. Beyond the packaging and its title, I don't really see this as a parody of The Beatles or SGT. PEPPER'S. At most, they're just a symbol for hippie culture and psychedelic rock. I mean, if anyone's the true target here, it's the people who become hippies mostly for ass and acid — the aesthetic more than anything else, as demonstrated on "Who Needs The Peace Corps?" and "Flower Punk". Being 100, I kind of had to excise The Beatles from my mind entirely while trying to review this album. I even removed a prelude line I originally had at the top ("This album is not about The Beatles") because it still fronted them too much. Besides, it was more a reminder for me than anything else. And I don't think excluding them made writing this review **that** easy, but... I mean, I was able to get even this far. That's not nothing. But let's get back on track. After some 800 words of preamble, what can I say I actually like about this album? Well, I think it's very sharp lyrically. Not a whole lot of what's actually said applies to me in 2025 (or maybe it doesn more than I'd like to think), but I still find them either pretty witty, or some very nice character sketches, or both. Like, for real, "Who Are The Peace Corps?" and "Flower Punk" do a really good job of describing fake-ass fake hippies. To that same effect, "Let's Make The Water Turn Black" is a vivid description of some real life people Zappa actually knew. Meanwhile, I find songs like "Mom & Dad" and "Lonely Little Girl" honestly kind of heartbreaking. That "They killed her, too" can be a real gut punch. Then you got the lighter material — I think "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" is just fun, and "Mother People" was my favorite song on the album for a long time for how catchy the lyrics in the chorus/refrain are. Although, speaking of that chorus, I think I should take some time here to address the censorship. Truthfully, they don't matter too much to me: there was a spoken word line about the Velvet Underground that was snipped, the original first chorus of "Mother People" was dropped, and its inclusion played backwards in "Hot Poop" still had a "fucking" removed... There's nothing I'm losing sleep over, and besides the original chorus of "Mother People" was included on the compilation of MOTHERMANIA, so whatever. I know for a fact it could have been worse. But if there's one instance of censorship where I think it does matter — and Zappa would no doubt hate me for this, 'coz I think it improves the song — it's "Harry, You're A Beast". There's a part that references a Lenny Bruce bit ("Don't come in, in me"), and the way random parts of it have been chopped up and reversed... Goodness, it adds this whole disorienting effect to the section, and I love it. The one time censorship made something better, go figure. Finally, let's get onto the one thing I usually care about when it comes to music: the music. Y'know, the melodies. And if there's anything that's kept me coming back to this album... Ironically — and this could just be nostalgia bias talking, but I think this album has some of my favorite psychedelic rock songs. "Concentration Moon", "Mom & Dad", "Absolutely Free", "Lonely Little Girl", "Mother People"... These are all fantastic songs. Particularly "Lonely Little Girl"; I really do wish the main part of it could have gone on longer, 'coz that's some sick-ass guitar. And, well, hey, "Let's Make The Water Turn Black" has such a nice patter melody to it that Zappa kept it around in live shows as an instrumental piece alongside "Harry, You're A Beast". Not even the experimental noise tracks bother me too much. You'd think they would; they **are** largely just noise for noise's sake, but... I'unno. I guess they're just not as long, nor as obnoxious in spots, as something like "The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet" was. (And I won't lie — understanding all of this in the context of "nightmare SGT. PEPPER'S" doesn't hurt.) Now, despite all of that, I still wouldn't call it my favorite Zappa album, or even my favorite the 60's. After all, CRUISING WITH RUBEN & THE JETS and HOT RATS still exist. It's not terribly often these days I'm in the mood for this 1968 skewering of 1968 for the people of 1968. It's not its fault stuff like APOSTROPHE (') aligns better with my tastes. But still, I've come back to it more often than FREAK OUT!, and generally speaking I'd still call it the strongest of Zappa's 60's satire. Y'know what, I'll give this album a 5. It nails what it's going for, it's satirical without feeling **too** far up its own ass, and, I'unno, the music is just good. This could be nostalgia bias again, but nah, it's legit. Way more legit than any "flower punk" was, at least. In conclusion... Well, to answer Eric Clapton's question at the top of the album: yeah, I guess I am hung up. Or, uh, not, if being one is a bad thing. I mean, is it? What does it mean to be "hung up," anyway? I— I'unno. Is the review over yet?

