We're Only In It For The Money

Annoying music

I like experimental music. I really like some of Zappa's music. This shit is just stupid. The humor is reflective of the worst of Zappa, the uninspired BS that turned me off to him for many years. I reserve 1* to unlistenable material, which is rare, but this helps me redefine the bar.

I don't get it.

We're Only in It for the Money by The Mothers of Invention is an album I really struggled with. At its best it can be amusing and satirical, but at its worst I found it genuinely quite boring. I approached it as a parody album because it feels impossible to take seriously, with a lot of the humour coming across as cynical, bitter and almost jealous of the very music and culture it is mocking. The vocals, sound effects and random noises throughout the album are intentionally strange, but for me they quickly became more irritating than interesting. There are moments where you can appreciate the creativity and experimentation, but overall it just felt messy and difficult to enjoy as an actual listening experience. The biggest positive is how short the abum is. Unfortunately, this is not an album I can see myself ever coming back to. Favourite tracks: Honestly, nothing really stood out for me Least favourite tracks: “Flower Punk” was particularly awful Album artwork: I actually prefer this cover to Sgt. Pepper — it’s a clever parody visually

Nope, not my cup of tea.

This is ass

Not enjoyable

Urgh, hippie nonsense. I know Frank Zappa has done some great things, but this isn't one of them. It's clearly a blueprint for others to follow, but does nothing for me.

Interesting but not for me.

Garbage

2.0 / 10

Not for me

Dogshit

Not my vibe

I really like Frank Zappa and the Mothers, just not this era. I get it’s important and all, but I try to rate music based on how much I personally enjoy it. I don’t enjoy this one haha

Diogenes of Sinope is often rejoiced in online communities for being the ancient greek madlad. Didn't give a shit (unless he wanted to throw them at his detractors) and was a founding father of the cynic philosophy. I wonder though, whether those near Diogenes really admired him or were sick of his shit. Because though his ideas are in concept great, being at risk of getting urinated on does not sound like he's a fun person to hang around with. All to say that I get the same feeling about this album. In concept, mocking the Beatles and satirizing the hippie subculture is great. But having to listen to it is something else. With satire, you're walking the fine line between being a chuckleworthy cynic or being an insufferable twat. I think the Mothers of Invention have pissed all over the line like Diogenes did in this blaring, noisy, and annoying album.

It's like listening to old memes without any context. Confusing and painfully unfunny.

What the hell am I listening to?! Couldn't make it through the whole...thing

Honestly … has anyone ever listened to this more than once?! Truly awful.

me dormí

I have no idea what this is. Some sort of hippie bullshit that may of sounded good on acid in the 60’s. It’s just a bunch of people making noise. It’s terrible.

Man they really stuck it to those try-hard musicians who actually put effort into their albums with this one

It would be really easy to dismiss this one as nothing more than stupid bullshit. So easy, in fact, that I think that’s exactly what I’ll do. 1/5

I did not like this and it felt like it was much longer than it was. I know Zappa is considered a legend but I don't think this is very good. I don't even understand what it is making fun of? Im confused at the point. This just felt like noise and was dumb. Liked Songs: "Concentration Moon" , "Mom & Dad" , "Absolutely Free" , "Lonely Little Girl"

I’m sure it’s meaningful in some avante garde way but man it’s unlistenable

não experimentalidade é diferente de bagunça, e crítica é diferente de fazer qualquer merda e falar que critica

Poor album musically more annoying and stale i would just listen to one of his older albums

What a waste of time

i gotta thank Frank Zappa, enduring this trash album made all the music I listened to after it sound so much better 2 / 10

Too mental

Oh man this is shit. You can hate on the populist approaches of society in a far less childish manner than this, surely? Nearly gave up on several occasions.

⅛★

Absolute garbage album. I'm not sure if it's meant to be satire but if it is I'm missing the point entirely. The production is horrible, the songwriting is downright bizarre, and whatever meaning the artists are trying to portray is not coming through at all. There are moments that are so baffling it feels like a random collection of weird noises and sound bites that don't relate to each other whatsoever. That's genuinely 39 minutes of my life I won't get back.

