Zappa In Austrlia

By Go-Set

Go-Set, July 21, 1973


Reporter 1: Mr. Zappa, I believe you have toured Europe several times. Have you ever had much trouble with things like the language barrier etc.?

Zappa: Well we considered the language barrier at one time and decided to do something about it, so we decided to learn to sing in German.

Reporter 1: You did -- try and sing some for us.

Zappa: Well, I'll recite some of the text for you. My pronunciation is horrible and I wasn't the lead singer on that particular song. I've always wanted to pretend to speak German. Are you ready! ...

Reporter 1: Are there any members of the Vice Squad here? That's not German, that's obscene German.

Zappa: No wonder the kids liked it so much.

Reporter 1: Why did you learn to sing in German anyway?

Zappa: Well, every time we went to Europe we would play in Germany five times.

Reporter 1: How did the German audiences like it?

Zappa: They loved it.

Reporter 1: What about the cops?

Zappa: They loved it too.

Reporter 2: I write for Truth which is a family newspaper and we ran a competition for our readers to suggest something you might do on stage which would affect their parents, in that their parents would think it very nice that pop music had moved in that direction. I might read you a few extracts and then perhaps you can answer some question if Australian teenagers are depraved.

One gentleman from a wealthy suburb called Richmond and said to get about three frogs, put some crackers in their mouths, light the crackers then throw the frogs in the air. The frogs will explode in mid-air and blood and guts will fall all over the group. Get a dead cat and swing it around by its tail then pour petrol all over it and light it on stage.

Another young lady from the outer suburban area of Pakenham said would Frank please ride a mechanised meat-ball across a spagetti strand stretched from one side' of the stage to the other, and also have himself torn into two by a giant animated telephone directory.

Another chap from Qld. said "I'd love to see Frank cut out his heart and eat it and then I'd like him to take off that stupid mask he's been wearing and tell us all who he really is." Now that's the general tone of the letters. What is your impression of that section of Australian teenagers after hearing those?

Zappa: Well, seeing how you induced them by asking for it, what can I say?

Reporter 2: But that's your opinion'? Is it good that you're inspiring people to write these things?

Zappa: I'm inspiring them? You're the one who asked them to send in letters, so don't try to fob it off on me.

Reporter 2: But this is inspired by some of the stunts you have allegedly performed overseas. But what do you think after that?

Zappa: Well, it's nice to see that they have such active imaginations.

Reporter 2: Do you condone their thoughts?

Zappa: I'm definitely in favor of free speech & free thinking.

Read by OCR software. If you spot errors, let me know afka (at) afka.net