Definitely a step up from the other Mothers album my group has gotten, because it just feels more concise than Freak Out!, in my eyes. 4.5 bumped down to 4.

I don’t know that I can put a number to that. I’m typing this one right after finishing the album for the first time – not giving myself any time to reflect or really think about what I just spent the last 40 minutes on, and I am… sort of just lost. Not in a bad way, not in a good way, but in a way that just feels ethereal & liminal, and oddly discomfiting and perhaps a bit lonely. This is another one of Frank Zappa’s counter-culture “the 60s kinda suck and this whole hippie thing is bullshit” albums, but it’s done in such a way that lends no respect or credence to the material it mocks in the first place, save for maybe the Hendrix parody that I’ve never heard the original track of. This feels like a GTA radio station from hell, mixed with a TV show that I’ve seen/shown once before during the Thursday variety streams: it lasted one episode, from 1969, and it’s called Turn-On. The point of that show was just strange rapidfire, short form satirical comedy with an absurd bend, weird electronica fever dream music backing it, no time to breathe, think, or ponder, & it would ultimately just slap you in the face with whatever punchline it wanted to give – rinse and repeat in 30 second bursts for 28 minutes. It was cancelled promptly because nobody got it, shortform was scary, and the material was… very, very strange for 1969. It’s a show I respect even though I found it awkward to sit through, a little dated, and certainly a bit surreal. This album gives me that same feeling in musical form – maybe a bit more intentional & designed to elicit such a harsh and jarring response. It’s certainly more forceful than Turn-On is. As such, I have no idea if I can put a number to this. It’s not a 5 – it’s too avantgarde and I think some of the concepts / material within this album are a bit curmudgeonly, even as a satire of the 60s that Frank seemed to fucking despise. It’s not a 1 or 2, if only because I respect what this is going for, even if I tend to disagree at times. I guess I'm at a 3.5, but I don't know whether to bump it down to a 3 or up to a 4. Putting this on the same level as that Bill Callahan album we just got feels strange, wrong, and awkward, as with any album this might be compared to that I also gave a 3. Bumping it up to a 4 also feels weird to me, because I'm not sure it's that deserving of one, even for how much I admire this. All I know for sure (and I’m not even sure if I do know anything at this point) is that Frank Zappa succeeded at realizing some sort of vision on this album. I’m just not sure if it’s a vision that was worth realizing; this is, by far, the strangest album we’ve gotten so far. This classifies as music, and there are some good tracks here, but for the most part, I’m left with… something. I hesitate to bring up the “art gallery” comparison again, but I think it’s somewhat earned here: this feels like someone smashing a Banksy piece to bits and pieces just to try and paint over it and “fix” the art themselves. I feel like if that happened, most people would say the Banksy piece is a better, more technically sound piece of art, beloved to some degree. To smash it, however, provides a new canvas, perhaps uglier than the original, but one that might be appreciated all the same, if the attempt to “fix” it is good enough. I can’t say whether or not this album is “good enough” in the artistic sense – that’s for other people to mull about and debate over for years to come, but I do think it’s “good enough” in the sense that Frank Zappa got to make his art, regardless of opinion. It’s a 3.5 that, unfortunately, I'll bump down to a 3 for me – it's certainly worth listening to, but it just didn't strike me as well as it could have.

Wow this is bad, but they were probably too stoned to realize that in 1968. 1 star or F+.

3.5

3+ obviously weird. Kind of fun, but I don’t feel the need to listen to it again

Very sarcastic and intentionally joking around. Using psyc rock to mock about psyc rock? Smart. I love it. The album cover is classy too. A 3-3.5/5 to me. Love this conceptually. I'm just so obsessed with weird stuffs, I guess.

Listening to it I felt as if I was on the same drugs they had been while recording the album

Almost unlistenable. There's not been many on the list that I've just given up on completely before the end, but this one made that particular list.

You can tell this is a Frank Zappa side project.

ASMR started here. Sure it's mostly nonsense, but it's catchy nonsense goddamit, and I just.. I just kinda dig it ya know?

I read a review calling this album "aggressively juvenile," and honestly, that says all you need to know. It's chaotic, satirical, and weird for the sake of being weird. Whether that's brilliant or annoying depends entirely on you.