I'm not sure what I just listened to but my ears feel violated

People are insane for liking this album

Not my thing

3/10

I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would listen to this for pleasure. Psychedelia is fine but it has to also be musically enjoyable, and this just isn't. It's far too weird but without the redeeming features to make that weirdness cool. 'The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny' includes several minutes of just noise and both concludes and sums up the album as a whole

While I appreciate Frank Zappa for his social commentary and politics, I have never been a fan of his music. Valley Girl being the exception. Hard pass on this album.

We're Only In It For The Money, and you aren't getting any of mine for this crap. 0.00

dont piss me off....

I'm sure it was fun to be on drugs in the 60s - but listening at work in 2026, this was unpleasant.

I’m rating this so low. It sounds like they all took a bunch of acid in the recording studio and then took acid again when mixing the album. Horrible.

An album so bad it not only makes me hate this one, it makes me question other stuff I thought I liked by Zappa

Well this was a wild Tuesday morning commute. Absolutely bonkers, more so than any Zappa or Beefheart stuff. Frequently descends into sped up samples of random talking. May have been inspiration for the Chipmunks. Too surreal for me I’m afraid.

I tried but it's just too limp sounding. Production is dated and the humour misses for me. Inventive yes.

o típico álbum de artista edgy que se acha mais inteligente do que o resto...bleh e irritante. 0/5.

Det var lite småkul i ett par låtar, outhärdligt som album.

Boring and repetitive, couldn’t even finish it

Just a bunch of unfunny and unenjoyable songs. Absolute crap

This list is fucked. When it was laid down, maybe not. However, in 2026 Zappa is less than meaningless. Imagine being teen who likes Zappa now. I'm going to find the guy who gave this 5 stars and Highway 61 one. Jesus christ. Moustache.

Musical parody that doesn’t really have any humour. Not for me

Could never get into Frank Zappa

It's so insanely pretentious that I can't co-sign this at all. Like what the hell are these people's problem. "Everyone is dumb and fake except for me har har har". I'd normally give it a 2 because there are some musically interesting ideas here, but I had such a miserable time listening to it.

Je m’attendais à mieux quand j’ai vu frank zappa. J’ai fais le saut, par moment j’avais l’impression d’écouter un band de oompa loompa. 1 étoile parce que c’était agressant. Chansons « préférées »: mom and dad, absolutely free, lonely little girl

This reminds me of when my little niece plays with her little electric piano and karaoke machine. It sounds dissonant and offkey to me the whole time. Or like it should be the background music to some LSD fueled indi film from the 70s. Certainly a lot of LSD was involved in the production of this album.

The proto 100 gecs annoying music

What did hippies ever do to you?

Politcially charge satira album. Terrible listening experience.

5 minutes into the album I was ready give up, but the fourth song actually had some sounds that were at least listenable. If nothing else, at least I learned the word discorporate. While I like weird music I think this album was mostly not about music, but random sounds and lyrics. What the hell was the last song and was the intention of the first half of it to cause physical pain..?

One of the first true misses for me, really atonal, I know its experimental soundscape and Zappa, but its just not my vibe. Maybe if I had smoked a lot of 60s dirt weed and thought Marx was a cutting edge figure. The interruptions, the style, just not what I'm looking for in an album.

I have no idea what I was listening to or what I was supposed to get from that. I never understood an album less than this one. I have not listened to Frank Zappa before, and this was not the impression I was hoping for when delving into his collection. I'm sure his solo stuff is different (crosses finger)

Tom Green - The Album

Album name is a bit on the nose. It isn't even ironic. A dreadful mix of nonsense but I somehow managed the whole thing.

This is fucking stupid.

The first reaction I had to anything on this album was the uglies part of your body bit. An unexpected brutal roast. I get the importance of social commentary, especially through music, to US history and general progress, but this is pretty difficult to recognize as music. And the parts that are musically recognizable aren't really that good. I will give some commendation to some of the electronic experimentation "noise". Some of it is actually really good and sounds very close to what might be done on modern avant-guard rock. I would much rather have read an article detailing Frank Zappa's influence through this album than have had to listen to it. And I don't do much reading these days, especially non-fiction. Favorite Song(s): Absolutely Free

It certainly sounds like they’re only in it for the money but even then, if this wasn’t Frank Zappa there would be no money made from this album. It fucking sucks

Weird, spoken word, limited music

A painful, painful listen. I have tried many times to get into Zappa, but I guess I just don't have the advanced intelligence needed to to find this stuff palatable. Best left for all the Misunderstood Geniuses out there.

Holds the listener in contempt, Zappa is a tool.

