Essay: A Pentadic Analysis of Frank Zappa’s Freak Out!
A Pentadic Analysis of Frank Zappa’s Freak Out!
TLDR: This essay analyzes Freak Out by Frank Zappa in the form of Rhetorical Criticism.
Frank Zappa was undoubtedly one of the most prominent musical figures of the 1960s and 1970s, maintaining a career that eventually spanned over three decades and fifty albums (“Frank Zappa,” 2007). In 1966, he released his first album, Freak Out!, an album which exhibited an anti-commercial attitude, crude humor, and unconventional artistic endeavors that were relatively new to the music world (Kostelanetz, 1997, pgs. 16-17). These same foundations would eventually earn him worldwide respect as an eccentric cultural icon.
Zappa’s success lies in his audience appeal. In this album, his social criticism simultaneously mocks the institutions of his discontent and appeals to the specific audience targeted by these instigators. Using Pentadic analysis, I seek to answer the question, “Who was Frank Zappa’s target audience on the album Freak Out!?,” and explain his methods for reaching this specific audience. To answer this question, I will use the album’s liner notes as my rhetorical artifact.
CONTEXT
Pentadic criticism springs from Burke's theory of dramatism, which is the study of human motivation through specific criteria as defined by Burke. The driving beliefs behind dramatism are that humans use rhetoric to represent a particular point of view and language to comprise action. Burke clarifies that language is symbolic, a characteristic that separates action from motion (uncontrollable processes such as gravity), and once humans acquire a symbol system such as language, motion without action becomes impossible. Burke also states that a rhetor's language reveals his/her motivation - the focus of dramatism (Foss, 2004, p. 383-84).
Burke featured five dimensions to the pentad in his early work: act, agent, agency, scene, and purpose. Later in his career, he revealed a possible sixth, attitude. The act is the event that occurred; the agent is the individual(s) doing the act; the agency comprises the tools that the agent used to accomplish the goal; the purpose is the goal of the agent; and the attitude is the agent's approach in accomplishing the goal. After establishing the components of the Pentad, authors are required to compare the various components of the pentad in relation to one another, in order to find the primary motives underscoring the rhetor's action (Foss, 2004, p. 383-84).
The Pentadic analysis is an excellent tool for Zappa’s rhetorical scholars, because it is able to address several underlying issues surrounding the album, such as the source (agent) of the text, without compromising the original research question: who was Zappa’s intended audience for Freak Out!?
PENTAD
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention released the album Freak Out! In July
1966 on the label Rykodisk, their first act using a studio album. Zappa, his backup band, the Mothers of Invention, and several “auxiliary” members, whose names appear in the album credits, performed the album. According to the jacket, Zappa "composed and arranged" the music. The ambiguity of those two terms and the many different vocalists featured on the album caused me to question Zappa as the lyrical and textual source. However, the brief biography and song summaries of the liner notes appear to be by Zappa himself, as they are written in the first person and make frequent references to his life. In his analysis of Zappa's work, Ben Watson claims that Zappa is "...a ringmaster...This explains his readiness to use other singers...an ambivalent resonance for [his] so-called self-expression" (Watson, 1994, p.44). From all indications, Zappa wrote the lyrics and text as well as the music. In addition to authoring text, Zappa also appears as the centerpiece for much of the album art, especially on the front and back covers, both of which feature him in a speaking role. From these observations, it appears that Zappa is the conceptual mouthpiece for the band as well as the album. This is important to note; according to Burke, Zappa is the primary manipulator of language through the text; therefore, he is revealing his own motivation through his use of symbols, which, in this case, are the album’s liner notes. We can conclude that Zappa is the primary agent, as he is the source of the album's message.
Zappa utilizes several mediums in order to emphasize the various ideas and messages of Freak Out!. Much of the album’s meaning can be deciphered using the liner notes. Zappa presents his ideas secondarily through the music; the most meaningful, clear statements and witticisms can be found in the album jacket, which includes a brief biography, song information, and quotations from the band and outside sources, making it a complex agency. The comics also provide an entertaining venue to further define the album’s message. Most importantly, each tool Zappa uses to entertain listeners undoubtedly uses specific terms and phrases that would appeal to a specific audience. In itself, music is a language; however, it proves to be too abstract to be completely interpreted in the course of this essay. The music may reinforce Zappa’s message, but it is a message that can be deciphered without understanding the music itself. The important connection between the music and the audience is that Zappa crafts songs that “[pervert] innocent pop” (Watson, 1994, p. 40).