A bit of nostalgia.... For the time, innovative. Somewhat thought-provoking with lyrics and definitely meant to tweak established morals of the time.

All things ZAPPA rank highly with me, 4 stars!!

Talentless.

Nope

shit

Strange to say, but I've never listened to a proper studio album by Frank and the boys before. Every time I buy one it turns out to be live. It was very interesting listening, and much as I think Mr Zappa was a true musical genius I can only award it a high 3. It must have been an early one not quite the quality of their later stuff.

An all time low for this list. Absolutely garbage.

What was probably seen as groundbreaking at the time can only be seen with my modern eyes as childishly inept. I could only compare this to modern immature cringeworthy artists like Wheatus and the like. If you want bad taste art rock then check out the Butthole Surfers.

Musically a bit unconvinced. Sometimes a little too Beatles-lite and other times a bit too weird and taking Beatles sound too far! May be better on repeat listens when used to weirdness. Lyrically great tho (rare compliment for me) and highly amusing.

A bit strange but a bit interesting. I will give this a three

what just happened here...

Wait, are we mad at the Peace Corp because they aren't real hippies??? And why do we have to poke fun at fat people, women and sad people over and over? I get it, its satire on the music and people of the time. But typically satire is making fun of a group to support the counter argument, but then he made fun of the other side leaving us with no side to believe in. For me this is truly one of the most frustrating kinds of points, people that are feel superior then you, believe they are so smart, deep and beyond anyone else so they mock them all but offer no real effort to make the world a better place. Then what the hell was the last song! There is some musicality here and the satire concept isn't bad or necessarily badly done. It is also kind of an sketch comedy type concept to an album which is sort of cool and different. I just really hate the actual lyrics and persona it is embodying. The hate for the lyrics and the overall smug meanness are too overwhelming to look past.

Frank Zappa is my favorite pretentious dickhead. Regardless of what I think of him, he does create some interesting music. It's not necessarily "good" music. But they don't care about making "good" music. They want to create strange and different music. I feel like he's more interested in creating unhinged song structure to express his discontent with society. I'm not exactly sure what his message is. Maybe he wrote a manifesto. I'm not sure. It was the 60's man. Frank and the Mothers were pioneers of the "counter culture" yet they were simultaneously too cool for school in a proto-hipster kind of way. "I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me on the street". He's just asking the hippie flower children, how deep is your love? I'm just going to set all of that brain junk aside and focus on the "music" of the album. This is actually one of his better albums because it's a little more "fun" than others. I especially like Bow Tie Daddy, What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body I Think it's Your Mind, and Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance. Frank and the Mothers are the Fathers of psychedelic music that paved the way for other bands like Butthole Surfers, Ween, and the Residents. Stay weird & freak out.

This is ridiculously all over the place. Frank Zappa’s satirical take on the hippie culture of the time doesn’t hold up, but it does shine a light on a phenomenon that happens during any zeitgeist moment…lots of people act like they are a part of a movement just for the attention, when they don’t actually believe in the actual movement…as much as Frank Zappa does, I guess. In other words, SELLOUTS!! He hates them. Musically it’s just a unlistenable mess. It sounds like he simply picked a random 39 minutes of his life, picked up whatever instrument was next to him and hit the record button. He’s sniggering all the way to the bank by making money off of the people he’s laughing at. If he’s trying to get his point across by sounding like shit, he’s missing the real point. You don’t change peoples opinions on societal issues by mocking their intelligence towards an art that he perceives as being sellout, because that art has value to some people regardless of what he thinks or feels. If that “sellout” art changes even one persons mind for the better and the world brightens a little because of it, then it matters…including HIS art. But here it is coming from such a pessimistic point of view. I love the late 60’s psychedelic movement. It was a time of extreme innovation in music in general that has held up more than well, and all he’s doing is saying nobody else could ever be as “real” as he is. Piss on that. Now that I’ve listened through this album for this project, I am grateful that I never have to sit through it again.