This album made me look up the most popular drugs of the late 60s within 5 minutes of the album because WHAT are these people on???? (it was LSD which makes sense) I just cant imagine anybody enjoying this at all, including myself. MADE ME WANT TO TAKE MY SKIN OFF

no no no no no no no. This was just horrendous. Even if I was coked up to the eyeballs I don't think I would've liked this. 'Nasal retentive calliope music' just about finished me off and then for the rest of the album I felt like I was making my way through the circles of hell. Why am I alive

The first track echoed around my head phones and made me quite uncomfortable as I was listening, it felt like they were whispering to me. Not cool. The rest felt flat and the vocals were not very good. On a side note who makes a rock album and decides 'hot poop' would be a good track name?

2.0/10 This was horrible… who would want to listen to this??

no

Just because it’s a satirical joke album doesn’t mean the songs can’t be good.

Not too fond of humour in music, and not at all humour I don’t find funny. Good music should send shivers down your spine, and not because the sounds are so nasty.

I think it's your muuuum It's been a while since I've heard something this awful, absolute peak retardism in .mp3 form

Felt like I was listening to someone have a full on skitso meltdown

Skip track. More shit. Skip another. Worse. Skip,skip,skip. 10 minutes of my life I’ll not get back.

Distressing

I've never been a fan of Frank Zappa's Avant-Garde Experimental Acid Rock. This album is supposed to be satirical but I don't find it funny.

geen muziek voor mij

This won’t take long, the most basic form of satire, not even thought provoking. Must have been aimed at the american market. Utter shite

1 star but it's really cool. Could never be something I listened to again except for as a joke but happy to have heard this weird music once

Hot garbage. Hot dog water. A festering pile of dog shit.

Ah idk about this one. Felt like kids making music.

dumbest shit I ever heard

This did not remind me of Sergeant Peppers. It reminded me of the White Album, but if the White Album was 90% “Revolution 9” and 10% the other bad songs from the White Album but not a whole song at once, but a bad song for ten seconds at a time every five minutes, often playing at the same time as “Revolution 9”. All that to say, this sucked.

Įkyrus. Per trumpi ir dažnai keičiasi, balsai meh.

I haven't listened to the Mothers in decades. They were one of those fringe bands for me during my college years, their schtick, just didn't wear that well with me on most occasions. This trip back then into memory lane has demonstrated the Mother's music hasn't improved with me, with age.

Just no, what the hell are we even doing here? Why do these 60s and 70s concept albums tend to suck so hard. This was grating on the ears, annoying AF in so many ways, and I gave up on it.

bad.

This sucks.

Cosmic Junk

This is the album that killed me. I only made it to 603 albums before I died.

artsy fartsy

what is going on?

Jag har förstått att Zappa liksom Prince var omåttligt musikaliskt begåvad, för bra för sitt eget bästa. Men det är onekligen skillnad på hur man väljer att använda sin begåvning.

Skämtmusik.

Det ska väl vara någon slags revolt samtidigt mot vuxenvärlden som mot hippiekulturen. Det enda jag tänker på är dock Carl Lidbom. ”Det ät trams”. Håller möjligtvis för en lokal nyårsrevy. Att albumet finns i boken är ett tydligt bevis för rockkritikersläktets bristande omdöme.

Det här är inget musikalbum. Det är en skojskiva. Och den är inte särskilt rolig. Hippies är långhåriga och knarkar är tydligen ett fantastiskt roligt skämt 1968. Musiken är ungefär lika rolig. Precis som med Sparks är dokumentären bättre än musiken.

Frank Zappa is one of those artists where you can love his albums and hate other ones at the same time. Hot Rats and Freak Out are the greats of his 60's period, this one the stinker. I like when Frank Zappa combines his experimental approach with his excellent playing and songcraft, not when the album is composed of sped up and looped throwaway tapes with the occasional bit of enjoyable music in them. There was half of a fun song on Flower Punk, but the listening experience bounces between background noise and 7 layers of irony deep Chipmunks chatter and noodling. The Mothers can do so much better.

Fuck off

Really fucking bad.

I think I didn’t get it.

