Guest Blog Entry from John Fancher, who’s riding shotgun with me in our Autoresponder Boot Camp. One of my favorite musicians, drummer Mike Portnoy, names Frank Zappa as one of his all-time heroes. Mike and Dream Theater did a concert with Frank’s son Dweezil Zappa here in Chicago in ’09. It was stellar. John, let ‘er rip!
Frank Zappa dedicated quite a bit of his prodigious vinyl output to making making fun of lazy, sappy pop music. You know, the kind that he saw making tons of money all around him in the early 60s?
He also took plenty of shots at lazy, sappy television. You know, the media that helped sky rocket the careers of Elvis and the Beatles right in front of young Frank’s very eyes?
Yet at the same time that he was belittling these forms, he was exploiting them as well. Inside Zappa’s music, amidst all the avant garde noise and knowing jazz and classical references, there are quite a few “accessible” blues and pop riffs.
And a clean cut Frank Zappa even appeared on the Steve Allen show to play…ummm…bicycle, because he knew he needed the exposure that television could give his young career.
Then in the mid 80s, Frank had his biggest hit with “Valley Girl”, a simple, silly pop tune making fun of vapid teen fashion victims of the San Fernando Valley.
A CONTRADICTION IS A GOOD THING TO BE SOMETIMES. Frank was an odd mix of opportunistic hustler and principled artist. A guy who hung out with hippies and freaks but counted every cent. A rock and roll joker with a thorough understanding of the most complex and arcane music. A guy who’s first album, “Freak Out”, would make the perfect sound track to an LSD trip, who openly scorned drug abuse.
There will never be another Frank Zappa.
And while he never experienced the massive fame of a Britney Spears or the Partridge Family, he did manage to make a very comfortable living as a full-time musician, traveling the world and releasing over 50 albums. AND, he died with his artistic integrity and influence in impeccable reputation.
Oh, and he made us laugh while doing it. Not a bad epitaph.
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH EMAIL MARKETING? Britney Spears is Walmart. The Partridge Family was McDonald’s. But Frank Zappa was…Frank Zappa. And he was very successful being just that, thank you very much. Are you Walmart? Are you McDonalds? Or are you…YOU? Do you have dreams of massive world wide domination? Or do you want to make a very comfortable living, take a few good shots at your enemies, make the world a better place, keep your principles in tact…and have some fun doing it?
There are forms and structures used by the “Goliaths” that you can exploit. Weapons of the enemy that you can turn against them. Examine the enemy. What tools can you steal and make your own? The key phrase being MAKE YOUR OWN (a true artist does not borrow, he steals – Picasso).
But you must always be yourself. You must never JOIN the enemy army. You must never mindlessly ape them. If you do, if you buy the lie of the enemy completely…then you’re just another voice in the chorus of the damned. Indistinguishable. Lost in mediocrity.
Oh, sure, you MIGHT be the one in a billion who becomes a Britney Spears or a Walmart. But I don’t like those odds.
And I don’t much like their products either.
I’d rather listen to Frank wail on “Watermelon in Easter Hay” than have to suffer through “Oops! I Did it Again” any day.
Rock On,
John Fancher
708.790.2679
PS: Just watched a good documentary on Frank’s early career called “Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention: In the 1960s” It’s available on DVD or instant streaming on Netflix.
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.