I'm all for political commentary in music, but this whole thing just felt like a mess. It's noisy and weird and lacks structure and general pleasantness. And framing your album around dissing another band feels kind of immature. Isn't making money a hopeful part of any profession, including creating art? Does that mean it's the "only" part? Anyway, I'm not going to pretend to know all of the Beatles' motivations for Sgt. Pepper, but it's a beautiful piece of art compared to whatever this is. And if you're going to make fun of hippies (which I'm not necessarily opposed to, even as a hippie at heart), then make better music than them.

Zappa certainly had some great music. This sure in the hell isn’t it.

I've been searching for a ruthless takedown of the Summer of Love hippie culture, commercialism, and the hypocrisy of both the establishment and counterculture. This is getting close.

Can only ask the question "why is this one on the list???" so many times.

Too much jive on this one, Frank.

This is one of those albums where you really have to try to appreciate the reason the album was made and the genius of Zappa. That said still a rough listen. Zappa is a great artist, but just not his best.

Thoughts before listening: Frank Zappa has always been more appealing in theory than in practice to me. He's a great guitar player and arranger with some absolutely killer songs, but he's also weird in a way that can be more grating than enjoyable. I don't really know his Mothers of Invention era songs as well as the later solo work. Review: Okay, I think I've made the right choice in avoiding the Mothers of Invention era of Zappa's career. This album is full of his satirical, joke songs with none of the guitar heroics that would make it easier to ignore his tendency for eye roll inducing tracks on later albums. This album is all eye rolling. While I can certainly enjoy some social commentary and poking fun at hippies/hipsters, it could at least have been delivered in an enjoyable format. Outside of a few songs, this album isn't it. 2-stars

Pretty cringe.

Album che migliora progressivamente più abbasso il volume

Well here officially does my fav run of about 7 great albums going back to the bayou … I get that this album is supposed to be satirical but I guess most jokes are lost on me in the bad music.. there’s really only small parts of this I find listenable , although the ugly song was funny

Rating: 0/10 One of the worst albums of all time. This album mocks other bands from this era but is not funny or interesting whatsoever. There was not a single moment of this I enjoyed, a truly heinous piece of shit.

A curious collection of musical vignettes and political commentary.

all the general zaniness you would expect from an album with frank zappa. this one is a social commentary on such topics as commercialism and conformity as well as popular bands of the day like the beatles. fun and interesting listen.

Kids... don't do drugs...

Yeah so unfortunately the wiggling worm and dancing monkey in my brain ate this up like a steak dinner. It’s so cool to me that last week I can be prompted to listen to some wildly over-produced Justin Timberlake debut solo album with every little note and production element perfectly placed, then yesterday listen to one of the most heartfelt and undervalued albums I’ve ever heard in American Gothic by David Ackles, then get this craziness today. I can unfortunately see so many people responding to this with something along the lines of “ummmmm yeah not for me no thanks” and being very close-minded to it. I understand that perspective! But this is underniable a memorable listen. Furthermore, it’s both of its time, and ahead of its time! Social issues and late 60’s characters are portrayed well throughout the albums few structured moments. I hear some scathing and clever observations of societal injustices that remind me of System of a Down. I hear the frenetic sounds effects that remind me of Aphex Twin. I hear some beautiful instrumental bending amongst the chaos, like Miracle Musical. I hear LOTS of 100 Gecs in the pitched up vocals. I can even see the line between this and a very modern group like Deaths Dynamic Shroud and their off-the-wall sound. “Flower Punk” and “What’s The Ugliest Part of Your Body” are my highlights, if you can pick out such things from this musical quilt. The wiggling worn and the dancing monkey are telling me to give this 4 stars

This is a little too much Beefheart and not enough Zappa. The whole band was a little to zonked on acid for this one.

Weird as hell, but there was some good stuff in there too.

Weird and musically fun at the same time. Strangely don't remember the band. Being in the military might have had something to do with that. Not a bad album.

What in the actual fart did I just listen to?

Uff, was war denn das? Collage. Ziemlich experimentell. Nix zum täglich hören.

no thanks

2.75 It's an experience, that's worth something.

Not for me. Too fiddly. Didn't really hit a groove at any point.

Awful

As Lens 5th wife said. The mother of all invention are cock ups. The cock up she was talking about was her marriage to Len. It spawned some of his best hate rap. 2.4

Very experimental, very satirical, very annoying. The most obnoxious part is that right when actual music would start to seep through the nonsense, the nonsense would take over full force and whiplash you back into the fever dream this album was. I can get being annoyed by popular music/culture to the point of making fun of it but this is done so poorly and with no sense of taste that it comes across extremely childish and aggravating. 2/10

This wasn't enjoyable at all.