In fairness I have had an absolutely awful stressful day. This is one of the worst pieces of media I have ever consumed in my life. I would genuinely rather listen to nails scraping on a chalkboard or audio of unanaesthetised amputations than listen to this again. Who in their right mind puts the effort in to make the music, produce it, take all the photos to collage to make this album cover, to then print the albums and sell them, with such shit music. Feels like a prank honestly. Think I can safely say that if you could see the two paths that my life takes, one with me listening to this before I die and the other one being me dying without having to listen to this, the latter would be more enjoyable. Specific rating - 0.1 Fav song- none of them Least fav- the chrome plated megaphone of destiny

Bad music, mediocre satire

Ik was GEEN fan van Freak Out!, deels ook omdat het een dubbelalbum was en ik gewoon echt het gevoel had dat het me gewoon belachelijk aan het maken was met zn uur runtime en kazoo solos. Sindsdien heb ik ontzettend veel saaie rock en britpop geluisterd, tot het punt dat ik misschien toch wel een beetje benieuwd ben naar dit album. De cover is natuurlijk memes, Beatles maar dan net wat vreemder en absurdistischer. Ik sta echt veel meer open voor vreemde muziek dan ten tijde van het vorige album van hun. Maar Frank jij ouwe klootzak, beetje boeren in mn oor, dat is niet vreemd, maar gewoon niet echt chill. Ja nee, ik probeer echt open hiervoor te staan, maar het is niet echt muziek. Het is een soort aaneenschakeling van memes en rare shit met af en toe stukjes muziek. Ik geloof meteen dat dit een bijzonder album was in de tijd, dat is het namelijk nog steeds, maar als iemand mij in de toekomst verteld dat hij fan is van Mothers of Invention dan weet ik in elk geval dat die persoon emotioneel in de kindertijd is blijven hangen. Dit album voelt als iemand die heel erg zn best doet om weird en quirky te zijn en daardoor voornamelijk heel erg irritant is. FAVO:

Sometimes I think I'm being too milquetoast with my reviews: opting to sit the fence and center most around 3's with a few moving the needle to 2s and 4s. Albums like this remind me of why I use the scale I do. An absolute 1 if there ever were a 1. Production isn't just weird, it's noise, not music. Annoying and insufferable to listen to. Satire comes off as smug, mean‑spirited, and juvenile. Maybe it was cutting edge in 1968, but it sounds more like an art project than a “sit back and enjoy” album. I guess to throw it a bone, it serves is a glimpse into another perspective to the 60s? After I listened to it (and hated it), I saw that Frank Zappa was involved and it all made sense. I didn't enjoy the other album I got from him either.

39 minutes, and every one a punishment. This was brutal. A joke that’s not funny. You know the person that tells everyone how smart they are, but are actually just a total dick? This is the musical version of that.

It’s been 987 albums (my biggest gap between albums by an artist with only two albums on the list) since I reviewed Freak Out!, and at long last is the other Mothers of Invention album on this list. I thought Freak Out! was good, and I really enjoyed the lyrics on it. It seems like I might be in for of the same on this album, and if so, I think I might wind up enjoying this. Well, WOiIftM (I’m not typing out that whole album name) was certainly an experience. The lyrics on this album were funny at times, but for the most part, Zappa and his crew came across as bitter assholes who just hated everyone. To me, this album wasn’t satirical, because satire is fun and lighthearted, and this album just lambasted everyone in a way that felt like it came from a place of moral superiority. I’ll admit that “Who Needs the Peace Corps?” was hilarious, but after that, this album’s lyrical themes felt pretty tired and played out. Musically, I wasn’t into this album at all. I enjoyed the music on Freak Out!, but here, I felt like everything was just annoying noise. I can understand why this album is on the list, but it certainly didn’t line up with my personal tastes at all.

Nope. Not music.

Only someone as dumb and shitty as Frank Zappa could conclude that The Beatles, the band that constantly innovated and knowingly alienated their audience in order to pursue their artistic vision, are “only in it for the money”. There are 1000 bands you could correctly attribute that to, but The Beatles are not one of them. Also, the music on this album is terrible.

I'm sure this is EXACTLY someone's jam, but it is DEFINITELY NOT MINE. DNF. -2 stars.

Built on frantic, collage-like bursts of warped guitars, rubbery bass lines, cheap-sounding keyboards, abrupt tape edits, and nasal, theatrically sneering vocals, this experimental rock album spins like a funhouse mirror maze. It's so jagged, jumpy, and willfully chaotic that mostly I am irritated and annoyed.

Terrible album. It's not even music.