Although it is difficult to imagine an agent’s motivation without being the agent itself, Zappa makes several claims regarding the purpose of the album. “We had to show [the record company] that they could make money on the product…We went after a peculiar audience – appealing to the curiosity of people who had some curiosity about things.” Zappa also insisted on controlling most of the advertising and “thought that Freak Out! would be a hit,” according to an interview with Chris Salewitz, a journalist for the New Musical Express (Watson, 1994, p. 38-39). According to Watson, Zappa “uses commercialism against itself” on Freak Out! (Watson, 1994, p. 40). It is clear, despite the album’s commercial cynicism, that Zappa wanted it to be a success.
According to Richard Kostelanetz, author of The Frank Zappa Companion, “there had never been anything like [Freak Out!]” for several reasons. To begin with, the album was a double LP, which was not a fashionable commodity in the pop scene of 1966. The comical lyrics and jacket text were also a new phenomenon for the time. Musically, Zappa’s wrote song structures reminiscent of late-1950s doo-wop, a throwback against the mainstream pop-rock of 1966 (Kostelanetz, 1997, pgs. 16-17). The ambitious and experimental nature of the album matches Zappa’s purpose, as it ostensibly would attract people for its bizarre nature. Geographically, much of the venues that interested Zappa were located in Los Angeles. At that time, clubs in L.A., such as the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, were important because executives in the music industry would use them to scout for potential clientele (James, 2000, p. 22).
Zappa’s attitude in the liner notes is very critical of mainstream society and commercialism in general. The entire album is ripe with sarcasm, social commentary and self-deprecating humor, which give the album its meaning. For example, the liner notes refer to ‘Any Way the Wind Blows’ as “trivial nonsense,” and ‘Go Cry on Someone Else’s Shoulder’ as “very greasy. You should not listen to it. You should wear it on your hair.” The album also makes several disparaging remarks about commercialism, traditional love songs, and traditional American education. A statement from the song information clearly degrades the latter: “Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system.” The cynical tone of the piece also plays a key role in appealing to Zappa’s desired audience, making it an essential part of the Pentadic ratio.
RATIO-ANALYSIS
Concerning Freak Out!, the two most significant dimensions of the pentad are the agency and the attitude. The rest are excellent materials in understanding the album, but Zappa’s agency and attitude reveal his target audience: American teenagers. Zappa appeals to the audience through his sardonic sense of humor (the attitude) and the liner notes (the agency). His attitude is appealing because it does not communicate social commentary in a manner that is too intellectual; rather, he communicates through easy-to-understand sarcasm and humor. The message is neither too simplistic nor too complex. This concept of delivery combined with Zappa’s wit make it accessible to American teenagers, as it does not require an extensive education to understand the album’s sarcasm.
While the attitude is important in understanding Zappa’s language, and through his language, the intended teenage audience, the tool would be of no use without the agency. The album text makes both denotative and connotative statements addressing adolescents. While in the band biography Zappa briefly mentions that “…when I was eleven years old I was 5 ft. 7 with hairy legs, pimples and a mustache…” the truly blatant references to teenagers do not appear until the song information section.
“Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and educate yourself if you’ve got any guts. Some of you like pep rallies and plastic robots who tell you what to read. Forget I mentioned it. This song has no message. Rise for the flag salute.” This text accompanies ‘Hungry Freaks, Daddy’ and displays Zappa’s critically sarcastic attitude, especially in the last line, while making concrete observations about adolescent education. The ironic criticism of Senior Prom, pep rallies, and the flag salute covers many ideals reminiscent of high school life, which is almost exclusively lived by teenagers. Zappa further criticizes American teens, and America in general, by writing, in the text to ‘How Could I Be Such A Fool’, “…It stays in ¾ time throughout, but shifts in the accents occur from section to section. As an American teenager (as an American), this means nothing to you…” The message here is a thematic continuation of the text from ‘Hungry Freaks, Daddy’ – it implies that American teenagers are ignorant to musical concepts, a suggestion that complements Zappa’s disgust of the educational system. ‘Wowie Zowie’, Zappa writes, “is designed to suck the 12-year-old listener into our camp…it is cheerful…it is harmless…Little Richard says he likes it.” In this excerpt, Zappa’s jovial sarcasm seems to be directed towards younger radio enthusiasts by mocking the idea of attracting them to the band’s music. Despite the irony, Zappa again clearly addresses and appeals to teenagers in the text. While abstract, the text describing ‘Any Way The Wind Blows’ says “…in a nutshell, kids, it is…intellectually and emotionally accessible for you. Hah!” Here, Zappa seems to mock the mental maturity of the “kids” in which he addresses, and implies that he devalued the complexity of the song in order for them to understand it.