Loud and noisy, did not really like this one

muito doido? representou muito bem meu ódio por hippies

legal pra caralho esse, hein. achei divertidaço. bem caótico e confuso, assim como os hippies eram mesmo. achei top. curti bastante os cortes bruscos e os barulho. escutarei novamente no trabalho.

This album is intentionally hilarious, and I'm here for it. Literally made me laugh out loud. Also hugely influential in the Rock In Opposition movement Henry Cow started a few years later, and you can even hear that influence in more modern bands like System of a Down.

this album is full of half baked ideas and random noises. at one point i had to pull over because i thought something was wrong with my car but it was just the violently annoying sounds Frank decided to put on the record. the last song on the record is 6 and a half minutes of random sounds and yet somehow it sounds more coherent that some other parts of the record. i appreciate that it is satire and the few song ideas that feel more fleshed out arent bad but overall this was more annoying that enlightening. +1/2 star for the album cover

If I had been born a male, I would have been named after Frank Zappa. And so I'll take it to my grave that this album didn't hit all my buttons. Sorry dad.

I forget the name of the last Zappa album I got (I think it was his debut), but I like this one a lot more. This is what I was expecting when I hear the name Frank Zappa. Very strange album, but honestly not that bad, and surprisingly flows together really well. I like all the weird experimental stuff, and I still think the more straightforward British invasion sounding parts are the worst and dated. It is crazy this album came out in 1968. Weird way to end the year. High 3.

I like Frank Zappa, but I don’t get this. I tried. There were decent moments that raised it up, but not enough of those.

If you like this album, you are so cool and edgy!! This is maybe the worst album I've come across in the year and a half I've been taking part in listening to these albums. It's so bad and uninteresting. If it was experimental at the time, that's amazing for them, doesn't mean I should have to listen to this unadulterated rubbish If I ever have to listen to this again, something bad has happened. Awful 0/5

I want to like it but I don't. It has some promise but not fully formed.

Wish I could get that 39 minutes and 20 seconds of my life back

I'm starting to think this Zappa guy makes music that isn't exactly normal🤔

It's certainly one of the albums of all time Ah fuck it it's a fun one

Everyone needs to listen to this!

monet ei tajuu. eikä se haittaa jos ei ymmärrä. en mäkää tajunnu kvanttifysiikkaa 39 minuutissa en voi olettaa et keskiverto tallaaja heti nappaa mitä ihmeitä zappa tekee joka vitun sekuntti. joka vitun sekunttti niin häröä viisautta tulee hänen musiikista. heh tykkäsin sgt pepeprs lonel hearts club band sekä muistakin beatles tuotannoista joten joku tekee hauskaa eiii ei saa pilailla, en voi hahattaa ja samalla tykkää pakko olla vihanmielinen tämä on vihailua sotaa , TÄMÄ TIETÄÄ SOTAA... eeiiii olen beatles fani (actual good music fcking ashole fuck YOU!!! FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!) runkka runkkaa vittu ennen kun pää räjähtää.. lil pup wants to goon.. go ahead puppy boy... flower punk

Campy and awful. Did not age well.

Ok, not nearly as bad as I thought and expected after reading some of the comments. I like some of Frank Zappa's music, but I can't get into a lot of his stuff. In this respect, I feared much more shrillness. I understand the satirical aspect and it's funny. But in the end it's not music that I really listen to. 3/4

I'm sorry. I know this is Zappa, and it was meant to be a concept album, but I'm totally lost on the concept. This seems to be a work of monkeys rummaging through a sound archive and gluing the tapes together.

Track 11s name should of been the name of the album.

I love Zappa and he’s one of my all time favorites. But I am no fan of the Mothers era.

On another day I'd have found this excruciating but I had time, I was chilled out and I drifted through a musical experimentation with time signature and rhythm changes, mad psychedelic sections, babbling and enjoyed it. I think. I mean not enough that it changed my life but there's as strain of Zappa that changed the way people do music and that's OK. Maybe I've had a difficult week of albums this week, but I don't mind this at all.

i cant listen to it LOL.