I'm used to more interesting stuff from Frank Zappa. This ain't it. I didn't like it. I like the artwork though. I imagine he wrote this as some kind of diss to The Beatles? At least the artwork. But that doesn't justify the fact that it's a bad record.

It was a bit pointless

A classic 1960's weird album. Weird voices, weird lyrics, weird sounds and some weird music too. There were some similarities to tracks from Pink Floyd's Ummagumma album from around the same time, e.g. "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict". Unlike Ummagumma there don't seem to be any redeeming tracks on this album. It's all weird and one that I'll characterise as "just because you can make music like this doesn't mean to say you should do"

Terrrible!

This album was complete crap. I don't even know how this is categorized; as music. If I could give is 0 stars I would.

hell naw man

1/10

Nein. Absoluter Fiebertraum, leider nicht im positiven Sinn. Einziger Lichtblick als bei "Concentration Moon" kurz das Gefühl aufkommt, jetzt beginnt "Happy".

Ist nicht mein erster Versuch mit diesem Album, aber ich verstehe es einfach nicht. Kein Song, der mich überzeugt, kein Text, den ich unterhaltsam oder interessant finde (zugegebenermaßen etwas schwierig, darauf zu achten, wenn im Hintergrund ein Baby schreit) und falls irgendwo mal eine gute musikalische Idee vorhanden war, dann war der Song so schnell vorbei, dass es im Endeffekt auch wieder egal war. Spätere Zappa-Sachen sind da etwas zugänglicher.

1.4 Stop kidding yourself. It's shite. Frank Zappa is one of the medium-sized gang that this list has led me to realise they're shite

DNF

Bollocks...and just to clarify - that isn't good

I don't give this rating lightly. This is genuinely bad and I don't think I enjoyed any of these songs. It's just garbage hippie anti-music.

vaguely musical youtube poop. if you like it, you've correctly identified the transgression of true musical genius. if you don't like it, you're a mainstream sheep with unevolved tastes. if you don't really know and you're just confused, you've fallen into frank zappa's trap and you're exactly where he wants you. checkmate athiests. if he saw me give this 5 stars he would scrunch up his nose in disgust. if he saw me give 3 stars he would spit in my face. if he saw me give 1 star, he would finally nod his head in respect. "that's the point man, or something" frank zappa would say to me. favorite song is Mother People

Hard to come up with things I like about this album, which is surely part of the bit in this satirical take on music in the 60s. Counterpoint: pitched up voices aren't funny 1.5/10

Hmmm. "Haha funny album", sure, but how does this end up as one of the 1001 essential albums? I'm starting to think the real joke is the 1001 albums we listen to along the way. 0 garden goblins out of 10 wait was it agains

Perhaps it's a verry important album - but not for me.

Sounds like it's trying too hard to be non-conformists, but ends up just sounding terrible

Man I just don't like Frank Zappa's music. This still isn't an exception.

Utter tripe

That was quite the experience. I contemplated giving it two stars for that, but ultimately I think it's just Frank Zappa showing off his performative cynicism, rather than music.

Näe

Too weird for me

This could be good, but it's too concerned with being 'funny'. It is not funny. As soon as something starts cooking a sound effect or a stupid lyric stops everything in its tracks. I've always struggled with Frank Zappa. I don't he's clever or subversive or funny. He's not even weird, he tries too hard for that. Weirdness comes naturally, this is forced and I can smell a rat.

This shit sucks

Nope. Understand it’s satire, but I’m not listening to this entire thing.

Well. I got through it. I'm sure there is some meaning in these songs somewhere, but it sounds like Muppets singing carnival horror songs. No Sir, I didn't like it.

Yuck

Some albums really don't deserve a listen, this is one

I didn’t enjoy this album in the slightest. I understand that this is experimental and whatnot, but that “experiment” unfortunately flopped. There were a few songs that were boring at best and the rest were very hard to listen to.

this is the worst thing i have ever listened to -50 stars

really not good

It ought to be possible to select a 0 rating for this utter garbage.

I don’t really know what Frank Zappa was trying to achieve with this. It’s not enjoyable to listen to, it’s not funny and I don’t know what the message is beyond “everyone is stupid except Frank Zappa.”