In addition to the references in the song information, Zappa also reaches out to his audience through quotes and visual materials. In the quote list, Zappa includes a line taken from a show in 1965, “If your children find out how lame you really are, they’ll murder you in your sleep!” Since Zappa addresses parents at the show, it is likely he included the quote in the album jacket to attract attention from readers both young and old. A caption in Zappa’s photograph says “…it’s best [Frank Zappa] stay away…for the sake of impressionable young minds…”, an obvious referent to young crowds. On the back of the album jacket is possibly the most attention-snaring piece of visual material – a letter from an individual named Suzy Creamcheese (). It reads:
These mothers is crazy. You can tell by their clothes. One guy wears beads and they all smell bad. We were gonna get them for a dance after the basketball game but my best pal warned me you can never tell how many will show up…sometimes the guy in the fur coat doesn’t show up and sometimes he does show up only he brings a big bunch of crazy people with him and they dance all over the place. None of the kids at my school like these Mothers…specially since my teacher told us what the words to their songs meant.
Sincerely forever,
Suzy Creamcheese
Salt Lake City, Utah
Note the poor grammar and that the sender’s location is Salt Lake City. It is yet another example of Zappa’s ironic portrayal of school-age teens in America. References to a school-age lifestyle are rampant; through basketball games, peer awareness, and teacher-based instruction, Zappa characterizes an adolescent student through a poorly-written letter. The caption below the image, “Suzy Creamcheese, what’s got into you?”, is paired with Zappa and the band looking directly into the center of camera. As a result, the comic appears to be addressing the reader. I interpreted this illusion to symbolize that Suzy Creamcheese represents the album’s consumers, particularly those that are still in grade school, as they have experienced or come into contact with those who have experienced Suzy’s grade school lifestyle.
AUDIENCE RECEPTION
Upon its initial entry into the music scene of the 1960s, Freak Out! did not receive much success. The only attention Zappa and his band received at the time were from their performances at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go (James, 2000, p. 23). Kostelanetz coined the album as a “calling card” for the band, as it enabled them to get shows outside of the Los Angeles music scene. However, it failed to generate a hit single, and was only covered by L.A.’s underground music press (Kostelanetz, 1997, p. 17). Zappa described the album’s reception as this: “After Freak Out was released it sold terribly. In the first year, it didn’t do shit”. Eventually, the album earned a stay on the Billboard charts, peaking at number 123 (James, 2000, p. 25-26).
CONCLUSION
In my opinion, Freak Out! is an album that defines the idea of a concept album, which is “unified by a theme” (Concept Album). In Zappa’s case, the theme was directed at American teenagers, as stated implicitly and explicitly throughout the album jacket. Much of my analysis was based on my own interpretation of Zappa’s language and motivation, and my Pentad was structured around personal testimony of the man and his supporters, as well as the history of the band. Exploring the social commentary of the album and its effects on teenage consumers in the 1960s would be a worthwhile study, as well as examining the social commentary throughout Zappa’s piece.
References
(2007). Concept Album. Retrieved February 18, 2007, from
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/concept+album
Foss, Sonja K. (2004). Rhetorical Criticism. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc.
(2007). Frank Zappa. Retrieved February 16, 2007, from
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3idqoatabijd~T2.
James, Billy. (2000). Necessity Is…The Early Years of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. London: SAF Publishing LTD.
Kostelanetz, Richard. (1997). The Frank Zappa Companion. New York: Schirmer Books.
Watson, Ben. (1993). The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.