'Music' shouldn't be this hard work. Just because you *can* play it, doesn't mean that you *should*. Schoolboy humour with endless solos was never going to tick many of my boxes for what makes a great album, and in that way, this didn't disappoint. But in every other way I just found this underwhelming, overrated and over-thought. You're trying too hard, Frank. Maybe finally take a chill pill (or something) and relax a bit. Never trust a hippy. Especially if they try to persuade you that they aren't a hippy.

This sounds more like one of those BBC Sound Effects recordings than an album you would turn to for pure pleasure. It's just noise, tbh.

Nah, man. Not good.

I like Zappa but man that one is tough at times

I wish I didn't dislike Zappa so much as a person, it makes me biased against his music. Interesting that he had the take that the Beatles were disingenuous in making Sgt Pepper, seems like a pretty arrogant take for someone to have, which suits Zappa. Reading more into it, it kinda makes sense in that Sgt Peppers started a whole "fake" hippie movement that was basically just commercial. Makes sense to be annoyed by that... Zappa still just always has the "I'm the smartest guy in the room" thing about him that annoys me. The music in this is pretty interesting though, it's all over the place, pretty classic Zappa in that sense with super weird melodies and time signatures and stuff. Can't say many of the songs stand out to me as actually great songs though. Zappa also does the whisper narrator thing on a couple of other albums of his I've listened to and it's kind of annoying. I actually really like Mother People, it's proggy af. But then of course the album closes with a 6 minute dissonant nonsense piece of music.

No. Just... no.

Quite a wacky album and a scathing satire of hippie culture and psychedelic music of the '60s... but who would expect anything less from Frank Zappa? I tend to prefer his jazz fusion records, but this one is a fun listen as well. Highlights: -Who Needs The Peace Corps? -What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? -Let's Make The Water Turn Black Lowlights: -Nasal Retentive Calliope Music -The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny

Odd but not terrible to listen to

I don’t get it but I like it!

I was shocked on how much I liked this strange album

Favorite Track: Who Needs The Peace Corps?

I like Frank Zappa but... What the hell was that? I'll add one star because the lyrics were funny.

Yeh it’s meh! Sounds like Byrds man

There's some neat psychedelia stuff on here, given it's Frank Zappa and friends, but then there's some avant-garde stuff that feels unnecessary. Appreciate the concept though I didn't read into it much.

Frank Zappa is terrible

Hellish. Literal Hell. Only people in asylums probably listen to this. I wish I could give zero stars.

Evidence for the prosecution in the case of “allowing mankind the ability to record sound was a mistake.”

This is really annoying, I’m not sure if it’s pretentious or just stupid…but saying all that - I do quite like it as a one off listen.

Too focused on parody and too little on the music. I'm sure they had a blast though. 2/10

Wow, 2 Zappa albums inside of a few days. Said it before but I've always avoided Zappa because his stuff was just a bit too weird for my tastes. Musically, this album definitely falls into that category. If I were rating on music alone, it'd probably get a 2. But I LOVE what he's doing here, thematically. It's hard to rate....

Apology for missing the point, that this is satirical and experimental. But it’s just the run out groove turned into a whole album. I Get from reading the background that this is a supposed satire on what was happening at the time. But it just sounds aloof, that they think they are clever, as no one else is as aware and informed as them, but was the joke to take the piss out of anything resembling musical talent by showing none? (They may be talented but to my simple ears I can’t tell from this). Probably would have worked as a sketch on a comedy programme better, because for me as an album it’s awful and just plain shit. Can they actually write songs? Humorous?? lyrics and sound collage to the most basic of song structure that seems to have been knocked up on the spot, damn this is straining the idea of must hear music for me, I want the time back… next.

Wowwww this is as a weird ride. I think I need to eat some gummies and truly settle in but I did enjoy it enough. Kept me entertained, good humour with some good music. It’s a 3.5 rounded up to 4 to balance out the dorks who surely will give this a 1. 4 stars for weird

Brilliant. Psychedelic whilst also being a damming critique of psychedelia. Musically so creative, lyrically brilliant. One of the best albums I’ve heard since starting this. Individual tracks are good but it’s the play through the whole thing that makes it great.