Feels like typical 'hippie rock' from the 60s. Not good, experimental sounds. 2/10

Absolutely terrible. Late 60s Frank Zappa style LSD music

In the plight to make fun of everyone, I think the music fell a little flat. I wished the music was a little more interesting: instead of hard-hitting, it just came across as obnoxious. The random noises and squirrel voices were annoying. This could have been so good, but unfortunately, it came across as jealous. Some tracks sounded like the haunted house at Disney world, which bordered on Art Rock, but I don't think it was fully realized. 1 out of 5.

Could barely make it past the first 3 tracks!

I can’t believe this band has any, let alone two, albums on this list. This is the second time I am giving them one star. Although I will say this album is better than the other one. I probably would give the other one zero if possible.

1,5/5 I'm insanely confused. I enjoyed the instrumentals mostly. That's prob about it. I didn't know what certain lyrics were about. Some I did and I kinda could follow their point but yeah. i don't know wheter to be intrigued or weirded out. But I guess that was their goal and they achieved it.

Genuinely, why do people go on and on about Frank Zappa...? This is the second one of his albums/projects I've gotten on this list and they've both been painful listens. The first song on this album is just creepy, enraging noise. What is this garbage?

the mothers of inventing dogshit

umm….

LMAO

Feels like the obnoxious, annoying kid constantly saying "Hey, watch this. Hey, Hey did you see what I did?" thinking they're being funny and clever. You smile & nod to be polite while thinking "What the f*** is he going on about?"

Unable to like this, felt like a wasted 34 minutes or whatever.

This shit supposed to be funny? All I hear is a cynical little bitch thats bad at satire and acts just so cool and above it all. Zappa's just soo different and quirky, hes not like the other freaks. Maybe the time we're living through taints my view on this one, but relentlessly mocking people for caring about stuff or standing for something, even if they are stinky hippies, is pretty lame and depressing. In mocking others for taking themselves too seriously, he takes himself way too seriously. Some hot poop for sure, had to be there I guess.

This wasn't what I was expecting. It's definitely different but none of the faves. I could never see myself putting this on a record player and listening to it, but I guess you had to be there

This album smelled like unwashed underwear and marijuana

Zappa projekt.

Drek

I don't know, man, maybe this was really revolutionary in 1968 or whatever, but at this point the satire is unfocused and weak, the polemics are just as preachy as the stuff I think Zappa is making fun of, and the dirty stories are just dirty for dirty's sake. He has nothing to say and he says it in the most annoying way possible. Even the little bit of genuine artistry here - the collage on "Nasal Retentive Calliope Music" he has to ruin with a fart joke. It is a mark of my commitment to this project that I listened to this all the way through.

This was really hard to sit through

Sounds a bit like switching between stations on a broken radio, and all of the stations are playing the duck song

Did make me laugh a couple times but so much of it was so unlistenable and made me physically uncomfortable

This is the worst album we’ve gotten

The 60s, I know, but wtf.

Nonsense stitched together with sound effects.

Probably not as bad as I think but unfortunately reminds me too much of my ex. 👎🏻

Sitä samaa saatanan Zappa-paskaa. Orkestraalista komedia musikaalia tämä on, ei toimi levynä ei

The Weird All of his day

This was just a weird bunch of noise.

Shite this. 40 mins of recorded telephone calls and noise. Occasionally a tune threatens to come through but is then suppressed in favour of more noise and childish lyrics. Unbelievably this isn’t the worst album I’ve been served up on this list but it’s close

No

# Album Name: We're Only In It For The Money # Artist: The mothers of invention # Rating:1/5 # Comments: Absolute dog shit. Turns out you dont need talent to be an "artist" Wow. # Top Tunes: None # Would I listen to it again? No

Not really the kind of satire albums I like but I can respect the vision. This feels like a hannah-barberra joint

Genuinely unlistenable dogshit. I have nothing positive to say about this. How is it categorised with prog rock and art rock. Lmfao

Absolutely criminal No words to describe how bad it is

Fav: What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body? Least Fav: The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny A song on this album is called Hot Poop, tells you all you need to know about this mistake of an album. Omg the final song is 6 minutes long???????

music for stoner freaks? weird freaks? it's nice sounding. lyrics are the most exciting part. cynical. maybe a bit too arrogant. few songs in, i DNF'd. was bored. it got tired. but i can see how this ??? maybe influenced parody music??? it was stupid. just jokes i wasn't around to get.

