11. Frank ZappaHot Rats
People will know who Frank Zappa is but then say, ‘I’ve never really heard anything’. I’d always say, ‘Well there’s an album called Hot Rats, give that a go.’ Then they’d come back to me whenever I see them next, either saying ‘Oh my God! It’s fucking crazy!’ or ‘What the hell were you talking about?’ It’s always one way or the other. It first came into my hands because a lot of documentaries about 20 years ago would use ‘Peaches En Regalia’ as an instrumental – a bit like today how they always use The xx and ‘Crystalised’ or whatever – and it always stuck out to me. I like it because he’s doing it without an audience in mind. He’s just doing something which he finds interesting. He’s doing things in short form, he’s doing things in long form, he’s having fun with production. This is just a guy who’s recording for the sake of recording, you know? I think that always comes across, not just with musicians. If a comedian or an actor is just doing something to amuse themselves, that comes across too.