Kind of funny.... What's your ugliest body part? Your mind. Too trippy, too abstract for me.

wthelly 😭

My life will be better if I never listen to this again. Painful from start to finish.

OK...I'm trying to have an open mind, but the found sounds to start the album are not a good sign. This is terrible. No one calls it Frisco. This is one of the worst albums on the list. The combination of found sound, psychedelic music and audio effects combines for a truly terrible listening experience. It ends the way it began...with a bunch of random noises.

Day 8 Not for me at all this one, incredibly frustrating as there they’ll be 30 seconds of what could be a lovely song followed by a minute of noise. The vast majority of it just doesn’t connect with me in anyway, there’s nothing here I’d particularly want to listen to again. 2/10 Highlights Lonely little girl Take your clothes off when you dance

For today's 1001 albums to hear before I die, I got a Frank Zappa album!!! The Mothers of Invention's We're Only in It for the Money is the first album I have ever heard from this weird side project of Zappa and I honestly have no idea what to expect. Immediately this album throws you into some very on the nose political satire of the current state of the world back in 1969 with very clear jabs at police brutality and politics at the time. What I don't appreciate is how annoying and weird for the sake of being weird this project is, there are maybe 2 or 3 coherent songs and the rest are just the ramblings of a madman put into audio form. The randomness is not charming, fun, or even all the interesting and instead it feels like it too is played for satire rather than any actual meaning. We're Only in It for the Money is a very fitting title as this entire album feels like one giant cash-grab and swindle hosted by The Mothers of Invention. I know they probably have better albums but this leaves quite a sour taste in my mouth for anything else they have to offer.

I have a hard time with Frank Zappa on his regular music but this is just bizarre. Who let them make this album.... at some point someone should have told them it wasn't a good idea. There is a song called "hot poop", really this should have been the name of this album.

Activement désagréable. C'est cool parodier les Beatles mais il faudrait faire de la bonne musique en même temps idéalement.

Repetitive narrative. Musically uninteresting. This album could have been a song. Zappa was trying too hard, swing and a miss.

This kind of sounds like they tried to replicate the Beatles but made it as bad as possible on purpose. It's a very solid 1.

What in the feverdream is this album?

Noise

This feels like one of those albums that just straight sucks (somewhat intentionally), but if you don't like it people are gonna act like you just aren't smart enough to "get it".

Woof. Some things just aren't your cup of tea, and the vocal style of this band is one of them. God bless you if it's yours.

Hot, hot , hot GARBAGE. Dear lord I wish zero stars was an option.

I HAVENT EVEN FINISHED THIS ONE BUT I FUCKING HATE IT SO MUCH STOP PUTTING ASMR IN MY EARS REEEEEEEE STFU -1

Wanky!

Site!

Is there a more overrated artist than Frank Zappa?

We're Only in It for the Money is a sad example of an album, that should have been a stand up show. There are lots of very thick satire, noise and talking, and not nearly enough good music in it. As soon as I start liking a song, it gets ruined by the band's wish to be annoying. I take this album being included in the list as its authors' personal statement. Leave my psychedelic dungeons alone, Frank Zappa.

horrendous

Self-indulgent twaddle

Not a Zappa fan. 1/5

Didn't like this one Frank, kind of just music for jerks

too experimental couldn't finish

“Mom can I have the beetles?” “No son, we have the “beetles” at home.”

Definitely not a background album to listen to! May need to try listening to each song individually but had a hard time with this one! First Zappa album I've heard. Off the top could definitely tell it's a satire of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

???????????????????????? man what is this I feel like Im hearing a string of random thoughts (its very funny with WNTPC? heeey I think my hair grew out) genuine cinema im afraid Favorite: Who needs the peace corps?

Tg sex pistols, the velvet underground, And the mother's of invention. Are all the most overrated untalented waste of time bands out there. This album is nothing but nonsense and noise.

Terrible

The music equivalent of the millennial burger joint meme

Too weird, too experimental and just lacks any overall cohesion to deserve consideration as an album. It's a collection of nonsense.

Proof LSD doesn't always improve music.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Is this satire? I don't get it.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

A boneless Trout Mask Replica.

What the hell is this shit

Strange music. What do you expect with Zappa.

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

wow. this really sucks

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.

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

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.

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

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

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)

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

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 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 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.

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?

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

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

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

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

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.

À la poubelle

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Talentless.

Nope

shit

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

no thanks

Awful

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.